Version: 2 5 - Published: 15 Dec 2023 04 Nov 2024 

Table of contents

Please review this document before proceeding with the installation of Charon-AXP.

The Release Notes apply to Charon-AXP for Windows version 4.12, up to build 210-1013.

Products included in the Charon-AXP 4.12 for Windows 64-bit

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¹⁾ Charon can be installed and will run, but Microsoft Windows versions are EOL and are not recommended for deployment.

Hosting hardware requirements and configuration recommendations

• CPU requirements:

  • The number of available x86/x64 compatible (Intel or AMD) CPU cores in the hosting server should be at least 150% of the number of emulated CPU cores.

  • The recommended number of available (Intel or AMD) CPU cores in the hosting server is twice the number of emulated CPU cores.

  • Intel Xeon E-series v3 and above with a CPU clock frequency from 3GHz; to achieve the best performance use the latest Intel Xeon CPUs from the Scalable Processors family.

• Memory requirements:

  • DDR4 RAM 2133 MHz and above is recommended for optimal Charon performance.

  • The minimum host memory size depends on the amount of emulated AXP memory and on the number of Charon instances running on one host. The minimum host memory = (2Gb +  the amount of HP Alpha memory emulated) per Charon-AXP instance.

• Mid range and high end RAID controllers with at least 1GB cache with write-back enabled and battery backup option is recommended.
  (Using low-end RAID controllers may cause significant performance degradation and Charon-AXP crash. RAID5 and similar configurations are not recommended.)

• Intel HT (Hyper-Threading Technology) should be disabled on the hosting server.

• The hosting server should always run at full speed. Power management, USB power saving management and the screen saver should be disabled on the hosting server.

• Windows UAC should be disabled.

• The Port Group Security Tab containing the Charon network adapter(s) must be set to Promiscuous mode, MAC Address Change and Forged Transmit=Accept.

New functionality

• Support for Windows 11, Windows Server 2022

Problems fixed and other changes

• HT (Hyper-Threading Technology) should be disabled on the hosting server.

• The hosting server should always run at full speed. Power management, USB power saving management and the screen saver should be disabled on the hosting server.

• Windows UAC should be disabled.

• The Port Group Security Tab containing the Charon network adapter(s) must be set to Promiscuous mode, MAC Address Change and Forged Transmit=Accept.

New functionality

• Support for Windows 11, Windows Server 2022

Problems fixed and other changes

Build 210-13

• Fix EISA configuration table in emulator to eliminate Tru64 UNIX on boot (ID#5844). Relevant for AlphaServer 2000/2100.

• Product kits now include PCI PassThrough drivers signed by Microsoft (ID#5846). This makes possible use of drivers with Windows 10 and Windows 11 and eliminates signature verification problem when loading the driver. Sample message in case the problem occurs:

  Code Block
  language text
  Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicios software from an unknown source. (Code 52)

  
  

• Fix terminal emulator activation to pass user environment to the process created. In particular, this allows to use Reflection Workspace Terminal Emulator and eliminates Reflection TE startup problem. Sample message in case the proble occurs:

  Code Block
  language text
  (X) An application error occured. Please contact Technical Support. Details: Unable to access Micro Focus\Reflection\Desktop\v18.0.

  
  

Build 210-12

• Fix for AXP CPU emulation to avoid CPU halts due to KERNEL STACK NOT VALID exceptions, followed by CPUSANITY or CPUSPINWAIT BUGCHECKs in case of AXP configurations with more than one CPU or more than 4GB of RAM (ID#5836).

Build 210-11

• Update Stromasys End User License Agreement (EULA) to version issued on 16 February 2024.

Build 210-10

• Updated End User License Agreement (EULA) text.

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• New End User License Agreement (EULA) text (ID#5782).

Build 210-05

• Add logging an error message indicating syntax error in storage container specification. Previously, such errors were quietly igored or the affected devices were set to offline (ID#5766).

• Cosmetic change to Charon Installation Utility (InstallShell) to correct message text: display Pre-4.8 version is installed instead of Old version is installed (ID#5768).

