ctrl-alt-del activity set to reboot on s390 does not reboot

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12

Situation

On s390x the command 'SIGNAL SHUTDOWN' from zVM produces the equivalent of a Ctrl-Alt-Del on the console.

In YaST --> Security and Users --> Security Center and Hardening --> Boot Settings the "Interpretation of Ctrl-Alt-Del" can be set to 'ignore', 'reboot' or 'halt'.

When 'reboot is selected on s390x the system doesn't reboot, instead 'SIGNAL SHUTDOWN' results in a clean shutdown.

Resolution

SIGNAL SHUTDOWN is working as designed. When a SHUTDOWN signal is sent it means the z/VM is going down and all guests need to shut themselves down as well or the command can also be issued for an individual guest to shut down.
It was never meant to be used any other way, although in previous versions Ctrl-Alt-Del in /etc/inittab used 'shutdown -r' instead of 'shutdown -h' and rebooted instead.

Disclaimer

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