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Re: Re: zLinux/s390 Linux on Hercules
by Tony Harminc
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On 9 February 2011 14:10, hec.tor1 <hec.tor1@...> wrote:
> I guess what I'd like to know is whether these kernel modules and tools take advantage of the processor features that have been implemented in Hercules. Will it run the OS and applications fault-tolerantly? Will there be memory checks for data integrity? Other checks for data integrity?
Perhaps I'm not understanding your questions, but I think it should be
clear that an emulator like Hercules does not attempt to derive fault
tolerance in its emulated machine from underlying non-fault-tolerant
hardware and software, such as the Intel machines it typically runs
on.
The real IBM hardware has a great deal of fault tolerance, and to
exploit some of that requires help and support from the guest
operating system. Hercules emulates some very small parts of those
interfaces, but most of the faul tolerant stuff is not architected (or
to be more accurate, is not part of the IBM published architecture).
So while there are all sorts of interesting public documents out there
on how IBM's machines work internally to avoid and/or recover from
errors, there are no interface specs for much of it.
Again, I'm not sure what you are interested in learning about, or what
your technical background is. Certainly it won't hurt to read the
Principles of Operation book(s), and if you are fairly new to this,
then I'd start with the earlier ones, i.e. S/370, and then work up.
It's hard to plunge into a 1000 page book, but the earlier 100ish page
ones are doable.
You might also want to look at some of the SHARE presentations by
people like IBM's Bob Rogers. He concentrates mostly on performance,
but occasionally touches on reliability and recovery. A recent one
that is still not locked up is at
http://share.confex.com/share/115/webprogram/Handout/Session7534/How%20do%20you%20do%20what%20you%20do%20when%20youre%20a%20z10%20CPU.pdf
and the even newer
http://share.confex.com/share/116/webprogram/Handout/Session9063/How%20do%20you%20do%20when%20youre%20a%20z196%20CPU.pdf
There is also a related one by David Bond, of TachyonSoft fame:
http://www.tachyonsoft.com/s8192db.pdf
And there have been some very good articles on much of this published
over the years in the IBM Systems Journal, and the IBM Journal of
Research & Development. Unfortunately IBM in its wisdom, stopped
allowing free public access to these journals a year or more ago, but
you can find them at university libraries, and in some cases online.
Tony H.
> I guess what I'd like to know is whether these kernel modules and tools take advantage of the processor features that have been implemented in Hercules. Will it run the OS and applications fault-tolerantly? Will there be memory checks for data integrity? Other checks for data integrity?
Perhaps I'm not understanding your questions, but I think it should be
clear that an emulator like Hercules does not attempt to derive fault
tolerance in its emulated machine from underlying non-fault-tolerant
hardware and software, such as the Intel machines it typically runs
on.
The real IBM hardware has a great deal of fault tolerance, and to
exploit some of that requires help and support from the guest
operating system. Hercules emulates some very small parts of those
interfaces, but most of the faul tolerant stuff is not architected (or
to be more accurate, is not part of the IBM published architecture).
So while there are all sorts of interesting public documents out there
on how IBM's machines work internally to avoid and/or recover from
errors, there are no interface specs for much of it.
Again, I'm not sure what you are interested in learning about, or what
your technical background is. Certainly it won't hurt to read the
Principles of Operation book(s), and if you are fairly new to this,
then I'd start with the earlier ones, i.e. S/370, and then work up.
It's hard to plunge into a 1000 page book, but the earlier 100ish page
ones are doable.
You might also want to look at some of the SHARE presentations by
people like IBM's Bob Rogers. He concentrates mostly on performance,
but occasionally touches on reliability and recovery. A recent one
that is still not locked up is at
http://share.confex.com/share/115/webprogram/Handout/Session7534/How%20do%20you%20do%20what%20you%20do%20when%20youre%20a%20z10%20CPU.pdf
and the even newer
http://share.confex.com/share/116/webprogram/Handout/Session9063/How%20do%20you%20do%20when%20youre%20a%20z196%20CPU.pdf
There is also a related one by David Bond, of TachyonSoft fame:
http://www.tachyonsoft.com/s8192db.pdf
And there have been some very good articles on much of this published
over the years in the IBM Systems Journal, and the IBM Journal of
Research & Development. Unfortunately IBM in its wisdom, stopped
allowing free public access to these journals a year or more ago, but
you can find them at university libraries, and in some cases online.
Tony H.
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