• Wrong version (6.80) of Microsoft NETVMINI driver was included in product kits (ID#5769, IE#5771). Replaced with version 6.30. Fixed product packaging.

• Fix EW network boot (MOP) of virtual AlphaServer 800 (ID#5773).

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• Charon VM Manager now recognizes disabled services (Virtual Machines), designates them with special icon and prevents attempts of starting them displaying a popup window rather than error message (ID#5687).

• Installation kit now contains correctly signed PCI PassThrough drivers, which eliminates errors Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers...(Code 52) while installing Charon PCI PassThrough driver (ID#5711).

• The processing of the following HASP licensing errors was changed such that the emulator will no longer terminate immediately but instead observe the grace period (ID#5717):
  • HASP_SHARING_VIOLATION (HASP runtimer error code 84)
  • HASP_DEVICE_ERR (HASP runtime error code 43)
  • HASP_SCOPE_RESULTS_EMPTY (HASP runtime error code 50)
• Charon VM Manager now does not ask for confirmation on Exit (ID#5730).
• Default identification of FC attached virtual disks ($1$DGAxxx drives attached through KGPSA) has been changed to "DEC HSG80" following the hardware original (ID#5731).
• Fix mkdskcmd utility to avoid reporting negative virtual disk size (ID#5735).

• Fix Charon Installation Utility (InstallShell) to correctly remove shortcuts from Programs/StartUp menu on product de-installation (ID#5736).

• Emulation of the TOY has been fixed to provide correct synchronization of the guest's time when it is intentionally set to a time in the past (relative to the host) (ID#5737).

Configuration changes required when upgrading from previous versions of Charon-AXP to version 4.12

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• The message "Failed to locate the "TTAx" for the line xx" displayed for intentionally not configured TTA lines is removed (ID#2650)

• Sometimes the "Failed to create symbolic link to the packet driver" error blocks Charon-AXP normal networking despite its configuration is correct (ID#2554, 3182)

• UETP fails on a tape image if Charon runs on VMware (ID#2427)

• Unable to install AS2x00/AS4x00 emulators ("--install" command) (ID#2294)

• Windows Server 2008 CN: "Invisible" Installation Log (empty log file) (ID#2678)

• ds10l.exe installation fails on Win2008 Chinese version (ID#2685)

• DE435 is offline with VMS 6.2-1H3 on AS4100 (ID#2680)

• The firmware does not detect DE450 adapter and therefore does not print it in the device list (ID#2652)

• DE450 remains OFFLINE in VMS (ID#2653)

• Problem using CDROM on an HP blade server via USB (ID#2651)

• Digital UNIX 4.0B fails to install on AlphaServer 400 (ID#2631)

• Console logs are not appended to by default (ID#2628)

• AS400 Emulator crash while installing Digital UNIX 4.0F (ID#2619)

• AS2000 and AS2100 unable to "create an instance of the component dec_21040" (ID#2597)

• Incorrect behavior on HALT command in kernel mode (ID#2595)

• ES40 Emulator crashed when performing the SWINGBENCH test (ID#2586)

• "-FILE" boot option of the SRM console was not implemented (ID#2102)

• A file "mkdisk.vtable" is absent in the kit -- without it MKDISK cannot start (ID#2589).

• The configuration template for the AS400 model has incorrect HW_MODEL syntax and is missing the PKB bus (ID#2373).

• Incorrect text encoding in the NetDiag help on Chinese systems (ID#2373).

• Tru64 V5.1B was unable to load driver for DEC 21040 PCI Ethernet Adapter (ID#2304).

• Charon-AXP crashed on UETP test (ID#2348).

• Ticket #7079: Charon crashed on a production system with segmentation violation (ID#2389)

• The old .BIN files lead to Charon misbehavior. It should be replaced for new one (ID#2447)

• A disk device goes offline suddenly with the "mount verification in progress" message (ID#2512)

• Tru64/tar utility is unable to write if the output device is a tape. (ID#2383)

• Failed to unload the virtual tape on Tru64. (ID#2385)

• VMS 7.2-1 booted on DS10L and DS20 with FC Pass-Through enabled hangs VMS. (ID#2390)

• Some configured disks disappeared from the OpenVMS environment (SRM console) under Charon-AXP/B108 AS4100.(ID#2393)

• Charon-AXP/ES40 is unable to boot Tru64 from FC attached disk (ID#2412).

