Boscov's turns to Linuxcare for help running Linux on IBM mainframe

Computerworld - With a smaller IT staff and a flat IT budget because of corporate cutbacks, Reading, Pa.-based Boscov's Department Store wanted to more efficiently deploy Linux virtual servers on its underutilized IBM zSeries mainframe.
After first trying to set up the virtual servers himself, programmer Rob Schwartz found that installing a copy of SuSE Linux on each virtual server on the mainframe wasted large amounts of memory and disk space. He figured that using read-only file sharing would solve the resource problems, but setting up such a system was difficult.
Meanwhile, Joe Poole, Boscov's technical support manager, heard about Levanta 2.0 from San Francisco-based Linuxcare Inc. at an IT conference and signed up to be a beta tester. The vendor had touted the software's ability to help Boscov's run its virtual Linux servers without a massive reconfiguration.
Using Levanta, Boscov's set up the mainframe with about two dozen virtual Linux servers sharing binaries and executables, Schwartz said. On Boscov's machine, the virtual servers replace a host of former Windows NT servers, including 11 production boxes, 10 test boxes and several others still under development.
Poole said the regional department store chain has saved money on hardware and IT staff by using Linux on the mainframe with Levanta. "To bring in new server instances [as needed] costs no more money once you have this equipment," Poole said. Schwartz is the only Boscov's IT staffer running the company's Linux environment, he noted.
One important feature of Levanta 2.0 is that Schwartz can configure the Linux instances with specific rights for other IT workers in the company, meaning they can perform their work without having full access to the mainframe, Poole said. "It gives [Schwartz] control to give control to others," Poole said.
Pricing for Levanta 2.0 for a z/900 mainframe begins at $100,000 per IFL (Integrated Facility for Linux). The application can run the Red Hat Linux 7.2 or SuSE Linux Enterprise Server operating systems for the virtual servers.
Levanta runs atop the mainframe's IBM z/VM operating system, making it possible for IT workers with little z/VM expertise to quickly configure and run the virtual Linux servers, said John Phelps, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn. "You could do it on your own, but it would take you a lot more work," he said. "Linux on the mainframe is growing in use among mainframe users."
Stephen O'Grady, an analyst at RedMonk in Bath, Maine, said the solution fits the needs of many companies today, especially if they already have the hardware in their shops. "Within many, many enterprises, they have tremendous capacity sitting around on a mainframe that's not currently being tapped," O'Grady said. "They can solve both of those problems in one fell swoop. We do think it's an approach that does have some legs."