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This chapter describes how to set up a basic Charon-SSP instance in Azure.

Contents

Prerequisites

General Prerequisites

To install and configure Charon-SSP in the Azure cloud, you need an Azure subscription.

Licensing

Charon-SSP requires a license to run emulated SPARC systems. For a typical cloud-based installation, there are two different Charon-SSP product variants with two different licensing models (availability may differ depending on cloud environment):

  1. The cloud-specific, prepackaged Charon-SSP AL (Automatic Licensing) image utilizing a public, Stromasys-operated cloud-specific license server.
  2. Charon-SSP VE (Virtual Environment) utilizing a customer-operated, private VE license server in a supported cloud environment. Charon-SSP VE is available as a prepackaged image on some cloud platforms, and in RPM package format for a conventional installation.

Both licensing options are briefly described below. Please contact your Stromasys representative for any questions about product availability and licensing options.

Please note: the user is responsible for any Solaris licensing obligations and has to provide the appropriate licenses.

Charon-SSP Automatic Licensing Overview

Charon-SSP AL images with automatic licensing use a specialized Charon-SSP environment. They require a license to run emulated SPARC systems. This license is created automatically upon first launch of the Charon-SSP instance. Please note the following points:

  • The Charon-SSP instance requires Internet access (via public IP address or NAT) for the license mechanism to work. If NAT is used, the gateway must be an instance in the same cloud-environment (the source address must be from the address range of the same cloud provider in which the Charon-SSP host instance runs). At the time of writing, the license servers that must be reachable are cloud-azure1.stromasys.com and cloud-azure2.stromasys.com on port 8080. Also, a DNS service must be reachable to resolve the host names of the license servers, or corresponding entries in /etc/hosts must exist.
  • If you change the instance size after first launching the instance and thereby change the number of CPU cores (or if the number of CPU cores is changed by any other method), the license will be invalidated.
  • Some licensing problems or other requirements (e.g., additional CPU cores needed) may make it necessary to move the emulator to a new instance. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to store all relevant emulator data on a separate disk volume that can easily be detached from the old instance and attached to a new instance.
  • Should access to the license be lost while the emulator is running, there is a grace period of 24 hours. If license access is not restored within this period, the emulator will stop (if a guest system is running at the time, this is the equivalent of disconnecting the power without clean shutdown, i.e., it may lead to loss of data).

Please note: You will be billed by Azure for your use of the Charon-SSP Azure instance. Stromasys will not bill you directly.


Charon-SSP VE Licensing Overview

This licensing option is applicable to prepackaged Charon-SSP VE images on cloud marketplaces and to VE-capable Charon-SSP emulator software installed from RPM packages.

Charon-SSP VE license characteristics

The main characteristics of VE licenses are the following:

  • Software licenses only.
  • Installed on Charon-SSP host or separate license server.
  • Require the Charon-SSP VE license server software (RPM package included in the prepackaged, cloud-specific marketplace Charon-SSP VE image).
  • Require matching Charon-SSP emulator software (preinstalled on the prepackaged, cloud-specific marketplace Charon-SSP VE image).

If supported by the cloud provider, the VE license server instance can be moved to a different subnet, as long as the original instance can be moved. It is also possible to backup and restore (to the same instance) the license server data. However, the following actions will invalidate the license:

  • Changing the number of CPU cores of the license server system.
  • Copying the license server data to a different instance.
  • Seriously damaging the root filesystem of the license server system.
  • Re-installing the license server system.

Charon-SSP VE License Server Communication Requirements

For proper functionality, the system on which the license server runs must be able to communicate with the cloud infrastructure:

  • The metadata server of the cloud environment (169.254.169.254)

It must also be able to communicate with the client systems using the license. The following ports are used for this communication by default:

  • TCP/8083: must be permitted from the client to the license server to enable the use of the license by the client.
  • TCP/8084: must be permitted by the license server for any system that should access the web interface to display license information.

Please note: in current VE license server versions, the default ports can be changed in the file /opt/license-server/config.ini. Please refer to the VE license server user's guide for details.

Basic License Installation Steps Before an Emulator Can be Started

If there is no VE license server running already, decide on which cloud instance it should run and install the VE License Server package on the selected system. The VE License Server RPM package is included in the prepackaged Charon-SSP VE marketplace images. Alternatively, Stromasys will provide a download location. See Installing the VE License Server Software.

  • If you don't already have a license, contact your Stromasys representative to procure an appropriate license.
  • Log in on your Charon-SSP VE License Server instance.
  • Create a C2V file and send it to the email address Stromasys will provide to you.
  • Install the V2C file you will receive from Stromasys.
  • Configure the emulator instance(s) to use the license server.

Please refer to the VE License Server User's Guide for more information.


Azure Instance Size Prerequisites (Hardware Prerequisites)

By selecting an instance size in Azure you select the virtual hardware that will be used for Charon-SSP Azure. Therefore, the selection of an instance size determines the hardware characteristics of the Charon-SSP virtual host hardware (e.g., how many CPU cores and how much memory your virtual Charon host system will have).

The minimum hardware requirements are described below. To learn about the default settings and how to use the Charon-SSP configuration options to determine the resource allocation, refer to the different configuration sections of the general Charon-SSP User's Guide of your Charon-SSP version (see CHARON-SSP for Linux), in particular, the CPU Configuration section.

Please note: Not all instance types and sizes on Azure offer the recommended minimum CPU speed for the host system. Whether such instance types can provide adequate performance depends on customer requirements.

The minimum hardware requirements are described below. To learn about the default settings and how to use the Charon-SSP configuration options to determine the resource allocation, refer to the different configuration sections of the general Charon-SSP User's Guide of your Charon-SSP version (see CHARON-SSP for Linux), in particular, the CPU Configuration section.

