VM at MIT

IBM's VM operating system (VM for short) is used around the world by over nine million people every day (whether they know it or not). It is also used here at MIT to run some of our "mission critical" applications. Note that VM has evolved beyond VM/ESA (the version in use at MIT). The latest version of this technology is known as z/VM and supports virtual machines on IBM's z Series 900 platform (formerly known as S/390).

VM - What is it?

VM is a modern time-sharing system running at a number of sites around the world. It is based on the concept of Virtual Machines; each VM user works in an environment which simulates (hence the term 'virtual'), and provides the full power of, a System/390 CPU (hence the term 'machine'). VM users also have powerful advanced software development tools available, such as the ReXX scripting language, the CMS Pipes facility, and the DB2/VM database system

VM & Linux

The lastest development in VM is that it now supports Linux!!! That's rght - you can now run hundreds of full-function virtual Linux servers on a single properly configuredS/390 or z Series 900. There is even an entire web site devoted to Linux running under VM!

VM complies with the following industry standards:

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE®) Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX®) 1003.1 system interfaces and applicable Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS 151)
• POSIX 1003.2 Shell and Utilities
• POSIX 1003.1 C Threading
• The Open Software Foundation's(TM) (OSF(TM)) Distributed Computing Environment (DCE(TM)).

VM & Hardware

VM is an extremely scalable operating system. It runs on the full range of S/390 hardware - from desktop units, to traditional regrigerator-sized mainframes.

Where else is it used?

VM at other sites

VM is in use at a number of sites around the world:

• What VM customers and consultants say about VM/ESA
• Who else runs webservers on VM?
• Surprise! Running Linux under VM is an idea whose time has come!

Some interesting things are happening with mainframe operating systems these days:

• IBM's Linux for S/390 Web Page
• Forbes ASAP features S/390 (VM) customers in Bigiron.com
• S/390 Featured in INFORMATIONWEEK
• Carl Zeiss Completes Six-Month R/3 Implementation On IBM System/390 Platform

How is it used at MIT?

VM at MIT

Although most of MIT's enterprise-wide applications have migrated to other platforms, we still use VM to run the following mission-critical administrative applications, including:

The CAO Application	Admissions	Payroll
Pension	$SumMIT

The MIT community also uses the following VM applications :

ADSM	Desktop Computer Archiving, Backup, and Restore
LISTSERV	Dynamic Management of Electronic Mailing Lists

We actually run two VM systems (MITVMA and MITVMC) on a single partitioned IBM System/390 9121/570 processor in the W91 data center. Documentation is available for both systems.

Of course we aren't the only site running VM - there are many others!

VM & MITNet

MIT's VM systems are not isolate - they participate in the Institute's distributed, client/server computing environment via telnet (tn3270), ftp, smtp, finger, and the world wide web. We have been serving web pages via the MITVMA webserver and the MITVMC webserver since December 1994 and January 1996 respectively.

Departments or individuals interested in using VM should contact the IS Help Desk at X3-1101 or send email to usracct@mitvma.mit.edu.

Other VM Links:

• Software available on VM
• CMS-PIPELINES List
• Documentation
• IBM
• IBM's ReXX Home Page
• IBM's DB2/VM (formerly SQL/DS) Home Page
• IBM's VM/ESA Home Page
• IBM's System 390 Home Page
• LINUX-390 List
• LinuxVM.org
• Melinda Varian's Home Page
• SHARE (an organization for users of IBM systems)
• VM Workshop
• VM-Related LIsts at Marist
• VMESA-L List Archives

MIT Related Links:

• MIT.
• Information Systems
• I/T Service Process
• VM Systems Services Team
• Database Services Team
• Comments

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Last modified: December 10, 2001