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General settings that control the execution of CHARON-AXP belong to an object called the "session". It is a preloaded object; therefore, only "set" commands apply.
Example:
set session <parameter>=<value> |
The following table describes all available "session" parameters, their meaning and examples of their usage:
hw_model
| Parameter | hw_model |
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| Type | Text string |
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| Value | Virtual HP Alpha system hardware model to be emulated. Use a default configuration template for each particular model as a starting point for a custom configuration. This would ensure that the parameter is set correctly. Example: set session hw_model="AlphaServer_ES40" |
Available models are: AlphaServer_AS400 AlphaServer_AS800 AlphaServer_AS1000 AlphaServer_AS1000A AlphaServer_AS1200 AlphaServer_AS2000 AlphaServer_AS2100 AlphaServer_AS4000 AlphaServer_AS4100 AlphaServer_DS10 AlphaServer_DS15 AlphaServer_DS20 AlphaServer_DS25 AlphaServer_ES40 AlphaServer_ES45 AlphaServer_GS80 AlphaServer_GS160 AlphaServer_GS320
 Refer to this section to find how to set a particular HP Alpha model supported by CHARON-AXP.
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| Parameter | configuration_name |
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| Type | Text string |
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| Value | Name of the CHARON-AXP instance ( |
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ir it must be unique): set session configuration_name="MSCDV1" |
The value of this parameter is used as a prefix to the event log file name. (see below). From the example above, the CHARON-AXP log file will have the following name: MSCDV1-YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss-xxxxxxxxx.log |
xxxxxxxxx is an increasing decimal number starting from 000000000 to separate log files with the same time of creation (in case the log is being written faster than one log file per second).  It is strictly recommended to use the "configuration_name" parameter if more than one CHARON instance runs on the same server.
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log
| Parameter | log |
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| Type | Text string |
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| Value | The log file or directory name is where the log file for each CHARON-AXP execution session is stored. |
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If an existing directory is specified, | Panel |
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| borderColor | #3AAADC |
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| bgColor | #FFFFFF |
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| titleColor | #FFFFFF |
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| titleBGColor | #3AAADC |
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| title | Log specified as a file name |
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| It is possible to overwrite the existing log file or to extend it using the "log_method" parameter. The "log_method" parameter is effective only when a single log file is specified, not a directory. Example: set session log="/charon/es40prod.log" |
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| Panel |
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| borderColor | #0062AB |
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| bgColor | #FFFFFF |
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| titleColor | #FFFFFF |
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| titleBGColor | #0062AB |
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| title | Log specified as a directory |
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| CHARON-AXP automatically creates individual log files for each CHARON-AXP execution session. If the log parameter is omitted, CHARON-AXP creates a log file for each CHARON-AXP execution session in the directory where the emulator was started. |
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It is possible to overwrite the existing log file or extend it using the "log_method" parameter. See below for details.
The "log_method" parameter is effective only in the case where a single log file is specified, not a directory.
Examples:
set session log="log.txt" |
set session log="/CharonLogs/Logs" |
In these two cases, the log rotation mode is enabled, meaning a new log file is created each time the virtual machine is started and when the log file size exceeds the one specified (see log_file_size) and/or when the log file is older than a specified number of days (see log_rotation_period). A symbolic link located in the same directory will be created, pointing to the active log file. Its name is based on the hw_model parameter or the configuration_name parameter if specified. If the "configuration_name" parameter of the session is specified, the log file name |
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will have the following formatis composed as follows: <configuration_name>-YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss-xxxxxxxxx.log |
If |
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only a directory name is specified in log" parameter and the "configuration_name" parameter is omitted, the log file name will have the following format: <hw_model>-YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss-xxxxxxxxx.log |
where "xxxxxxxxx |
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is " is an increasing decimal integer, starting from 000000000 to separate log files with the same time of creation (in case the log is being created faster than one log file per second). |
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| Note |
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Only existing directory can |
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be used as a value of the "log" parameterbe specified. If the directory specified does not exist, this will be considered as a flat file.
Example: set session configuration_name="es40prod"
set session log="/charon/logs"
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The execution of the virtual machine will create a log file, named /charon/logs/es40prod-2016-10-13-10-00-00-000000000.log (for example) and a symbolic link named /charon/logs/es40prod.log pointing to this file. The link will be updated when the log rotation will occur. |
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log_method
| Parameter | log_method |
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| Type | Text string |
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| Value | - "overwrite" (default)
- "append"
Determines if the previous log information is maintained or overwritten. | Info |
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This parameter must be specified only in addition to “log” parameter on the same line. |
This parameter is applicable only if the CHARON-AXP log is stored to a file that is specified explicitly with the "log" parameter. Example: set session log="log.txt" log_method="append" |
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log_file_size
Parameter | log_file_size |
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| Type | Text string |
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| Value | If |
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the log mode this parameter controls switching to next log file based on size of the current file (switching appears on exceeding this size), the log_file_size parameter determines the log file size threshold at which the log is automatically rotated. - "unlimited" or "0" (default) - the feature is disabled
- "default" - default size is used (4Mb)
- <size>[KMG] - size of the current log file in bytes with additional multipliers:
K - Kilobyte - multiply by 1024 M - Megabyte - multiply by 1024*1024 G - Gigabyte - multiply by 1024*1024*1024
Examples: set session log_file_size="default" |
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Minimum LOG File size is 64K, maximum is 1G. Setting size less then 64K effectively makes the LOG File unlimited. |
log_rotation_period
| Parameter | log_rotation_period |
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| Type | Text string |
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| Value | - "default" - default value, 7 days. This values is used even if the "log_rotation_period" is not specified.
