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CHARON-AXP maps the virtual adapter to a dedicated Ethernet adapter in the Windows Linux host system.

All the emulated controllers are loaded and configured in the same way.

The Ethernet adapter in the Windows Linux host system must support dynamic changes of its MAC address (i.e. no reboot of the host system is required to change the MAC address), which is the case with nearly all modern Ethernet adapters.

By default the PCI Ethernet adapters use first available PCI slot. If instead some particular slot is needed, refer to this section for details of specific placement of PCI peripherals on CHARON-AXP PCI bus.

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Load network adapter (if required)
Use the "load" command as shown below.

Example:
For DEC21040 adapters For Intel i8255x adapters

load DE500BA/dec21x4x NIC

load DE602/i8255x NIC

Note
In AlphaStation 400 configuration use the following syntax for network adapter loading:
load DE500AA/dec21x4x NIC irq_bus=isa

By default each loaded virtual network adapter uses first available PCI slot. If instead some particular slot is neded, refer refer to this section for details of specific placement of PCI peripherals on peripherals on CHARON-AXP PCI bus.
Load "packet_port" or "tap_port"
Load "packet_port" or "tap_port" to connect network adapter to the host hardware network card (or to a virtual network interface).

Example:
load packet_port/chnetwrk NDIS interface = "connection:Charoneth1"
Connect the loaded "packet_port" ("tap_port") to the loaded virtual network adapter
Connect the network adapter to the "packet_port" ("tap_port") by setting the interface name.

Example:
set NIC interface = NDIS

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Each virtual network controller has the following parameters that are specified with the "set" command:

interface

Type
Parameter	interface

Value

interface

Text String
Value	Name of the corresponding instance of the "packet_port" or "tap_port" component

station_address

Parameter	station_address
Type	Text String
Value	The "station_address" provides the ability to configure the adapter’s permanent address. By default the adapter’s permanent address is read from the host system’s NIC

.Set the "station_address" when you need to configure a satellite (remotely booted) system that will run DECnet or when the migrated software uses the permanent address on the network adapter

.

Format:

XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX

or

XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

Example:

set EWA station_address="AF:01:AC:78:1B:CC"

rx_fifo_size

Parameter

rx_fifo_size

Type

Numeric

Value

"rx_fifo_size" sets the receive FIFO size.

The value is specified in Kb and, by default, is pre-calculated from the connected port’s size of the receive queue.

Typically, you do not need to change the "rx_fifo_size" parameter. It is available for extended tuning and debugging purposes.

adapter_mode

Parameter adapter_mode

Type Text String

Value

Defines the link speed and the duplex settings of the virtual network adapter (except for DE602/DE602AA - see below).

The values are:

Parameter	Description
"Auto"	Auto-negotiate (default)
"10BaseT-HD"	10Mbps half duplex
"10BaseT-FD"	10Mbps full duplex
"100BaseT-HD"	100Mbps half duplex
"100BaseT-FD"	100Mbps full duplex

Defines the link speed and the duplex settings of the virtual network adapter (except for DE602/DE602AA - see below).

The values are:

Example:

set EWA adapter_mode="100BaseT-HD"

Example

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`load packet_port/chnetwrk EWA0 interface = "connection:Charoneth1"`
`set EWA interface = EWA0`
`set EWA station_address="0C:FE:35:AA:67:3B"`
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So mode propagation is implemented in CHARON-AXP via SRM console EIx0_MODE environment variable ("x" is A, B, C... depending on CHARON-AXP configuration), for example:
`>>>help >>>help set`
`usage: set <variable-name> <value>`
`set <variable-name> ""`
`set eia0_mode { Twisted | Full | Fast | FastFD | Auto* }`
`>>>_`
The EIx0_MODE variable name is case insensitive, while its values are case sensitive! This is feature of OpenVMS EIDRIVER.
The values are:
Parameter Description
"Auto" Auto-negotiate (default)
"Twisted" 10Mbps half duplex
"Full" 10Mbps full duplex
"Fast" 100Mbps half duplex
"FastFD" 100Mbps full duplex
Example:
`>>>set eia0_mode FastFD`
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The CHARON-specific "packet_port" interface establishes a connection between an Ethernet adapter in the Windows Linux host system and a network adapter in the virtual HP Alpha system.
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`load packet_port/chnetwrk <instance-name>`
Example:
`load packet_port/chnetwrk NDISpp1`
"packet_port" uses several configuration parameters to control its behavior.

interface

The leading keyword "connection:" is mandatory.connection: NDIS connection:Charon"

Parameter interface

Type

Value

interface

Text string

Value

This parameter identifies an Ethernet adapter of the host system dedicated to CHARON-AXP.

