Working the Logic Vines

I was just installing Redhat Enterprise Linux 5.1 for S390x (64bit mainframe) platform. I did my usual custom configurations for the install to DASD and everything was looking good when I went to lunch. Anaconda was installing packages. Got back and Anaconda gui was gone, and the SSH session ended. The messages from the Linux starter system said you may safely reboot.... Great, I'll get this system up in no time. I went to IPL the volume and ZIPL loaded Linux and bam! PSW disabled wait code. Mmm. A root issue?

I tried the above install scenario again. This time, while watching and just as the post processing of the Anaconda install should have started, bam the gui went away, the SSH connection was terminated, and the starter Linux system went on like before about safely reboot...

I tried to IPL this volume and Bam! Right away, I got a PSW disabled wait even before the loader. Ah ha, ZIPL didn't work I said. I'll just manually ZIPL it.

I used another z/VM userid and mounted this volume to this Linux and discovered I was missing zipl.conf and other files. What the hey?

So I said what is up with Anaconda? 

Trying another logic path, I let everything default during the install. Anaconda did its thing all the way to post processing and running ZIPL (bootloader) with the nice message screen: installation complete with reboot button. And yes, the system booted just fine.

So, another go around found that Anaconda later chokes when I had changed up the DASD partitioning and LVM configuration from the default. 

However, for any newbie who might have been following some cookbook method of installing new Linuxes on the mainframe that involves their company installation standard and not the vendor's, you don't want to confuse them with bad QA on a release. 

Buyer beware, it could happen on any platform or OS vendor. My posts are about trying to make s390 platform Linux just about as easy as any other platform once you know how. In future posts, I will do just that with chapter dives into how to setup Linux on the mainframe for those that are new to this.