Running CHARON-AXP for Linux

Table of Contents

CHARON-AXP symbolic links

Each model of CHARON-AXP has a symbolic link defined to point to the corresponding CHARON executable (see the table below). If the PATH is correctly defined, you can start a virtual machine by specifying the link followed by the configuration file. This is described further.

Running CHARON-AXP emulators

It is possible to run one or several instances of CHARON-AXP at the same time if your license allows it.

For multiple instances, please use only absolute paths and unique names to all the files referenced in the configuration file of each CHARON-AXP instance (log, toy clock, rom files and all the other data such as disk images [Exception: clustering] - all these objects will be explained later in this document) and check the hardware devices (the CDROM drive for example) are used by only one instance at a time (not shared).

Example:

Please refer to the next chapters for more details concerning CHARON-AXP configuration details.

Running from the console

Copy the selected configuration template from the "/opt/charon/cfg/" directory to some local file and set the correct privileges for the file to be edited.

Example:

Run the virtual machine using this configuration file:

Below is an example of a normal HP Alpha test sequence, followed by the prompt sign (">>>"):

The next stage can be either installation of a new HP Alpha/VMS system using a distribution provided by HP or data transfer from some existing HP Alpha system. These possibilities will be discussed in details in the next chapters.

If for some reason CHARON-AXP refuses to start, please look for files with .log extension (CHARON-AXP log files) located in the directory from where CHARON-AXP was started, open them with an editing tool and analyze their content. In most cases those files contain very helpful information on what may possibly went wrong.

To exit from the CHARON-AXP emulator use the following methods:

 Please note that before stopping CHARON-AXP, a clean shutdown of the operating system running on the virtual machine has to be performed.

Running as system service (daemon)

It is possible to run CHARON-AXP as a daemon (service). In this case the CHARON-AXP process will be detached from its parent process and from the terminal window in which it runs.

Follow the description below to install and execute CHARON-AXP as a daemon:

Installation and start of CHARON-AXP service

1. Copy the sample script "/opt/charon/bin/charon.service" ( "/opt/charon/bin/charon" for Red Hat  Linux 6.x) to the "/usr/lib/systemd/system/" directory (or to your home directory for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x).

   Example:

   Red Hat Linux 6.x	$ cp /opt/charon/bin/charon /my_services/es40_service $ chmod 755 /my_services/es40_service
   Red Hat Linux 7.x and CentOS 7.x	$ cp /opt/charon/bin/charon.service /usr/lib/systemd/system/es40.service $ chmod 755 /usr/lib/systemd/system/es40.service

2. Edit the renamed file to replace sample values of the following parameters.

   Example:

   Red Hat Linux 6.x	exec="/opt/charon/bin/es40" prog="my_es40" config="/my_services/es40-service.cfg"
   Red Hat Linux 7.x and CentOS 7.x	ExecStart=/opt/charon/bin/es40 -d /my_services/es40-service.cfg WorkingDirectory=/my_services

    "my_es40" is a service name in the example above

             

3. Create and edit the configuration file ( "/my_services/es40-service.cfg" in the examples above) the way it was described before and make sure the following pre-requisites are met:

   • OPA0 must be configured as a virtual port or physical console, not as an operator console.

     Example:

     load virtual_serial_line OPA0 port=10003 #load operator_console OPA0

   • Use only absolute paths to log, toy clock, nvram files and all the other data such as disk images, etc. The names of the references files must be unique.

     Example:

     ... set session log="/CharonInstances/1st_es40.log" set rom container="/CharonInstances/1st_es40.bin" set toy container="/CharonInstances/1st_es40.dat" set PKA container[0]="/CharonInstances/1st_es40_boot_disk.vdisk" ...

   • Make sure the same physical devices are not used by other CHARON-AXP daemons and the OPA0 console port number is unique across the CHARON server.
     
     

Once the configuration file is ready, execute the following commands (based on the examples above) to install and start CHARON-AXP as a daemon:

Stopping CHARON-AXP service

To stop a CHARON-AXP daemon, use the following commands.

Example:

Please note that before stopping a CHARON-AXP service, a clean shutdown of the operating system running on the virtual machine has to be performed.

Removing CHARON-AXP service

To remove a CHARON-AXP daemon use the following commands.

Example:

 Please note that before removing a CHARON-AXP service, a clean shutdown of the operating system running on the virtual machine has to be performed and the service has to be stopped.

Please refer to the next chapters for more details concerning CHARON-AXP configuration details