z/VM 4.2 reached end of service (EOS) on December 31, 2003. The z114
machine model was introduced in 2011, nearly 8 years later. Given that
reality, IBM won't even offer an opinion on whether z/VM 4.2 functions on a
z114, never mind test it or support it.

To answer a question you didn't ask, the most recent mainframe model that
supported z/VM 4.2 during that release's support lifecycle was, according
to my quick research anyway, the z990. The z890 was introduced after z/VM
4.2 reached EOS, though my understanding is that a z/VM Lifecycle Extension
support option was available (in the past) to cover the z890 when that
model was introduced. If you're looking at helping with a migration (to a
supported z/VM release) but need to run z/VM 4.2 as part of the migration
for a (hopefully) short period of time, then you could consider obtaining a
small used z990 machine for example -- or access to one -- to help you
facilitate the migration. You'll need to look at the 2084DEVICE PSP bucket,
and I think this is it (or some of it):

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1_2084DEVICE_2084Z-VM

You may also need to contact IBM to inquire about z/VM licensing.

This'll be without IBM support, but at least you could choose a particular
operating system and hardware model combination that IBM actually did
support in the past. Unfortunately z/VM 6.3, the latest z/VM release as I
write this, won't run on the same physical machine. However, z/VM 5.4 is
still supported and is compatible with z990 (and z900, z890, z800) model
machines. So one migration approach would be to use an older model machine
for as brief a period of time as possible to migrate from z/VM 4.2 to z/VM
5.4 on the same machine (step 1), bring the z/VM 5.4 environment over to
the new machine (step 2) -- at the completion of step 2 you'll be in a
fully IBM supported environment -- then finally upgrade to the latest z/VM
release (step 3). z/VM 5.4 will not reach its EOS until at least December
31, 2016, so you have some time for step 3.

The z990 (at least) and the newest mainframe models (as I write this) can
be physically attached to the same storage units, at least in certain
configurations, and such an arrangement could be useful in migration
scenarios. That particular technology gap has not yet opened too wide, but
only barely.

Hope that helps.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy Sipples
IT Architect Executive, zEnterprise Industry Solutions, AP/GCG/MEA
E-Mail: [email protected]
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