Specifies the architecture of the virtual Alpha CPU. Can be one of the following: EV4, EV45, EV5, EV56, EV6, EV67, EV68

Example:

set ace cpu_architecture = EV6

Refer to "Setting of a particular HP Alpha model" to find an appropriate value of the HP Alpha architecture per each HP Alpha model supported by CHARON-AXP. 

cache_size

This parameter may affect Charon performance. Do not change this parameter until advised by Stromasys

"cache_size" defines the amount of memory in megabytes allocated to the ACE cache.

Default value is 1GB (1024 MB).

Example:

set ace cache_size = 2048

This parameter may be changed for performance optimization in case of some guest OS specific tasks (see the section below).

num_translators

This parameter may affect Charon performance. Do not change this parameter until advised by Stromasys

"num_translators" defines the number of ACE translators.

Default value in most situations is number of I/O CPUs dedicated to CHARON (defined by "n_of_io_cpus" parameter) minus 1, but in some specific situations it may be set to some other value for better performance.

Example:

set ace num_translators = 4

host_options

This parameter may affect Charon performance. Do not change this parameter until advised by Stromasys.

"host_options" defines options of ACE (DIT) translator and code-generator. Those options affect Charon performance

Default settings are set to optimize performance for most guest OS (VMS and Tru64) usage profiles. However there are some profiles (for example OpenVMS compilation tasks) where the default settings do not provide optimal performance.

The following switches are available to user:

1. --fixed-variant=[X]

The value X can be one of three options: [-1, 0, 1]. This value defines the desired translation variant. Set -1 for dynamic (default) or 0 or 1 for the fixed number implemented by the translator.

2. --x64-optimize or --x64-nooptimize 

This switch enables translation optimizations (the default is to optimize).

Default parameters have been changed in Charon version 4.9 compared to previous versions (4.8 and below). If Charon system demonstrates lower performance after upgrade to version 4.9, please test the system with host_options switched to default 4.8 settings:

set ace host_options = "--fixed-variant=0 --x64-nooptimize"

Note that in this case the parameter "num_translators" must be set to the number of I/O CPUs dedicated to CHARON (see the "n_of_io_cpus" parameter). Also note that changing parameter "cache_size" can be an alternative solution too (see the section below).

set ram size = 2048

AlphaServer 4000

Specifies a name for the file in which CHARON-AXP preserves the time and date during its “offline” period. This file also keeps some console parameters (such as the default boot device).

By default it is left unspecified.

Example:

set toy container="/Charon/my_virtual_system.dat"

It is recommended to specify the full path to the TOY file.

Specifies whether and how the guest OS time is synchronized with the CHARON host time.

Syntax:

set TOY sync_to_host = "{as_vms | as_tru64 | as_is}"

Value description:

• as_vms : If the guest OS is OpenVMS/AXP and its date and time must be set to the host's date and time each time it boots.
• as_tru64 : If the guest OS is Tru64 UNIX and its date and time must be set to the host's date and time each time it boots.
• as_is : If the TOY date and time must be set to the host's UTC date and time.

Example:

set TOY sync_to_host = "as_vms"

To synchronize the guest OS with TOY, use the following commands (from "SYSTEM"/"root" account):

• on OpenVMS/AXP: $ set time
  
• on Tru64 UNIX: # date -u `consvar -g date | cut -f 3 -d ' '`
  

The default value is "not specified" - it means that by default CHARON does not synchronize its guest OS time with the CHARON host time but collects date and time from the file specified with "container" parameter.

If "sync_to_host" parameter is specified there is no need to specify "container" parameter in addition.

Specifies the name of a file in which CHARON-AXP stores an intermediate state of its Flash ROM. This state includes, for example, most of the console parameters.

By default it is left unspecified.

it is recommended to specify the full path to this file

Example:

set rom container="/Charon/my_virtual_system.rom"

Allows changing the system name

Example:

set rom system_name="Alpha Server 1000 4/200"

Refer to Setting of a particular HP Alpha model to find an appropriate value of the HP Alpha system name per each HP Alpha model supported by CHARON-AXP

Allows changing the system serial number

Example:

set rom system_serial_number = NY12345678

Any sequence of characters can be used as a serial number. Sequences longer than 16 symbols are truncated to 16 symbols.

Serial Numbers should be according to DEC standard: 10 characters. First two characters are capital letters, remaining 8 characters are decimal digits.

By default it is set to SN01234567

DSRDB - Dynamic System Recognition Data Block. These parameters allow changing the emulated hardware model type.

dsrdb[0] stands for SMM - System Marketing Model.

Example:

set rom dsrdb[0]=1090

Setting of a particular HP Alpha model describes connection between "dsrdb" parameter and the rest of the parameters defining an exact HP Alpha model - including SMM.

Sets Console and PAL code versions in the following way:

• SRM Console version to X.Y-Z:
  set rom version[0] = x.y-z
• OpenVMS PAL code version to X.Y-Z:
  set rom version[1] = x.y-z
  
• Tru64 UNIX PAL code version to X.Y-Z:
  set rom version[2] = x.y-z
  

Example:

set rom version[0] = 7.3-1 version[1] = 1.98-104 version[2] = 1.92-105

Specifies period of interval timer, in microseconds. Only two values are supported:

• 10000 (which corresponds to 100Hz interval timer)
• 1000 (which corresponds to 1000Hz interval timer)

By default it is set to 10000.

Determines whether CHARON-AXP boots automatically if the correct boot flags are set (and saved in the HP Alpha console files).

Example:

>>>set bootdef_dev dka0
>>>set auto_action restart