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#load physical_serial_line OPA0 line="/dev/ttyN" #load virtual_serial_line OPA0 port=10003
load operator_console OPA0

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The goal of this configuration step is to tell CHARON-VAX what host device to use as the virtual system console. The following options are available:

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CHARON-VAX supports MSCP, DSSI, CI and SCSI disk controllers. The examples below are for MSCP and SCSI controllers only. DSSI controllers are discussed in details in the following section, CI controllers - in this section.

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MSCP disk controllers (RQDX3, KDB50, KDM70)

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Type of mapping

Description

"<file-name>.vdisk"

Mapping to files representing physical disks of the VAX system (disk images).
These files can be created from scratch with "mkdskcmd" utility. Data and OS disk 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: "/my_disks/my_boot_disk.vdisk"

"/dev/sdL"

Mapping to physical disks. "L" is letter here. Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON-VAX by mistake! These disks can not be formatted by the host OS.

It is also possible to use not a whole disk, but previously created partitions on it. In this case the syntax is the following: "/dev/sdLN" where N is the number of partition to be used.

Note
Since "/dev/

srN"Mapping to CD-ROMs. There are some variants of this mapping:

sdL" addressing is not persistent, so it is strongly recommended to use "/dev/

cdrom<N>" or "/dev/cdrom"

"<file-name>.iso"

Mapping to an ISO file for reading distribution CD-ROM images.

Numbers in the square brackets represent unit numbers associated with each container of the MSCP controller. For example, line 3 of the configuration sample above creates disk "DUA2". The maximum unit number allowed is 9999, significantly more than the original hardware provided.

It is possible to load several RQDX3 controllers DUB, DUC, etc. (see lines 6-7, above) by configuring specific addresses for them on the Qbus. Use the "CONFIGURE" utility available on the VAX console to determine the addresses. Please refer to specific HP documentation for further information.

Please also refer to HP documentation for information on placement of additional KDM70 controllers on an XMI bus (VAX 6000 models) and additional KDB50 controllers on a BI bus (VAX 6310).

Note that the KDM70 controller is capable of mapping to files representing tapes (tape images) and physical tape devices:

set PUA container[600] = "<file-name>.vtape" set PUA container[601] = "/dev/stN"

Follow this link for details of (T)MSCP controllers configuration.

Back to Table of Contents

SCSI controller NCR53C94

The VAX 4000 and MicroVAX 3100 have an NCR53C94 SCSI controller onboard for support of different types of SCSI devices including disks and tapes. Optionally a second controller can be added.

Below is a typical configuration template for a preloaded "PKA" NCR53C94 SCSI controller:

#load virtual_scsi_disk pka_0 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=0
#set pka_0 container="<file-name>.vdisk"

#load virtual_scsi_disk pka_1 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=1
#set pka_1 container="/dev/sdL"

#load physical_scsi_device pka_2 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=2
#set pka_2 container="/dev/sgN"

#load virtual_scsi_cdrom pka_3 scsi_bus = pka scsi_id = 3

#set pka_3 container = "/dev/cdrom"
#set pka_3 container = "/dev/cdrom1"
#set pka_3 container = "/dev/cdrom<N>"
#set pka_3 container = "/dev/sr0"
#set pka_3 container = "/dev/sr<N>"

#load virtual_scsi_cdrom pka_4 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=4
#set pka_4 container="<file-name>.iso"

#load physical_scsi_device pka_5 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=5
#set pka_5 container="/dev/sgN"

#load virtual_scsi_tape pka_6 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=6
#set pka_6 container="<file-name>.vtape"

Note that NCR53C94 SCSI controller mapping to system resources is done via specific auxiliary objects:

Mapping Object

Description

virtual_scsi_disk

Mapping to a file representing VAX disk (disk image) on the host physical disk:

"<file-name>.vdisk"
These files can be created from scratch with "mkdskcmd" utility. Data and OS disk 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: "/my_disks/my_boot_disk.vdisk"

"/dev/sdL" - name of a physical disk. "L" is letter here. Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON-VAX by mistake! These disks can not be formatted by the host OS.
It

disk/by-id/wwn-*" syntax instead to refer the disk by its WWID - especially in the enviroments utilizing FC and SAN storages (see below).

"/dev/dmN"
"/dev/mapper/mpathN"
"/dev/mapper/diskN"

Mapping to multipath disk.

Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON-VAX by mistake.

These disks must not be formatted by the host OS.

"/dev/disk/by-*"

Mapping to physical disk.

by-id (addressing by the disk ID, for example "/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST1000DM003-9YN162_S1D01QJ4")
by-label (addressing by the disk label, for example "/dev/disk/by-label/MyStorage")
by-uuid (addressing by the disk UUID, for example "/dev/disk/by-uuid/0e808a2f-cdd3-4944-a245-f729ffd73882")

Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON-VAX by mistake.

These disks must not be formatted by the host OS.

"/dev/srN"

Mapping to CD-ROMs. There are some variants of this mapping: "/dev/cdrom<N>" or "/dev/cdrom"

"<file-name>.iso"

Mapping to an ISO file for reading distribution CD-ROM images.

Numbers in the square brackets represent unit numbers associated with each container of the MSCP controller. For example, line 3 of the configuration sample above creates disk "DUA2". The maximum unit number allowed is 9999, significantly more than the original hardware provided.