Please note the following points regarding the sizing guidelines:

  • The sizing guidelines below—in particular regarding number of host CPU cores and host memory—show the minimum requirements.
    Every deployment situation must be reviewed and the actual host sizing has to be adapted as necessary. For example, the number of CPU cores available for I/O must be increased if the guest applications produce a high I/O load. Also, a system with many emulated CPUs is typically able to create a higher I/O load and thus the number of CPU cores available for I/O may have to be increased. In a hyper-threading environment, for best performance, the number of CPU cores (i.e., real/physical CPUs) should be sufficient to fulfill CPU requirements of the active emulators, thus avoiding high-workload threads sharing one physical CPU core.

  • The CPU core allocation for emulated CPUs and CPU cores for I/O processing is determined by the configuration. See CPU Configuration in the general Charon-SSP User's Guide for more information about this and the default allocation of CPU cores for I/O processing.

Important general information:

  • To facilitate a fast transfer of emulator data from one cloud instance to another, it is strongly recommended to store all relevant emulator data on a separate disk volume that can easily be detached from the old instance and attached to a new instance.
  • Please make sure to dimension your instance correctly from the beginning (check the minimum requirements below). The Charon-SSP license for Charon-SSP AL is created when the instance is first launched. Changing later to another instance size/type and thereby changing the number of CPU cores will invalidate the license and thus prevent Charon instances from starting (new instance required). If planning to use the Charon-SSP AL instance in AutoVE mode, be sure to include the AutoVE server information before first launch, otherwise the instance will register with the public license servers (registration only occurs at first launch).
  • The license for Charon-SSP VE is created based on the fingerprint taken on the license server. If the license server is run directly on the emulator host and the emulator host later requires, for example, a change in the number of CPU cores, the license will be invalidated (new license and possibly new instance required). Hence, it is recommended to run the VE license server on a dedicated instance.


Azure Login and New Instance Launch

Logging in to your Azure account

To log in perform the following steps:

  • Go to portal.azure.com. You will see a Microsoft Azure login screen.
  • Enter your login credentials.
  • Upon successful login, the Azure home screen will be displayed as shown in the example below:


Creating a Virtual Machine

Step 1: Click on the Virtual machines or on the Marketplace icon on the home page. If you create your instance via the Marketplace icon, please select the Charon listing from the Marketplace offerings, select to create an instance, and continue with Step 3.

Clicking on Virtual machines opens the virtual machines overview list.


Step 2: Click on the Add icon in the overview list.

This opens the Basics tab of the Create a Virtual Machine window.


Step 3: Enter your data on the Basics tab. Mandatory data are, for example:

  • Your subscription
  • Existing resource group (or click on Create new)
  • Virtual machine name (cannot be changed after launching the instance)
  • Region for the virtual machine
  • Charon-SSP Azure image. Click on Browse all public and private images to select the correct image. If installing a prepackaged marketplace Charon-SSP image, this image must be used. If you plan to install Charon-SSP using RPM packages, use a Linux version supported for Charon-SSP.
  • Size of your VM (click on Select size to see a list of available sizes)
  • User name for the administrative user of the VM (enter sshuser)
  • Authentication type. Select SSH public key and paste the public key of the key-pair to use into the field provided.

Basics tab upper part sample:

Select the Charon-SSP image and the correct size of your instance (please review the sizing requirements above). Enter the other information in accordance to your environment.


Basics tab lower part sample:

  • Enter the user sshuser as the administrative user.
  • Select SSH public key authentication. You can then use one of the following steps to install your SSH public key.
    • Let Azure create a new key-pair for you.
    • Use the public key from a key-pair on your computer. As shown in the example below, you will have to past your public key into the field provided.
    • Use a key-pair previously created on Azure.
  • The default allowed inbound port will allow SSH connections without limiting the source IP range. Some images may also have preconfigured access rules that cannot be changed during the launch of the instance. In either case, remember to adapt the rules to your requirements after creating the instance or in the Networking tab (advanced) during the creation of the instance. 

Click on Next: Disks. This will open the Disks tab of the VM creation window.


Step 4: Define the disks for your VM.

Please note: By default, Azure VMs have one operating system disk and a temporary disk for short-term storage (mounted on /mnt/resource and not persistent). The recommended minimum system disk size is 30GB. You can attach existing additional data disks, or create new disks and attach them.

Disks tab sample:

Click on Next: Networking. This will open the Networking tab of the VM creation window.



Step 5: Enter the necessary information in the Networking tab.

On this tab, you can define the network configuration of your VM:

  • Virtual Network (existing or new)
  • Subnet (default or other subnet)
  • Whether a public IP should be assigned or not (note that the license server must be accessed via a public IP address from the Azure range)
  • Basic, advanced, or preconfigured security settings (which ports are open for access to the VM).

Networking tab sample:

Optionally, you can proceed to the Management, Advanced, and Tags tabs to configure additional details of your VM. However, for a basic test, this is not required. Click on Review + Create to proceed to the review screen.


Step 6: Check the data on the Review + Create screen and create VM.

Verify that the checks passed successfully and click on Create to create the VM.

Sample Review+Create screen:


If key-pair was newly created, download private key:

If you chose to let Azure create a new SSH key-pair, you will be asked to download the private key after clicking on the Create button, this step is very important as this is the only opportunity to download the private key, which is required to access your VM. The image below shows a sample of this prompt:


The Deployment page:

Create will take you to the Deployment page (possibly after downloading the private SSH key) where the current status of the deployment is displayed. Once the VM has been fully deployed, the Deployment Complete screen will be displayed.

Sample Deployment Complete screen:


Click on Go to resource to get to the details page of the newly created VM. The image below shows a sample of a detail page:


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