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CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP model	Minimal number of host CPU cores	Recommended number of host CPU cores
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.

Note
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.

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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 50 500 MB for the CHARON software plus space required for the normal host OS.

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Info

Starting with ESXi 6.5, it is not possible to select E1000 adapter when a new virtual machine is created using Windows 10, Windows Server 2012 and 2016 templates.

The following workarounds are avaibleavailable:

import Import the virtual machine from an older version of ESXi
do not select Windows Server 2012 or 2016 Do not select "Windows Server 2012", "Windows Server 2016" or "Windows 10/64bit" during virtual machine creation but select "Windows 10/64bitServer 2008" or "Other/Other 64bit" for example.

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Note

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.CHARON instances and services.

Note
Secure boot is not supported by CHARON at the moment since in this case host OS will not accept signature of distributed NDIS drivers needed for CHARON networking. Disable secure boot or use CHARON without networking (select "Ignore" when installation procedure reports that NDIS driver is not signed).

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In case a network-wide license (red dongle or software license) is going to be used, the following operations have to be performed:

On server side (where network license will reside): open port 1947 for both TCP and UDP
On the client side, if broadcast search for remote licenses is to be used, UDP traffic from port 1947 of the license server to ports 30000-65535 of the client must be permitted.
Both on server and client sides: setup default gateway

Please consult with your Windows User's Guide on Windows online documentation for details.

Info
If stricter firewall rules are required, it is possible to open the ports 30000-65535 and 1947 only for the "Sentinel HASP License Manager" (hasplms.exe) service (it will be installed by CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP11).

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Type "regedit" in the search field under "Start" menu or press Windows+R and enter "regedit"; press Enter to run the found applet.
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Find the "AlwaysDisableMCN" parameter in the following way:

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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
+ SYSTEM
    + CurrentControlSet
       + Enum
          + SCSI
             + Disk&Ven_DEC&Prod_RWZ53_____(C)DEC  <- This one depends on Vendor and Model of your MO drive
                + 5&fd233cf&0&000500 <- This one depends on hardware connection (SCSI ID of MO drive, location of SCSI HBA on the host's mainboard, etc ...)
                   + Device Parameters
                      + MediaChangeNotification
                         + AlwaysDisableMCN = DWORD:00000000

Change the "AlwaysDisableMCN" parameter to "1", for example: "AlwaysDisableMCN = DWORD:00000001".
Reboot the host system.

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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 Windows online documentation for 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

4.7 and below

First uninstall all CHARON products.

4.8

The version 4.9 can be installed directly.

Please note it is mandatory to update all existing CHARON Virtual Machines to make them run the latest version using the Virtual Machines Manager, VM Configuration tab - otherwise they will remain at V4.8.

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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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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:\temp
c:\temp> haspdinst.exe -fr -kp -nomsg
c:\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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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:

Image RemovedImage Added

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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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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Login as the local system administrator ("Administrator") on the host system.
Create a special user for running CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP. This user must have administrative or standard privileges (in this case login as Administrator for manging NDIS drivers and running NCC utility). Please consult with your Windows User's Guide on Windows online documentation for details.
Add this user to the CHARON-GRP group as it is described in this article and then reboot CHARON host.
Login as the created user.

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