CHARON-AXP for Linux 64bit
VERSION 1.1 Build 129-04 (Production)
Release notes

Please review the Release Notes and refer to the User Manual before proceeding with installation of CHARON-AXP

1. Important HASP license dongle information

This release requires a license update. Stromasys may ask you to collect the state of your HASP license dongle and email it to them for th elicense update. The instructions will be provided with the request.

2. Products included in the CHARON-AXP for Linux 64bit version 1.1 build 129-04 release

In this document the term CHARON-AXP is used to refer to all the products below:

• CHARON-AXP/4100 for Linux 64bit
• CHARON-AXP/DS10 for Linux 64bit
• CHARON-AXP/DS20 for Linux 64bit
• CHARON-AXP/ES40 for Linux 64bit
• CHARON-AXP/GS80 for Linux 64bit
• CHARON-AXP/GS160 for Linux 64bit
• CHARON-AXP/GS320 for Linux 64bit

3. Supported software platforms

• Linux Fedora 15 64bit
• Linux Red Hat Enterprise 6 64bit

4. Hosting hardware recommendations

• The number of available (Intel or AMD) CPU cores in the hosting server should be at least  150% of the number of emulated AXP CPU cores
• The recommended number of available (Intel or AMD) CPU cores in the hosting server is twice the number of emulated AXP CPU cores
• Intel Xeon 566x, 567x, 5680, and Intel Core i7 980 CPUs are recommended for optimal CHARON-AXP performance for configurations with up to eight emulated AXP cores
• The Intel Xeon X7560 is recommended for optimal CHARON-AXP performance for configurations with eight and more emulated AXP cores
• Non-ECC DDR3 1600 MHz and 1333 MHz RAM is recommended for optimal CHARON-AXP performance

5. New functionality introduced in CHARON-AXP for Linux version 1.1 build 129-04

• The following license information could be updated without stopping CHARON-AXP: expiration date and backup time counter. This change allows CHARON evaluation or annual licenses to be updated "on the fly" to the permanent production licenses or to the next year annual licenses. Please notice that other CHARON configuration parameters should remain unchanged.
• Additional CHARON-AXP instances and products could be added to the license "on the fly".
• CHARON-AXP comes with the maximum amount of RAM allowed by emulated model. Please refer to the product SPDs for the details.
• All network connections have "Half Duplex 10BaseT" mode by default.

6. New functionality introduced in previous releases of CHARON-AXP for Linux

• New Alpha emulated models are added to CHARON-AXP/4100 product:
  • AlphaServer 800 (a single CPU Alphaserver)
  • AlphaServer 1000 (a single CPU Alphaserver)
  • AlphaServer 1000A (a single CPU Alphaserver)
  • AlphaServer 1200 (a dual CPU Alphaserver)
• All network connections have "Half Duplex 10BaseT" mode by default  (ID#3041)
• IDLE Utility is supported for single CPU Alpha emulators (ID#3087)
• Installation procedure installs the End User Agreement document to the "/doc" folder in .txt and .pdf formats (ID#3122)

7. Configuration changes required when upgrading from Windows platform or previous versions of CHARON-AXP to build 129-04

• A license update is required if upgrading from CHARON for Linux version 1.0 build 126-0x and before, or from CHARON for Windows version.
• Linux Xterm does not provide full finctionality of VT100 terminal by default. Please refer to tthe user manual for the details of setting up the mode for emulating VT100.
• CHARON-AXP configuration file should be reviewed. Windows specific configuration parameters (for example, network adapter references) should be changed to Linux specific parameters. Please refer to the user manual for details.
• root access is required for CHARON-AXP to function properly
• CHARON PCI Pass Through is not supported, hence direct access to SAN with physical Emulex HBAs and direct access to FDDI network with physical DEFPA adapters is not supported.
• The Tru64 kernel needs to be rebuilt for the emulated AS400 AXP model that is included in the CHARON-AXP/4100 product
• For the emulated network adapters the communication speed and mode should be set manually in the CHARON-AXP configuration file. Please refer to the User Manual for details.
• Please note that the actual network communication speed and mode is determined by the Linux network speed and mode settings. This configuration change is required to avoid network timeouts in VMS/Tru64 during negotiation phase 

