Running CHARON-AXP for Linux

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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.

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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.

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Running from the console

Copy the configuration template from "/opt/charon/cfg/" directory to some local file and set the correct privileges to that file to be able to edit it:

Now let's execute CHARON using this template configuration file:

You will see normal HP Alpha test sequence, followed by prompt sign (">>>"):

The next stage can be either installation of new HP Alpha/VMS system using a distribution provided by HP or transfer of data from some existing HP Alpha system. These possibilities will be discussed in details in 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 which CHARON-AXP starts, open them with an editing tool and analyze their content. In most cases those files contain very helpful information on what may possibly gone wrong.

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

 Please note that before stopping CHARON-AXP, one must shutdown the operating system running in CHARON-AXP.

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Running as system service (daemon)

It is possible to run CHARON-AXP as a daemon. 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 establish and run 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 "/usr/lib/systemd/system/" directory (or to your home directory (Red Hat Linux 6.x)), for 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, for 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 that the following pre-requisites are met:

   • OPA0 must be configured as virtual port or physical console, not as operator console, for 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 too, for 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, same for the OPA0 console port number.
     
     

Once the configuration file is ready run the following commands (from the examples above) to install and start CHARON-AXP as daemon:

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Stopping CHARON-AXP service

To stop a CHARON-AXP daemon use the following command, for example:

Please note that before stopping CHARON-AXP service, one must shutdown the operating system running in CHARON-AXP. 

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Removing CHARON-AXP service

To remove a CHARON-AXP daemon use the following commands, for example:

 Please note that before removing a CHARON-AXP service one must shutdown the operating system running in CHARON-AXP and then stop the corresponding CHARON-AXP service. 

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

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