Routing Linux console messages to zOperator
zOperator has become the perfect tool for z/VM console management. It provides a way to see z/VM console messages without the requirement of being logged on to the Operator virtual machine. With the zView feature, those console messages can also be seen via a web interface.
Routing existing Linux console traffic to zOperator
Any messages routed to the z/VM OPERATOR will appear on the zOperator display. Linux boot and standard operational messages can be sent to zOperator via the SECUSER feature.
There are a number of ways to turn on the SECUSER feature.
The fourth parameter of the CONSOLE statement is the secondary user
target. It will also receive console messages for the virtual machine
being defined.
CONSOLE 0009 3215 T OPERATOR
COMMAND SET SECUSER OPERATOR
The parameter of the CP SET SECUSER statement is the secondary user
target. It will also receive console messages for the virtual machine
being defined.
Both of the previous methods require that the virtual machine is logged off and logged on in order for the directory changes to take affect.
To test the routing of Linux console messages to zOperator, SECUSER can be turned on temporarily. Both methods below will be reset when the virtual machine is logged off.
#CP SET SECUSER OPERATOR
vmcp set secuser operator
With this configuration in place, Linux boot and shutdown messages should appear in zOperator, as shown below.
Directing Linux syslog traffic to zOperator
This procedure is only valid for Linux on System z machines running under z/VM. There is no syslog concentrator support in zOperator.
The syslog daemon is traditionally used in Linux to route messages to various locations, a file, a device, or a user. These messages are generated by code running on Linux, the kernel, Linux packages, or additional software that is installed.
Depending on the messages, they may be routed to the file /var/log/messages. These are the messages that will be targeted for this exercise.
There are a couple of traditional syslog packages that will be discussed here, syslog and syslog-ng. Other syslog packages should have similar controls.
syslog
The syslog daemon is controlled by a file called syslog.conf in the
/etc directory. Messages are currently routed to /var/log/messages
with a line that looks like this:
To also route those messages to the console, duplicate that line,
and on the copy change /var/log/messages to /dev/console.
To see logon, logoff and password validation errors, remove
'authpriv.none;' from the first part of the line.
Restart the syslog daemon and messages will appear in the file AND
on the zOperator screen.
The syslog-ng daemon is controlled by a file called syslog-ng.conf
in the /etc/syslog-ng directory. Messages are currently routed to
/var/log/messages with a pair of lines that looks like this:
To also route those messages to the console, change the log section
to add the console destination.
Restart the syslog daemon and messages will appear in the file AND
on the zOperator screen.
The results of routing syslog messages to zOperator is shown below.
Created 20160726 RKS
*.info;mail.none;authpriv.none;cron.none /var/log/messages
*.info;mail.none;authpriv.none;cron.none /dev/console
syslog-ng
destination messages { file("/var/log/messages"); };
log { source(src); filter(f_messages); destination(messages); };
log { source(src); filter(f_messages); destination(messages); destination(console); };
Updated 20160726 RKS
