MVS Turnkey in Docker

Assumes that you already have Docker installed and running. If you don’t, you can find instructions here.

Depending on your configuration, you may have to sudo your docker commands.

Pull Ubuntu Image

Pull the latest Ubuntu image:

docker pull ubuntu

Verify image:

docker image list

Results should look something like this:

REPOSITORY   TAG       IMAGE ID       CREATED      SIZE
ubuntu       latest    597ce1600cf4   6 days ago   72.8MB

Create Container / Start a Shell

Create a container in the ubuntu image, and start a shell:

docker run --interactive --tty --name mvs_container ubuntu /bin/bash

(You can use any name you like. mvs_container is just an example.)

Get IP Address

Update your package list, install net-tools, run ifconfig, and note your IP address (you’ll need it later):

apt update
 
apt install net-tools
 
ifconfig

Retrieve the MVS Turnkey Archive

Change to /root, create a downloads directory, install wget, and retrieve the turnkey archive:

cd /root
 
mkdir downloads
 
cd downloads
 
apt install wget
 
wget https://wotho.ethz.ch/tk4-/tk4-_v1.00_current.zip

Install and Run MVS

Change to the /opt directory, create a mvs directory, install unzip, and then extract the turnkey archive into the mvs directory:

cd /opt
 
mkdir mvs
 
cd mvs
 
apt install unzip
 
unzip /root/downloads/tk4-_v1.00_current.zip

Turn on console mode:

cd unattended
 
./set_console_mode
 
cd ..

Start MVS:

./mvs

When the startup is complete:

You can open an instance of the x3270 terminal emulator, and connect to the running instance using the IP address you noted earlier. Detailed MVS operations instructions can be found here. (Just note that these instructions are for running on the Raspberry Pi, so adapt accordingly.)

After you complete your session and exit the container, you can return to it later:

docker start --interactive mvs_container