Table of contents

Introduction

The CHARON-AXP product is distributed in form of archive TAR.GZ files that contain RPM modules for different components. Generally it is recommended to install all the RPM modules but it is possible to omit some RPM files if they are not needed.

CHARON installation consists of the following steps:

Host system checks (hardware and software) to ensure the host platform meets the minimum CHARON-AXP installation requirements
Installation of any 3rd party material, for example, the utilities required for CHARON-AXP
Extracting CHARON-AXP RPM modules from the TAR.GZ archive and their individual installation
Installation of the CHARON-AXP license (hardware dongle or software license)
Configuration of the CHARON-AXP host system. It assumes creating a specific user, configuring the network, etc.

Hardware Requirements

Number of CPU cores

Each CHARON-AXP emulated CPU requires a corresponding physical core. So the total number of the host CPUs must exceed the number of emulated CPUs since some of the host CPUs must be dedicated to serving CHARON I/O operations and host operating system needs. If several CHARON instances run in parallel, the required number of CPU cores is cumulative.

The following table lists the minimum and recommended number of CPUs required for each virtual HP Alpha instance (note that each CHARON instance is able to run on 2 CPU cores hosts, but this configuration does not support emulation of all the virtual CPUs):

CHARON-AXP product	Minimum number of host CPU cores	Recommended number of host CPU cores
HP AlphaServer 400 - HP AlphaServer 4100	2	2
HP AlphaServer DS10/DS10L/DS15	2	2
HP AlphaServer DS20/DS25	4	4
HP AlphaServer ES40/ES45	6	8
HP AlphaServer GS80	10	16
HP AlphaServer GS160	18	32
HP AlphaServer GS320	34	48

When starting, the CHARON-AXP software checks the available number of host CPU cores. This check is based on the maximum number of AXP CPUs that can be emulated if this number is not restricted by the "n_of_cpus" parameter. If the available number of host CPU cores is below this number, CHARON-AXP will issue a warning message even if the requirements for the configured number of AXP CPUs are fulfilled. The CHARON-AXP software will work despite this warning if the requirements for the configured number of AXP CPUs are fulfilled.

Hyper-threading must be switched off completely. Disable hyper-threading in the BIOS settings of the physical host or, for a VMware virtual machine, edit the virtual machine properties, select the Resources tab then select Advanced CPU. Set the Hyper-threaded Core Sharing mode to None.

CPU type and speed

Since CHARON utilizes LAHF instruction in CPU emulation please avoid usage of early AMD64 and Intel 64 CPUs in CHARON host system since they lack it. AMD introduced the instruction with their Athlon 64, Opteron and Turion 64 revision D processors in March 2005 and Intel introduced it with the Pentium 4 G1 stepping in December 2005.

Concerning CPU speed, the general recommendation is that higher the CPU frequency is, better the emulated HP Alpha performances will be. The minimum recommendation is at least 3 GHz.

Operative memory

The minimum host memory size:

depends on the amount of HP Alpha memory to be emulated and on the number of CHARON-AXP instances to be executed on one host.
is calculated according to the following formula:
The minimum host memory = (2Gb + the amount of HP Alpha memory emulated) per CHARON-AXP instance.

Disk storage

The total amount of disk space required for CHARON-AXP can be calculated as a sum of all the disk/tape image sizes plus 50 MB for the CHARON software plus the space required for the host operating system. Temporary disk storage is often needed when setting up a new virtual machine (for source disks backups storage, software installation kits, etc...).

When virtual disks/tapes are used to represent physical disk drives / magnetic tapes, the disk/tape image files have the same size as their hardware equivalent, regardless of their degree of utilization.

Ethernet adapters

CHARON-AXP networking requires dedicated host Ethernet adapters; their number must be equal to the emulated adapters to be configured in CHARON-AXP. One adapter (optionally) can be left to the host for TCP/IP networking, management interface, etc.

It is also possible to use virtual network interfaces, but for performance considerations, it is recommended to use physical ones only.