- "daily" or "1"
- "weekly" or "7"
- "never" or "0"
- <N> - in N days
If the rotation log mode is enabled this parameter controls switching to next log file based on period of time passed. If enabled the switching to next log file appears at midnight. Examples: |
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log_rotation_period="weekly"
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If enabled the switching to next log file appears at midnight
license_key_id
| Parameter | license_key_id[N] N=0 or 1 |
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| Type | Numeric |
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| Value | An integer (decimal Sentinel Key ID) that specifies the regular (N=0) and backup (N=1) license keys to be used by CHARON-AXP. set session license_key_id[0]=1877752571
set session license_key_id[1]=354850588
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It is also possible to specify both regular and backup keys in one line: set session license_key_id[0]=1877752571 license_key_id[1]=354850588 |
Based on the presence of the regular and/or backup license key IDs in the configuration file, CHARON-AXP behaves as follows:
No keys are specified
CHARON-AXP performs an unqualified search for any suitable key. If no key is found, CHARON-AXP exits. Both keys are specified
CHARON-AXP performs a qualified search for a regular license key. If it is not found, CHARON-AXP performs a qualified search for backup license key. If it is not found, CHARON-AXP exits. Only regular key is specified
CHARON-AXP performs a qualified search for a regular license key. If it is not found, CHARON-AXP performs an unqualified search for any suitable key. If none are found, CHARON-AXP exits. Only backup key is specified
CHARON-AXP performs an unqualified search for any suitable key. If no key is found, CHARON-AXP exits.
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license_key_lookup_retry
| Parameter | license_key_lookup_retry |
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| Type | Text String |
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| Value | In case the CHARON-AXP license connection is not present when the guest starts up, this parameter specifies how many times CHARON-AXP will try to establish the connection and, optionally, a period of time between retries. Syntax: set session license_key_lookup_retry = "N [, T]" |
Options: - N - Number of retries to look for license keys.
- T - Time between retries in seconds. If not specified 60 seconds are used
Example 1 set session license_key_lookup_retry = 1 |
If license key is not found during initial scan, do only one more attempt after 60 seconds. Example 2 set session license_key_lookup_retry = "1,30" |
Same as above but retry in 30 seconds. Example 3 set session license_key_lookup_retry = "3,10" |
If license key is not found during initial scan, do 3 more attempts waiting 10 seconds between them. Example 4 set session license_key_lookup_retry = "5" |
If license key is not found during the initial scan, do 5 more attempts waiting 60 seconds between them. |
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affinity
| Parameter | affinity |
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| Type | Text string |
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| Value | Overrides any initial process affinity mask provided by the host operating system. Once specified it binds the running instance of the emulator to particular host CPUs. Used for soft partitioning of the host CPU resources and/or for isolating host CPUs for other applications. By default the CHARON-AXP emulator instance allocates as many host CPUs as possible. The “affinity” parameter overrides that and allows explicit specification on which host CPU the instance must run on. |
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| Note |
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The "affinity" parameter defines the total number of host CPUs to be used both for emulated Alpha CPUs and for CHARON-AXP application itself (including the CPUs to be used for I/O - they are controlled by "n_of_io_cpus" parameter described below). |
Host CPUs are enumerated as a comma separated list of host system assigned CPU numbers: set session affinity="0, 2, 4, 6" |
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n_of_cpus
| Parameter | n_of_cpus |
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| Type | Numeric |
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| Value | Limits the number of emulated CPUs. Example: The maximum number of CPUs enabled by CHARON-AXP is specified by the license key, but cannot exceed the original hardware restrictions: | HP Alpha Model | Number of emulated CPUs |
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AlphaServer_AS400 | 1 | | AlphaServer_AS800 | 1 | | AlphaServer_AS1000 | 1 | | AlphaServer_AS1000A | 1 | | AlphaServer_AS1200 | 2 | | AlphaServer_AS2000 | 2 | | AlphaServer_AS2100 | 4 | | AlphaServer_AS4000 | 2 | | AlphaServer_AS4100 | 4 | | AlphaServer_DS10 | 1 | | AlphaServer_DS15 | 1 | | AlphaServer_DS20 | 2 | | AlphaServer_DS25 | 2 | | AlphaServer_ES40 | 4 | | AlphaServer_ES45 | 4 | | AlphaServer_GS80 | 8 | | AlphaServer_GS160 | 16 | | AlphaServer_GS320 | 32 |
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n_of_io_cpus
| Parameter | n_of_io_cpus |
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| Type | Numeric |
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| Value | This parameter specifies how many host CPUs CHARON-AXP must use for I/O handling. Use of the “affinity” parameter may limit the number of CPUs available. By default the CHARON-AXP instance reserves one third of all available host CPUs for I/O processing (round down, at least one). The “n_of_io_cpus” parameter overrides that by specifying the number of CHARON I/O CPUs explicitly. Example: set session n_of_io_cpus=2 |
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