Table of Contents
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.
The regular console ("COM1") is already preloaded and mapped to "OPA0", so you need to specify just its mapping to the host resources ("OPA0"), for example:
load physical_serial_line OPA0 line="/dev/tty0" |
When using the TTA0 console, the mapping looks like that:
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The first line specifies a mapping to a unique TCP/IP host port ("10000" in this example), while the second line connects this mapping (TTA0) to the on-board serial line controller having the name "COM2" in CHARON environment.
Refer to this section for details of mapping.
Console Parameters
CHARON-AXP console line TTA0 (COM2) has the following parameters:
All the values in the following tables are case insensitive.
communication
| Parameter | communication |
|---|---|
| Type | Text string |
| Value |
|
line
| Parameter | line | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Identifier | |
| Value | This parameter is used to connect a particular serial line mapping interface to the controller. Example:
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Example
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Mapping Serial line controllers to system resources
Types of serial line mapping:
| Type | Function |
|---|---|
| physical_serial_line | This type of mapping associates some TTY port on host system with an emulated HP Alpha serial line controller virtual "line". The TTY port can be physical hardware port or a logical TTY port. |
| virtual_serial_line | This type of mapping associates a network connection on the host system with an emulated HP Alpha serial line controller virtual "line" |
| operator_console | This type of mapping associates the current TTY console with the OPA0 console port (if CHARON-AXP does not run as service) |
Example:
load physical_serial_line TTA0 |
physical_serial_line
line
| Parameter | line | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Text string | ||||||||||
| Value | A defined TTY port on host system:
A specific account for running CHARON ("charon") does not allow usage of physical consoles " |
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:
|
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: "Crtl-P", "Break" or "none" ("none" disables triggering a HALT condition). Example:
The default value is "Break".
|
This parameter can be specified only for COM1 (OPA0) consolestop_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:
The default value is "none". Setting "F6" triggers the STOP condition upon receipt of the "
|
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:
Only existing directory can be used as a value of the "log" parameter. |
Example
Mapping a console line to a host physical serial line:
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virtual_serial_line
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:
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. |
break_on
| Parameter | break_on | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Text string | |
| Value | Specifies what byte sequences received over a virtual serial line triggers a HALT command. Specify one of the following values: "Crtl-P", "Break" or "none" to disable triggering a HALT condition. The commands are case insensitive. Example:
The default value is "Break".
|
stop_on
| Parameter | stop_on | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Text string | |
| Value | Specifies what byte sequences received over the virtual 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). The commands are case insensitive. Example:
The default value is "none". Setting "F6" triggers the STOP condition upon receipt of the "
|
log
| Parameter | log | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Text string | ||
| Value | A string specifying the filename to store the content of the console sessions or a directory where log files for each individual session will be stored. If an existing directory is specified, CHARON-AXP automatically enables the 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 any console log. Examples:
Only existing directory can be used as a value of the "log" parameter. |
Example
Mapping a console line to a host TCP/IP port 10003:
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Notes on "virtual_serial_line" options
Use the combination of "port" and "host" parameters as follows to connect a 3rd party terminal emulator or similar program.
load virtual_serial_line TTA0 host="192.168.1.1" port=10000In this example CHARON-AXP connects to port 10000 of a host with TCP/IP address "192.168.1.1" and at the same time it accepts connections on local port 10000.
It is possible to specify a port on a remote host (note that CHARON always acts as a server). The syntax is:
load virtual_serial_line TTA0 host="192.168.1.1:20000" port=10000
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":
load virtual_serial_line TTA0 port=5500 host="B" |
On host "B":
load virtual_serial_line 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.
operator_console
break_on, stop_on
| Parameter | break_on, stop_on | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Text string | |
| Value | These two parameters are hardcoded to the following values and cannot be changed:
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Example
load operator_console OPA0 |
"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:
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"/dev/ttyS<N>" where N is a number | Onboard serial lines | Example:
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"/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:
Example for a first port of a DIGI card:
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"/dev/ttyUSB<N>" where N is a number | Modem or USB serial lines adapters | Example:
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