Software Requirements

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x - 64bit
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x - 64bit
Linux Centos 8.x - 64bit
Linux Centos 7.x - 64bit
VMware ESXi 5.5 and 6.0 up to 6.7 (requires a supported Linux operating system on top of a ESXi virtual machine)

For CentOS, a connection to the internet is required to install the glibc.i686 package which is not included in the Standard distribution DVD. If there's no connection available, please use the "Everything" distribution DVD.

Host system preparation

The automatic installation of updates must be disabled. Updates to the CHARON host must be done only in specific service maintenance periods established by the system administrator. Before applying new updates one must shutdown the operating system running on CHARON and stop all the running CHARON instances and services.

If a network-wide license (red dongle or software license) is going to be used, do the following:

On the server side (where the network license will reside): open port 1947 for both TCP and UDP
On the client side, if broadcast search for remote licenses is to be used, UDP traffic from port 1947 of the license server to ports 30000-65535 of the client must be permitted
Both on server and client sides: set default gateway

Please consult with your Linux User's Guide on details.

If stricter firewall rules are required, it is possible to open the ports 30000-65535 and 1947 only for the "/usr/sbin/hasplmd" daemon.

Before installation

Login as the superuser ("root") on the host system. Because Sentinel HASP runtime relies on 32-bit compatibility libraries to run on Linux, the 32-bit compatibility libraries must be installed before continuing. If the emulator host has access to a package repository, either local or remote, use the following command:
# yum install glibc.i686
Sometimes it is not possible to use an online repository for the installation of 32-bit glibc package. In this case the procedure described in the appendixes has to be used: glibc.i686 installation without Internet connection
.
Create a directory for the CHARON-AXP distribution as shown in the following example:
# mkdir /charon_dist
.
On RHEL/CentOS 7 and 8, the "libev" package is required. If it is reported as missing during CHARON installation on RHEL 7/8, check that the repository "extras" is included and enabled, if not, include and enable it. Please refer to your Linux distribution administrator's guide.
Example for RHEL 7.x:
# yum-config-manager --enable rhel-7-server-extras-rpms

WARNING

If you plan to install CHARON-VAX on the same server, both products, CHARON-AXP and CHARON-VAX, will have to be the same build number.
If you upgrade from a previous version of CHARON-AXP, please stop all running CHARON virtual machines, uninstall CHARON products and reboot the Linux server (recommended) before proceeding with the installation steps described below.

Distribution preparation

Copy the download kit (in /tmp for example) to the folder created in the previous chapter:

# cp /tmp/charon-axp-<VER>-<BN>.<ZZ>.tar.gz /charon_dist

where:

Item

Description

VER

Version of CHARON-AXP product, for example 4.11

BN

Build Number of CHARON-AXP product, for example 20404

ZZ

CHARON-AXP target operating system identifier where:

ZZ = "el8" for CentOS/Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
ZZ = "el74" for CentOS/Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
ZZ = "el65" for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Extract the contents of the distribution .tar.gz file to the current directory:

# cd /charon_dist# tar -xvzf charon-axp-<VER>-<BN>.<ZZ>.tar.gz

Example:

# tar -xvzf charon-axp-4.11-20404.el74.tar.gz

As a result, the new directory "charon-axp-<VER>-<BN>.<ZZ>" will be created.

Switch to that directory:

# cd charon-axp-<VER>-<BN>.<ZZ>

Example:

# cd charon-axp-4.11-20404.el74

The distribution directory contains the following RPM files:

File name	Description
`aksusbd-7.63-1.i386.rpm`	HASP Run-time
`charon-axp-VER-BN.ZZ.x86_64.rpm`	CHARON-AXP
`charon-license-VER-BN.ZZ.x86_64.rpm`	CHARON Libraries
`charon-mtd-VER-BN.ZZ.x86_64.rpm`	MTD utility
`charon-utils-VER-BN.ZZ.x86_64.rpm`	CHARON Utilities

Example:

# ls
aksusbd-7.63-1.i386.rpm
charon-axp-4.11-20404.el74.x86_64.rpm
charon-license-4.11-20404.el74.x86_64.rpm charon-mtd-4.11-20404.el74.x86_64.rpm charon-utils-4.11-20404.el74.x86_64.rpm

Installation

Issue the following command to install all the RPM files present in the directory:

# yum install *.rpm

Enter "y" to agree to install all the listed packages.