It is possible to load several RQDX3 controllers DUB, DUC, etc. (see lines 6-7, above) by configuring specific addresses for them on the Qbus. Use the "CONFIGURE" utility available on the VAX console to determine the addresses. Please refer to specific HP documentation for further information.

Please also refer to HP documentation for information on placement of additional KDM70 controllers on an XMI bus (VAX 6000 models) and additional KDB50 controllers on a BI bus (VAX 6310).

Note that the KDM70 controller is capable of mapping to files representing tapes (tape images) and physical tape devices:

set PUA container[600] = "<file-name>.vtape" set PUA container[601] = "/dev/stN"

Follow this link for details of (T)MSCP controllers configuration.

Back to Table of Contents

SCSI controller NCR53C94

The VAX 4000 and MicroVAX 3100 have an NCR53C94 SCSI controller onboard for support of different types of SCSI devices including disks and tapes. Optionally a second controller can be added.

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Below is a typical configuration template for a preloaded "PKA" NCR53C94 SCSI controller:

#load virtual_scsi_disk pka_0 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=0
#set pka_0 container="<file-name>.vdisk"

#load virtual_scsi_disk pka_1 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=1
#set pka_1 container="/dev/sdL"

#load physical_scsi_device pka_2 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=2
#set pka_2 container="/dev/sgN"

#load virtual_scsi_cdrom pka_3 scsi_bus = pka scsi_id = 3

#set pka_3 container = "/dev/cdrom"
#set pka_3 container = "/dev/cdrom1"
#set pka_3 container = "/dev/cdrom<N>"
#set pka_3 container = "/dev/sr0"
#set pka_3 container = "/dev/sr<N>"

#load virtual_scsi_cdrom pka_4 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=4
#set pka_4 container="<file-name>.iso"

#load physical_scsi_device pka_5 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=5
#set pka_5 container="/dev/sgN"

#load virtual_scsi_tape pka_6 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=6
#set pka_6 container="<file-name>.vtape"

Note that NCR53C94 SCSI controller mapping to system resources is done via specific auxiliary objects:

Mapping Object

Description

virtual_scsi_disk

Mapping to a file representing VAX disk (disk image) on the host physical disk:

"<file-name>.vdisk"
These files can be created from scratch with "mkdskcmd" utility. Data and OS disk 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: "/my_disks/my_boot_disk.vdisk"
"/dev/sd<L>" - name of a physical disk. "L" is letter here.
"/dev/dm-<N>", "/dev/mapper/mpath<N>", "/dev/mapper/disk<N>" - for multipath disks. N is 0,1,2...
"/dev/disk/by-id/..." - addressing by the disk ID, for example "/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST1000DM003-9YN162_S1D01QJ4"
"/dev/disk/by-label/..." - addressing by the disk label, for example "/dev/disk/by-label/MyStorage"
"/dev/disk/by-uuid/..." - addressing by the disk UUID, for example "/dev/disk/by-uuid/0e808a2f-cdd3-4944-a245-f729ffd73882"
"/dev/df<N>" - name of host CD-ROM drive. N is 0,1,2... This parameter can be omitted.

Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON-VAX by mistake! These disks can not be formatted by the host OS.

Note
Since "/dev/sd<L>" addressing is not persistent, so it is strongly recommended to use "/dev/disk/by-id/wwn-*" syntax instead to refer the disk by its WWID - especially in the enviroments utilizing FC and SAN storages.

It is also possible to use not a whole disk, but previously created partitions on it. In this case the syntax is the following: "/dev/

sdLN

sd<L><N>" where N is the number of partition to be used.

physical_scsi_device

Mapping to a host SCSI device:

"/dev/sgNsg<N>" - name of the SCSI device for direct mapping, for example, a SCSI disk or tape reader.

virtual_scsi_cdrom

Mapping to a host CD-ROM (not only SCSI) or to ISO image:

"/dev/sr<N>", "/dev/cdrom", "/dev/cdrom<N>" - name of host CD-ROM drive
"<file-name>.iso" - name of ISO image. It may contain the full path, for example: "/my_disks/vms_distributive.iso"

virtual_scsi_tape

Mapping to a file representing tape (tape image). It may contain a path, for example: "/my_tapes/backup.vtape"

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VAX 6620 through VAX6660 models emulate 2-6 CPUs respectively. In this situation, loading of the host system can be tuned with the following configuration file settings:

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affinity

This setting binds the running instance of the emulator CPUs to particular host CPUs. This should be used for soft partitioning host CPU resources or for isolating multiple CHARON instances on the same host from each other.
By default the emulator instance allocates as many host CPUs as possible.
“Affinity” overrides the default and allows explicit specification of which host CPUs will be used by the instance. Affinity does not reserve the CPU for exclusive use.

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Example:

”0 6”

set session affinity = "0, 2, 4, 6"

n_of_io_cpus

Reserves host CPUs (of those specified by “affinity” parameter, if any) for use by the emulator for I/O handling.
By default the emulator instance reserves one third of available host CPUs for I/O processing (round down, at least one).
The “n_of_io_cpus” overrides the default by specifying the number of I/O host CPUs explicitly.

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Example:

set session n_of_io_cpus = 2

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Versions Compared

Old Version 7

New Version Current

Key

MSCP disk controllers (RQDX3, KDB50, KDM70)

SCSI controller NCR53C94

SCSI controller NCR53C94

affinity

n_of_io_cpus