SUSE Manager on IBM z Systems

Introduction

This best practice guide is intended for z/VM administrators responsible for operating the IBM z Systems Mainframe. The goal of this guide is to lead an z/VM administrator trained on normal z Systems operating protocols through the installation of SUSE Manager onto an existing mainframe system. The intent of this article is not to cover the variety of hardware configuration profiles available on z Systems but instead to provide a foundational overview of the procedure and requirements necessary for a successful SUSE Manager server deployment.

Base System Requirements

The z/VM administrator should acquire and prepare the following resources for a successful SUSE Manager installation. SUSE Manager4.0 is delivered as an extension. These sections will provide you with the minimum and recommended system requirements for SUSE Manager . The base system for SUSE Manager  4.0 is SLES 12SP3 .

Hardware Recommended Hardware

IBM Systems

* IBM zEnterprise System z196 (z196) * IBM zEnterprise System z114 (z114) * IBM zEnterprise EC12 (zEC12) * IBM zEnterprise EC12 (zEC12) * IBM zEnterprise BC12 (zBC12) * IBM z13 (z13) * LinuxOne Rockhopper * LinuxOne Emperor

RAM

Split memory requirements across available RAM, VDISK and swap to suit your environment. On a production system the ratio of physical memory to VDISK will need to be re-evaluated based on the number of clients which will be supported.

Minimum 5   GB+ for test server (3 GB RAM + 2 GB VDISK Swap)

Minimum 16  GB+ for base installation

Minimum 32  GB+ for a production server

Free Disk Space

Minimum 100  GB for root partition

Minimum 50  GB for /var/lib/pgsql

Minimum 50  GB per SUSE product + 100 GB per Red Hat product /var/spacewalk

Network Connection

* OSA Express Ethernet (including Fast and Gigabit Ethernet) _ * HiperSockets or Guest LAN * 10 GBE, VSWITCH * RoCE _(RDMA over Converged Ethernet)

The following interfaces are still included but no longer supported:

* CTC (or virtual CTC) * IP network interface for IUCV
Media Requirements

Additional Requirements

There are a few additional resource requirements you will need to prepare before installing the SUSE Manager extension on your system. This section overviews these requirements.

The guest z/VM should be provided with a static IP address and hostname as these cannot be easily changed after initial setup. The hostname should contain less than 8 characters.

For more information on SUSE Manager additional requirements, see https://www.suse.com/documentation/suse-manager-3/book_suma_best_practices/data/mgr_conceptual_overview.html.

You will need to ensure you have sufficient disk storage for SUSE Manager before running yast2 susemanagersetup.

This section explains these requirements in more detail.

SUSE ManagerDefault Volume Groups and Disk Space

By default the file system of SUSE Manager, including the embedded database and patch directories, reside within the root volume. While adjustments are possible once installation is complete, it is the administrator’s responsibility to specify and monitor these adjustments.

If your SUSE Manager runs out of disk space, this can have a severe impact on its database and file structure. Preparing storage requirements in accordance with this section will aid in preventing these harmful effects. SUSE technical services will not be able to provide support for systems suffering from low disk space conditions as this can have an effect on an entire system and therefore becomes unresolvable. A full recovery is only possible with a previous backup or a new SUSE Manager installation.
Required Storage Devices

An additional disk is required for database storage. This should be an zFCP or DASD device as these are preferred for use with HYPERPAV. The disk should fulfill the following requirements:

  • At least 50 GB for /var/lib/pgsql

  • At least 50 GB for each SUSE product in /var/spacewalk

  • At least 100 GB for each Red Hat product in /var/spacewalk

Reclaiming Disk Space

If you need to reclaim more disk space, try these suggestions:

  • Remove custom channels (you cannot remove official SUSE channels)

  • Use the spacewalk-data-fsck --help command to compare the spacewalk database to the filesystem and remove entries if either is missing.

SLES 12SP3 Installation and the SUSE Manager Extension

This section covers the installation of SUSE Manager4.0 as an extension to SLES 12SP3 .

For more information on deploying SLES 12SP3 on your hardware, see https://www.suse.com/documentation/sles-12/book_sle_deployment/data/cha_zseries.html.

During installation of SLES 12SP3 select SUSE Manager as an extension.

After rebooting you will need to set up the additional storage required for /var/spacewalk and /var/lib/pgsql and swap space using the yast partitioner tool. This step is required before running yast2 susemanagersetup.

After configuring the storage requirements, having executed a YaST online update and completed a full system reboot, run SUSE Manager setup to finalize the SUSE Manager installation on your z Systems mainframe:

{prompt.root}yast2 susemanagersetup

This completes the installation of SUSE Manager on your z Systems . For more information on beginning management with SUSE Manager , see suma-setup-with-yast-sumasetup.adoc#suma-setup-with-yast-sumasetup.