Example:

Dependencies Resolved

================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
================================================================================
Installing:
aksusbd i386 7.63-1 /aksusbd-7.63-1.i386 2.9 M
charon-axp x86_64 4.11-20404 /charon-axp-4.11-20404.el74.x86_64 260 M
charon-license
x86_64 4.11-20404 /charon-license-4.11-20404.el74.x86_64 2.9 M
charon-utils
x86_64 4.11-20404 /charon-utils-4.11-20404.el74.x86_64 1.8 M charon-mtd x86_64 4.11-20404 /charon-mtd-4.11-20404.68704.el74.x86_64 1.2 M

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install 4 Packages

Total size: 267 M
Installed size: 267 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y

Check the installation process has completed successfully.

Example:

Downloading packages:
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction (shutdown inhibited)
Installing : aksusbd-7.63-1.i386 1/4
Starting aksusbd (via systemctl): [ OK ]
Installing : charon-utils-4.11-20404.x86_64 2/5 Installing : charon-mtd-4.11-20404.x86_64 3/5
Installing : charon-license-4.11-20404.x86_64 4/5
Installing : charon-axp-4.11-20404.x86_64 5/5
Verifying : aksusbd-7.63-1.i386 1/5
Verifying : charon-license-4.11-20404.x86_64 2/5
Verifying : charon-axp-4.11-20404.x86_64 3/5
Verifying : charon-utils-4.11-20404.x86_64 4/5 Verifying : charon-mtd-4.11-20404.x86_64 4/5

Installed:
aksusbd.i386 0:7.63-1 charon-axp.x86_64 0:4.11-20404
charon-license.x86_64 0:4.11-20404 charon-utils.x86_64 0:4.11-20404 charon-mtd.x86_64 0:4.11-20404

Complete!

Re-login (as "root") to apply the PATH settings or execute the following command:

# . /etc/profile.d/charon.sh

If "putty" terminal emulator is going to be used as an additional option copy the following file to your home directory:

# mkdir -p $HOME/.config/putty/sessions (if it does not already exist)# cp /opt/charon/putty/sessions/CHTERM-VT100 $HOME/.config/putty/sessions

Note that the "charon-utils" package has the following dependencies:

ethtool
bridge-utils
net-tools
iproute
NetworkManager

During "charon-utils" installation using "yum", these packages will be installed automatically if some of them are absent on the host system.

CHARON-AXP home directory

By default CHARON is installed in the "/opt/charon" directory. It has the following subdirectories:

Directory	Description
/bin	Contains all the executable files
/cfg	Contains the configuration files templates
/doc	Contains the documentation
/log	Contains the log files
/disks	Contains the disk containers
/drivers	Contains the CHARON drivers

The most important directory at this stage is the "/cfg" directory since it contains template configuration files with examples of typical configuration parameters and comments. We will focus our attention on this subject in the next chapter.

Specific user account creation

Create a specific user account named "charon" for running CHARON:

# useradd -G disk,tape,cdrom,dialout,lock -c "Charon User" -m charon
# passwd charon

Any existing user can also be used to run CHARON. In this case issue the following command to include this existing user into these specific groups:

# usermod -G disk,tape,cdrom,dialout,lock -g <user name> <user name>

Example:

# usermod -G disk,tape,cdrom,dialout,lock -g tommy tommy

Re-login to apply changes.

The specific account created above does not allow the use of physical consoles "/dev/tty<N>" as CHARON consoles. If you plan to map CHARON console to "/dev/tty<N>" use only the "root" account for running CHARON.

License installation

Regular HASP USB dongle

If the CHARON license is located on a regular USB dongle, just connect it to the host USB port.

If the CHARON host is accessed remotely, please note that regular HASP licenses cannot be displayed and used to start a CHARON virtual machine. As a workaround it is possible to install CHARON as a daemon (service). This procedure will be described later.

