Page Comparison

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Parameter

Type

Value

address

Numeric

Specifies the CSR address. This address must be a valid QBUS 22-bit address in IO space.

Initially its value is 017772150, which is the factory setting for the RQDX3 disk controller.

Use the "address" parameter for loading several instances of RQDX3. The "address" parameter value must be unique for every instance of the controller.

max_n_of_units

Numeric

Specifies the maximum number of units supported by the controller. Possible values are 4…9999.

The default value is 9999.

container[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

Specifies the location of the disk container. It can be either the name of a ".vdisk" file or the name of a physical disk:

Mapping to host system resources

Description

"\\.\PhysicalDrive<N>"

for local fixed disks (IDE, SCSI, SATA)

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

for local fixed disks (IDE, SCSI, SATA)

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

Example:

set DUA container[3]=”\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID
= 6008-05F3-0005-2950-BF8E-0B86-A0C7-0001)”

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

for iSCSI disks

iScsiTarget addresses the disk by its iSCSI target name.
LUN specifies LUN on connected iSCSI disk.

Example:

set DUA container[0]=”\\.\PhysicalDrive(iScsiTarget
= iqn.2008-04:iscsi.charon-target-test1, LUN
= 1)”

"\\.\A:", "\\.\B:"

for floppy drives

"\\.\CdRom<N>"

for CD-ROM, DVD drives (IDE, SCSI, …)

media_type[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

Overrides the default (automatically determined) MSCP media type of a device.

Syntax:

"<device-name>[,<device-type>]"

where:

<device-name> is one of “DU”, “DK”, “SCSI”, “DI”, “DSSI”, “DJ”
<device-type> is of the form “LLD” or “LLLD”, where “L” is a letter from A through Z, and “D” is a decimal number from 0 through 99

If not specified, the device name is set to “DU” and the device type is selected based on disk size.

Initially not specified.

geometry[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

This formatted string value specifies the explicit geometry of the disk storage element with a DSSI node id: N and an MSCP unit number: N. This parameter is not applicable to tape storage elements.

The string format is <X>”/”<Y>[“/”<Z>] where:

X is the number of sectors per track;
Y is the number of tracks per cylinder;
Z (optional) is the number of cylinders on the unit. If omitted, Z is calculated based on X, Y and the total number of sectors on the unit that reflects the size of the disk storage element;

If this parameter is not set, CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP will configure the geometry based on the most probable disk type.

use_io_file_buffering[N]

N=0…9999

Boolean

Enables the use of the host OS I/O buffering.

Initially this value is set to “false” (buffering disabled).

Example 1:

load RQDX3/RQDX3 DUA address=017772150 max_n_of_units=4

set DUA container[0] = "C:\Charon\Disks\rx23.vdisk"
set DUA container[1] = "\\.\PhysicalDrive1"

load RQDX3/RQDX3 DUB address=017760334

set DUB container[5] = "\\.\CdRom0"

In the above example the "rx23.vdisk" will be seen in VMS as DUA0, "\\.\PhysicalDrive1" as DUA1 and "\\.\CdRom0" as DUB5.

Example 2:

...

Text String

Instructs CHARON-VAX to enable host operating system I/O cache on reading/writing operations.

The following values are possible:

"true" or "write-back" - the "write back" caching mode is used
"write-through" - the "write through" caching mode is used
"false" - caching is switched off

Note that this caching has a significant effect only in case of mapping to disk and tape containers, not physical drives.

When enabled, host operating system I/O cache may significantly improve I/O performance of the virtual system. At the same time maintaining I/O cache requires additional host resources (CPU and memory) which may negatively affect overall performance of the virtual system.

Initially is set to "false".

Example:

set DUA use_io_file_buffering[2]=true

Example 1:

load RQDX3/RQDX3 DUA address=017772150 max_n_of_units=4

set

DIA

DUA container[0] = "C:\Charon\Disks\rx23.vdisk"
set

DIA media_type[0] = "dssi"set DIA

DUA container[1] = "\\.\PhysicalDrive1"

load RQDX3/RQDX3 DUB address=017760334

set

DIA media_type[1

DUB container[5] = "

dssi

\\.\CdRom0"

In the above example the "rx23.vdisk" will be seen in VMS

...

as DUA0, "\\.\PhysicalDrive1" as DUA1 and "\\.\

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Example 2:

load RQDX3/RQDX3 DIA address=017772150 max_n_of_units=4

set DIA container[0] = "C:\Charon\Disks\rx23.vdisk"
set DIA media_type[0] = "dssi"

set DIA container[1] = "\\.\PhysicalDrive1"
set DIA media_type[1] = "dssi"

In the above example the "rx23.vdisk" will be seen in VMS as DIA0 and "\\.\PhysicalDrive1" as DIA1.

