In many cases it is desirable to automatically start the guest OS when the emulator is started. This section will show the required steps in the following sections:

Please note: Charon-PAR can also be configured to start automatically as a daemon when the host system boots and to be stopped when the host system is shut down. However, such a configuration requires that the user shut down the guest OS cleanly before the emulator is stopped. Failure to do so can cause data corruption in the guest system. Contact your Stromasys representative for support if you require such a configuration.

Autoboot for Charon-PAR/PA9 Systems 

By default, the newly installed guest HP-UX system is not booted automatically when the emulator starts. A Charon-PAR/PA9 system running HP-UX can be configured for autoboot in two different ways:

• Configuration from the PDC console.
• Configuration from HP-UX.

Please note: Autoboot will be interrupted if a configuration change occurs which causes reduced performance to allow manual intervention. This can be overridden by enabling autostart in addition to autoboot on the PDC console. However, this is not recommended as it is important to understand the cause of the problem.

Setting Autoboot on the Console

To enable autoboot from the Charon-PAR/PA9 PDC console before system boot, perform the following steps:

To interrupt autoboot, press any key as soon as the system comes up. As there are only 5 seconds time to do this, this requires to have the PuTTY console started automatically.

To disable autoboot, follow the steps above, but use the command auto boot off instead.

The following image shows the configuration menu with autoboot set to on and the command to display the boot paths:

Setting Autoboot from HP-UX

Once the HP-UX system has booted, you can use the setboot command to enable or disable autoboot.

Syntax:

setboot -b on|off

Parameters:

• on enables autoboot
• off disables autoboot
• entering the command without parameters shows the current settings for autoboot and boot paths.

The following example shows the output of a setboot command without parameters:

After enabling autoboot, shut down the guest system and restart the emulator. The system will boot automatically. 

To interrupt autoboot, press any key as soon as the system comes up. As there are only 5 seconds time to do this, this requires to have the PuTTY console started automatically.

Autoboot for Charon-PAR/PA3 Systems

Setting a Charon-PAR/PA3 system with MPE/iX to autoboot requires two separate steps:

• Applying an autoboot file to the guest operating system that enables automatic execution of the start norecovery command.
• Enabling autoboot on the Charon-PAR/PA3 PDC console.

Applying an Autoboot File to the System

Enabling Autoboot normally involves first writing an SLT (System Load Tape) to tape, and then updating the system from tape. A Charon virtual tape can be used for this purpose. These instructions describe how to enable autoboot using a virtual tape. Charon is supplied with a preformatted autoboot file that contains "start norecovery". You can modify this file, or supply your own.

Follow the steps below to create and apply the SLT:

Please note: After this step, the virtual tape container (ldev7.img in the example) can be removed or archived. It is no longer needed.

The following image illustrates the boot alt and update config command sequence of step 7 above:

The following image illustrates a part of the system file application stage (step 8 above):

Enabling Autoboot on the PDC Console

To enable autoboot from the Charon-PAR/PA3 PDC console before system boot, perform the following steps:

To interrupt autoboot, press any key as soon as the system comes up. As there are only 5 seconds time to do this, this requires to have the PuTTY console started automatically.

To disable autoboot, follow the steps above, but use the command auto boot off instead.