Network HASP USB dongle

If the CHARON license is a network license (red USB dongle), it is possible either to connect it to the host USB port (to use it locally and provide it to other hosts on the local network at the same time) or to install it on a local network "license server" for remote access from this particular host.

If a remote license server is to be used:

Copy the aksusbd-7.63-1.i386.rpm and charon-license-4.9-<build>.<OS identifier>.x86_64.rpm files (see above) to the server, for example to "/tmp".
Login as "root" on the server.
Switch to that directory.
Install the copied files using "yum".
Example:
# cd /tmp
# yum install aksusbd* charon-license-*

Connect the network HASP dongle to one of the server USB ports.

The network HASP (red dongles) licenses have no restrictions with respect to remote access.

Software license

If the CHARON license is a software license (SL), it is installed on the host using the following procedure:

Run the hasp_srm_view utility in the following way to get the host fingerprint file ("my_host.c2v" in this example):
# hasp_srm_view -fgp my_host.c2v
Send the resulting file to STROMASYS. In return STROMASYS will provide you with a ".v2c" file, for example "your_license.v2c".
Copy the received file to any folder on the CHARON host, invoke the system default web browser and enter the URL http://localhost:1947 to display the "Sentinel Admin Control Center" (ACC) web interface. This interface allows you to view and manage the CHARON licenses.
In the ACC perform the following steps: select Update/Attach from the menu on the left pane then use the Browse button to select the received file and click on the Apply File button to install the license.
Ensure that the software license is now visible in the "Sentinel Keys" section of the ACC.

It is also possible to use the "hasp_update" utility for applying ".v2c" files.

The Software Licenses (SL) are always network licenses, they have no restrictions with respect to being displayed or accessed via a remote connection.

A "Provisional" (demo) license does not require collecting a fingerprint. For its installation start at step 3 in the sequence above

License validity verification

To check the CHARON license validity, invoke the hasp_srm_view utility to make sure that the CHARON license is visible and is correct:

Text of the license is displayed correctly by the hasp_srm_view utility, no error messages are shown.
The content of the license looks correct. For example: license number, major and minor versions, minimum and maximum build numbers, CHARON-AXP products and allowed hardware (CHARON-AXP models) should be checked. More details on the license content can be found in the CHARON-AXP Licensing chapter of this Guide.

Example:

# hasp_srm_view

License Manager running at host: dlao.msc.masq
License Manager IP address: 192.168.1.129

HASP Net key detected

The Physical KeyId: 1422726238License Type: License Dongle (Network Capable)
CHARON Sentinel HASP License key section
Reading 4032 bytes

The License Number: 000.msc.sanity.tests
The License KeyId: 1422726238
The Master KeyId: 827774524
Release date: 10-MAR-2020
Release time: 15:15:15
Update number: 1
End User name: MSC
Purchasing Customer name: STROMASYS...

If multiple licenses are available, it is possible to check them using the "-all" parameter with the hasp_srm_view utility in the following way:

# hasp_srm_view -all

It it also possible to display the license content for one specific key using the "-key" parameter and specifying the Key Id (see "# hasp_srm_view -h" for more)

Reminder: If the CHARON host is accessed over a remote connection, please note that regular HASP licenses cannot be displayed and used in this case. As a workaround it is possible to install CHARON as a daemon (service). This procedure will be described later.

Troubleshooting

If the CHARON license content cannot be displayed by the hasp_srm_view utility or it is incorrect, check the license is available and correctly used:

Invoke the system default web browser and enter the URL http://localhost:1947 to display the "Sentinel Admin Control Center" (ACC) web interface.
Click on "Sentinel Keys" link to open the corresponding page.
Make sure that one and only one CHARON HASP or SL license is present.

To facilitate troubleshooting, Stromasys recommends to enable logging from the Sentinel Admin Control Center as described in this article: Enabling logging in Sentinel Admin Control Center.

Problem	Action
No license is displayed	Make sure that all the recommendations above about remote access to the host are fulfilled (if remote access takes place), that the HASP USB key is not broken and its LED indicator is lit (meaning that it is used by the host).
Only one License key / SL is seen and its content is incorrect	Contact STROMASYS to request a new license update.
Several License keys / SLs are displayed	Remove all of them except the one provided by STROMASYS for the just installed version of CHARON.