Back to Table of Contents

TQK50 and TUK50 Controllers

The CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP QBUS system provides support for the TQK50 tape controller. UNIBUS systems support the TUK50 tape controller.

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media_type

Parameter

Type

Value

xmi_node_id

Numeric

Specifies the XMI slot in which the virtual KDM70 storage controller is placed.

For CHARON-VAX/66X0 a free slot between 10 (A) and 14 (E) must be chosen.

container[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

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

Mapping

Description

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

For accessing physical disk drives

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

For accessing physical disk drives

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

Example:

set PUA container[3]=”\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID
= 6008-05F3-0005-2950-BF8E-0B86-A0C7-0001)”

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

For iSCSI disks

iScsiTarget addresses the disk by its iSCSI target name.
LUN specifies LUN on connected iSCSI disk.

Example:

set PUA container[0]=”\\.\PhysicalDrive(iScsiTarget
= iqn.2008-04:iscsi.charon-target-test1, LUN
= 1)”

"\\.\Tape<X>", where X is 0, 1, …

For accessing physical tape drives recognized by Windows

"\\.\Scsi<X>:<Y>:<Z>:<N>"

Use the utility "Host Device Check" to find the values of X,Y,Z and N

For accessing physical tape drives not recognized by Windows

"\\.\A:" or "\\.\B:"

For accessing floppy drives

"\\.\CdRom<X>", where X is 0, 1, …

For accessing CD-ROMs (read-only)

[<drive>":\"<path-name>”\”]<file-name>[“.vdisk”]

For accessing CHARON-VAX disk images

[<drive>":\"<path-name>”\”]<file-name>“.vtape”

For accessing floppy drives

"\\.\CdRom<X>", where X is 0, 1, …

For accessing CD-ROMs (read-only)

[<drive>":\"<path-name>”\”]<file-name>[“.vdisk”]

For accessing CHARON-VAX disk images

[<drive>":\"<path-name>”\”]<file-name>“.vtape”

For accessing CHARON-VAX tape images

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

CHARON-VAX tape images

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

media_type[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

Overrides the default (automatically determined) MSCP media type of the device.

Syntax:

"<device-name>,<device-type>"

where:

<device-name> is either: “DU”, “MU”, “DK”, “MK”, “SCSI”, “DI”, “MI”, “DSSI”, “DJ”, “MJ”
<device-type> is in the form: “LLD” or “LLLD”, where “L” is a letter from A through Z, and “D” is a decimal number from 0 through 99

If not specified, the device name is set to “DI”, and the device type is selected based on disk size for the disk storage elements. For tape storage elements, the device name and type are set to “MI” and “TF86”, respectively.

Initially not specified.

geometry[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

Overrides the default (automatically determined) MSCP media type of the device.

Syntax:

"<device-name>,<device-type>"

where:

<device-name> is either: “DU”, “MU”, “DK”, “MK”, “SCSI”, “DI”, “MI”, “DSSI”, “DJ”, “MJ”
<device-type> is in the form: “LLD” or “LLLD”, where “L” is a letter from A through Z, and “D” is a decimal number from 0 through 99

If not specified, the device name is set to “DI”, and the device type is selected based on disk size for the disk storage elements. For tape storage elements, the device name and type are set to “MI” and “TF86”, respectively.

Initially not specified.

geometry[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

This formatted string value specifies the explicit geometry of the disk storage element with DSSI node id: N and MSCP unit number: N. This parameter is not applicable to tape storage elements.

The string format is <X>”/”<Y>[“/”<Z>] where:

X is the number of sectors per track
Y is the number of tracks per cylinder
Z (optional) is the number of cylinders on the unit. If omitted, Z is calculated based on X, Y and the total number of sectors on the unit that reflects the size of the disk storage element

If this parameter is not set, CHARON-VAX will configure the geometry based on the most probable disk type.

Initially not set.

The syntax described above is applicable only to disk storage elements. If the container is a tape image, the following format is used instead:

Syntax:

"<image-size>[, <early-warning-zone-size>]"

where:

<image-size> is the tape size in MB
<early-warning-zone-size> is the size (in KB) of the space left on the tape when a warning to the OS is issued. If omitted, 64K is assumed.

use_io_file_buffering[N]

N=0…9999

Boolean

Enables the use of the host OS I/O buffering.

Initially set to “false” (buffering disabled).

Example:

This formatted string value specifies the explicit geometry of the disk storage element with DSSI node id: N and MSCP unit number: N. This parameter is not applicable to tape storage elements.

