zVPS Prerequisites

Velocity Software's zVPS runs on all levels of z/VM. There are no software or hardware requirements other than being a supported configuration (or was a supported configuration at one time). All code operates on z/VM. The only code provided that does not operate on z/VM is the snmp library that is loaded to each linux guest, and the snmp agent that runs on z/VSE.

zVPS has disk requirements for:

  1. SFS File Pool server (2000 cylinders)
    2. Step by step instructions are provided to create the SFS File Pool for zVPS.
    Note that ADMIN authority is required by the zVPS installer program.
    The filepool server contains:
    • Product code
    • Configuration data
    • Console logs
    • Other logging data
  2. Data storage
    • One minute data - per day (100 cylinders, plus 6 cylinders per Linux server. Normally 2 days of 1 minute data would be kept online. For 100 servers, 1500 cylinders is more than sufficient. This is the "ZWRITE 191" disk.
    • Archive data (normally 15 minute granularity) - 2 cylinders per Linux server. Normally 30 days of data would be kept online. Thus for 100 servers 6,000 cylinders is sufficient for 30 days. This is the "ZMAP 192" disk.
    • Reports - Report sizes are tailored to meet requirements. Full reporting for 100 servers requires about 10 cylinders per day. Normally reports would be kept online for 10 days. This disk also will contain other chart data and working storage, so add 300 cylinders to the disk for other functions and work space. 400 cylinders is usually a sufficient starting point.

zVPS can be fully installed in about 2 hours. Installation materials that must be available for a successful installation:

  1. The Global Installer installation guide - printed!
  2. All PROD libraries. Each PROD library (eg. ZMAP PROD5100) will have a base library with right most digit a zero, and may have an update library (eg. ZMAP PROD5108). Both are required.
  3. A product key provided unique to each installation. This key is date and customer specific, but does not use CPU serial numbers.
  4. Some form of an "UNPACK EXEC" such as: 
    /* pipe to deblock image data */
parse upper arg fn ft fm outfn outft outfm
 
If outfn = '=' then outfn = fn
if outft = '=' then outft = ft
 
/* pipe to deblock image data */
if ft = '' then do;say 'format: unpack   fn ft fm outfn outft outfm'
                      exit;end;
'pipe'             ,
 '<'  fn ft fm    ,
 '| fblock 1024 00  ',
 '| block 1024 fixed',
 '| unpack          ',
 '| >' outfn outft outfm
 
Exit

A summary of the installation procedure as presented in detail by the installation guide is:

  1. Create the Installer userid (zVPS) (20 minutes)
  2. Create the new SFS filepool (20 minute).
  3. Load the installer (10 minutes).
  4. Initialize the performance products (zMAP, zMON, zWRITE, zTCP) (30 minutes) including creating the userids
  5. Load the performance products (5 minutes)
  6. Create saved segments (5 minutes)
  7. Start the performance products and test (5 minutes)
  8. Initialize the webserver zVWS (10 minutes)
  9. Add PORTS to the TCPIP PROFILE and use the OBEYFILE process to dynamically add ports
  10. Load the webserver (10 minutes)
  11. Load the web applications ZPORTAL and ZVIEW (10 minutes)
  12. Add the snmp library to the Linux servers, initialize snmpd (30 minutes the first time, 5 minutes second time)
  13. Add the node IP Addresses to ZTCP parameter file
  14. Test the applications and have fun

zPRO Pre-reqs

Velocity Software's zPRO runs on all levels of z/VM. The software requirements include:

Installation defines 20000 SFS blocks for code and management/logging directory space.