IBM 990 - Manual (Page 258)

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zSeries 990 Technical Guide
z990 HMC enhancements
Here we discuss z990 HMC enhancements.
z990 HMC Integrated 3270 Console
For many users, particularly those new to zSeries and z/VM, the requirement to invest in
rather expensive console hardware such as the 2074 just have a z/VM console has been
seen as overkill. Thus, a solution for those users has been to lower the cost of acquisition by
offering an alternative solution. The integrated 3270 Console support meets that requirement.
On the HMC workspace, there is now an icon to open this 3270 window. It is designed for
production system use. One HMC at a time can use the function; however, there is support to
switch the function from one HMC to another. With the function, there is also a highly
customizable keyboard mapping support, to alleviate the ASCII-to-EBCDIC mapping. This
function uses the SCLP hardware interface to connect to the operating system, and support
for the function is planned for z/VM 4.4.
The Integrated 3270 Console support is also available on G5/G6 systems in Driver 26, and on
z800/z900 in Driver 3G.
z990 HMC Integrated ASCII Console support
As for the 3270 integrated console support, a similar requirement exists for customers
wishing to run Linux in a logical partition on a zSeries machine. The Integrated ASCII Console
support meets that requirement. One HMC at the time can use the function to have a Linux
terminal running, and there is support for switching the function from one HMC to another.
A code drop to Open Source for inclusion in the Linux kernel is planned for the near future.
The Integrated ASCII Console support is also available on G5/G6 systems in Driver 26 and
on z800/z900 in Driver 3G.
Optional “strict” password rules supported
To implement a more secure interface, a user can now, optionally, switch on a stricter
password rule set (the support is implemented as a check box in the user administration
function). With this function, there are also messages prompting for a new password when
the current password expires.
Enhanced logging facilities
With the more powerful processors, it can be expected that the amount of messages and logs
generated will be larger. To meet this requirement, the log files for both the HMC and the SE
has been expanded from 1.4 MB to 10 MB. There is also a usability change in handling the
SE log display; the IBM CE can now utilize user-defined names for the SE log file reader.
Increased “Console tasks performed” log
The “Console tasks performed” log can now contain the last 500 actions performed.
Customizable console data mirroring
Many of our large customers have a high availability requirement for their systems, including
the HMCs. To ease the “duplication” of console customization, IBM has implemented a “data
mirroring” function for the HMC setup. A user can now customize an HMC, and then
associate other HMCs in the configuration to the same customized data.
As a result, all associated HMCs will be started with the same data. (Earlier, that function
could only be achieved by copying the customers data to a diskette, and carrying that diskette
from one HMC to another.)