The string format is <X>”/”<Y>[“/”<Z>] where:

X is the number of sectors per track
Y is the number of tracks per cylinder
Z (optional) is the number of cylinders on the unit. If omitted, Z is calculated based on X, Y and the total number of sectors on the unit that reflects the size of the disk storage element

If this parameter is not set, CHARON-VAX will configure the geometry based on the most probable disk type.

Initially not set.

The syntax described above is applicable only to disk storage elements. If the container is a tape image, the following format is used instead:

Syntax:

"<image-size>[, <early-warning-zone-size>]"

where:

<image-size> is the tape size in MB
<early-warning-zone-size> is the size (in KB) of the space left on the tape when a warning to the OS is issued. If omitted, 64K is assumed.

use_io_file_buffering[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

Instructs CHARON-VAX to enable host operating system I/O cache on reading/writing operations.

The following values are possible:

"true" or "write-back" - the "write back" caching mode is used
"write-through" - the "write through" caching mode is used
"false" - caching is switched off

Note that this caching has a significant effect only in case of mapping to disk and tape containers, not physical drives.

When enabled, host operating system I/O cache may significantly improve I/O performance of the virtual system. At the same time maintaining I/O cache requires additional host resources (CPU and memory) which may negatively affect overall performance of the virtual system.

Initially is set to "false".

Example:

set PUA use_io_file_buffering[0]=true

Example:

Create a KDM70 storage controller: (T)MSCP controller in XMI slot 10:

...

The first host system CD-ROM is used to read VMS CDs and be DUA9:

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

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

Parameter	Type	Value
vax_bi_node_id	Numeric	Specifies the VAXBI slot in which the virtual KDB50 storage controller is placed. For CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP a free slot between 1 (1) and 15 (F) must be chosen. Initially set to 14.
container[N] N=0…9999	Text String
Mapping	Description
"\\.\PhysicalDrive<X>", where X is 0, 1, …	For accessing physical disk drives
"\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID =XXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX)"	`set PUA container[9]="\\.\CdRom0"`

The host system floppy drive "A:" is used in VMS as DUA10:

set PUA container[10]="\\.\A:"

Info

The virtual KDM70 storage controller examines the file extension (vdiskor vtape) to distinguish between a disk image and a tape image.

Configured physical devices or tape/disk images that do not exist on the host system will, in general, cause VAX/VMS to report the unit offline. In some cases this will result in a VMS BUG CHECK. In this case, an error message will be written to the log file.

Back to Table of Contents

KDB50 Storage Controller

KDB50 is an MSCP storage controller for a VAX 6000.

The CHARON-VAX virtual KDB50 storage controller supports up to 9999 disks instead of the 4 disk limitation of the original hardware. This design modification has the advantage of using only one VAXBI slot for up to 9999 disk and tape devices.

The I/O behavior of the virtual KDB50 storage controller is as follows:

Up to 16 connected disks operate in parallel without any I/O performance degradation.
For systems with more than 16 heavily used disks, configure two storage controllers and distribute the heavily loaded disks evenly.
VMS can boot only from the first 10 devices (DU0 - DU9) on the KDB50 storage controller, same as for the original hardware.

The line below loads an emulated KDB50 storage controller:

load KDB50 PUA

The KDB50 storage controller emulation has the following configuration parameters:

\\.\CdRom0"

The host system floppy drive "A:" is used in VMS as DUA10:

set PUA container[10]="\\.\A:"

Info

The virtual KDM70 storage controller examines the file extension (vdiskor vtape) to distinguish between a disk image and a tape image.

Configured physical devices or tape/disk images that do not exist on the host system will, in general, cause VAX/VMS to report the unit offline. In some cases this will result in a VMS BUG CHECK. In this case, an error message will be written to the log file.

Back to Table of Contents

KDB50 Storage Controller

KDB50 is an MSCP storage controller for a VAX 6000.

The CHARON-VAX virtual KDB50 storage controller supports up to 9999 disks instead of the 4 disk limitation of the original hardware. This design modification has the advantage of using only one VAXBI slot for up to 9999 disk and tape devices.

The I/O behavior of the virtual KDB50 storage controller is as follows:

Up to 16 connected disks operate in parallel without any I/O performance degradation.
For systems with more than 16 heavily used disks, configure two storage controllers and distribute the heavily loaded disks evenly.
VMS can boot only from the first 10 devices (DU0 - DU9) on the KDB50 storage controller, same as for the original hardware.

The line below loads an emulated KDB50 storage controller:

load KDB50 PUA

The KDB50 storage controller emulation has the following configuration parameters:

media_type

Parameter

Type

Value

vax_bi_node_id

Numeric

Specifies the VAXBI slot in which the virtual KDB50 storage controller is placed. For CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP a free slot between 1 (1) and 15 (F) must be chosen.