Removing licenses can be done by physical disconnection of the corresponding USB HASP keys from the CHARON host and physical disconnection of the network HASP keys from all hosts on the local network (or by disabling remote access to network licenses from the CHARON host - see detailed explanations below).

For license servers accessible only via non-broadcast search it is also possible to disable access to network licenses if only a local license is to be used: Click on the "Configuration" link to open the "Configuration for Sentinel Manager" page.

Uncheck the "Allow Access to Remote Licenses" checkbox from the "Access to Remote License Managers" tab then press the "Submit" button to apply changes.

Starting with Charon-AXP/VAX 4.9 for Linux and Charon-AXP/VAX version 4.8 for Windows the Charon emulator products do not follow the settings in the Sentinel ACC with respect to querying remote license servers and network visibility. They perform a broadcast search for network licenses even if this has been disabled in the Sentinel ACC. If this behavior has to be prevented for specific reasons, the network access of the system has to be temporarily restricted or disabled, for example by blocking the relevant traffic in a firewall. Another possibility would be to block access to the network license at the license server side.

Note that such methods can negatively impact other functions of the system or, in the case of blocking access to a network license on the server, even the functions on other license clients.

It is also possible to leave several licenses available to CHARON-AXP at the same time but in this case they have to be specified in the configuration file.

Example:

set session license_key_id=1877752571

It is also possible to have one "main" and one "backup" license in case the main license becomes unavailable:

set session license_key_id="1877752571,354850588"

CHARON-AXP checks its licenses from time to time starting with the main license. If it becomes unavailable, it attempts to access the backup license.

Network configuration

In most cases CHARON will use a network. In this case CHARON requires one or more dedicated network interfaces with any other protocols including TCP/IP removed at the host level.

Two ways of network configuration are possible:

With the help of the "ncu" utility
Manually

The first way is recommended. Use the manual approach only in absence of the "ncu" utility or if it impossible to use it.

Configuration with NCU utility

Login as root and enter "ncu". The following menu will appear:

# ncu CHARON Network Configuration Utility, STROMASYS (c) 2020 Version 1.7

Interfaces Dedicated to State
---------- ------------ ------------
eth0 host connected to host
eth1 host disconnected from host lo host unmanaged by host virbr0-nic bridge unmanaged by bridge

================================================================== bridge name bridge id STP enabled interfaces ================================================================== virbr0 8000.5254004608c0 yes virbr0-nic

==================================================================

select action:
1 - Dedicate to CHARON
2 - Release to host
3 - Create Bridge with TAPs
4 - Remove Bridge
5 - Add VLAN
6 - Remove VLAN
7 - Print status
8 - Exit
:> 1

The utility lists the available network interfaces (both physical and virtual) and indicates whether they are dedicated to the host or to CHARON and whether they are currently in use by the host operating system.

"ncu" offers several options:

Dedicate interface to CHARON (option "1")
Release interface to host (option "2")
Create a bridge between a chosen physical network interface and the Linux virtual network and create a number of virtual network interfaces (option "3")
Remove the Linux virtual network and all the created virtual network interfaces (option "4")
Add VLAN (option "5")
Remove VLAN (option "6")
Print status (option "7") - use it to display status of network interfaces and the menu shown above
Exit (option "8")

In the example above we see 2 network interfaces, "eth0" and "eth1", that are dedicated to the host and the host uses only the interface "eth0".

Let's dedicate the interface "eth1" to CHARON-AXP.

Enter "1" then "eth1":

Specify the interface to dedicate to CHARON:eth1
Turning off offloading for eth1.. Please wait

select action:
1 - Dedicate to CHARON
2 - Release to host
3 - Create Bridge with TAPs
4 - Remove Bridge
5 - Add VLAN
6 - Remove VLAN
7 - Print status
8 - Exit

:> 7

Now the interface "eth1" is dedicated to CHARON-AXP:

Interfaces Dedicated to State
---------- ------------ ------------
eth0 host connected to host
eth1 CHARON disconnected from hostlo host unmanaged by host virbr0-nic bridge unmanaged by bridge

================================================================== bridge name bridge id STP enabled interfaces ================================================================== virbr0 8000.5254004608c0 yes virbr0-nic

==================================================================

select action:
1 - Dedicate to CHARON
2 - Release to host
3 - Create Bridge with TAPs
4 - Remove Bridge
5 - Add VLAN
6 - Remove VLAN
7 - Print status
8 - Exit

:>

Enter "8" to return to the console prompt.

