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by TallGuyShort 4577 days ago
... then you must enjoy this classic: http://www.coboloncogs.org/INDEX.HTM

I've toyed with the idea of setting up mainframes-as-a-service. I would probably just run the various Linux distributions running inside Hercules and abstract it away as cleanly as possible. You'd never get the performance or capacity, but you'd get a cheap, easy emulation for coding and small-scale testing. It's been a while since I had time for a side-project but I'd still love to work on this.
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aus_ 4577 days ago
This isn't actually too far fetched. IBM has a product called Rational Developer and Test Environment for System z[0] which allows you to run z/OS or any other s390 architecture in their hypervisor. Think of it as an enterprise version of Hercules that runs the latest version mainframe software. (Hercules can but licensing prevents this.) You could then essentially build a real "mainframe-as-a-service" (as you said) by deploying a Linux VM that has RDT installed and configured. Mainframe developers can spin up their VMs for on-demand dev and QA enivornments.

I know, because I am the system programmer who set this up internally at my company.

[0]: http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/ratideveandtesten...

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bri3d 4577 days ago
I don't think IBM would license RDT for use as a mainframe-as-a-service, so Hercules would be just as illegal (and probably easier to set up).
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aus_ 4577 days ago
You're right. They would never allow you to create a business out of offering mainframe-as-a-service. But internally, offering this service to your developers in a large enterprise is feasible.
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