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Comment: Bug id 5443 description updated

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Stromasys  Charon-VAXImage Modified

Version: 34 - Published: 26 Jun  

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Important notes

Secure boot is not supported by CHARON at the moment since in this case host OS will not accept signature of distributed NDIS drivers needed for CHARON networking. Disable secure boot or use CHARON without networking (select "Ignore" when installation procedure reports that NDIS driver is not signed).

New functionalities introduced in build 202-03 since previous release (build 194-02)

  • IEQ11 board is implemented on top of (couple of) NI PCI-GPIB interface cards (ID#4670)
  • Spectracom TPRO/BI timer board is implemented (ID#4481)
  • Serial lines to PLCs communication is improved (ID#5425)
  • Log is flushed regularly and asynchronously to facilitate online LOG monitoring by third-party tools (ID#5532)
  • Correct installation of x64 HostPrint utility in all Charon products is implemented (in the folder beside the corresponding executables) (ID#5570)
  • VMware Ethernet adapters: in addition to the E1000, E1000E and VMXNETx adapters are now fully supported.
  • Copyrights are updated in all sample configuration files (ID#5399)
  • EXE/DLL copyright is updated (ID#5503)
  • The value of "log_repeat_filter" parameter is "off" by default (ID#5405)
  • Licensing mechanism is improved (ID#5375, 5458, 5459)
  • Network License management processing changes (ID#4631)
  • Redistributable Visual C++ runtime is upgraded (ID#5385)
  • Installation procedure detects inconsistent and/or damaged installation and deals with it properly (ID#5476)
  • In "Repair" mode Installation, the procedure keeps the current Charon installation in case of errors (ID#5477)
  • All Charon components are installed independently for every build (ID#5504)
  • Patches to Charon kits is able to keep all the previous executables independently from each other (ID#5506)
  • Backup patch scripts areinstalled for each build independently (ID#5517)
  • Virtual Machines renaming feature is disabled (ID#5394)
  • "hasp_view" command line mode is extended to output all available licenses details to a file (ID#5442)
  • NCC utility is improved (ID#5497)

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Problems fixed in build 202-03 since build 194-02

  • Fixed a problem when patch script created incorrect backup directories (ID#5516)
  • Fixed a problem when VAX Cluster hung in certain configurations (Support Case 00030570, 00030564, ID#5426)
  • Fixed a problem when it was impossible to mount physical tape on "MicroVAX_3100_Model_98" model (ID#5488, 5489)
  • Fixed HOSTprint working on Windows 10 (ID#5054)
  • Fixed broken "license_key_lookup_retry" option functionality (ID#5538)
  • Fixed a problem with incorrect selection of default product while creating VM with Charon Manager (ID#5530)
  • Fixed a problem when Charon VMs (services) lost depence on HASPLMS (ID#5529)
  • Fixed a problem when InstallShell defined versions of VC redistributives installed incorrectly (ID#5494)
  • Fixed an error during installation on Windows Server 2016: "NDIS Packet driver is not installed" (ID#5544)
  • Correct Charon service dependencies persist now when upgrading existing Charon VMs (ID#5546)
  • InstallShell graphics is updated for correct slogan (ID#5558)
  • MkDisk utility graphics is updated for correct slogan (ID#5562)
  • Fixed a problem when HOSTprint stays running when emulator process terminates (ID#5505)
  • Fixed a problem where action HALT is not available (disabled, greyed out) on emulator's system tray menu (ID#5418)
  • Fixed a problem where HALT does not work (ID#5451)
  • Fixed a problem when sometimes network does not work with PMAD-AA  (ID#5067)
  • Fixed a problem when setting DSSI_ID from VAX console (set dssi_id <bus> <id>) fails from time to time (it fails more often when DIT is enabled) (ID#5418)
  • Fixed a problem with long duration of Charon installation (ID#5360)
  • Fixed a problem with incorrect behaviour of action for Edit Configuration in VM Manager (ID#5413)
  • Fixed a problem where host NIC dedicated to Charon is shown as dedicated to host in the Network Control Center (ID#5415, 5429)
  • Fixed a problem where there is no network connection when "packet_port" is in legacy mode (ID#5427)
  • Fixed a problem where Charon reports "Can not change current ethernet address... Dynamic change of ethernet address is disabled or is not supported" if port_enable_mac_addr_change is set to false (error code 00000113) as an error instead of a warning (ID#5443)
  • Fixed a problem with unexpected forced Windows reboot during Charon installation (ID#5455)
  • Fixed a problem where in "Repair" mode (only) Installation, the procedure processes running "logmond" incorrectly (ID#5479)
  • Fixed a problem where Installation procedure detects versions of installed VC++ redistributives incorrectly (ID#5494)
  • Fixed a problem where NCC fails to install NDIS driver (ID#5177)
  • Fixed a problem where CharonCP fails to install on OpenVMS 6.2-1H3 (ID#5329). 
  • Fixed a problem where Charon crashes when emulated NIC is bound to a teamed host NIC on VMWare (ID#5380).

  • Fixed a problem where Virtual Machine Manager does not pick up changes in log file specification and configuration names if the VM name contains spaces (ID#5390).

