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Stromasys  Charon-PDPImage Modified

Version:  3 4 - 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 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)
  • 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)

...

  • Fixed a problem when patch script created incorrect backup directories (ID#5516)
  • 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 with long duration of Charon-installation (ID#5360)
  • Fixed a problem with incorrect behavior 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 aproblem 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).

...

  • 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 is 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 on Windows for details
  • The user that runs CHARON-PDP 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 save should be switched off on the hosting server
  • 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="..."


  • 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 PDP network adapters if Promiscuous mode cannot be set (this solution does not work in multi-instance configurations)

...

Known restrictions of build 202-03

  • CHARON fails to boot RSX-11M-PLUS V4.3 (ID#5423). Workaround is enabling autoboot, for example: "set CPU_0 auto_boot = DU0".
  • HOSTprint does not work on Windows 10 (ID#5054)
  • 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.
  • In certain situation 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 may not boot from physical tapes (ID#1936)
  • Crash may appear when emulated NIC is bound to a teamed host NIC on VMWare (ID#5380, Case #00030554)
  • 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.
  • CHARON-PDP has limited support for teamed network adapters. They could be used only if the MAC address of the virtual network adapter is not changed during CHARON-PDP session. In this case the desired MAC address should be set manually in the properties of the network team and in the CHARON-PDP configuration file by "station_address=XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX" configuration option.
  • CHARON-PDP 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.
  • Network Control Center could show some minor problems on Simplified Chinese version of Windows.
  • The correct license must be available to enable the CHARON-PDP to start. Check the capability of your license by using the utility "HaspView" which is available as a part of the kit.
  • 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 

...

  • To address security issues new Sentinel LDK 7.6 is used for building this release; most up-to-date Sentinel run-time (v7.63) is included (ID#5211, ID#5227)
  • Network performance and stability has been significantly improved (ID#5111, ID#4987)
  • USB physical drive support is improved (ID#3323)
  • IEQ11 board on top of NI PCI-GPIB interface cards is implemented (ID#4670)
  • "\\.\Scsi<N>:<X>:<Y>:<Z>" notation is not used anymore (ID#5051)
  • User part of Charon configuration (set by CFG file) is reflected in the log (ID#5156)
  • Some improvements of the messages in the log (ID#5356)
  • Renaming Charon VM is not available anymore (ID#5394)
  • Hardcoded host system limits are replaced with limits encoded in the license's memory block (ID#3263)
  • Hardcoded upper limit on license check interval to 168 hours is increased (ID#5031, Case #00029470)
  • New configuration options "license_use_any_key" and "license_id" are implemented (ID#5289)
  • Charon installation wizard (InstallShell) is improved (ID#4231, ID#4915, ID#5081, ID#5176)
  • Charon VM Manager is improved (ID#4989, ID#4990, ID#5032, ID#5063, ID#5064, ID#5223, ID#5244, ID#5016, ID#5349)
  • "mkdskcmd" and MkDisk utilities are improved (ID#5033, ID#5142, ID#5143, ID#5225)
  • "HASP License Details" is improved (ID#5027, ID#5047, ID#5214, ID#5242)
  • TapeUtil (CHARONCP) is improved (ID#3589)
  • LOGMOND utility is improved (LOGMOND invokes license_changed.bat when it sees message with code 0000040B) (ID#5000)
  • Charon Network Control Center is able to display configuration options for DE500AA, DEBNI and PMAD-AA  network cards (ID#5362)
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Professional and Enterprise Editions, 32 bit and 64 bit versions
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (please notice Server 2012 is not supported)
  • VMware ESXi 6.x
  • Microsoft Hyper-V on Server 2012 R2
  • Please notice Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are not supported (ID#4498)
  • HASP libraries have been upgraded (ID#4709, ID#4450)
  • Preserving console saved state across product upgrades is implemeted (ID#4782)
  • VLANs are supported (ID#4401)
  • The log file language is set to English (ID#4509)
  • CHARON console log rotation has been implemented (ID#4639)
  • CHARON log file format switched to UTF-8 (ID#4188)

  • Rotating log file switch can be configured to be triggered by maximum file size and time period (ID#4639)

  • New installation procedure is introduced starting from this version. It is not compatible with old CHARON installations, so the previous versions of CHARON must be uninstalled first.
  • Installation procedure is able to collect logs from executables it executes during installation/deinstallation (ID#4756)

