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.

Link name

Emulator to run

as400

AlphaServer 400

as800

AlphaServer 800

as1000

AlphaServer 1000

as1000a

AlphaServer 1000A

as2000

AlphaServer 2000

as2100

AlphaServer 2100

as4000

AlphaServer 4000

as4100

AlphaServer 4100

ds10

AlphaServer DS10

ds10l

AlphaServer DS10L

ds15

AlphaServer DS15

ds20

AlphaServer DS20

ds25

AlphaServer DS25

es40

AlphaServer ES40

es45

AlphaServer ES45

gs80

AlphaServer GS80

gs160

AlphaServer GS160

gs320

AlphaServer GS320

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:

...

set session log="/CharonInstances/1st_es40.log"
set rom container="/CharonInstances/1st_es40.bin"
set toy container="/CharonInstances/1st_es40.dat"

load KZPBA PKA scsi_id = 7
set PKA container[0]="/CharonInstances/1st_es40_boot_disk.vdisk"

... 

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:

$ cp /opt/charon/cfg/es40.cfg.template my_es40.cfg
$ chmod 644 my_es40.cfg

Run the virtual machine using this configuration file:

$ es40 my_es40.cfg

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

initializing ...

polling for units on kzpba0, slot 2, bus 0, hose 1 ...
pka0.0.0.2.1 PKA0 Q-Logic/ISP PCI SCSI HBA

... enter console

CHARON-AXP/ES40 for Linux (AlphaServer ES40 6/667), Version 4.9.19401
(C) 2009-2018 STROMASYS SA.
All rights reserved.

P00>>>

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:

ConfigurationHow to exit
No change to the template configuration file

Enter "power off" in the CHARON console

Enable "F6" button in configuration file to trigger exit from CHARON:

#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Uncomment to allow 'F6' to terminate the running emulator.
#
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------

set OPA0 stop_on = F6


Press the "F6" key


(warning) 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

    (warning) "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:


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

Red Hat Linux 6.x

# ln -sf /my_services/es40_service /etc/init.d/es40_service
# chkconfig es40_service on
# service es40_service start

Red Hat Linux 7.x and CentOS 7.x

# systemctl enable es40.service
# systemctl start es40.service


If you update the /usr/lib/systemd/system/<my virtual machine>.service file, the following command must be executed in order to take changes into account:

# systemctl daemon-reload



Note that a certain delay may appear in finding network licenses by Sentinel Run-time on CHARON-AXP host system startup. If the CHARON-AXP service is starting automatically at host system startup, it may report a "License not found" error and exit.

This problem can be avoided by specifying the "license_key_lookup_retry" parameter in the following way:

set session license_key_lookup_retry = "N [, T]"

where:

  • N = Number of retries looking for the license key (or keys)
  • T =Time between retries in seconds. If not specified, 60 seconds is used

Example:

set session license_key_lookup_retry = 5

In this example, if the license key is not found during initial scan, CHARON-AXP will do 5 more attempts waiting 60 seconds between them.

See General Settings section for more details.


Stopping CHARON-AXP service

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

Example:

Red Hat Linux 6.x

# service es40_service stop

Red Hat Linux 7.x and CentOS 7.x

# systemctl stop es40

(warning) 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:

Red Hat Linux 6.x

# chkconfig es40_service off
# chkconfig --del es40_service
# rm -f /etc/init.d/es40_service

Red Hat Linux 7.x and CentOS 7.x

# systemctl disable es40.service
# rm -f /usr/lib/systemd/system/es40.service 

(warning) 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.

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