Chapter 20. Booting (IPL) the Installer

The steps to perform the initial boot (IPL) of the installer depend on the environment (either z/VM or LPAR) in which Red Hat Enterprise Linux will run. For more information on booting, see the Booting Linux chapter in Linux on System z Device Drivers, Features, and Commands on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

20.1. Installing Under z/VM

When installing under z/VM, you can boot from:
  • the z/VM virtual reader
  • a DASD or an FCP-attached SCSI device prepared with the zipl boot loader
  • an FCP-attached SCSI DVD drive
Log on to the z/VM guest virtual machine chosen for the Linux installation. You can use x3270 or c3270 (from the x3270-text package in Red Hat Enterprise Linux) to log in to z/VM from other Linux systems. Alternatively, use the 3270 terminal emulator on the IBM System z Hardware Management Console (HMC). If you are working from a machine with a Windows operating system, Jolly Giant (http://www.jollygiant.com/) offers an SSL-enabled 3270 emulator. A free native Windows port of c3270 called wc3270 also exists.

Note

If your 3270 connection is interrupted and you cannot log in again because the previous session is still active, you can replace the old session with a new one by entering the following command on the z/VM logon screen: 
logon user here
Replace user with the name of the z/VM guest virtual machine. Depending on whether an external security manager, for example RACF, is used, the logon command might vary.
If you are not already running CMS (single user operating system shipped with z/VM) in your guest, boot it now by entering the command: 
#cp ipl cms
Be sure not to use CMS disks such as your A disk (often device number 0191) as installation targets. To find out which disks are in use by CMS use the following query: 
query disk
You can use the following CP (z/VM Control Program, which is the z/VM hypervisor) query commands to find out about the device configuration of your z/VM guest virtual machine:
  • Query the available main memory, which is called storage in System z terminology. Your guest should have at least 512 megabytes of main memory. 
    cp query virtual storage
  • Query available network devices of type:
    osa
    OSA (CHPID type OSD, real or virtual (VSWITCH or GuestLAN type QDIO), both in QDIO mode)
    hsi
    HiperSockets (CHPID type IQD, real or virtual (GuestLAN type Hipers))
    lcs
    LCS (CHPID type OSE)
    For example, to query all of the network device types mentioned above: 
    cp query virtual osa
  • Query available DASDs. Only those that are flagged RW for read-write mode can be used as installation targets: 
    cp query virtual dasd
  • Query available FCP channels: 
    cp query virtual fcp

20.1.1. Using the z/VM Reader

Perform the following steps to boot from the z/VM reader:
  1. If necessary, add the device containing the z/VM TCP/IP tools to your CMS disk list. For example: 
    cp link tcpmaint 592 592
acc 592 fm
    Replace fm with any FILEMODE letter.
  2. Execute the command: 
    ftp host
    Where host is the hostname or IP address of the FTP server that hosts the boot images (kernel.img and initrd.img).
  3. Log in and execute the following commands. Use the (repl option if you are overwriting existing kernel.img, initrd.img, generic.prm, or redhat.exec files: 
    cd /location/of/install-tree/images/
ascii 
get generic.prm (repl 
get redhat.exec (repl 
locsite fix 80 
binary 
get kernel.img (repl 
get initrd.img (repl 
quit
  4. Optionally check whether the files were transferred correctly by using the CMS command filelist to show the received files and their format. It is important that kernel.img and initrd.img have a fixed record length format denoted by F in the Format column and a record length of 80 in the Lrecl column. For example: 
    VMUSER FILELIST A0 V 169 Trunc=169 Size=6 Line=1 Col=1 Alt=0
Cmd Filename Filetype Fm Format Lrecl Records Blocks Date Time
 REDHAT EXEC B1 V 22 1 1 4/15/10 9:30:40
 GENERIC PRM B1 V 44 1 1 4/15/10 9:30:32
 INITRD IMG B1 F 80 118545 2316 4/15/10 9:30:25
 KERNEL IMG B1 F 80 74541 912 4/15/10 9:30:17
    Press PF3 to quit filelist and return to the CMS prompt.
  5. Finally execute the REXX script redhat.exec to boot (IPL) the installer: 
    redhat

20.1.2. Using a Prepared DASD

Boot from the prepared DASD and select the zipl boot menu entry referring to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installer. Use a command of the following form: 
cp ipl DASD device number loadparm boot_entry_number
Replace DASD device number with the device number of the boot device, and boot_entry_number with the zipl configuration menu for this device. For example: 
cp ipl eb1c loadparm 0

20.1.3. Using a Prepared FCP-attached SCSI Disk

Perform the following steps to boot from a prepared FCP-attached SCSI disk:
  1. Configure the SCSI boot loader of z/VM to access the prepared SCSI disk in the FCP storage area network. Select the prepared zipl boot menu entry referring to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installer. Use a command of the following form: 
    cp set loaddev portname WWPN lun LUN bootprog boot_entry_number
    Replace WWPN with the WWPN of the storage system and LUN with the LUN of the disk. The 16-digit hexadecimal numbers must be split into two pairs of eight digits each. For example: 
    cp set loaddev portname 50050763 050b073d lun 40204011 00000000 bootprog 0
  2. Optionally, confirm your settings with the command: 
    query loaddev
  3. IPL the FCP device connected with the storage system containing the disk with the command: 
    cp ipl FCP_device
    For example: 
    cp ipl fc00

20.1.4.  Using an FCP-attached SCSI DVD Drive

This requires a SCSI DVD drive attached to an FCP-to-SCSI bridge which is in turn connected to an FCP adapter in your System z. The FCP adapter must be configured and available under z/VM.
  1. Insert your Red Hat Enterprise Linux for System z DVD into the DVD drive.
  2. Configure the SCSI boot loader of z/VM to access the DVD drive in the FCP storage area network and specify 1 for the boot entry on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux for System z DVD. Use a command of the following form: 
    cp set loaddev portname WWPN lun FCP_LUN bootprog 1
    Replace WWPN with the WWPN of the FCP-to-SCSI bridge and FCP_LUN with the LUN of the DVD drive. The 16-digit hexadecimal numbers must be split into two pairs of eight characters each. For example: 
    cp set loaddev portname 20010060 eb1c0103 lun 00010000 00000000 bootprog 1
  3. Optionally, confirm your settings with the command: 
    cp query loaddev
  4. IPL on the FCP device connected with the FCP-to-SCSI bridge. 
    cp ipl FCP_device
    For example: 
    cp ipl fc00