Installation guide

Chapter 19. Sample Parameter Files
The IBM System z architectures use a special parameter file to set up networking before the
installation program (an aco n d a) can be started. This section describes the contents of the
parameter file.
The parameter file has a limit of 32 total parameters. To accommodate limitations of the parameter
files, a new configuration file on a CMS DASD should be used to configure the initial network setup
and the DASD specification. The .parm file should contain the real kernel parameters, such as
root=/dev/ram0 ro ip=off ramdisk_size=40000, and single parameters which are not
assigned to variables, such as vnc. Two new parameters which point the installation program at the
new configuration file need to be added to the .parm file. They are CMSDASD and CMSCONF .
CMSDASD=cmsdasd_address
Where cmsdasd_address represents the list of the device ID of the CMS D ASD device which
contains the configuration file. This is usually the CMS user's 'A' disk. This option is
applicable only for users who have a CMS formatted disk (z/VM) available.
For example: CMSDASD=191
CMSCONFFILE=configuration_file
Where configuration_file represents the name of the configuration file. This value must be
specified in lower case. It is specified in a Linux style file name format. The CMS file REDHAT
CONF is specified as redhat.conf. This option is applicable only for users who have a
CMS formatted disk (z/VM) available.
For example: CMSCONFFILE=redhat.conf
DASD=dasd-list
Where dasd-list represents the list of DASD devices to be used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Although automatic probing for DASDs is done if this parameter is omitted, it is highly
recommended to include the DASD= parameter, as the device numbers (and therefore the
device names) can vary when a new D ASD is added to the guest. This can result in an
unusable system.
For example: DASD=0.0.0100,0.0201-0.0.0204
The following parameters are required to set up networking:
SUBCHANNELS=
Provides required device bus IDs for the various network interfaces.
qeth: SUBCHANNELS="read_device_bus_id,write_device_bus_id,
data_device_bus_id"
lcs: SUBCHANNELS="read_device_bus_id,write_device_bus_id"
Due to the length of the qeth command line, it has been broken into two lines.
⁠Chapt er 1 9 . Sample Paramet er Files
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