Console

General Description

CHARON-AXP offers a one- (OPA0) or two-port serial console, depending on the specified HP Alpha model.

The AlphaServer DS10, AlphaServer DS10L, AlphaServer DS15, AlphaServer 400, AlphaServer 800, AlphaServer 1000 and AlphaServer 1000A have an additional on-board serial line controller providing a serial line TTA0.

Example for OPA0 console ("COM1"):

set COM1 alias=OPA0

When using the TTA0 console ("COM2"):

set COM2 alias=TTA0

Refer to Mapping Serial line controllers to system resources for details of mapping.

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General parameters

CHARON-AXP console lines COM1 and COM2 have the following parameters:

All the values in the following tables are case insensitive.

alias

Parameter alias

Type Identifier

Value

This parameter is used to set an useful name for COM1 or COM2 ports.

Usually it is "OPA0" for COM1 and "TTA0" for COM2

Example:

set COM2 alias=TTA0

communication

Parameter	communication
Type	Text string
Value	"ascii" - for connection to terminals (default) "binary" - for binary (packet) protocols, which are used mainly for communicating with PLCs

baud

Parameter baud

Type Numeric

Value

Forces the baud rate of the corresponding TTY port to a specified value.The variety of supported values depends on the underlying physical communication resource (TTY port). The most widely used values are: 300, 1200, 9600, 19200, 38400.

Example:

set OPA0 baud=38400

break_on

Parameter break_on

Type Text string

Value

Specifies what byte sequences received over the physical serial line will trigger a HALT command.

This parameter works only for the console line.

Specify the following values: "Ctrl-P" , "Break" or "none" ("none" disables triggering a HALT condition).

If your guest operating system is OpenVMS in addition to "none" setting you have to set a specific console parameter "controlp" to "off" in the following way:

>>> set controlp off
>>> power off

The second line is to preserve the ROM settings.

Example:

set OPA0 break_on="Ctrl-P"

The default value is "Break".

This parameter can be specified only for COM1 (OPA0) console

stop_on

Parameter stop_on

Type Text string

Value

Specifies what byte sequences received over the physical serial line will trigger a STOP condition. The STOP condition causes CHARON-AXP to exit.

Specify either “F6” or “none” ("none" disables triggering a STOP condition).

Example:

set OPA0 stop_on="F6"

The default value is "none".

Setting "F6" triggers the STOP condition upon receipt of the "<ESC>[17~" sequence. Terminals usually send these sequences by pressing the F6 button

This parameter can be specified only for COM1 (OPA0) console

log

Parameter log

Type Text string

Value

A string specifying a file name to store the content of the console sessions or a directory where the log files for each individual session will be stored.

If an existing directory is specified, CHARON-AXP automatically enables creation of individual log files, one for each session using the same scheme as used for the generation of the rotating log files. If the "log" parameter is omitted, CHARON-AXP does not create a console log.

Examples:

set OPA0 log="log.txt"

set OPA0 log="/Charon/Logs"

Only existing directory can be used as a value of the "log" parameter.

log_file_size

Parameter log_file_size

Type Text string

Value

If log rotation is enabled, the log_file_size parameter determines the log file size threshold at which the log is automatically rotated.

"unlimited" or "0" (default) - the feature is disabled
"default" - default size is used (4Mb)
<size>[KMG] - size of the current log file in bytes with additional multipliers:
- K - Kilobyte - multiply by 1024
- M - Megabyte - multiply by 1024*1024
- G - Gigabyte - multiply by 1024*1024*1024

Examples:

set OPA0 log_file_size="default"

set OPA0 log_file_size=10M

Minimum log file size is 64K, maximum is 1G. Setting size less then 64K effectively makes the log file unlimited.

host

Parameter host

Type Text string

Value

A remote host’s IP address or hostname (and optionally a remote TCP/IP port number) for the virtual serial line connection. If omitted, the virtual serial line does not initiate a connection to the remote host and will listen for incoming connection requests.

Specify the value in the following form:

set OPA0 host="<host-name>[:<port-no>]"

If the "<port-no>" is not specified, the virtual serial line uses the TCP/IP port number specified by the "port" parameter (see below).

port

Parameter	port
Type	Numeric
Value	The TCP/IP port number for the virtual serial line. A virtual serial line always listens on this port for incoming connection requests. If multiple virtualized machines are running on a server, ensure the port number is unique across the platform.

application

Parameter application

Type Text string

Value

A command line for calling some host application for communication to CHAARON on a given COM line.

Typically this parameter is used for mapping COM1 or COM2 ro some "xterm" terminal emulator

Example:

set OPA0 application = "xterm -title OPA0 -e telnet 127.0.0.1 10003"

Notes on "host", "port" and "application" parameters

Use the combination of "port", "host" and "application" parameters as follows to connect a 3rd party terminal emulator or similar program.
set COM1 alias=OPA0 port=10003 application="xterm -title OPA0 -e chterm -h 127.0.0.1:10003"
In this example CHARON-AXP OPA0 console connects to port 10003 of localhost ("127.0.0.1") and at the same time it starts "xterm" with parameters "-title OPA0 -e chterm -h 127.0.0.1:10003", instructs it to connect to the port 10003 of the host with TCP/IP address "127.0.0.1" (localhost)
It is possible to specify a port on a remote host (note that CHARON always acts as a server). The syntax is:
set COM2 alias=TTA0 host="192.168.1.1:20000" port=10000
In this example CHARON-AXP accepts connection on local port 10000 and connects to remote port 20000 of a host with TCP/IP address "192.168.1.1"

Note: the examples above are mainly used for inter-CHARON communications. They are used to connect CHARON-AXP to an application that communicates to CHARON-AXP as described below.

Example of two CHARON systems connected to each other:

On host "A":

set COM2 alias=TTA0 port=5500 host="B"

On host "B":

set COM2 alias=TTA0 port=5500 host="A"

On these two hosts, executing CHARON-AXP, the two TTA0 lines connect to each other, thus creating a "serial" cable between the two emulated Alphas. The sequential order in which the instances of CHARON-AXP are started makes no difference.

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Mapping Serial line controllers to system resources

line

Parameter line

Type Text string

Value

A defined TTY port on host system:

Syntax	Description
"/dev/tty<N>"	Virtual serial lines
"/dev/ttyS<N>"	Onboard serial lines
"/dev/ttyUSB<N>"	Modem or USB serial lines adapters
"/dev/tty<XXX>"	Proprietary (depending on a driver) devices such as DIGI or MOXA cards

A specific account for running CHARON ("charon") does not allow usage of physical consoles "/dev/tty<N>" as CHARON consoles. If you plan to map CHARON console to "/dev/tty<N>" use only "root" account for CHARON running.

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"ttyY" notation specifics

Note that the "ttyY" notation can have different forms depending on the nature of the device used:

Mapping Type Commentary

"/dev/tty<N>"

where N is from 0 to 11

Linux virtual tty

Those tty devices must be free from the Linux "getty/mgetty" and similar programs (specified in "/etc/inittab")

Example:

"/dev/tty1"

"/dev/ttyS<N>"

where N is a number

Onboard serial lines

Example:

"/dev/ttyS1"

"/dev/tty<XXX>"

where XXX is a complex letter/number notation

Proprietary (depending on a driver) devices

Example for a first port of a MOXA card:

"/dev/ttyR01"

Example for a first port of a DIGI card:

"/dev/ttyaa"

"/dev/ttyUSB<N>"

where N is a number

Modem or USB serial lines adapters

Example:

"/dev/ttyUSB1"

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