CHARON-AXP for Linux installation

Table of contents

Introduction

The CHARON-AXP product is distributed in form of archive TAR.GZ files that contain RPM modules for different components. Generally it is recommended to install all the RPM modules but it is possible to omit some RPM files if they are not needed.

CHARON installation consists of the following steps:

• Host system checks (hardware and software) to ensure the host platform meets the minimum CHARON-AXP installation requirements
• Installation of any 3rd party material, for example, the utilities required for CHARON-AXP
• Extracting CHARON-AXP RPM modules from the TAR.GZ archive and their individual installation
• Installation of the CHARON-AXP license (hardware dongle or software license)
• Configuration of the CHARON-AXP host system. It assumes creating a specific user, configuring the network, etc.

Hardware Requirements

Number of CPU cores

Each CHARON-AXP emulated CPU requires a corresponding physical core. So the total number of the host CPUs must exceed the number of emulated CPUs since some of the host CPUs must be dedicated to serving CHARON I/O operations and host operating system needs. If several CHARON instances run in parallel, the required number of CPU cores is cumulative.

The following table lists the minimum and recommended number of CPUs required for each virtual HP Alpha instance (note that each CHARON instance is able to run on 2 CPU cores hosts, but this configuration does not support emulation of all the virtual CPUs):

When starting, the CHARON-AXP software checks the available number of host CPU cores. This check is based on the maximum number of AXP CPUs that can be emulated if this number is not restricted by the "n_of_cpus" parameter. If the available number of host CPU cores is below this number, CHARON-AXP will issue a warning message even if the requirements for the configured number of AXP CPUs are fulfilled. The CHARON-AXP software will work despite this warning if the requirements for the configured number of AXP CPUs are fulfilled.

CPU type and speed

Since CHARON utilizes LAHF instruction in CPU emulation please avoid usage of early AMD64 and Intel 64 CPUs in CHARON host system since they lack it. AMD introduced the instruction with their Athlon 64, Opteron and Turion 64 revision D processors in March 2005 and Intel introduced it with the Pentium 4 G1 stepping in December 2005.

Concerning CPU speed, the general recommendation is that higher the CPU frequency is, better the emulated HP Alpha performances will be. The minimum recommendation is at least 3 GHz.

Operative memory

The minimum host memory size:

• depends on the amount of HP Alpha memory to be emulated and on the number of CHARON-AXP instances to be executed on one host.

• is calculated according to the following formula:

  The minimum host memory = (2Gb +  the amount of HP Alpha memory emulated) per CHARON-AXP instance.

Disk storage

The total amount of disk space required for CHARON-AXP can be calculated as a sum of all the disk/tape image sizes plus 50 MB for the CHARON software plus the space required for the host operating system. Temporary disk storage is often needed when setting up a new virtual machine (for source disks backups storage, software installation kits, etc...).

When virtual disks/tapes are used to represent physical disk drives / magnetic tapes, the disk/tape image files have the same size as their hardware equivalent, regardless of their degree of utilization.

Ethernet adapters

CHARON-AXP networking requires dedicated host Ethernet adapters; their number must be equal to the emulated adapters to be configured in CHARON-AXP. One adapter (optionally) can be left to the host for TCP/IP networking, management interface, etc.

It is also possible to use virtual network interfaces, but for performance considerations, it is recommended to use physical ones only.

Software Requirements

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x, 64bit
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 - 6.10, 64bit
• Linux Centos 7.x, 64bit
• VMware ESXi 5.5 and 6.x up to 6.7 (requires a supported Linux operating system on top of a ESXi virtual machine)
  

Host system preparation

If a network-wide license (red dongle or software license) is going to be used, do the following:

• On the server side (where the network license will reside): open port 1947 for both TCP and UDP
• On the client side, if broadcast search for remote licenses is to be used, UDP traffic from port 1947 of the license server to ports 30000-65535 of the client must be permitted
  
• Both on server and client sides: set default gateway

Please consult with your Linux User's Guide on details.

Before installation

1. Login as the superuser ("root") on the host system. Because Sentinel HASP runtime relies on 32-bit compatibility libraries to run on Linux, the 32-bit compatibility libraries must be installed before continuing. If the emulator host has access to a package repository, either local or remote, use the following command:

   # yum install glibc.i686

   Sometimes it is not possible to use an online repository for the installation of 32-bit glibc package. In this case the procedure described in the appendixes has to be used: glibc.i686 installation without Internet connection

   .

2. Create a directory for the CHARON-AXP distribution, copy the TAR.GZ files there and change to this directory as shown in the following example:

   # mkdir /charon_dist # cp /tmp/charon-axp-4.10-20200.el74.tar.gz /charon_dist # cd /charon_dist

   .

