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When a CHARON Virtual Machine (VM) is created from a template using the CHARON Virtual Machine Manager, it has to be updated to meet the desired configuration.
This configuration is represented as a text file ("configuration file") containing some specific keywords to define the main settings such as the text-based configuration file is copied from a template file. This configuration file must be customized for your specific configuration. The configuration file consists of directives written in the Charon-AXP "configuration syntax" which define all aspects of the emulated system, including amount of memory, number of CPUs, peripheral devices as well as specifics of CHARON VM executions such as name of VM log file, number of host CPUs used for emulation, etc.To change , the location of various associated files, to name some examples.

To edit the configuration file, open the CHARON Virtual Machine Manager from its shortcut on Desktop / Start menu or from the tray menu item, select the target CHARON VM and press the "Edit Configuration" button:

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You must leave this line untouchedThis line must not be changed.

 If you create the CHARON VM configuration file from scratch, it must be the very first uncommented line in the configuration file.

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Exit on pressing F6 button

Despite the fact that the CHARON VM can stop with the "power off" command entered at SRM console level, it is recommended to set a hot key to stop the VM from the console (when the console is accessed remotely for example):

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This line allows the CHARON VM to be stopped by pressing the "F6" keyThe following directive configures the emulator to exit immediately when the F6 key sequence is sent to the emulator console:

This means that if the F6 key is pressed in the terminal emulator being used to connect to the console (PuTTY, for example), the emulator will exit immediately.

Please note that the emulator can be stopped when at the SRM prompt ("P00>>>") by type power off, as well as from the Virtual Machine Manager. To shut down the guest safely, Stromasys recommends the following procedure:

• Shut down the guest OS (OpenVMS/Tru64 UNIX)
• Wait for the SRM prompt ("P00>>>")
• Type power off at the SRM prompt
• The connection to the console will be lost when the emulator exits, which means the terminal emulator window will probaly disappear.
• At this point you can stop or restart the emulator host safely

Stromasys does not recommend enabling this feature. It means that any person (or software) which connects to the console port on the emulator host can stop the emulator and thus "pull the virtual power cable" from the OpenVMS or Tru64 UNIX guest. In particular, many organizations have deployed automated port scanners in their datacenters to discover open ports on the systems in the network. Many such port-scanning solutions, if they are able to connect to an open port, will next try to send data to the port. In many cases this data can be interpreted as the stop sequence and cause the emulator to exit.

If you must allow incoming connections to the console port, you should configure the Windows firewall with a "whitelist" of IP addresses from which such connections are allowed, and disallow all other addresses.

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Please note:

• CHARON supports VLAN adapters. If used, proceed with their installation and configuration according to the network adapter vendor User's Guide and then use the resulting VLAN interface the same way as the regular network interface. 

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• The AlphaServer DS15 and DS25 contain two built-in PCI Ethernet adapters. Models and names (EI* or EW*) of them depend on configuration addon. Choose one of the two or none, but not both. The first instantiates onboard network interfaces as EIA and EWA. While the second - EWA and EWB (enabled by default for backward compatibility)

  Example:

  #include ds25-onboard-nics.icfg
include ds25-onboard-nics-ew.icfg

Follow this link for more details of CHARON-AXP network controllers configuration.

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• File representing a physical disk of the Alpha system (disk image)

  • "<file-name>.vdisk"
    These files can be created from scratch with "MkDisk" utility. Data and OS disks backups are transferred from the original system via tapes or network and restored into these container files. 
    Mapping may also include the full path, for example: "C:\My disks\my_boot_disk.vdisk". If the path is not specified, the disk images are expected to be in the CHARON VM home directory.

    WarningUsing

    Important note: using compressed folders to store virtual disks and tapes is not supported

    .

• Physical disk
  • "\\.\PhysicalDrive<N>"
    Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON VM by mistake.

    These disks must not be formatted by the host OS.

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• Physical disk by its WWID
  • "\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID =XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX)"
    Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON VM by mistake.

    These disks must not be formatted by the host OS.

    DevID addresses the target physical disk by its WWID (hexadecimal 128-bit identifier assigned to the disk drive by its manufacturer/originator).