  • All emulated PDP models are installed by default. Allowed PDP models are controlled by CHARON license (ID#4711)

  • New icons and graphical design for CHARON executables, utilities and installation procedure (ID#4586, 4587, 4588, 4688, #4973)

  • CHARON must be installed as a Virtual Machine service using the new "CHARON VM Manager" utility. This utility also provides a central point to access all CHARON utilities (ID#4870, ID#4872)
  • The default log mode has been set to "append" in the configuration templates (ID#4752)
  • Updated CFG template files copyright message to year 2016 (ID#4720)
  • Windows Registry path for CHARON products is updated to "HKLM:\Software\CHARON" (ID#4746)

  • Field Test and Production builds offer identical functionality (ID#4552)

  • One license can serve CHARON instances on one host or different hosts by choice (ID#4884)
  • A special utility "License Alert" ia added. It monitors CHARON license expiration date and warns user about it (ID#4903).  Note: automatic installation removed when installing Charon-PDP. It has now to be installed manually
  • Software License transfer feature is disabled (ID#4787)
  • Software licensing (SL) is available. Software license is bound to physical system hardware components or virtual machine hardware components (ID#4344)
  • Network licensing is available, for both hardware dongles (requires special dongle) and software licensing
  • CHARON instance counter on a Network license switched to instance mode from station/instance mode, which allows CHARON instances to be spread around the network at user convenience. For example, a Network license with 6 CHARON instances allows to run 3 instances on a first hosting server, 2 instances on a second hosting server, and one instance in a third hosting server. In the previous versions of CHARON Network license controlled number of hosting systems and CHARON instances per host system.
  • CHARON license check order can be managed via configuration file, Production and Backup license IDs can be specified (ID#4249) 
  • New parameter "license_key_lookup_retry" has been introduced allowing to set a number of license retries with specified time interval for the license checks on CHARON startup (ID#4399) 
  • License protection run time package (Sentinel) has been upgraded to the current stable version (ID#4209, 4711)  
  • Please notice that CHARON HASP runtime environment is customized by Stromasys. Environment downloaded directly form SafeNet would not provide full functionality (specifically, Software Licensing will not work). Stromasys will maintain and distribute HASP environment updates as CHARON product patches if necessary
  • New CHARON Virtual Machines Manager is introduced (ID#4836)
  • Tape Utilities package is added (ID#3589) 
  • Network Control Center is not allowed anymore to change the configuration of a disabled network adapter (ID#4725)
  • MkDisk utility graphics has been updated (ID#4743)
  • Network Control Center is able to save log (ID#4755)
  • LOGMOND utility provides sample scripts (ID#4902)
  • Logmond supports multi instance and rotating log configurations
  • MTD utility supports SCSI Passthrough mode for tapes without Windows driver (ID#3927)

  • Network Control Center (NCC) performs CHARON network driver cleanup on request (ID#4610)

  • CHARON utilities fully support mixed encoding in log files (ID#4642, 4646)

  • mkdskcmd utility does not allow to reduce vdisk size (ID#4506)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 is supported
  • VMware ESXi 5.5 is supported
  • Windows Server 2003 is dropped
  • Windows XP is dropped
  • VAX console logging – allows capture of an entire session from console prompt to guest OS shutdown in a file (ID#3587, #3988).
  • Log rotation mechanism and improved filtering (ID#2281, #3723, #3724, #3725).
  • CHARON log is created in English language only, the rest of localization are disabled (ID#4509)
  • Since this release CHARON uses UNICODE for its log files (ID#4188)
  • Log file messages are extended with indications of CPU "Halt"/"Run" transitions (ID#4264)
  • CHARON installation supports 'batch" automated mode (ID#3532).
  • CHARON installation upgrades NDIS5/6 driver installed by previous CHARON versions (ID#3819).
  • CHARON installation provides status and diagnostics on network driver installation (ID#3618).

  • PhysicalDrive container can be configured with device ID and iSCSI target ID to provide persistence across Windows reboots (ID#3667).