  • Fixed a problem where no RDP warning is displayed in local license key environment (ID#5400).

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  • E1000E and VMXNETx VMware adapters are fully supported
  • A CHARON license update is required before upgrading. Stromasys might request a HASP dongle state (c2v file) or a host fingerprint taken by HASP Update Service (which is included in the CHARON kit) in order to issue a license update. Please refer to License Update Service for details
  • Due to CHARON installation procedure update, if you upgrade from a version older than 4.8, it is required to uninstall all CHARON products before installing CHARON-AXP version 4.10. Please use the Windows Control Panel to do perform the operation.
  • If you upgrade from version 4.8 or 4.9:
    • It is not necessary to save boot parameters at the SRM level (console). Parameters will be kept.
    • It is mandatory to update all existing CHARON Virtual Machines to make them run the latest version using the Virtual Machines Manager, VM Configuration tab.
  • The following Microsoft Windows update has to be installed on Windows 7, Server 2008 R2 in order to support new CHARON drivers signed with SHA2 signature:
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/SecurityAdvisories/2015/3033929
  • If VMware is used, it must be upgraded to version 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 or 6.7
  • It's recommended to archive the old CHARON log files before starting the new version in order to avoid mixing character encoding in the log files
  • Intelligent packet processing should be switched off for the network adapters dedicated to CHARON with "Network Control Center" (NCC) utility. Please refer to FTP, NFS, and general network issues with CHARON-AXP and CHARON-VAX on Windows for details
  • The user that runs CHARON-VAX must have local administrator privileges and be a member of CHARON-GRP group (which is created during the CHARON installation)
  • CHARON executables, libraries and data (disk container files) files should be excluded from all the antivirus checks, including on-the-fly checks and scheduled scans
  • HT (Hyper-Threading Technology) should be disabled on the hosting server
  • Power management, USB power saving management and screen saver should be switched off on the hosting server
  • CHARON-VAX configuration file should be reviewed if migrating from CHARON-VAX for Linux. Linux specific configuration parameters (for example, network adapter references) should be changed to Windows specific parameters. Please refer to the user manual for details.
  • Please note that the actual network communication speed and mode are determined by the Windows network speed and mode settings.
  • For network connections, interface="connection:..." syntax is preferred in the CHARON configuration file

  • The packet_port keyword in the CHARON configuration file can be used on any hosting platform instead of the platform specific keywords ndis5_chpack_port and ndis6_chpack_port. 


    For example, the CHARON configuration file lines:

    load ndis5_chpack_port/chnetwrk EWA0 interface="..."

    and

    load ndis6_chpack_port/chnetwrk EWA0 interface="..."

    can be replaced with:

    load packet_port/chnetwrk EWA0 interface="..."


  • For the emulated network adapters the communication speed and mode is recommended to be commented out (set to automatic). If it is necessary, the example is below:

    load DE500BA/dec21x4x EWA interface=EWA0
    load packet_port/chnetwrk EWA0 interface="..."
    set EWA adapter_mode="100BaseT-FD"


  • On VMware virtual appliance network adapters and vSwitch should be set to Promiscuous mode
  • On VMware, legacy_mode should be set in CHARON configuration for emulated VAX network adapters if Promiscuous mode cannot be set (this solution does not work in multi-instance configurations)
  • The extension of the kfddb.cfg file, used to load extra pair of DSSI port on some VAX models, and kzdda.cfg file, used to load optional SCSI controller on some VAX models, has changed to .icfg. Existing configuration files have to be updated.

...

