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Table of contents
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Introduction
CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP products are distributed in form of a zip file that contains the CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP installation executable ("InstallShell.exe"). The InstallShell procedure offers the possibility to select several modules to install. It is recommended to install all modules (the default).
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Hardware Requirements
Number of CPU cores
Each CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP emulated CPU requires a corresponding physical core. So the total number of the host CPUs must exceed the number of emulated CPUs since some of the host CPUs must be dedicated to serving CHARON I/O operations and host operating system needs.
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CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP model | Minimal number of host CPU cores | Recommended number of host CPU cores |
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VAX 6610 | 2 | 4 |
VAX 6620 | 3 | 4 |
VAX 6630 | 4 | 6 |
VAX 6640 | 6 | 8 |
VAX 6650 | 8 | 12 |
VAX 6660 | 8 | 12 |
| Other models | 2 | 2 |
When starting, the CHARON-VAX software checks the available number of host CPU cores. Currently, this check is based on the maximum number of VAX CPUs that can be emulated, not on the number of the actually configured VAX CPUs. Therefore the number of host CPU cores recommended for the maximum number of emulated CPUs - as shown in the right column of the table above - must be available. If the available number of host CPU cores is below this number, CHARON-VAX will issue a warning message even if the requirements for the configured number of VAX CPUs are fulfilled. The CHARON-VAX software will work despite this warning if the requirements for the configured number of VAX CPUs are fulfilled.
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Hyperthreading must be switched off completely. Disable hyperthreading in the BIOS settings of the physical host or, for a VMware virtual machine, edit the virtual machine properties, select the Resources tab then select Advanced CPU. Set the Hyperthreaded Core Sharing mode to None. |
CPU type and speed
Since CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP utilizes the LAHF instruction during VAX/PDP11 CPU emulation, please avoid using early (pre-2005) AMD64 and Intel 64 CPUs in CHARON host system since they lack this capability. AMD Athlon 64, Opteron and Turion 64 revision D processors from March 2005 and Intel Pentium 4 G1 stepping from December 2005 are LAHF instruction capable.
Concerning CPU speed, the general recommendation is that higher CPU frequency is better since it allows better emulated VAX/PDP11 performance. The minimal recommendation is at least 3 GHz.
Operative memory
The minimum host memory size depends on the amount of VAX/PDP11 memory to be emulated and on the number of CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP instances to be run on one host.
The minimum host memory is calculated according to the following formula:
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Right-click My Computer and select Properties. The System Properties dialog box will appear.
- Click the "Advanced" tab.
In the "Startup and Recovery" area, click "Settings". The "Startup and Recovery" dialog box will appear.
- In the System startup area, click "Edit". This will open the Windows boot.ini file in Notepad.
In the [Operating Systems] section, add the following switches to the end of the startup line that includes the /fastdetect switch: /PAE and /3GB
- Save the changes and close Notepad.
Click OK two times to close the open dialog boxes, and then restart the computer for the change to take effect.
Disk storage
The total amount of disk space required for CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP can be calculated as a sum of all the disk/tape image sizes plus 500 MB for the CHARON software plus space required for the normal host OS.
Ethernet adapters
CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP networking assumes dedicated host Ethernet adapters; their number must be equal to the emulated adapters to be configured in CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP11. One adapter (optionally) can be left to the host for TCP/IP networking etc.
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Starting with ESXi 6.5, it is not possible to select E1000 adapter when a new virtual machine is created using Windows Server 2012, 2016 and Windows 10 templates. The following workarounds are available:
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Software Requirements
- Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Standard and Datacenter Editions, 64 bit version
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard and Datacenter Editions, 64 bit version (please notice that only R2 revision is supported)
- Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise Editions, 32 bit and 64 bit version
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (SP1) Standard and Enterprise Editions, 64 bit version (please notice that only R2 revision is supported)
- Microsoft Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate (SP1) Editions, 32 bit and 64 bit versions
- Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional Edition, 32 and 64 bit versions
- VMware ESXi 5.5 and 6.x up to 6.7 (requires a supported Windows operating system on top of a ESXi virtual machine)
- Microsoft Hyper-V (requires a supported Windows operating system on top of a Hyper-V virtual machine)
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Host system preparation
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All antivirus, screen saver, automatic (scheduled) backup and any other CPU consuming software as well as software that is able to temporarily lock CHARON files (such as automatic indexing) must be turned off, uninstalled and disabled. Alternatively it is also possible to exclude all CHARON executables and material folders from scanning for viruses, but please note that scanning slows down CHARON host anyway - it may be critical for some installations requiring maximum performance. The power scheme must be set to "High Performance" with all the "Sleep" and "Standby" modes turned off. The automatic installation of Microsoft updates must be disabled. MS updates to the CHARON host must be done only in specific service maintainence periods established by the system administrator. Before applying new updates one must shutdown the operating system running on CHARON and stop all the running CHARON instances and services. |
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Before installation
Login as the local system administrator ("Administrator") on the host system.
