2.1. Supported Hardware

2.1. Supported Hardware
	Chapter 2. System Requirements

Ubuntu does not impose hardware requirements beyond the requirements of the Linux kernel and the GNU tool-sets. Therefore, any architecture or platform to which the Linux kernel, libc, gcc, etc. have been ported, and for which an Ubuntu port exists, can run Ubuntu.

Rather than attempting to describe all the different hardware configurations which are supported for S/390, this section contains general information and pointers to where additional information can be found.

2.1.1. Supported Architectures

Ubuntu 20.04 supports six major architectures and several variations of each architecture known as “flavors”. One other architecture (IBM/Motorola PowerPC) has an unofficial port.

Architecture	Ubuntu Designation	Subarchitecture	Flavor
Intel x86-based	i386
AMD64 & Intel 64	amd64
ARM with hardware FPU	armhf	multiplatform	generic
ARM with hardware FPU	armhf	multiplatform for LPAE-capable systems	generic-lpae
64bit ARM	arm64
IBM POWER Systems	ppc64el	IBM POWER8 and newer machines
IBM z/Architecture	s390x	IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE, no s390 (31-bit mode) support	zEC12 and newer machines

2.1.2. IBM Z and LinuxONE systems

The current product family name of the s390x architecture is IBM Z or the Linux-only variant IBM LinuxONE. Older and in between outdated names like z Systems, System z or zSeries can still be found, and the 64-bit IBM z/Architecture is sometimes still commonly referred to as S/390.

For Ubuntu the machine needs to support the z/Architecture. So 64-bit support is mandatory, means Kernel and userland are 64-bit and there is no 31-bit support. The minimal architectural level for Ubuntu support is IBM Z EC12/BC12 or IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper/Emperor, hence older systems (like z196) will not work or even boot. S/390 support software is included from the kernel 4.2 development stream. The most current information about IBM's Linux support can be found at the Linux on IBM Z and LinuxONE® page at developerWorks.

2.1.3. PAV and HyperPAV

PAV and HyperPAV are supported transparently for DASD storage; multipathing is not needed to take advantage of these storage system features. Be sure to configure the devices during DASD device selection. The alias devices will not be offered neither for formatting, partitioning nor direct use.

2.1.4. Multiple Processors

Multiprocessor support — also called “symmetric multiprocessing” or SMP — is available for this architecture. Having multiple processors in a computer was originally only an issue for high-end server systems but has become common in recent years nearly everywhere with the introduction of so called “multi-core” processors. These contain two or more processor units, called “cores”, in one physical chip.

The standard Ubuntu 20.04 kernel image has been compiled with SMP support. It is also usable on non-SMP systems without problems.

2.1.5. Network Connectivity Hardware

Almost any network interface card (NIC) supported by the Linux kernel should also be supported by the installation system; drivers should normally be loaded automatically.

The list of supported network devices is:

Channel to Channel (CTC)
OSA-Express in QDIO mode, HiperSockets and Guest-LANs
RoCE Expresss, SMC-R adapter

2.1.6. Disk Storage on S/390

The S/390 platform provides two unique storage types:

DASD

DASDs (Direct Attached Storage Devices) are Enhanced Count Key Data (ECKD) encoded, FICON-attached devices and belong to the CCW (channel command word) IO-layer that is unique to s390x. They are available in different types, like the common types 3390-3 (or Model 3), 3390-9 (or Model 9), 3390-27 (or Model 27), 3390-54 (or Model 54), or others. The DASD block size is 4096 bytes (4KB) and they support up to 3 partitions per volume.

FCP

FCP (Fiber Channel Protocol, also known as zfcp) devices are SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) disk storage devices that are attached using the Fiber Channel Protocol (FCP), use a 512-byte Fixed Block Architecture (FBA) encoding and also belong to the CCW IO-layer. These SCSI (over-FCP) devices can be defined in any size (up to 2TB) at the storage subsystem and support up to 15 partitions per volume.

	Note
	z/VM supports FCP devices as “emulated devices”, or in short “EDEV”. In this case SCSI disks are configured as disk units of type DASD 9336 FBA. For more details see the IBM z/VM documentation.

2.1.7. Peripherals and Other Hardware

Package installations from XPRAM and tape are not supported by this system. All packages that you want to install need to be available on a DASD, FCP LUN or over the network using HTTP or FTP (recommended).


Chapter 2. System Requirements		2.2. Installation Media