3. On RHEL 7.x and CentOS 7.x, the "libev" package is required. If it is reported as missing during CHARON installation on RHEL 7.x check that the repository "extras" is included and enabled, if not, include and enable it. Please refer to your Linux distribution administrator's guide. Example for RHEL 7.x:

   # yum-config-manager --enable rhel-7-server-extras-rpms

Distribution preparation

• Extract the contents of the distribution TAR.GZ files to the current directory:

  # tar -xvzf charon-axp-<VER>-<BN>.<ZZ>.tar.gz

  where:

  	Description
  VER	Version of CHARON-AXP product, for example 4.10
  BN	Build Number of CHARON-AXP product, for example 20200
  ZZ	CHARON-AXP target operating system identifier. For CentOS 7.x 'ZZ' value is 'el74', for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x the value is 'el74' and for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 to 6.10 the value is 'el65'.

  Example:

  # tar -xvzf charon-axp-4.10-20200.el74.tar.gz

  As a result, the new directory "charon-axp-<VER>-<BN>.<ZZ>" will be created.
   

1. Switch to that directory:

   # cd charon-axp-<VER>-<BN>.<ZZ>

   Example:

   # cd charon-axp-4.10-20200.el74

2. The distribution directory contains the following RPM files:

   File name	Description
   charon-axp-VER-BN.ZZ.x86_64.rpm	CHARON-AXP
   aksusbd-7.63-1.i386.rpm	HASP Run-time
   charon-license-VER-BN.ZZ.x86_64.rpm	CHARON Libraries
   charon-utils-VER-BN.ZZ.x86_64.rpm	CHARON Utilities
   charon-mtd-VER-BN.ZZ.x86_64.rpm	MTD utility

   Example:

   # ls aksusbd-7.63-1.i386.rpm charon-axp-4.10-20200.el74.x86_64.rpm charon-license-4.10-20200.el74.x86_64.rpm charon-utils-4.10-20200.el74.x86_64.rpm charon-mtd-4.10-20200.el74.x86_64.rpm

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Installation

Issue the following command to install all the RPM files present in the directory:

Enter "y" to agree to install all the listed packages.

Example:

Check the installation process has completed successfully.

Example:

Re-login (as "root") to apply the PATH settings or execute the following command:

CHARON-AXP home directory

By default CHARON is installed in the "/opt/charon" directory. It has the following subdirectories:

The most important directory at this stage is the "/cfg" directory since it contains template configuration files with examples of typical configuration parameters and comments. We will focus our attention on this subject in the next chapter.

Specific user account creation

Create a specific user account named "charon" for running CHARON:

Any existing user can also be used to run CHARON. In this case issue the following command to include this existing user into these specific groups:

Example:

Re-login to apply changes.

License installation

Regular HASP USB dongle

If the CHARON license is located on a regular USB dongle, just connect it to the host USB port.

Network HASP USB dongle

If the CHARON license is a network license (red USB dongle), it is possible either to connect it to the host USB port (to use it locally and provide it to other hosts on the local network at the same time) or to install it on a local network "license server" for remote access from this particular host.

If a remote license server is to be used:

• Copy the aksusbd-7.63-1.i386.rpm and charon-license-4.9-<build>.<OS identifier>.x86_64.rpm files (see above) to the server, for example to "/tmp".
• Login as "root" on the server.
• Switch to that directory.

• Install the copied files using "yum".
  Example:

  # cd /tmp # yum install aksusbd* charon-license-*

• Connect the network HASP dongle to one of the server USB ports.

Software license

If the CHARON license is a software license (SL), it is installed on the host using the following procedure:

1. Run the hasp_srm_view utility in the following way to get the host fingerprint file ("my_host.c2v" in this example):

   # hasp_srm_view -fgp my_host.c2v

2. Send the resulting file to STROMASYS. In return STROMASYS will provide you with a ".v2c" file, for example "your_license.v2c".
3. Copy the received file to any folder on the CHARON host, invoke the system default web browser and enter the URL http://localhost:1947 to display the "Sentinel Admin Control Center" (ACC) web interface. This interface allows you to view and manage the CHARON licenses.
4. In the ACC perform the following steps: select Update/Attach from the menu on the left pane then use the Browse button to select the received file and click on the Apply File button to install the license.
5. Ensure that the software license is now visible in the "Sentinel Keys" section of the ACC.

License validity verification

To check the CHARON license validity, invoke the hasp_srm_view utility to make sure that the CHARON license is visible and is correct:

• Text of the license is displayed correctly by the hasp_srm_view utility, no error messages are shown.
• The content of the license looks correct. For example: license number, major and minor versions, minimum and maximum build numbers, CHARON-AXP products and allowed hardware (CHARON-AXP models) should be checked. More details on the license content can be found in the CHARON-AXP Licensing chapter of this Guide.

