Management of mainframe resources in pre-boot environment
Embodiments relate to systems and methods for the management of mainframe resources in a pre-boot environment. According to embodiments, a network management platform, for instance a platform equipped or compatible with pre-boot discovery and management tools such as the known pre-boot execution environment (PXE), can integrate a set of mainframe-based virtual machines using a pre-boot management engine. The pre-boot management engine can reside in or communicate with the mainframe operating system, and present a set of resources to the network management platform to allow the platform to include time-sliced or other virtual machines or resources, into the pre-boot protocol. According to embodiments, for instance, the set of virtual machines can be assigned temporary or pseudo media access control (MAC) or other hardware identifiers, so that the network management platform can view individual mainframe-based virtual machines as having a network connection and thereby receive similar boot commands to hardware-based client machines.
1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a processing device executing a pre-boot management engine via a network from a remote physical machine, a set of pseudo hardware-based identifiers comprising a set of pseudo media access control (MAC) addresses and representing a set of virtual machines hosted by the remote physical machine and managed on a time-sliced basis, wherein resources of the remote physical machine are available to each virtual machine in the set of virtual machines at a regular interval, and wherein the remote physical machine is without pre-boot management logic;
generating, by the processing device executing the pre-boot management engine, a set of pre-boot commands in view of the set of pseudo hardware-based identifiers, the pre-boot commands to control operation of the set of virtual machines prior to loading an operating system on the set of virtual machines; and
transmitting the set of pre-boot commands, via the network, to the remote physical machine hosting the set of virtual machines for execution by the set of virtual machines.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-boot management engine comprises a pre-boot management engine functionally compatible with a pre-boot execution environment (PXE) engine.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of pseudo hardware-based identifiers comprises at least one of a set of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, a set of virtual machine (VM) identifiers, or a virtual machine (VM) user ID.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of virtual machines comprises a set of virtual machines hosted via a mainframe platform.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network comprises at least the set of virtual machines and a set of hardware-implemented machines.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of pre-boot commands comprises at least one of a set of software configuration commands, a set of network configuration commands, or a set of security commands.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising initiating operation of the set of virtual machines via a native operating system of the set of virtual machines after completion of the set of pre-boot commands.
8. A system comprising:
a memory to store instructions for a pre-boot management engine;
an interface to a managed network that comprises a remote physical machine that is without pre-boot management logic, wherein the pre-boot management engine communicates with the managed network via the interface; and
a processor, operably connected to the memory, to execute the instructions for the pre-boot management engine, to:
establish a connection to the managed network via the interface,
receive, from the remote physical machine, a set of pseudo hardware-based identifiers comprising a set of pseudo media access control (MAC) addresses and representing a set of virtual machines hosted by the remote physical machine and managed on a time-sliced basis, where resources of the remote physical machine are available to each virtual machine in the set of virtual machines at a regular interval,
generate a set of pre-boot commands in view of the set of pseudo hardware-based identifiers, the pre-boot commands to control operation of the set of virtual machines prior to loading an operating system on the set of virtual machines, and
transmit the set of pre-boot commands, via the managed network, to the remote physical machine hosting the set of virtual machines for execution by the set of virtual machines.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the pre-boot management engine comprises a pre-boot management engine functionally compatible with a pre-boot execution environment (PXE) engine.
10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the set of pseudo hardware-based identifiers comprises at least one of a set of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, a set of virtual machine (VM) identifiers, or a virtual machine (VM) user ID.
11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the set of virtual machines comprises a set of virtual machines hosted via a mainframe platform.
12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the managed network comprises at least the set of virtual machines and a set of hardware-implemented machines.
13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the set of pre-boot commands comprises at least one of a set of software configuration commands, a set of network configuration commands, or a set of security commands.
14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the pre-boot management engine is further to initiate operation of the set of virtual machines via a native operating system of the set of virtual machines after completion of the set of pre-boot commands.
15. A system comprising:
a pre-boot management platform, communicatively connected to a remote physical machine hosting a set of virtual machines, the pre-boot management platform comprising a processing device, the processing device to:
provide a connection between a pre-boot management engine and the remote physical machine that is configured without pre-boot management logic;
receive, by the pre-boot management engine from the remote physical machine, a set of pseudo hardware-based identifiers comprising a set of pseudo media access control (MAC) addresses and representing the set of virtual machines hosted by the remote physical machine and managed on a time-sliced basis, where resources of the remote physical machine are available to each virtual machine in the set of virtual machines at a regular interval;
generate a set of pre-boot commands in view of the set of pseudo hardware-based identifiers, the pre-boot commands to control operation of the set of virtual machines prior to loading an operating system on the set of virtual machines; and
transmit the set of pre-boot commands, via a managed network, to the remote physical machine hosting the set of virtual machines for execution by the set of virtual machines.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the remote physical machine is configured without pre-boot management logic, and wherein the pre-boot management engine comprises a pre-boot management engine functionally compatible with a pre-boot execution environment (PXE) engine.
17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the set of pseudo hardware-based identifiers comprises at least one of a set of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, a set of virtual machine (VM) identifiers, or a virtual machine (VM) user ID.
18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the set of virtual machines comprises a set of virtual machines hosted via a mainframe platform.
19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the managed network further comprises a set of hardware-implemented machines.
20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the set of pre-boot commands comprises at least one of a set of software configuration commands, a set of network configuration commands, or a set of security commands.