Comments on: Virtualization, The Recession and The Mainframe http://www.thevirtualcircle.com/2008/10/virtualization-the-recession-and-the-mainframe/ You may be cleverer than any one of us, but you are not clverer than all of us. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:59:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Robin Bloor http://www.thevirtualcircle.com/2008/10/virtualization-the-recession-and-the-mainframe/comment-page-1/#comment-608 Robin Bloor Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:22:51 +0000 http://havemacwillblog.com/?p=2575#comment-608 Many thanks for the corrections. Looks like I should have done a little more fact checking. Never mind, the thrust is right and the details have been corrected.... Many thanks for the corrections. Looks like I should have done a little more fact checking. Never mind, the thrust is right and the details have been corrected….

]]> By: Virtualization, The Recession and The Mainframe « Adventures in systems land http://www.thevirtualcircle.com/2008/10/virtualization-the-recession-and-the-mainframe/comment-page-1/#comment-607 Virtualization, The Recession and The Mainframe « Adventures in systems land Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:51:31 +0000 http://havemacwillblog.com/?p=2575#comment-607 [...] Bloor has posted an interesting entry on his “Have mac will blog” blog on the above subject. He got a few small things wrong, well mostly, he got all the [...] [...] Bloor has posted an interesting entry on his “Have mac will blog” blog on the above subject. He got a few small things wrong, well mostly, he got all the [...]

]]> By: Mark Cathcart http://www.thevirtualcircle.com/2008/10/virtualization-the-recession-and-the-mainframe/comment-page-1/#comment-606 Mark Cathcart Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:22:09 +0000 http://havemacwillblog.com/?p=2575#comment-606 Oh yeah, by the way. While 2TB of memory on a mainframe gives pretty impressive virtualization capabilities, my favorite anecdote, and it's true because I did it, was back in 1983, to virtualize a complete,production, high availability, online credit card authorization system, by adding just 4Mb of memory boosting the total system memory to a whopping 12Mb of memory! Try running any Intel hypervisor or operating system on just 12Mb of memory, a great example of how efficient the mainframe virtualization is! Oh yeah, by the way. While 2TB of memory on a mainframe gives pretty impressive virtualization capabilities, my favorite anecdote, and it’s true because I did it, was back in 1983, to virtualize a complete,production, high availability, online credit card authorization system, by adding just 4Mb of memory boosting the total system memory to a whopping 12Mb of memory! Try running any Intel hypervisor or operating system on just 12Mb of memory, a great example of how efficient the mainframe virtualization is!

]]> By: Mark Cathcart http://www.thevirtualcircle.com/2008/10/virtualization-the-recession-and-the-mainframe/comment-page-1/#comment-605 Mark Cathcart Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:16:30 +0000 http://havemacwillblog.com/?p=2575#comment-605 Actually Robin, while it's true that the S/360 operating systems were written in Assembler, and much of the 370 operating systems, PL/X was already in use for some of the large and complex components. It is also widely know that virtualization, as you know it on the mainframe today, was first introduced on the S/360 model-67. This was a "bastard child" of the S/360 processors that had virtual memory extensions. At that point, the precursor to VM/370 used on the S/360-67 was CP-67. I think you'll also find that IBM never demonstrated 40,000 Linux virtual machines on a single VM system, it was David Boyes of Sine Nomine, who also recently ported Open Solaris to VM. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/17/solaris_on_mainframe/ Also, there's no such thing as pSeries Unix in the marketing nomenclature any more, it's now Power Systems, whose virtualization now supports AIX, System i or IBM i to use the the modern vernacular. Wikipedia is a pretty decent source for information on mainframe virtualization, right up until VM/XA where there are some things that need correcting, I just have not had the time yet. Actually Robin, while it’s true that the S/360 operating systems were written in Assembler, and much of the 370 operating systems, PL/X was already in use for some of the large and complex components.

It is also widely know that virtualization, as you know it on the mainframe today, was first introduced on the S/360 model-67. This was a “bastard child” of the S/360 processors that had virtual memory extensions. At that point, the precursor to VM/370 used on the S/360-67 was CP-67.

I think you’ll also find that IBM never demonstrated 40,000 Linux virtual machines on a single VM system, it was David Boyes of Sine Nomine, who also recently ported Open Solaris to VM. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/17/solaris_on_mainframe/

Also, there’s no such thing as pSeries Unix in the marketing nomenclature any more, it’s now Power Systems, whose virtualization now supports AIX, System i or IBM i to use the the modern vernacular.

Wikipedia is a pretty decent source for information on mainframe virtualization, right up until VM/XA where there are some things that need correcting, I just have not had the time yet.

]]> By: martin english http://www.thevirtualcircle.com/2008/10/virtualization-the-recession-and-the-mainframe/comment-page-1/#comment-604 martin english Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:50:26 +0000 http://havemacwillblog.com/?p=2575#comment-604 This type of consolidation does need more publicity, especially the "resource utilization in the “90% and above”". After all, we're talking about real money (let alone the green side of thing). One of the challeneges is the initial setup cost. A hosting company, for example, can start off with several large intel servers and start scaling out / up. Starting off with a Z Series machine (or even a P5xx) and the associated infrastructure seems a bit frightening in comparison. This type of consolidation does need more publicity, especially the “resource utilization in the “90% and above””. After all, we’re talking about real money (let alone the green side of thing).

One of the challeneges is the initial setup cost. A hosting company, for example, can start off with several large intel servers and start scaling out / up. Starting off with a Z Series machine (or even a P5xx) and the associated infrastructure seems a bit frightening in comparison.

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