Example:

Troubleshooting

If the CHARON license content cannot be displayed by the hasp_srm_view utility or it is incorrect, check the license is available and correctly used:

1. Invoke the system default web browser and enter the URL http://localhost:1947 to display the "Sentinel Admin Control Center" (ACC) web interface.
2. Click on "Sentinel Keys" link to open the corresponding page.
3. Make sure that one and only one CHARON HASP or SL license is present.

Removing licenses can be done by physical disconnection of the corresponding USB HASP keys from the CHARON host and physical disconnection of the network HASP keys from all hosts on the local network (or by disabling remote access to network licenses from the CHARON host - see detailed explanations below).

For license servers accessible only via non-broadcast search it is also possible to disable access to network licenses if only a local license is to be used: Click on the "Configuration" link to open the "Configuration for Sentinel Manager" page.

Uncheck the "Allow Access to Remote Licenses" checkbox from the "Access to Remote License Managers" tab then press the "Submit" button to apply changes.

Network configuration

In most cases CHARON will use a network. In this case CHARON requires one or more dedicated network interfaces with any other protocols including TCP/IP removed at the host level.

Two ways of network configuration are possible:

• With the help of the "ncu" utility
• Manually

The first way is recommended. Use the manual approach only in absence of the "ncu" utility or if it impossible to use it.

Configuration with NCU utility

Login as root and enter "ncu". The following menu will appear:

The utility lists the available network interfaces (both physical and virtual) and indicates whether they are dedicated to the host or to CHARON and whether they are currently in use by the host operating system.

"ncu" offers several options:

• Dedicate interface to CHARON (option "1")
• Release interface to host (option "2")
• Create a bridge between a chosen physical network interface and the Linux virtual network and create a number of virtual network interfaces (option "3")
• Remove the Linux virtual network and all the created virtual network interfaces (option "4")
• Add VLAN (option "5")
• Remove VLAN (option "6")
• Print status (option "7") - use it to display status of network interfaces and the menu shown above
• Exit (option "8")

In the example above we see 2 network interfaces, "eth0" and "eth1", that are dedicated to the host and the host uses only the interface "eth0".

Let's dedicate the interface "eth1" to CHARON-AXP.

Enter "1" then "eth1":

select action:
1 - Dedicate to CHARON
2 - Release to host
3 - Create Bridge with TAPs
4 - Remove Bridge
5 - Add VLAN
6 - Remove VLAN
7 - Print status
8 - Exit

Now the interface "eth1" is dedicated to CHARON-AXP:

select action:
1 - Dedicate to CHARON
2 - Release to host
3 - Create Bridge with TAPs
4 - Remove Bridge
5 - Add VLAN
6 - Remove VLAN
7 - Print status
8 - Exit

Enter "8" to return to the console prompt.

Now "eth1" can be used by CHARON-AXP.

Manual Configuration

Choosing a network interface

To choose an interface to be used for CHARON networking, do the following:

Choose an interface to be used by CHARON, for example "eth1"

Designation of network interface to CHARON

To designate the chosen interface to CHARON open up the file "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethN" (where N is the number of the interface to be used for CHARON, in this case it is "1") and make sure that all the IP-setup related parameters are removed. The file must look like this:

Switching off the offload parameters

Determine what additional parameters are currently set to "on" on the host network adapter to be used by CHARON using the following command:

Example:

Use "ethtool" to switch off all the offload parameters:

Example:

For the example above let's create a temporary file containing the commands to be executed at system startup as the offload parameters must be switched off following each reboot:

Let's suppose the name of the file is "offload_off_eth1.txt". To execute it on system startup, execute the following command (example):

Final steps

• Reboot the host system
• Login as user "charon"
• Verify the offload parameters are effective

Upgrade to new version

To upgrade an already installed CHARON-AXP kit to a more recent one:

1. Ensure your license allows you to upgrade to that version. If not, please generate a C2V file and send it to STROMASYS for update. See CHARON-AXP for Linux utilities - 'hasp_srm_view' utility
2. Prepare the new kit RPM files as it is described in "Before installation" and "Distribution preparation" sections.
3. Stop all running CHARON-AXP instances.
4. Make sure that no template files (i.e. "es40.cfg.template") have been used for your specific configuration otherwise copy those files to a dedicated folder.
5. Login as "root" user.
6. Remove the old CHARON-AXP version as described in the "CHARON-AXP for Linux deinstallation" chapter.
7. Proceed with the instructions on the new kit installation as described in the "Installation" section.

8. Install the license for the new CHARON-AXP as described in the "License installation" section.

9. Start all the CHARON-AXP services stopped at step #3.