Table of Contents

Session

General settings that control the execution of CHARON-AXP belong to an object called the "session". It is a preloaded object; therefore, only "set" commands apply.

Example:

set session <parameter>=<value>

The following sections describe all available "session" parameters, their meaning and examples of their usage:

hw_model

Parameter hw_model

Type Text string

Value

Virtual Alpha system hardware model to be emulated.

Use a named template for each model as a starting point for a custom configuration. This would ensure that this parameter is set correctly.

Example:

set session hw_model="AlphaServer_ES40"

Available models are:

AlphaServer_AS400
AlphaServer_AS800
AlphaServer_AS1000
AlphaServer_AS1000A
AlphaServer_AS1200
AlphaServer_AS2000
AlphaServer_AS2100
AlphaServer_AS4000
AlphaServer_AS4100
AlphaServer_DS10
AlphaServer_DS10L
AlphaServer_DS15
AlphaServer_DS20
AlphaServer_DS25
AlphaServer_ES40
AlphaServer_ES45
AlphaServer_GS80
AlphaServer_GS160
AlphaServer_GS320

Refer to this section to find how to set a particular Alpha model supported by CHARON-AXP.

configuration_name

Parameter configuration_name

Type Text string

Value

Name of the CHARON-AXP instance (it must be unique).

In most cases this is set to the local machine name (TCPIP node identifier for example).

set session configuration_name="MSCDV1"

The value of this parameter is used as a prefix to the event log file name. (see below).

From the example above, the CHARON-AXP log file will have the following name:

MSCDV1-YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss-xxxxxxxxx.log

xxxxxxxxx is an increasing decimal number starting from 000000000 to separate log files with the same time of creation (in case the log is being written faster than one log file per second).

It is highly recommended to use the "configuration_name" parameter if more than one CHARON instance runs on the same server.

log

Parameter	log
Type	Text string
Value	The log file or directory name is where the log file for this CHARON-AXP session is stored. Log specified as a file name It is possible to overwrite the existing log file or to extend it using the log_method parameter. The "log_method" parameter is effective only when a single log file is specified, not a directory. Example: `set session log="/charon/es40prod.log"` Log specified as a directory CHARON-AXP automatically creates individual log files for each CHARON-AXP execution session. If the log parameter is omitted, CHARON-AXP creates a log file for each CHARON-AXP execution session in the directory where the emulator was started. In these two cases, the log rotation mode is enabled, meaning a new log file is created each time the virtual machine is started and when the log file size exceeds the one specified (see parameter log_file_size) and/or when the log file is older than a specified number of days (see parameter log_rotation_period). A symbolic link located in the same directory will be created, pointing to the active log file. Its name is based on the hw_model parameter or the configuration_name parameter if specified. If the "configuration_name" parameter of the session is specified, the log file name is composed as follows: `<configuration_name>-YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss-xxxxxxxxx.log` If the "configuration_name" parameter is omitted, the log file name will have the following format: `<hw_model>-YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss-xxxxxxxxx.log` where "`xxxxxxxxx`" is an increasing decimal integer, starting from 000000000 to separate log files with the same time of creation (in case the log is being created faster than one log file per second). Only existing directory can be specified. If the directory specified does not exist, this will be considered as a flat file. Example: `set session configuration_name="es40prod"` `set session log="/charon/logs"` The execution of the virtual machine will create a log file, named `/charon/logs/es40prod-2016-10-13-10-00-00-000000000.log` (for example) and a symbolic link named `/charon/logs/es40prod.log` pointing to this file. The link will be updated when the log rotation will occur. Starting with version 4.11 build 204-11, log file numbering is implemented when log rotating is used: when starting the Charon emulator the first log file name will be like `<configuration_name>-YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss-xxxxxxxxx.log` where `xxxxxxxxx` will be 000000000, this number will increase with each log rotation to make it easier to find a log file set (1st log file at start + all its rotated files)

log_method

Parameter	log_method
Type	Text string
Value	"append" (default) "overwrite" Determines if the previous log information is maintained or overwritten. This parameter must be specified only in addition to “log” parameter and on the same line. This parameter is applicable only if the CHARON-AXP log is stored to a file that is specified explicitly with the "log" parameter. Example: `set session log="log.txt" log_method="overwrite"`

log_file_size

Parameter log_file_size

Type Text string

Value

If log rotation is enabled, the log_file_size parameter determines the log file size threshold at which a new log is automatically created. Rotating log file size is a multiple of 64K