• TOY data (including data/time) is not saved (ID#2414).

• Install procedure does not issue warnings when unsupported host platform is used (ID#2431).

• Putty Console does not work (no proper session is available) when Charon-AXP runs as a service (ID#2452).

• Ticket #7682: "BOOT EWA0" command in the SRM console leads to the emulators hanging (ID#2469).

• ID#2470 - Ticket #7684: BOOT DKA500 may boot from wrong device.

• ID#2471 - Ticket #7687: Pressing "F6" button terminates emulator. The default behavior has been changed to "none".

• Ticket #7716: SRM console HELP command is missing (ID#2472).

• Network Control Center utility does not recognize teamed interfaces (ID#2331)

• Some license messages are absent in the LOG file, for example "the license is expired" (ID#2040)

• NFS issue: "cp" command never ends and the "cp" process becomes zombie (ID#2257)

• SRM variables get saved in wrong console variables (ID#2295)

• Handling of some exceptional cases in DIT2 due to resource lock must be implemented to avoid possible overflow (ID#2404).

• Grammar error in message text: some typos have been corrected (ID#2428)

• Embedded network adapters and additional ones (having the same name) conflict without any notification (ID#2429)

• System hangs OpenVMS 7.1-2 with printing jobs (ID#2441)

• Compilation of C code using FP flags /FLOAT=IEEE /IEEE=DENORM result in zero values (ID#2446)

• log_method="append" does not work if specified separately from the other configuration commands for the logging definition (ID#2450).

• Utilities help does not start on "F1" on Windows 2008 / Vista operating systems (ID#2498)

• Ultrium tape drive fails on all VMS commands (ID#2386)

• Ticket #7774: Problems NDIS6 driver - memory leak was found (ID#2490)

• Many question marks sometimes displayed in the Network Control Center Chinese help file (ID#2373)

• Tape error: "-BACKUP-F-NOTANSI, tape is not valid ANSI format" (ID#2521)

• Exception (C0000005): Segmentation violation occurs on different configuration and applications (ID#2527, 2528, 2534, 2510)

• The OpenVMS V8.3 CPUSANITY bugcheck while performing KGPSA initialization

• Outgoing FTP hang problem on GS80/GS160 models (ID#1999)

• A problem with Fortran compiled code generating exceptions (ID#145)

• Several problems with physical tapes including tape initialization, label handling, tape restore and Files-11 file system on the tape

• A problem reporting version 2.2 instead of 2.3 in the SRM console

• A problem with VMS freezing during shutdown

• A problem with freezing VMS boot after "%PKQDRIVER-W- PKA0, Chip reset failed, trying again" error message

• A problem with EW devices not showing up at AS2x00 CRM console

• A problem with multi instance configuration preventing more than one Charon-AXP instance from running

• A problem with certain CPU affinity configurations causing "division by zero" crash

• "Back" button does not always work during installation

• An error message could appear during uninstallation of Charon-AXP through Control Panel

• Setting particular disk and tape types with media_type parameter on KZPBA is not supported for \\PhysicalDriveX configuration style

• Emulated PCI network adapter DE435 is not recognized in the AXP SRM console, however it is recognized and works for the guest OS.

• Charon-AXP may wrongly report that no license is present if the correct license is present.

• Too many scheduled starts and stops of Charon-AXP service in a short period of time could cause Charon-AXP crash.

• AlphaServer model 2100 could have problems with initializing of the network controller (DECchip 21040).

• Charon Network Control Center utility does not have proper Simplified Chinese interface.

• Ultrium SCSI-1 DAT-72 tape drives currently do not work with Charon-AXP.

• Virtual tape cannot be unloaded and container file replaced on Tru64.

Related Documents

Charon-AXP V4.12 for Windows - User's Guide (still internal!)

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