Create a special user for running CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP (optional). This user must have all the administrative privileges. Please consult with your Windows User's Guide on details.
Note The CHARON installation procedure will create a special group called CHARON-GRP and the current user will be automatically included to this group. Do not remove this group and do not remove any CHARON user from it, otherwise a problem with virtual memory allocation may appear on CHARON startup.
The created user may belong to some domain, but please note that in this case you have to add this user to the CHARON-GRP manually as it is described in this article and then reboot CHARON host.
Stay logged in as local system administrator ("Administrator") or log off and login as the CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP user having administrative privileges (if this option has been chosen).
Create a special directory for the CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP distribution kit and copy the provided files there.
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Upgrade cases:
| From version | Action |
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| 4.7 and below | First uninstall all CHARON products. |
| 4.8 and above | The version 4.10 can be installed directly.
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Distribution preparation
Extract the content of the distribution archive to the current directory or copy the content of the provided distribution directory to the current directory.
Run the "InstallShell.exe" file:
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Installation
The following description assumes this is the first installation of CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP on the target host. Installation of additional CHARON products later follows the same procedure.
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CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP home directory
By default CHARON is installed in the "C:\Program Files\CHARON" directory. It has the following subdirectories:
Directory | Description |
Build_XXX\x86 (and Build_XXX\x64 on x64 systems) | Contains product executables and libraries |
Drivers | Contains the CHARON drivers |
Chapi | Contains CHARON API files used for creating new emulated devices |
InstallShell | Contains the CHARON installation procedure executables |
Logs | Contains the CHARON installation log |
| Redistributables | Contains the redistributables needed for CHARON running (already installed, except the license alert script) |
| Virtual Machines Manager | Contains the most up-to-date version of CHARON Virtual Machines Manager |
| Virtual Machine Templates | Contains templates for creating CHARON Virtual Machines |
| Virtual Machines | Contains the CHARON Virtual Machines |
| Virtual Disk Images | Contains the CHARON virtual disk images, for example "charoncp012" and "idle_vms_pkg_v3.0" |
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License installation
Regular HASP USB dongle
If the CHARON license is stored on a regular USB dongle, just connect it to the host USB port.
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If the CHARON host is accessed remotely, please note that the contents of a regular HASP license cannot be displayed using RDP. ILO or iDRAC or some other console-capable program must be used. |
Network HASP USB dongle
If the CHARON license is a network license (red USB dongle), it is possible either to connect it to the host USB port (to use it locally and provide it to other hosts on the local network at the same time) or to install it on a local network "license server" for remote access from this particular host.
If a remote license server is to be used:
- Copy the file "
hasp_install\haspdinst.zip" from the CHARON distribution to any directory on the server, for example "C:\Temp". - Extract the content of this archive to the same directory.
- Login as "Administrator" on the server and open "
cmd.exe" from the "Start" menu. - Switch to that directory.
Install the extracted file.
Example:
...> cd c:\tempc:\temp> haspdinst.exe -fr -kp -nomsgc:\temp> haspdinst.exe -install -cm- Copy the file "
hasp_install\hasplib.zip" from the CHARON distribution to any directory on the server, for example "C:\Temp". - Extract the contents of this archive to the same directory.
- Copy the file "
haspvlib_68704.dll" to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Aladdin Shared\HASP" (in case of x64 host) or "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Aladdin Shared\HASP" (in case of x86 host) - Connect the network HASP dongle to the server USB port.
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Network HASP (red dongles) licenses have no restrictions with respect to remote access. |
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Software license
If the CHARON license is a software license (SL), it is installed on the host using the following procedure:
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License validity verification
Check the CHARON license validity by invoking the "Charon License Details" utility to make sure that the CHARON license is visible and is correct. Double click the "CHARON Virtual Machines Manager" icon on the desktop or select this utility in the tray menu; select the "Host Information and Utilities" section and press the "HASP License Details" button:
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- Verify the the license content is displayed correctly and no error message is shown
- Verify the content of the license looks correct. Check for example the license number, the major and minor versions, the minimum and maximum build numbers, the CHARON-AXP products and allowed hardware (CHARON-AXP models). More details on the license content can be found in the CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP Licensing chapter of this Guide.
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Troubleshooting
If the CHARON license content cannot be displayed by the "CHARON License Details" utility or it is incorrect, check that the license is available and correctly used:
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Software licenses can also be uninstalled using the method, described in the "Removing CHARON-VAX Software Licenses" chapter of this Guide.
For license servers accessible only via non-broadcast search it is also possible to disable access to network licenses if only a local license is to be used: Click on the "Configuration" link to open the "Configuration for Sentinel Manager" page.
Uncheck the "Allow Access to Remote Licenses" checkbox from the "Access to Remote License Managers" tab then press the "Submit" button to apply changes.
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Network configuration
If the CHARON virtual machine needs access to the network, one or more dedicated network interfaces cleared from any other protocols including TCP/IP will have to be defined.
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After installation
If you plan to use the local system administrator account ("Administrator") or the CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP user having administrative privileges, no other actions are required.
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