    Example:

    set PKA container[100]="\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID= 6008-05F3-0005-2950-BF8E-0B86-A0C7-0001)"

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• iSCSI disks

  • "\\.\PhysicalDrive(iScsiTarget = <iSCSI target>, LUN = <LUN number>)"
    
    

    Parameter	Description
    iScsiTarget	Addresses the disk by its iSCSI target name.
    LUN	Specifies the LUN on the connected iSCSI disk.

    Example:

    Div class small set PKA container[200]="\\.\PhysicalDrive(iScsiTarget= iqn.2008-04:iscsi.charon-target-test1, LUN= 1)"

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• SCSI device unknown to Windows for direct mapping, for example, a SCSI disk or tape reader

  • "\\.\Scsi<N>:<X>:<Y>:<Z>"
    The values of N, X, Y and Z can be collected using special utility "Host Device Check" included in the CHARON distributive - or manually by investigation of the devices connected to CHARON host in the "Device Manager" applet.
    

    Parameter	Description
    N	A logical number assigned by host operating system (Microsoft Windows) to logical or host’s physical storage resource such as physical SCSI HBA
    X	An internal SCSI bus number (usually 0) on host’s physical SCSI HBA
    Y	A SCSI ID of physical SCSI target device attached to host’s physical SCSI HBA
    Z	A logical unit number inside physical SCSI target device attached to host’s physical SCSI HBA

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• CD-ROM device
  • "\\.\CdRom<N>"
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• ISO file for reading distribution CD-ROM image

  • "<file-name>.iso"
    Mapping may also include the full path, for example: "C:\My disks\vms_distributive.iso". If the path is not specified, the CD-ROM images are expected to be in the CHARON VM home directory.

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• Host tape device
  • "\\.\Tape<N>"
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• File representing the tape (tape image)
  • Using

    "<file-name>.vtape"
    These files are created automatically.
    Mapping may also include a full path, for example: "C:\My tapes\backup.vtape". If the path is not specified, the tape images are expected to be in the CHARON VM home directory.
    

    Warning

    
    

    Important note: using compressed folders to store virtual disks and tapes is not supported.
    

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• Floppy drive
  • "\\.\A:"
    .
• Other type of drive, for example magneto-optical drive
  • "\\.\<N>:"
    .

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Follow this link for details on the KGPSA-CA controllers configuration.

Anchor
KGPSACA1 KGPSACA1

KGPSA-CA mapping to the host resources

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• File representing a physical disk of the Alpha system (disk image)

  • "<file-name>.vdisk"
    These files can be created from scratch with "MkDisk" utility. Data and OS disks backups are transferred from the original system via tapes or network and restored into these container files. 
    Mapping may also include the full path, for example: "C:\My disks\my_boot_disk.vdisk". If the path is not specified, the disk images are expected to be in the CHARON VM home directory.

    WarningUsing

    Important note: using compressed folders to store virtual disks and tapes is not supported.

    .

• Physical disk
  • "\\.\PhysicalDriveN"
    Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON VM by mistake.

    These disks must not be formatted by the host OS.
    .

• Physical disk by its WWID
  • "\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID =XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX)"
    Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON VM by mistake.

    These disks must not be formatted by the host OS.

    DevID addresses the target physical disk by its WWID (hexadecimal 128-bit identifier assigned to the disk drive by its manufacturer/originator).

    Example:

    set PKA container[100]="\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID= 6008-05F3-0005-2950-BF8E-0B86-A0C7-0001)"

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• iSCSI disks

  • "\\.\PhysicalDrive(iScsiTarget = <iSCSI target>, LUN = <LUN number>)"
    iScsiTarget addresses the disk by its iSCSI target name. LUN specifies LUN on the connected iSCSI disk.

    Example:

    Div class small set PKA container[200]="\\.\PhysicalDrive(iScsiTarget= iqn.2008-04:iscsi.charon-target-test1, LUN= 1)"

    .

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Optionally it is possible to configure the folIowing models of PBXDA-xx family controllers.

VIrtual PBXDA-xx

Syntax for loading PBXDA-xx family serial lines adapters:

Example:

The adapter instance name ("TXA" in the example above) is used then for parametrization, for example:

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Charon-AXP can be configured to automatically boot an operating system at start up immediately after it has started by specifying the default boot device and setting the 'auto_action' parameter to 'restart' from the console.

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