8. Problems fixed in CHARON-AXP for Linux 64bit version 1.1 build 129-04/01

• "Auto Negotiation detected link down" message is reported on OpenVMS 7.2-1H1 (ID#2953)
• Failed to construct a ufs file system on physical drive during Tru64 5.1B installation (ID#2991)
• OpenVMS device error count is equal to 1 for virtual disks RZ22, RZ23 is thay have been created with the MKDISK utility (ID#3071)
• AS800 emulator does not perform the "power off" command properly (ID#3094)
• GS320 emulator is unable to boot any OS (VMS, Tru64) (ID#3125)
• AS800 emulator: incorrect required licenses units (ID#3090)
• Mode pages 3 and 4 is not implemened for SCSI CD-ROMs (ID#2983)

9. Known restrictions of CHARON-AXP for Linux 64bit version 1.1 build 129-04

• Layout of the right part of PC keyboard is not mapped to layout of VT100 keyboard by default. There is a workaround of this problem - usage of special script created by Geoff Kingsmill ( http://www.decuslib.com/decus/freewarev50/decxterm/decxterm ) . Run this script and in appearing xterm run CHARON-AXP normally according to instructions in the Users's Guide. (ID#3030)
• Telnet session to CHARON-AXP console ports does not support ESC sequences of VT100 by default. To enable it open xterm, connect to CHARON-AXP and press "Ctrl-]" once connected. Then issue a command "mode char" to enable character mode. If it is also required to map right part of the keyboard correctly use the xterm started by the Geoff Kingsmill script (see above). (ID#3030)
• Serial port (TTA) mapping does not work correctly if Tru64 is running on AXP emulators. In case of OpenVMS the emulators are free of this problem (ID#3133)
• On AS400 the "ERRFMT BUGCHECK" may appear while backuping an OpenVMS 6.2-1H3 boot disk  (ID#3123)
• "Host stoped respoding" message may be displayed if VT100 terminal works via LAT (ID#3124)
• DE500BA is not available under OpenVMS 6.2-1H3 on AS1200/AS4000/AS4100 (ID#3091)
• DE500BA device error count will be equal to 1 on OpenVMS 8.2/8.3 (ID#2963)
• Performance tests could hang VMS 6.2-1H3 on emulated AS400.
• CHARON-AXP modem communication sometimes may fail. This problem is under investigation. (ID#2642)
• Network speed auto negotiation works with some restrictions (see the table below). It is always recommended to use full duplex mode on the hosting server.
  

  Host settings	VMS (autodetect mode)	Tru64 (autodetect mode)
  1 Gbps full duplex	100 Mbps full duplex	100 Mbps full duplex
  1 Gbps half duplex	100 Mbps half duplex	100 Mbps half duplex
  100 Mbps full duplex	100 Mbps full duplex	100 Mbps full duplex
  100 Mbps half duplex	100 Mbps half duplex	100 Mbps half duplex
  10 Mbps full duplex	10 Mbps full duplex	10 Mbps full duplex
  10 Mbps half duplex	10 Mbps half duplex	10 Mbps half duplex

• The virtual Alpha firmware is designed to support a maximum of 48 devices.
• The firmware does not support the command recall using the up/down arrow keys.
• The VMS 7.x Monitor utility shows the maximum CPU quantity instead of actually configured quantity. It is a VMS 7.x restriction, and does not apply to VMS 8.x.
• Microsoft Windows for Alpha is not supported on CHARON-AXP
• Use of IDE is limited to ATAPI CDROM on the host machine. No iSCSI support is planned for IDE. UETP may produce  error messages if IDE emulation is used.
• Floppy disks are not supported.
• A Telnet session from OpenVMS running on emulated host freezes console output. The console output can hang when the virtual serial line sends XOFF/XON sequence. The TELNET client sends XOFF to the remote node's TELNET server to suspend output, but for unknown reason XON is discarded and remote node's TELNET server is unable to resume output. The console remains "frozen". As the remote site is not sending any output to it. When that happens, the local node is reachable over network, and can be unlocked by typing the 'break' character - usually "Ctrl-]" and exiting telnet session by typing "exit" at "TELNET>" prompt.
• Emacs hangs if the OPA0 console is used. Emacs works fine over an SSH connection.
• Please note that CHARON-AXP has not been tested with SAN attached storage volumes over 2TB in size.
• Tru64 temperature monitoring should be disabled. It could cause Tru64 version 5.x shutdown with the message: "system fan has failed, system is shutting down now". If installing Tru64 from scratch, do not install envmon package. If it is already installed, disable automatic startup by  booting into SINGE USER mode and issue the following command:
  rm -f /sbin/rc?.d/*envmon
  then "exit" (Ctrl-D) to multi user mode.

10. Distribution and Installation