Now "eth1" can be used by CHARON-AXP.

Manual Configuration

Choosing a network interface

To choose an interface to be used for CHARON networking, do the following:

# ifconfig

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:60:52:0A:A9:1E

...

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:C0:26:60:FB:15

...
eth2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1A:92:E1:3F:7F

Choose an interface to be used by CHARON, for example "eth1"

Designation of network interface to CHARON

To designate the chosen interface to CHARON open up the file "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethN" (where N is the number of the interface to be used for CHARON, in this case it is "1") and make sure that all the IP-setup related parameters are removed. The file must look like this:

DEVICE="eth1"
HWADDR="00:06:2B:00:6A:87"
NM_CONTROLLED="no"
ONBOOT="no"

Switching off the offload parameters

Determine what additional parameters are currently set to "on" on the host network adapter to be used by CHARON using the following command:

# ethtool -k <device>

Example:

# ethtool -k eth1
Offload parameters for eth1:
rx-checksumming: on
tx-checksumming: on
scatter-gather: on
tcp-segmentation-offload: off
udp-fragmentation-offload: off
generic-segmentation-offload: on
generic-receive-offload: off
large-receive-offload: off

Use "ethtool" to switch off all the offload parameters:

# ethtool -K <device> <parameter> off

Example:

# ethtool -k eth1
Offload parameters for eth1:
rx-checksumming: on
tx-checksumming: on
scatter-gather: on
tcp-segmentation-offload: off
udp-fragmentation-offload: off
generic-segmentation-offload: on
generic-receive-offload: off

large-receive-offload: off

For the example above let's create a temporary file containing the commands to be executed at system startup as the offload parameters must be switched off following each reboot:

ethtool -K eth1 rx off
ethtool -K eth1 tx off
ethtool -K eth1 sg off
ethtool -K eth1 gso off ethtool -K eth1 gro off

Let's suppose the name of the file is "offload_off_eth1.txt". To execute it on system startup, execute the following command (example):

# cat offload_off_eth1.txt >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local

Final steps

Reboot the host system
Login as user "charon"
Verify the offload parameters are effective

Upgrade from previous version

To upgrade an already installed CHARON-AXP kit to a more recent one:

Ensure your license allows you to upgrade to that version. If not, please generate a C2V file and send it to STROMASYS for update. See CHARON-AXP for Linux utilities - 'hasp_srm_view' utility
Prepare the new kit RPM files as it is described in "CHARON-AXP for Linux installation#Before installation" and "CHARON-AXP for Linux installation#Distribution preparation" sections.
Stop all running CHARON-AXP instances.
Make sure that no template files (i.e. "es40.cfg.template") have been used for your specific configuration otherwise copy those files to a dedicated folder.
Login as "root" user.
Remove the old CHARON-AXP version as described in the "CHARON-AXP for Linux deinstallation" chapter and reboot the Linux server (recommended).
Proceed with the instructions on the new kit installation as described in the "CHARON-AXP for Linux installation#Installation" section.
Once installation is completed, it is recommended to reboot the Linux server (possible issues with licenses detection could occur).
Install the license for the new CHARON-AXP as described in the "CHARON-AXP for Linux installation#License installation" section.
Start all the CHARON-AXP services stopped at step #3.

If you did not reboot your Linux server at step 6, you may experience issues with 'aksusbd' service installation and then license detection.

Example:

Installing : aksusbd-8.13-1.x86_64 1/5Failed to execute operation: Access deniedFailed to restart aksusbd.service: Access denied

To solve this problem, remove all Charon installed product and restart from step 6 above.

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