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Why isn't Linux on the mainframe taking off? Mostly because it costs $75,000 per processor I'm guessing. Not including the rest of the mainframe. Plus support.
by spitfire 16y ago
Why isn't Linux on the mainframe taking off? Mostly because it costs $75,000 per processor I'm guessing.
Not including the rest of the mainframe. Plus support.
and you can't scale it in realtime.
Mainframes are absolutely fabulous creatures capable of amazing feats. But the culture/pricing around them has not kept up with the times. I wish it would have because a small mainframe would be a good choice for many purposes.
- jacques_chester 16y ago> and you can't scale it in realtime. What do you mean by this? You can't resize the images? Sure you can. You can't add more virtual servers quickly? Of course you can. I'm told by a mainframe-operator acquaintance that Linux on z/VM can spin up hundreds of instances per minute. You can't get the mainframe to run faster? Tosh. IBM generally oversupply you with CPU capacity; if you need more you can ring up and they will reconfigure them remotely to add CPU power. Other advantages: a zSeries mainframe is extremely reliable, IBM's service is expensive but extremely thorough and unlike other virtual server environments it enforces partitioning at a hardware level, and much more completely. No more mysterious performance variation due to bursty neighbours.