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Introduction

CHARON-VAX products are distributed

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Introduction

CHARON-VAX products are distributed in form of archive TAR.GZ files that contain RPM modules for different components. Generally it is recommended to install all the RPM modules but it is possible to omit some RPM files if they are not needed.

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CHARON-VAX model

Minimal number of CPU cores

Recommended number of 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 models22

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

Hyper-threading must be switched off completely. Disable hyper-threading 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 Hyper-threaded Core Sharing mode to None.

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When virtual disks/tapes are used to represent physical disk drives / magnetic tapes, the disk/tape image files have the same size as their hardware equivalent, regardless of their degree of utilization.

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Ethernet adapters

CHARON-VAX networking requires dedicated host Ethernet adapters; their number must be equal to the emulated adapters to be configured in CHARON-VAX. One adapter (optionally) can be left to the host for TCP/IP networking, management interface, etc.

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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 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 "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (64-bit)" nor "CentOS 7 (64-bit)" during virtual machine creation but "Windows 10/64bit" or "Other/Other 64bit" for exampleselect "Linux" as "Guest OS family" and "Other 3.x Linux (64-bit)" as Guest OS version".

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  1. Login as the superuser ("root") on the host system. Because Sentinel HASP runtime relies on 32-bit compatibility libraries to run on Linux, the 32-bit compatibility libraries must be installed before continuing. If the emulator host has access to a package repository, either local or remote, use the following command:

    # yum install glibc.i686

    (info) Sometimes it is not possible to use an online repository for the installation of 32-bit glibc package. In this case the procedure described in the appendixes has to be used: glibc.i686 installation without Internet connection

    .

  2. Create a directory for the CHARON-VAX distribution, copy the TAR.GZ files there and change to this directory as shown in the following example:

    # mkdir /charon_dist
    # cp /tmp/charon-vax-4.9-1940119402.el74.tar.gz /charon_dist
    # cd /charon_dist


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  1. Extract the content of the distribution TAR.GZ files to the current directory:

    # tar -xvzf charon-vax-<VER>-<BN>.<ZZ>.tar.gz

    where:

     

    Description

    VER

    Version of CHARON-VAX product, for example 4.9

    BN

    Build Number of CHARON-VAX product, for example 1940119402

    ZZ

    CHARON-VAX target operating system identifier.

    For CentOS 7.x 'ZZ' value is 'el74', for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x the value is 'el74' and for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 to 6.9 the value is 'el65'.

    Example:

    # tar -xvzf charon-vax-4.9-1940119402.el74.tar.gz 

    As result, a new directory "charon-vax-<VER>-<BN>.<VC>.<ZZ>" will be created.
     

  2. Switch to that directory:

    # cd charon-vax-<VER>-<BN>.<ZZ>

    Example:

    # cd charon-vax-4.9-1940119402.el74

         

  3. The distribution directory contains the following RPM files:

    File name

    Description

    charon-vax-VER-BN.ZZ.x86_64.rpmCHARON-VAX

    aksusbd-7.63-1.i386.rpm

    HASP Run-time

    charon-license-VER-BN.ZZ.x86_64.rpm

    CHARON Libraries

    charon-utils-VER-BN.ZZ.x86_64.rpm

    CHARON Utilities

    Example:

    ls
    aksusbd-7.63-1.i386.rpm
    charon-vax-4.9-1940119402.el74.x86_64.rpm
    charon-license-4.9-1940119402.el74.x86_64.rpm
    charon-utils-4.9-1940119402.el74.x86_64.rpm
     

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Dependencies Resolved  

================================================================================ 
Package Arch Version Repository Size 
================================================================================ 
Installing: 
aksusbd i386 7.63-1 /aksusbd-7.63-1.i386 2.9 M 
charon-vax x86_64 4.9-19401 19402 /charon-vax-4.9-1940119402.68704.el74.x86_64 260 M 
charon-license 
x86_64 4.9-19401 19402 /charon-license-4.9-1940119402.68704.el74.x86_64 2.9 M 
charon-utils 
x86_64 4.9-19401 19402 /charon-utils-4.9-1940119402.68704.el74.x86_64 1.8 M 

Transaction Summary 
================================================================================ 
Install 4 Packages 

Total size: 267 M 
Installed size: 267 M 
Is this ok [y/d/N]y

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Downloading packages: 
Running transaction check 
Running transaction test 
Transaction test succeeded 
Running transaction (shutdown inhibited) 
Installing : aksusbd-7.63-1.i386 1/4 
Starting aksusbd (via systemctl): [ OK ] 
Installing : charon-utils-4.9-1940119402.x86_64 2/4 
Installing : charon-license-4.9-1940119402.x86_64 3/4 
Installing : charon-vax-4.9-1940119402.x86_64 4/4 
Verifying : aksusbd-7.63-1.i386 1/4 
Verifying : charon-license-4.9-1940119402.x86_64 2/4 
Verifying : charon-vax-4.9-1940119402.x86_64 3/4 
Verifying : charon-utils-4.9-1940119402.x86_64 4/4 

Installed: 
aksusbd.i386 0:7.63-1 charon-vax.x86_64 0:4.9-19401 19402 
charon-license.x86_64 0:4.9-19401 19402 charon-utils.x86_64 0:4.9-19401 19402 

Complete!

Re-login (as "root") to apply the PATH settings or execute the following command:

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  • Text of the license is displayed correctly by the hasp_srm_view utility, no error messages are shown.
  • The content of the license looks correct. For example: license number, major and minor versions, minimum and maximum build numbers, CHARON-VAX products and allowed hardware (CHARON-VAX models) should be checked. More details on the license content can be found in the CHARON-VAX Licensing chapter of this Guide.


