Linux/VM: Getting Linux Running Under Hercules

Last updated on:
Sunday, July 06, 2008

Software

This information was originally posted to the Linux-390 mailing list on April 17, 2002, by Florian La Roche.

Install the hercules rpm from "utils/hercules":

        rpm -Uvh hercules-2.15-1.cvs.0.04.i386.rpm

Copy all config files from this dir into /etc/hercules:
```
        cp hercules.* /etc/hercules
```
Copy tapekrnl.img and tapeinrd.img from your s390/images download directory to your x86 Red Hat Linux machine and change the path in /etc/hercules/hercules.ins
Change the DNS and RPMSERVER lines in /etc/hercules/hercules.prm (you can skip this step, but you will have to type in the correct information later during the installation)
Create a harddisk (which is called DASD (direct access storage device) on mainframes):
```
        cd /etc/hercules
        dasdinit -z linux.120 3390-3 lin000
```

Start hercules:

        cd /etc/hercules
        ./hercules.init

Enter hercules commands and send text to Linux by putting a "." at the beginning of a line
"ipl" (initial program load) stands for booting on the mainframe and the hercules "ipl" command will use "/etc/hercules/hercules.ins" to start the Red Hat Linux install environment
On bootup the network is configured and telnetd/sshd are started. Now connect to your install environment and login as "root":
```
        telnet 192.168.200.3
```
Start the installation (default setup takes 5 1/2 hours on a 1800 MHz AMD):
```
        rhsetup
```
Restart hercules and enter the hercules command "ipl 120" to boot from your harddisk. The first time sshd starts, please be patient as it has to generate new keys. Maybe entropy is missing, so maybe start a "ping 192.168.200.3" from your x86 machine to generate some work/entropy on your mainframe.
Connect via ssh to your Red Hat Linux system:
```
        ssh root@192.168.200.3
```
Feel at home under your own mainframe Linux which is not that much different from a x86 Linux. :-)

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