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Prerequisites

As this description shows the basic setup of a Linux instance in OCI, it does not list specific prerequisites. However, depending on the use case, the following prerequisites should be considered:

• To set up a Linux instance in OCI, you need an OCI account.
• If this instance is to be used as a Charon host system, refer to the user's guide of your Charon product to determine the exact hardware and software prerequisites that must be taken into account for the Linux instance. The image you use for your instance and the instance type you chose determine which hardware and software your cloud instance has.
• If this instance is to be used as a Charon host system, a product license is required to run emulated systems. Contact your Stromasys representative or Stromasys VAR for details.
• Certain legacy operating systems that can run in emulated systems provided by Charon emulator products require a license of the original vendor of the operating system. The user is responsible for any licensing obligations related to the legacy operating system and has to provide the appropriate licenses.

OCI New Instance Launch

Please note: This section only shows a very basic example. Please refer to the Oracle Cloud documentation for more detailed information.

To start the creation of a new Linux cloud instance in OCI, perform the following steps:

Step 1: log in to your Oracle Cloud environment.

Step 2: go to the instance list in the compute section and select to create an instance.

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This opens the Create Compute Instance window.

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Step 3: on the first part of Create Compute Instance window, name your instance and select an appropriate Linux image for it.

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To select the correct image, select Change Image. This will allow you to browse the different available categories. 

The image below shows an example of the image selection screen. Choose a supported Linux version or - if appropriate - a prepackaged Charon VE (or AL for AutoVE) marketplace image:

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Optionally, change the compartment. Select the correct image and confirm your selection by clicking on Select Image at the bottom of the page. This will take you back to the Create Compute Instance window.

Step 4: in the middle part of the Create Compute Instance window, select the appropriate shape (i.e., the virtual Charon host hardware), the subnet membership of the instance and whether to assign a public IP address. If required, you can also create a new virtual cloud network or a new subnet here.

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To select an appropriate shape conforming to the hardware requirements of the emulated SPARC system, click on Change Shape.

This will open a window where you can select the correct system type.

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Confirming you selection will take you back to the Create Compute Instance window.

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Step 5: on the bottom of the Create Compute Instance window create a new SSH key-pair or upload the public SSH key of an existing key-pair that you will use to access your instance. If you create a new key-pair, you must download the private key and store it in a save place for later use. You can also download the public key.

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Step 6: optionally define non-default parameters (including the size) for the boot volume.

The boot volume section allows you to configure the boot volume of your instance with additional non-default parameters. For example, you can configure disk encryption parameters and a non-default system disk size (recommended minimum system disk size: 30GB).

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Step 7 (supported starting with Charon-SSP marketplace images version 4.2.2 and VE license server 1.0.33): support an IMDSv2 authorization header for applications relying on the IMDS service to improve security. For this, open the additional options by clicking on Show Advanced Options at the bottom of the instance creation page, select the Management tab, and activate the authorization header, as shown below:

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On existing instances, this parameter can be changed, by editing the instance metadata service settings for the instance (go to Instance Details and click on Edit in the line Instance Metadata Service).
Only change the configuration to IMDSv2 if the image you launched the instance from supports it. Otherwise, you may not be able to connect to your instance. Please note: at the time of writing, the official CentOS 7 image on OCI did not support the new feature. If you create an instance to be used as a host for a VE license server or a Charon VE-enabled emulator installation, verify the capabilities of the image used before you enable the new IMDSv2 feature.

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Step 8: Additional configuration for AutoVE setup.

If the instance is launched from a Charon AL marketplace image and is planned to use AutoVE licensing (instead of the public license servers), you must add the corresponding information to the instance configuration before the first launch of the instance:

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Step 9 (only for Charon-SSP versions before 4.1.32): the correct networking type selection is important. Charon-SSP disables offloading parameters on the Ethernet interfaces it uses. This is required for proper functionality and good performance of the emulator. To allow this configuration to be correctly reflected in the underlying cloud instance NICs for Charon-SSP versions before 4.1.32, the correct networking type (HARDWARE ASSISTED (SR-IOV) NETWORKING) must be chosen for the instance. For this, open the additional options section by clicking on Show Advanced Options at the bottom of the instance creation page and select the Networking tab as shown below:

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On this tab select HARDWARE ASSISTED (SR-IOV) NETWORKING (after creation, the instance will display the NIC Attachment Type VFIO). Please observe the warning displayed: not all shapes support this type properly.

Step 10: Click on Create to create your instance.

Step 11: verify that your instance is running.

Your instance should now be visible in the list of compute instances.

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Initial Access to the Instance

Once you have access to the instance, you can create the access you require for your applications. This section just shows the basic steps for initial access to the instance.

SSH Interactive Access

To connect to the instance interactively, you must connect as the management user of your instance. Use the following command:

$ ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=30 -i <path-to-your-private-key> <management-user-name>@<cloudhost-IP-address>

Please note:

• Depending on the type of connection, you will have to use either the public IP address of the cloud system or its address in a customer-specific VPN.
• The management user account normally allows sudo access to privileged commands (use sudo -i).

File Transfer with SFTP

SFTP enables file transfers to and from the cloud instance. Use the management user of your instance. The security rules must allow SSH access to allow SFTP access to the cloud instance.

Please note: Depending on the type of connection, you will have to use either the public IP address of the cloud system or its address in a customer-specific VPN.

To connect to the instance, use the following command:

$ sftp -i <path-to-your-private-key> <management-user>@<cloudhost-IP-address>