z/VM 5.3 SSL Server using Debian GNU/Linux

[z***@wowway.com]

Well, I guess this is a moot point anyway, since my method requires installing
sarge, and sarge is no longer installable.

I have confirmed that z/VM 5.4.0 no longer requires a virtual Linux server
to run the SSL server (SSLSERV virtual machine).
The SSL server under z/VM 5.4.0 runs under CMS, with some help from the
Byte File System and OpenExtensions.

--

[Adam Thornton]

Post by z***@wowway.com
Well, I guess this is a moot point anyway, since my method requires installing
sarge, and sarge is no longer installable.

To be fair, it wouldn't be that hard to build an SSL server that was
Etch-based.

However....

The black-box SSL packages that IBM ships are delivered as RPMs, and
it was just a lot less effort to build on a version of CentOS that
directly supported them than to mess around with it for 5.3.

To make matters worse, the fixes to it that have been released since
5.3 are 64-bit only, which is sort of a pain since the SSL server I
put together for 5.3 was Centos-4.4-31-bit-based. I haven't had the
time to update to a 64-bit build.

Post by z***@wowway.com
I have confirmed that z/VM 5.4.0 no longer requires a virtual Linux server
to run the SSL server (SSLSERV virtual machine).
The SSL server under z/VM 5.4.0 runs under CMS, with some help from the
Byte File System and OpenExtensions.

...and isn't actually available yet.

Adam

[z***@wowway.com]

Post by Adam Thornton
To be fair, it wouldn't be that hard to build an SSL server that was
Etch-based.

I didn't try etch, but I did try lenny, which at the time was using a
2.6.24 kernel, and vmsock wouldn't compile cleanly.

The officially supported distributions use a 2.6.5 kernel
for Suse and a 2.6.9 kernel for Redhat. Debian sarge has an optional
2.6.8 kernel, which is right in the middle. vmsock compiled fine with
Debian sarge using a 2.6.8 kernel.

Post by Adam Thornton
The black-box SSL packages that IBM ships are delivered as RPMs, and it was
just a lot less effort to build on a version of CentOS that directly
supported them than to mess around with it for 5.3.

Actually, for the 31-bit packages, alien worked just fine for converting
the rpm packages to deb packages. The only trouble was the "postinst"
script for gsk7bas, which alien doesn't convert without the -c switch.
Also, Debian doesn't like "chown" commands which try to change the owner
of a file to ":sys", which is not a valid userid on a Debian system. I
manually extracted the postinst script, edited it, and then executed it.

The 64-bit packages were another story. Alien doesn't recognize many of
the formats. I'll have to report that to the package maintainer for alien.
Also, with PTF UK40400 applied, the 64-bit packages appear to have been
compiled with a newer release of the c/c++ compiler than sarge's run-time
libraries support.

I do agree, though, that native deb packages would have been preferable.

Post by Adam Thornton
[z/VM 5.4.0] isn't actually available yet.

According to the announcement letter,
it's been available since September 12, 2008.
I ordered it myself online via ShopzSeries on October 29, 2008.
I haven't received the order yet though. It's status in the system is
"Submitted", not "Shipped".

--

[Adam Thornton]

Post by z***@wowway.com
According to the announcement letter,
it's been available since September 12, 2008.
I ordered it myself online via ShopzSeries on October 29, 2008.
I haven't received the order yet though. It's status in the system is
"Submitted", not "Shipped".

z/VM 5.4 is available. SSL support for it isn't yet.

Adam