This chapter describes how to set up a basic Charon-SSP instance in Azure.

Contents

Prerequisites

General Prerequisites

To access install and use configure Charon-SSP for Azurein the Azure cloud, you need an Azure subscription.

Licensing

Charon-SSP requires a license to run emulated SPARC systems. There For a typical cloud-based installation, there are two different cloud-specific Charon-SSP product variants with two different licensing models (availability may differ depending on cloud environment):

1. The cloud-specific Charonspecific, prepackaged Charon-SSP AL (Automatic Licensing) image utilizing a public, StromsysStromasys-operated cloud-specific license server.
2. Charon-SSP VE (Virtual Environment) utilizing a customer-operated, private VE license server in a supported cloud environment. Charon-SSP VE is available as a pre-packaged prepackaged image on some cloud platforms, and as in RPM packages package format for a conventional installation on a server in a supported cloud environment.

Both licensing options are briefly described below. Please contact your Stromasys representative for any questions about product availability and licensing options.

Please note: the user is responsible for any Solaris licensing obligations and has to provide the appropriate licenses.

Charon-SSP Automatic Licensing Overview

Not available on Azure. This section is for information only.

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• The Charon-SSP instance requires Internet access (via public IP address or NAT) for the license mechanism to work. If NAT is used, the gateway must be an instance in the same cloud-environment (the source address must be from the address range of the same cloud provider in which the Charon-SSP host instance runs). The public, Stromasys-operated license servers must be reachable on port 8080. Also, a DNS service must be reachable to resolve the host names of the license servers, or corresponding entries in /etc/hosts must exist. The license server details will be provided by Stromasys for platforms supporting the Charon-SSP AL images.
• If you change the instance size after first launching the instance and thereby change the number of CPU cores (or if the number of CPU cores is changed by any other method), the license will be invalidated.
• Some license licensing problems or other requirements (e.g., additional CPU cores needed) may require moving make it necessary to move the emulator to a new instance. Therefore Therefore, it is strongly recommended to store all relevant emulator data on a separate disk volume that can easily be detached from the old instance and attached to a new instance.
• Should access to the license be lost while the emulator is running, there is a grace period of 24 hours. If license access is not restored within this period, the emulator will stop (if a guest system is running at the time, this is the equivalent of disconnecting the power without clean shutdown, i.e., it may lead to loss of data).

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Charon-SSP VE Licensing Overview

This licensing option is applicable to pre-packaged prepackaged Charon-SSP VE images on cloud marketplaces and to VE-capable Charon-SSP emulator software installed from RPM packages.

Charon-SSP VE license characteristics

The main characteristics of VE licenses are the following:

• Software licenses only.
• Installed on Charon-SSP host or separate license server.
• Require the Charon-SSP VE license server software (RPM package included in the the prepackaged, cloud-specific marketplace Charon-SSP VE image).
• Require matching Charon-SSP emulator software (preinstalled on the the prepackaged, cloud-specific marketplace Charon-SSP VE image).

A If supported by the cloud provider, the VE license server in a supported cloud environment instance can be moved to a different subnet or zone in the same virtual private cloud environment, as long as the original instance can be moved. It is also possible to backup and restore (to the same instance) the license server data. However, the following actions will invalidate the license:

• Changing the number of CPU cores of the license server system.
• Copying the license server data to a different instance.
• Seriously damaging the root filesystem of the license server system.
• Re-installing the license server system.

Charon-SSP VE License Server Communication Requirements

For proper functionality, the system on which the license server runs must be able to communicate with the cloud infrastructure:

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It must also be able to communicate with the client systems using the license. The following ports are used for this communication:

• TCP/8083: must be permitted from the client to the license server to enable the use of the the license by the client.
• TCP/8084: must be permitted by the the license server for any system that should access the web interface to display license information.

Basic License Installation Steps Before an Emulator Can be Started

If there is no VE license server running already, decide on which cloud instance it should run and install the VE License Server package on the selected system. The VE License Server RPM package is included in the prepackaged Charon-SSP cloud imageVE marketplace images. Alternatively, Stromasys will provide a download location. See Installing the VE License Server Software.

• Unless If you have done so beforedon't already have a license, contact your Stromasys representative to purchase procure an appropriate license.
• Log in on your Charon-SSP VE License Server instance.
• Create a C2V file and send it to the email address Stromasys will provide to you.
• Install the V2C file received you will receive from Stromasys.
• Configure the emulator instance(s) to use the license server.

Please refer to the VE License Server User's Guide for more information.

Azure Instance Size Prerequisites (Hardware Prerequisites)

By selecting an instance size in Azure you select the virtual hardware that will be used for Charon-SSP Azure. Therefore, the selection of an instance size determines the hardware characteristics of the Charon-SSP virtual host hardware (e.g., how many CPU cores and how much memory your virtual Charon host system will have).

The minimum hardware requirements are described below. To learn about the default settings and how to use the Charon-SSP configuration options to determine the resource allocation, refer to the different configuration sections of the general general Charon-SSP userUser's guide guide Guide of your Charon-SSP version (see CHARON-SSP for Linux), in particular, the CPU Configuration section.

Please note: Not all instance types and sizes on Azure offer the recommended minimum CPU speed for the host system. Whether such instance types can provide adequate performance depends on customer requirements.

Azure Login and New Instance Launch

Logging in to your Azure account

To log in perform the following steps:

• Go to portal.azure.com. You will see a Microsoft Azure login screen.
• Enter your login credentials.
• Upon successful login, the Azure home screen will be displayed as shown in the example below:

Creating a Virtual Machine

Step 1: Click on the Virtual machines or on the Marketplace icon on the home page. If you create your instance via the Marketplace icon, please select the Charon listing from the Marketplace offerings, select to create an instance, and continue with Step 3.

This Clicking on Virtual machines opens the virtual machines overview list.

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• Your subscription
• Existing resource group (or click on Create new)
• Virtual machine name (cannot be changed after launching the instance)
• Region for the virtual machine
• Charon-SSP Azure image (click . Click on Browse all public and private images to select the correct image)image. If installing a prepackaged marketplace Charon-SSP image, this image must be used. If you plan to install Charon-SSP using RPM packages, use a Linux version supported for Charon-SSP.
• Size of your VM (click on Select size to see a list of available sizes)
• User name for the administrative user of the VM (enter sshuser)
• Authentication type. Select SSH public key and paste the public key of the key-pair to use into the field provided.

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• Enter the user sshuser as the administrative user.
• Select SSH public key authentication. You can then use one of the following steps to install your SSH public key.
  
  • Let Azure create a new key-pair for you.
  • Use the public key from a key-pair on your computer. As shown in the example below, you will have to past your public key into the field provided.
  • Use a key-pair previously created on Azure.
• The default allowed inbound port will allow SSH connections without limiting the source IP range. Remember to adapt it Some images may also have preconfigured access rules that cannot be changed during the launch of the instance. In either case, remember to adapt the rules to your requirements after creating the instance or in the Networking tab (advanced) during the creation of the instance. 

Click on Next: Disks. This will open the Disks tab of the VM creation window.

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Please note: By default, Azure VMs have one operating system disk and a temporary disk for short-term storage (mounted on /mnt/resource and not persistent). The recommended minimum system disk size is 30GB. You can attach existing additional data disks, or create new disks and attach them.

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• Virtual Network (existing or new)
• Subnet (default or other subnet)
• Whether a public IP should be assigned or not (note that the license server must be accessed via a public IP address from the Azure range)
• Basic, advanced, or advanced preconfigured security settings (which ports are open for access to the VM).

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