  • The "Utility" folder in the CHARON start menu  has been renamed to "Utilities" (ID#3586).
  • The HASPVIEW utility has been significantly improved (ID#3539, 3637, 3657, 3742, 3757, 3847, 4059).
  • The command line version of MKDISK utility reports progress during disk image creation (ID#3793).
  • Network Control Center is able to show its specific error message in its silent mode (ID#3617).
  • The LOGMOND utility now offers usage help (invoke without parameters to view) (ID#3580).
  • A Link to the Putty terminal emulator has been added to the CHARON start menu (ID#3556).
  • New "HASP View" utility is able to show all the available license keys and the content of the license they contain (ID#4461)
  • The "HASP View" utility is able to display the multi site configuration license parameters and it is improved (ID#4059, 4165)
  • CHARON supports disabling network offload features with a special option in Network Control Center (NCC) (ID#4298)
  • "MkDisk" utility is able to extend the existing disk container size without destroying its content (ID#4329)
  • Additional protection checks are implemented in "MkDskCmd" utility for its "disk transfer" functionality (ID#4506)
  • "logmond" utility is significantly improved. Now it supports CHARON rotating log and multi-instances configurations - it is able to monitor log files of all CHARON instances running as services on host.
  • Network Control Center supports VLAN (ID#4453)
  • The performance improvement package included into the kit is updated (ID#4424)
  • Networking part (carrier sense logic) is improved (ID#4339)
  • "disconnect_timeout" parameter is introduced for the embedded 53C94 SCSI controller of MicroVAX 3100-96/98 and VAX 4000-106/108 mapped to physical SCSI devices (ID#4438)
  • The HASP View utility has been updated (Sentinel HASP SL and network licenses are supported now) (ID#3552, #3539, #3130).
  • A new "Logmond" utility is introduced to allow automatic execution of user-defined actions in case HASP license key is removed (ID#2415).
  • The Sentinel HASP drivers included with CHARON kits have been updated to version 5.95 (ID#3398).
  • The "Geometry" parameter was introduced for tape images (ID#2561)
  • The MUX driver was excluded from CHARON installations (ID#3410).
  • CHARON services are removed automatically on full deinstallation (ID#3322).
  • The Installation procedure does not check license and host system requirements during installation (ID#3262, #3256).
  • CHARON production kits use OQEDC Sentinel HASP licence keys only (ID#3638).
  • CHARON is supported on VMware ESXi 4.2 update 1.
  • The license parameters "expiration date" and "backup time counter" can be updated without stopping CHARON. This change allows CHARON evaluation or annual licenses to be updated "on the fly" to the permanent production licenses or to the next year annual licenses. Please note that other CHARON configuration parameters must remain unchanged.

  • CHARON network packet driver name "packet_port" in CHARON configuration file had been made platform independent. For example:

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

    It is still possible to use "ndis6_chpack_port" names of the driver, however we recommend updating the CHARON configuration file

  • HASP View functionality and usability has been improved
  • The Installation procedure displays the End User Agreement and asks user to agree with the terms and conditions in order to proceed
  • The Installation procedure can install and deinstall CHARON products without the license key plugged in. However older versions of CHARON still may require a valid license
  • The CHARON Service Management Utility has been updated. It is present in the Windows System Tray at all times. It can be accessed and used to manage CHARON instances
  • New utilities and drivers have been added to the installation kit. For more information please refer to the User Manual
  • Only Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate Editions and Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard and Enterprise Editions are supported by this release
  • CHARON products and utilities clean up the system's registry settings on deinstallation
  • All products have been brought to the same version level 4.2
  • CHARON supports Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
  • CHARON supports VMware ESX(i) 4.2. 3rd party hardware or software might be required to provide CHARON with access to the HASP license dongle. Please note that additional support charges may be requested for installations on VMware. 
  • The Network Control Center configuration assistant supports all types of VAX network interfaces available to CHARON
  • The CHARON utilities support simplified Chinese
  • The emulator opens log files in append mode
  • The 'repeated messages' logging filter is enabled by default
  • The MkDisk utility has been expanded to handle .VDISK metadata
  • The installation procedure can disable all unnecessary services. Note that this operation disables host networking completely to make it a platform fully dedicated to CHARON.
  • The CHARON executables are able to automatically configure DEP settings during installation
  • The installation product directory can be freely chosen
  • Full deinstallation removes all traces of the product
  • The HOSTPrint utility has been updated: now the maximum length of each line is adjusted automatically.
  • The installation log now lists all attributes of installed files, including size, product and file version, modification date, etc.

...

  • 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

...