Syntax:

set <name> interface="

<adapter>"

Example:

set

pp1 interface="

eth1"

port_enable_mac_addr_change

Parameter

port_enable_mac_addr_change

Type Boolean

Value

If "true" is specified (default value), CHARON-AXP sets the appropriate Ethernet address automatically.

If "false" is specified, set the Ethernet address manually.

Example:

set NDIS pp1 port_enable_mac_addr_change=false

port_

...

retry_on_

...

Numeric

...

The "port_ignore_on_rx" parameter provides the ability to shutdown the port when a specified number of sequential "on receive" errors is exceeded.

Typically, errors "on receive" indicate serious (unrecoverable) errors.

By default, the value is set to the value of the "port_pending_rx_number" parameter. A value of ‘0’ means infinite.

Example:

set NDIS port_ignore_on_rx=16

...

tx

Parameter

port_retry_on_tx

Type Numeric

Value

The "port_retry_on_tx" parameter controls the number of times a port will attempt to transmit a packet before giving up.

By default, the value is 3.

Increasing this value may introduce problems in carrier loss logic, because not all NIC drivers support a carrier status query.

Typically, you do not need to increase the value.

Example:

set NDIS pp1 port_retry_on_tx=8

port_pending_rx_number

Parameter

port_pending_rx_number

Type Numeric

Value

The "port_pending_rx_number" parameter sets the number of pending receive buffers.

The default value is 63. The maximum value allowed is 195.

You may want to increase the "port_pending_rx_number" when you have very busy networking and experience problems like losing connections not related to the carrier loss.

Typically, you do not need to change this parameter.

Example:

set NDIS pp1 port_pending_rx_number=128

port_pending_

...

tx_number

If this parameter is set to "true" CHARON-AXP tries to use very first implementation of "packet_port" having certain restrictions such as inability to automatically change MAC address on given interface etc.

This setting may be needed if CHARON-AXP runs in VMware environment for example.

In other situations please do not change its default value ("false").

Example:

Parameter

port_pending_tx_number

Type Numeric

Value

The "port_pending_tx_number" parameter sets the number of buffers the port uses to transmit.

The default value is 62.

You may want to increase the "port_pending_tx_number" value if the log file indicates dropped TX packets due to TX queue overflow.

Typically, you do not need to change this parameter.

Example:

set NDIS pp1 port_pending_rxtx_number=128

suspend_msg_on_mac_change

Boolean

To avoid confusion arising from non critical errors during a MAC address change, logging is by default suppressed (default value is "true").

To enable tracing during a MAC address change set this parameter to "false"

Example:

set NDIS suspend_msg_on_mac_change=false

legacy_mode Boolean

set NDIS legacy_mode=true

Info

This parameter is required only if you do not want to allow promiscuous traffic for the VMware adapter/port. In this mode, CHARON-AXP uses legacy MAC address change logic, so use of this option is not desirable.

Thus for ESXi networking configuration:

Create the port with e1000 adapter;
Enable the promiscuous traffic;
do not use legacy_mode option in Charon's configuration file;

Versions Compared

Old Version 1

New Version Current

Key

interface

station_address

rx_fifo_size

adapter_mode

Example

interface

port_enable_mac_addr_change

port_

retry_on_

tx

port_pending_rx_number

port_pending_

tx_number

Example

Parameter	Description
"Auto"	Auto-negotiate (default)
"Twisted"	10Mbps half duplex
"Full"	10Mbps full duplex
"Fast"	100Mbps half duplex
"FastFD"	100Mbps full duplex