Initially set to 14.

container[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

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

Mapping

Description

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

For accessing physical disk drives

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

For accessing physical disk drives

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

Example:

set PUA container[3]=”\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID
= 6008-05F3-0005-2950-BF8E-0B86-A0C7-0001)”

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

For iSCSI disks

iScsiTarget addresses the disk by its iSCSI target name.
LUN specifies LUN on connected iSCSI disk.

Example:

set PUA container[30]=”\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevIDiScsiTarget
= 6008-05F3-0005-2950-BF8E-0B86-A0C7-0001)”

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

For iSCSI disks

iScsiTarget addresses the disk by its iSCSI target name.
LUN specifies LUN on connected iSCSI disk.

Example:

set PUA container[0]=”\\.\PhysicalDrive(iScsiTarget
= iqn.2008-04:iscsi.charon-target-test1, LUN
= 1)”

"\\.\A:" or "\\.\B:"

For accessing floppy drives

"\\.\CdRom<X>", where X is 0, 1, …

For accessing CD-ROMs (read-only)

[<drive>":\"<path-name>”\”]<file-name>[“.vdisk”]

For accessing CHARON-VAX disk images

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

iqn.2008-04:iscsi.charon-target-test1, LUN
= 1)”

"\\.\A:" or "\\.\B:"

For accessing floppy drives

"\\.\CdRom<X>", where X is 0, 1, …

For accessing CD-ROMs (read-only)

[<drive>":\"<path-name>”\”]<file-name>[“.vdisk”]

For accessing CHARON-VAX disk images

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

media_type[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

Overrides the default (automatically determined) MSCP media type of the device.

Syntax:

"<device-name>,<device-type>"

where:

<device-name> is either: “DU”, “DK”, “SCSI”, “DI”, “DSSI” or “DJ”
<device-type> is in the form of: “LLD” or “LLLD”, where “L” is a letter from A through Z, and “D” is a decimal number from 0 through 99

If not specified, the device name is set to “DU” and the device type is selected, based on the disk size for the disk storage elements. For tape storage elements, the device name and type are set to “MI” and “TF86”, respectively.

Initially not specified.

geometry[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

Overrides the default (automatically determined) MSCP media type of the device.

Syntax:

"<device-name>,<device-type>"

where:

<device-name> is either: “DU”, “DK”, “SCSI”, “DI”, “DSSI” or “DJ”
<device-type> is in the form of: “LLD” or “LLLD”, where “L” is a letter from A through Z, and “D” is a decimal number from 0 through 99

If not specified, the device name is set to “DU” and the device type is selected, based on the disk size for the disk storage elements. For tape storage elements, the device name and type are set to “MI” and “TF86”, respectively.

Initially not specified.

geometry[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

This formatted string value specifies the explicit geometry of the disk storage element with MSCP unit number: N. This parameter is not applicable to tape storage elements.

The string format is <X>”/”<Y>[“/”<Z>] where:

X is the number of sectors per track
Y is the number of tracks per cylinder
Z (optional) is the number of cylinders on the unit. If omitted, Z is calculated based on X, Y and the total number of sectors on the unit that reflects the size of the disk storage element

If this parameter is not set, CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP will configure the geometry based on the most probable disk type.

Initially not set.

This formatted string value specifies the explicit geometry of the disk storage element with MSCP unit number: N. This parameter is not applicable to tape storage elements.

The string format is <X>”/”<Y>[“/”<Z>] where:

X is the number of sectors per track
Y is the number of tracks per cylinder
Z (optional) is the number of cylinders on the unit. If omitted, Z is calculated based on X, Y and the total number of sectors on the unit that reflects the size of the disk storage element

If this parameter is not set, CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP will configure the geometry based on the most probable disk type.

Initially not set.

use_io_file_buffering[N]

N=0…9999

Text String

Instructs CHARON-VAX to enable host operating system I/O cache on reading/writing operations.

The following values are possible:

"true" or "write-back" - the "write back" caching mode is used
"write-through" - the "write through" caching mode is used
"false" - caching is switched off

Note that this caching has a significant effect only in case of mapping to disk and tape containers, not physical drives.

When enabled, host operating system I/O cache may significantly improve I/O performance of the virtual system. At the same time maintaining I/O cache requires additional host resources (CPU and memory) which may negatively affect overall performance of the virtual system.

Initially is set to "false".

Example:

set PUA use_io_file_buffering[

N

0]

N=0…9999

Boolean

Enables the use of the host OS I/O buffering.

Initially set to “false” (buffering disabled).

=true

Example:

Create a KDB50 MSCP controller in BI slot 1 of a VAX/PDP11:

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Versions Compared

Old Version 1

New Version 2

Key

TQK50 and TUK50 Controllers

KDB50 Storage Controller

KDB50 Storage Controller