Overview of the VMADMIN Command
| Note: Use of this facility requires an unmodified z/VM system and was provided primarily as a migration tool for Virtual Image Facility (VIF) customers. |
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July 26, 2005 The System Administration Facility tools that were added in z/VM V4.2 to help ease migration from the IBM S/390(R) Virtual Image Facility(TM) to z/VM V4.2 are not included with z/VM V5.2. Some of the same functionality may be obtained through the z/VM Systems Management APIs, first introduced in z/VM V4.4. |
The heart of the System Administration Facility is the VMADMIN command interface. This command interface is initialized by issuing the VMADMCTL START command after you have installed VM. Using this interface requires an unmodified z/VM system. Modifications include changes such as device definitions, system configuration, and user directory statements, or any other changes made after installing your z/VM system. For more information about installing z/VM, refer to the publication:
- z/VM V4.4: z/VM: Installation/Service Summary
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Note:
IBM intends to withdraw the System Administration Facility from a future release of z/VM. Customers using the System Administration Facility to create and manage Linux server images as guests of z/VM should start using other systems management facilities of z/VM, write a client application using the Systems Management APIs introduced in z/VM V4.4, or acquire a system management application from an IBM solution provider. Documentation is available in the System Administration Facility publication, SC24-6034, but this publication will not be included in the z/VM V5.1 library. All statements regarding IBM's plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice. |
The VMADMIN Client Interfaces
The System Administration Facility allows you to manage your system using one of two client interfaces: a CMS client or a Linux client. This client interface establishes who is authorized to perform system administration functions and allows you to issue commands using that client. If commands arrive at the System Administration Server Machine from sources other than the authorized client, they will be rejected. Choose your client interface to match the environment where you feel most comfortable (CMS or Linux).
VMADMIN Commands
The VMADMIN commands allow you to manage your system paging space, create new Linux images, maintain existing images, manage your Linux network and manage the VMADMIN server. The general syntax of the VMADMIN command is:
Complete details of the commands can be found in z/VM System Administration Facility.
The following is a summary of VMADMIN operands and functions:
| Operand | Function | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Help | Displays a list of valid commands or information about a particular VMADMIN operand | |
| IMAGE | CREATE | Defines a new image |
| DELETE | Removes a Linux image | |
| NETWORK | Adds or deletes network devices | |
| SET | Changes the storage size, the number of processors, the boot device, or password | |
| START | Activates and boots a Linux image | |
| STOP | Terminates a Linux image | |
| STOPALL | Terminates all the Linux images on the system | |
| PARTITION | COPY | Adds a partition and initializes its contents from another partition |
| CREATE | Adds a partition | |
| DELETE | Removes a partition | |
| INITIALIZE | Initializes a partition for use | |
| SHARE | Allows one Linux image read-only access to the partition of another Linux image | |
| SWAP | Interchanges the device numbers of two partitions | |
| QUERY | ACTIVE | Reports which Linux images are running |
| ALL | Invokes all functions of the Query command | |
| BOOT | Reports when the VMADMIN server was booted | |
| CLIENTIPADDRESS | Displays the client IP address | |
| CONFIGURATION | Displays the current configuration settings | |
| ERRORS | Indicates whether there are hardware errors to report | |
| IMAGE | Displays the configuration of a Linux image | |
| LEVEL | Reports the level of the VMADMIN server | |
| NETWORK | Displays the network configuration | |
| PAGING | Displays the paging space in use and the effective amount of server paging space available | |
| PARTITIONS | Displays DASD utilization information | |
| PERFORMANCE | Displays the current performance levels of the system | |
| SHARED | Displays the names of the images that share partitions | |
| VOLUMES | Displays the image and paging DASD volume's volume ID and device number | |
| SERVER | CLIENTIPADDRESS | Sets the IP address for the Linux client |
| COLLECT | Gathers problem determination information | |
| ECHO | Verifies connectivity with the VMADMIN server | |
| ERRORS | Creates a report of hardware errors | |
| EXPORT | Creates a backup of the system configuration | |
| IMPORT | Restores a backup of the system configuration | |
| INSTALL | Replaces the Linux installation configuration file and the files it references | |
| NETWORK | Adds, changes or deletes server or internal network connections or the server gateway | |
| RESTART | Restarts the VMADMIN server | |
| SHUTDOWN | Shuts down the VMADMIN server | |
| VERIFY | Performs consistency checks of the System Administration Facility environment | |
| VOLUME | Adds or deletes paging or image DASD volumes, reports utilization or initializes a new volume |