Example:

Removing licenses can be done by physical disconnection of the corresponding USB HASP keys from CHARON host and physical disconnection of the network HASP keys from all hosts on the local network (or by disabling remote access to network licenses from the CHARON host - see detailed explanations below).

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.

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# hasp_srm_view 

License Manager running at host: dlao.msc.masq 
License Manager IP address: 192.168.1.129 

HASP Net key detected 

The Physical KeyId: 1422726238 
CHARON Sentinel HASP License key section 
Reading 4032 bytes 

The License Number: 000.msc.sanity.tests 
The License KeyId: 1422726238 
The Master KeyId: 827774524 
Release date: 12-MAY-2018
Release time: 15:15:15 
Update number: 1 
End User name: MSC 
Purchasing Customer name: STROMASYS
... 

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If multiple licenses are available, it is possible to check them using the "-all" parameter with the hasp_srm_view utility in the following way:

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(info) It it also possible to display the license content for one specific key using the "-key" parameter and specifying the Key Id (see "hasp_srm_view -h" for more)

Note

Reminder: If the CHARON host is accessed over a remote connection, please note that regular HASP licenses cannot be displayed and used in this case. As a workaround it is possible to install CHARON as a daemon (service). This procedure will be described later.

Troubleshooting

If the CHARON license content cannot be displayed by the hasp_srm_view utility or it is incorrect, check the license is available and correctly used:

  1. Invoke the system default web browser and enter the URL http://localhost:1947 to display the "Sentinel Admin Control Center" (ACC) web interface.
  2. Click on "Sentinel Keys" link to open the corresponding page.
  3. Make sure that one and only one CHARON HASP or SL license is present.

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Master KeyId: 827774524 
Release date: 12-MAY-2018
Release time: 15:15:15 
Update number: 1 
End User name: MSC 
Purchasing Customer name: STROMASYS
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Note

If multiple licenses are available, it is possible to check them using the "-all" parameter with the hasp_srm_view utility in the following way:

# hasp_srm_view -all

(info) It it also possible to display the license content for one specific key using the "-key" parameter and specifying the Key Id (see "hasp_srm_view -h" for more)


Note

Reminder: If the CHARON host is accessed over a remote connection, please note that regular HASP licenses cannot be displayed and used in this case. As a workaround it is possible to install CHARON as a daemon (service). This procedure will be described later.


Troubleshooting

If the CHARON license content cannot be displayed by the hasp_srm_view utility or it is incorrect, check the license is available and correctly used:

  1. Invoke the system default web browser and enter the URL http://localhost:1947 to display the "Sentinel Admin Control Center" (ACC) web interface.
  2. Click on "Sentinel Keys" link to open the corresponding page.
  3. Make sure that one and only one CHARON HASP or SL license is present.
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ProblemAction
No license is displayedMake sure that all the recommendations above about remote access to the host are fulfilled (if remote access takes place), that the HASP USB key is not broken and its LED indicator is lit (meaning that it is used by the host).
Only one License key / SL is seen and its content is incorrectContact STROMASYS to request a new license update.
Several License keys / SLs are displayedRemove all of them except the one provided by STROMASYS for the just installed version of CHARON.

Removing licenses can be done by physical disconnection of the corresponding USB HASP keys from CHARON host and physical disconnection of the network HASP keys from all hosts on the local network (or by disabling remote access to network licenses from the CHARON host - see detailed explanations below).

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.

Note

Starting with Charon-AXP/VAX 4.9 for Linux and Charon-AXP/VAX version 4.8 for Windows the Charon emulator products do not follow the settings in the Sentinel ACC with respect to querying remote license servers and network visibility. They perform a broadcast search for network licenses even if this has been disabled in the Sentinel ACC. If this behavior has to be prevented for specific reasons, the network access of the system has to be temporarily restricted or disabled, for example by blocking the relevant traffic in a firewall. Another possibility would be to block access to the network license at the license server side.

Note that such methods can negatively impact other functions of the system or, in the case of blocking access to a network license on the server, even the functions on other license clients.



Info

It is also possible to leave several licenses available to CHARON-VAX at the same time but in this case they have to be specified in the configuration file.

Example:

set session license_key_id[0]=1877752571

It is also possible to have one "main" and one "backup" license in case the main license becomes unavailable:

set session license_key_id[0]=1877752571 license_key_id[1]=354850588"1877752571,354850588"

CHARON-VAX checks its licenses from time to time starting with main license. If it becomes unavailable, it attempts to access the backup license.

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  1. Ensure your license allows you to upgrade to that version. If not, please generate a C2V file and send it to STROMASYS for update. See CHARON-VAX for Linux utilities - 'hasp_srm_view' utility
  2. Prepare the new kit RPM files as it is described in "Before installation" and "DistributionpreparationDistribution preparation" sections.
  3. Stop all running CHARON-VAX instances.
  4. Make sure that no template files (i.e. "mv3k6.cfg.template") have been used for your specific configuration otherwise copy those files to a dedicated folder.
  5. Login as "root" user.
  6. Remove the old CHARON-VAX version as described in the "CHARON-VAX for Linux deinstallation" chapter.
  7. Proceed with the same instructions on the new kit installation as described in the "Installation" section.
  8. Install the license for the new CHARON-VAX as described in the "License installation" section.

  9. Start all the CHARON-VAX services stopped at step #3.

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