Possible values of the parameter are strings in one of the following forms:

• Physical disk

  •  "\\.\PhysicalDrive<X>", where X is 0, 1, … 
    Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON VM by mistake. 
    These disks must not be formatted by the host OS. 
    Example:

    set PKA container[0]="\\.\PhysicalDrive1"

    .

• Physical disk by its WWID 

  • "\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID=XXX-...-XXXX)"
    

    Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON VM by mistake.

    These disks must not be formatted by the host OS.

    DevID addresses the target physical disk by its WWID (hexadecimal 128-bit identifier assigned to the disk drive by its manufacturer/originator).

    Example:

    Div class small set PKA container[100]="\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID=6008-05F3-0005-2950-BF8E-0B86-A0C7-0001)"

    .The WWID values can be obtained from "Host Device Check" utility ("All drives" section)

    
    

    Note
    If the "Host Device Check" utility does not display any WWID, this means the target disk does not have one. Use the "\\.\PhysicalDrive<N>" mapping in this case.

    
    

• iSCSI disks
  • "\\.\PhysicalDrive(iScsiTarget = <iSCSI target>, LUN = <LUN number>)"
    

    iScsiTarget addresses the disk by its iSCSI target name.

    LUN specifies LUN on connected iSCSI disk.

    Example:

    Div class small set PKA container[200]="\\.\PhysicalDrive(iScsiTarget=iqn.2008-04:iscsi.charon-target-test1, LUN= 1)"

    .

• Tape device

  • "\\.\Tape<X>", where X is 0, 1, …
    Example:

    set PKA container[600]="\\.\Tape0"

    
    

• Tape changer

  • "\\.\Changer<X>", where X is 0, 1, …

•  Floppy drive

  • "\\.\A:"

  • "\\.\B:"

    Example:

    set PKA container[300]="\\.\A:"

    .

• CDROM device

  • "\\.\CdRom<X>", where X is 0, 1, … 

    Example:

    set PKA container[400]="\\.\CdRom0"

    .
    

• ISO file for reading distribution CD-ROM image
  • [<drive>":\"<path-name>"\"]<file-name>[".iso”]  
    Mapping may also include the full path (recommended), for example: "C:\My disks\vms_distribution.iso"  

    Example:

    set PKA container[600]="C:\My disks\vms_distribution.iso"

    .

• File representing a physical disk of the HP Alpha system (disk image)

  • [<drive>":\"<path-name>"\"]<file-name>[".vdisk"] 
    These files can be created from scratch with "MkDisk" utility. Data and OS disks backups are transferred from the original system via tapes or network and restored into these container files.   
    Mapping may also include the full path (recommended), for example: "C:\My disks\my_boot_disk.vdisk"   
    Example: 
    

    set PKA container[401]="tru64-v51-system.vdisk"

    
    

    Warning
    Using compressed folders to store virtual disks and tapes is not supported

    .

• File representing the tape (tape image)

  • [<drive>":\"<path-name>"\"]<file-name>".vtape" 
    The container-file to which an emulated tape drive is mapped is created automatically when the emulator starts, and when the device is accessed from within the guest operating system.

    We recommend specifying the full path to the container-file, for example: "C:\MyTapes\backup.vtape"

    Example:

    set PKA container[500]="E:\Tapes\backup.vtape"

    
    

    Warning
    If the "CHARON Guest Utilities for OpenVMS" (CHARONCP) package is used, the syntax is different. Please read the corresponding chapter.

    
    

    Warning
    Using compressed folders to store virtual disks and tapes is not supported

    .

    How the Emulator Maps Guest-OS Operations to the Virtual Tape Drive

    Guest-OS Operation	Emulator Action
    Open device for writing	Create a container file if necessary; open for writing and lock the container file
    Open device for reading	Create a container file if none exists. open for reading and lock container file
    Unload (eject) tape from drive	Close a container file if open and unlock it - this allows copy/move/delete operations on CHARON host

    
    

    Info

    The container file associated with a virtual tape drive can be compared to the tape cartridge used in a physical tape drive. Both store the data written to the tape device by the guest OS. The size of virtual tape container files is limited only by space available in the emulator host file system. Prerequisite to the examples below: a virtual tape device has been configured in the CHARON configuration file and it is not in use by the guest OS. To perform backup: The tape device may be issued the "unload" command and the container-file moved/deleted to insure proper status  Initialize the tape device using standard guest OS procedure. Perform backup. Issue "unload" command to the tape device in the guest OS. On the emulator host, move the *.vtape container file containing backup data for storage or further backup. To restore from a backup: The tape device may be issued the "unload" command to insure proper status. On the emulator host, move or copy a *.vtape container file containing backup data onto the filename specified in the CHARON configuration file. Perform restore. Issue the "unload" command to the tape device in the guest OS. Delete or move the container file in preparation for the next vtape operation. Note CHARON does not support muti-volume backup for tape images. If some mutli-volume set (in form of tape images) has to be restored it is recommended to configure several tape drives in CHARON VM configuration file, assign each tape image to each tape drive and use them in the following way (OpenVMS example): $ BACKUP MKA100:BACKUP.BCK,MKA200,MKA300,MKA4000/SAVE_SET DKA0:...

    .

• Other type of drive, for example magneto-optical drive

  • "\\.\<N>:" 
    Example:
    

    set PKA container[300]="\\.\Z:"

    .

This parameter is initially not set, thus creating NO storage elements on the controller..