  • Network booting is supported with exception of VAX6xxx models.
  • HOSTprint does not work on Windows 10 (ID#5054)
  • IDLE works only once, right after CHARONCP installation. As soon as VMS reboots, host CPU utilization returns to maximum and does not drop untill VMS shutdown (ID#5343)
  • In VAX-6310 UETP test fails if it runs from tape (ID#1942)
  • It is impossible to mount physical tape on some new physical devices (ID#5488)
  • Standalone Backup is not bootable on MicroVAX 3600 and MicroVAX II (ID#1870)
  • CHARONCP SET MAGTAPE utility does not support TQK50/TUK50 controllers (ID#5398)
  • In certain situations of several CHARON virtual machines running on one host with DSSI cluster configured, CHARON may hang up if load on the nodes is very high (ID#5426)
  • In certain situations when a network adapter is dedicated to CHARON by NCC, its status is shown as if it is still dedicated to HOST (ID#5415).
  • CHARON installation may fail with an error message "The installation process cannot replace hasplms.exe because the file is in use". It is known problem of the Sentinel HASP driver installer included to CHARON installation procedure as a 3rd party software. If you face this issue stop the hasplms.exe process manually and re-run CHARON installation procedure. See the Installation chapter below for more information.
  • CHARONCP SET MAGTAPE utility does not support TQK50/TUK50 controllers (ID#5398)
  • Sometimes VAX 6310 does not boot guest OS. The workaround is restart of the emulator and a second try (ID#5384)
  • Sometimes OpenVMS 7.2 freezes on booting. The workaround is to restart the emulator (ID#5396)
  • A segmentation violation in module NCR53C94 may very rarely occur. If that happens, please provide CHARON configuration and log files to Stromasys (ID#4633)
  • CMS commands may slow down due to a its internal design. STROMASYS provides (on request) a special OpenVMS utility to solve the problem (ID#4651)
  • CHARON cannot correctly define the total number of available CPUs on multi CPU groups systems (NUMA architecture, etc) - it reports only a number of the CPUs found in its first group. This problem will be fixed in future releases.
    As a workaround, enable "Node interleaving" from the BIOS (if available) to make the BIOS report the total number of available CPUs (as a part of one consolidated NUMA group) to the operating system.
    For example, on HP Proliant servers, the configuration sequence is the following:
    - Boot the server, press F9 and enter BIOS setup.
    - Select "Advanced Options" -> "Advance Performance Tuning Options" -> "Node Interleaving", set it to "Enabled".
    - Boot Windows.
  • "Violation of constraint" may happen on RDB loading on VAXserver 3600 (ID#2832)
  • MicroVAX II emulator hangs while booting MDM (ID#3382)
  • CHARON may not boot from physical tapes (ID#1936)
  • CHARON-VAX does not emulate graphical adapter. Applications hardcoded to use graphical hardware as their own interfaces may not function correctly
  • Only Windows SCSI devices with a driver that uses SCSIport method could be used with the direct SCSI access. Those include most of the device drivers on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (R2), and most non disk devices on Windows 7 and Server 2008 (R2). If SCSIport is not supported (and Storport method is used instead), direct SCSI access can't be used.
    This is most likely to be the case for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 (R2) disk controller drivers.
    This restriction mainly applies to the disk access. Most part of tape drivers currently support SCSIport. When direct SCSI access is used for devices without Windows drivers, this restriction does not apply
  • CHARON does not support direct access to SCSI devices on Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2. It's recommended to use CHARON-VAX for Linux if access to SCSI devices is necessary.
  • CHARON-VAX has limited support for teamed network adapters. They could be used only if the MAC address of the virtual VMS network adapter is not changed during CHARON-VAX session. In this case the desired MAC address should be set manually in the properties of the network team and in the CHARON-VAX configuration file by "station_address=XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX" configuration option.
  • CHARON-VAX does not support virtual network adapters (i.e. MS bridges, etc).
  • Network speed auto negotiation works with some restrictions. It is always recommended to use full duplex mode on the hosting server.
  • The firmware does not support the history of commands called with the up/down arrow keys.
  • VMS 7.x Monitor utility shows the maximum CPU quantity instead of actually configured quantity.
  • A Telnet session from OpenVMS running on emulated host may freeze console output. The console output can hang when the virtual serial line sends XOFF/XON sequence. The TELNET client sends XOFF to the remote node's TELNET server to suspend output, but for unknown reason XON is discarded and remote node's TELNET server has no chance to resume output. The console remains "frozen". As the remote site is not sending any output to it. When that happens, the local node is reachable over network, and can be unlocked by typing the 'break' character - usually "Ctrl-]" and exiting telnet session by typing "exit" at "TELNET>" prompt.
  • Emacs hangs if the OPA0 console is used. Emacs works fine over telnet connection.
  • VMS command START/CPU does not start an emulated CPU if it had been previously stopped with STOP/CPU command. This problem will be fixed in the next CHARON-VAX release.
  • Network Control Center could show some minor problems on Simplified Chinese version of Windows.
  • The correct license must be available to enable the CHARON-VAX to start. The software may wrongly report that no license is present if the correct license is not present. Check the capability of your license by using the utility "HaspView" which is available as a part of the kit.
  • If installed on VMware, sometimes the POST tests report errors for emulated VAX models 4106 and 4108.
  • If CHARON is being moved to another hosting platform and direct the SCSI access method is used to access some SCSI devices, the new hosting platform SCSI drivers should support the SCSIport method. If drivers supporting SCSIport method are not available, direct SCSI access cannot be used. This is most likely to be the case for most Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 (R2) devices. The recommended workaround for disk access is to use \\.\PhysicalDriveX method 

...

  • Unpack CHARON kit into a temporary (installation) folder.
  • Run the "InstallShell.exe" file in the installation folder.
  • Choose the products to install and proceed with suggested steps.
  • Please note that the media may contain more products than allowed by your license.

(warning) CHARON installation may fail with an error message "The installation process cannot replace hasplms.exe because the file is in use". It is known problem of the Sentinel HASP driver installer included to CHARON installation procedure as a 3rd party software.

In this case follow the procedure recommended by Sentinel:

  1. Login as an user having Administrator Rights.
  2. Use the Sentinel HASP Runtime Environment Removal tool (https://sentinelcustomer.gemalto.com/sentineldownloads/?s=removal&c=#)
  3. Stop any antivirus or firewall available on the system.
  4. Stop and remove "hasplms.exe" manually. This file is available under "C:\Windows\System32". In case if "hasplms.exe" is read only or hidden change the file properties accordingly.
  5. Restart the system
  6. Run CHARON installation again

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