Chapter 10. Communicating in a Virtual Environment

In a large server farm environment, server-to-server communication is crucial. In stand-alone server environments, this is done with a physical network, real cabling, routers, and associated hardware. Acquisition and operational costs are involved, and as the size of the environment grows, so does its complexity.

A unique communication method available in z/VM involves using the memory bus to implement the communication paths. The memory bus replaces hardware cables, and memory-to-memory transfer replaces hardware adapters.

In this chapter, we explore these questions:

• What communication methods are there for Linux on the mainframe?

• How can a virtual network reduce complexity and cost for server farms?

• How is security improved by using virtual networks for Linux servers?