"unlimited" or "0" (default) - the feature is disabled
"default" - default size is used (4Mb)
<size>[KMG] - size of the current log file in bytes with additional multipliers:
- K - Kilobyte - multiply by 1024
- M - Megabyte - multiply by 1024*1024
- G - Gigabyte - multiply by 1024*1024*1024

Example 1:

set session log_file_size="default"

Example 2:

set session log_file_size=10M

Minimum LOG File size is 64K, maximum is 1G. Setting size less than 64K effectively makes the LOG File unlimited.

log_rotation_period

Parameter log_rotation_period

Type Text string

Value

"default" - default value, 7 days. This values is used even if the "log_rotation_period" is not specified.
"daily" or "1"
"weekly" or "7"
"never"
<N> - in N days where N is greater than 0

If the rotation log mode is enabled this parameter controls switching to next log file based on period of time passed. If enabled the switching to next log file occurs at midnight.

Example 1:

set session log_rotation_period="weekly"

Example 2:

set session log_rotation_period=14

log_flush_period

Parameter log_flush_period

Type Numeric

Value

<period-in-seconds>

Defines a period of flushing log to disk. In most cases, the default is sufficient

Default period is 60 seconds (it means that every minute log file is flushed to disk)

Example:

set session log_flush_period=30

license_key_id

Parameter	license_key_id
Type	Text string
Value	Definition of the license key ID (HASP) or the license server (VE licensing) to be used. Example for a HASP license: `set session license_key_id = "1877752571,354850588,any"` Based on the presence of this parameter in the configuration file, CHARON behaves as follows: No keys are specified (the parameter is absent) CHARON performs an unqualified search for any suitable key in unspecified order. If no key is found, CHARON exits. One or many keys are specified CHARON performs a qualified search for a regular license key in the specified order. If it is not found, CHARON exits (if the keyword "any" is not set). If the keyword "any" is specified then if no valid license has been found in the keys with specified ID’s all other available keys are examined for valid license as well. Please note: the order in which keys are specified is very important. If a valid license was found in the key which ID was not the first one specified in configuration file, then available keys are periodically rescanned and if the key with the ID earlier in the list than the current one is found CHARON tries to find a valid license there and in case of success switches to that key. Example for a VE license: `set session license_key_id = "VE://10.1.1.1:8083/1111-2222-3333-4444"` To configure a backup license server, add the backup license server information to the same line after the primary license server information: `set session license_key_id = "VE://<primary-licserv-IP-Address>[:<port>]/<passphrase>/, VE://<backup-licserv-IP-Address>[:<port>]/<passphrase>/"`

license_id

Parameter

license_id

Type Text string

Value

A set of license identifiers that specifies the licenses to be used by CHARON. This parameter is applicable only to licenses on which Stromasys placed restrictions on what products can be combined on a single license key. Please contact your Stromasys representative or VAR for more information.

Example:

set session license_id = "2718281828,314159265"

If this parameter is set, Charon considers for validation only the available licenses with license ID parameter set and equal to one of the license ID's specified in the configuration. This prioritized list corresponds to the "Product License Number" line in the Product section of the license.

license_key_lookup_retry

Parameter license_key_lookup_retry

Type Text String

Value

In case the CHARON-AXP license connection is not present when the guest starts up, this parameter specifies how many times CHARON-AXP will try to establish the connection and, optionally, a period of time between retries.

Syntax:

set session license_key_lookup_retry = "N [, T]"

Options:

N - Number of retries to look for license keys.
T - Time between retries in seconds. If not specified 60 seconds are used

Example 1:

set session license_key_lookup_retry = 1

If license key is not found during initial scan, do only one more attempt after 60 seconds.

Example 2:

set session license_key_lookup_retry = "1,30"

Same as above but retry in 30 seconds.

Example 3:

set session license_key_lookup_retry = "3,10"

If license key is not found during initial scan, do 3 more attempts waiting 10 seconds between them.

Example 4:

set session license_key_lookup_retry = "5"

If license key is not found during the initial scan, do 5 more attempts waiting 60 seconds between them.

affinity

Parameter	affinity
Type	Text string
Value	Overrides any initial process affinity mask provided by the host operating system. Once specified it binds the running instance of the emulator to particular host CPUs. Used for soft partitioning of the host CPU resources and/or for isolating host CPUs for other applications. By default the CHARON-AXP emulator instance allocates as many host CPUs as possible. The “affinity” parameter overrides that and allows explicit specification on which host CPU the instance must run on. The "affinity" parameter defines the total number of host CPUs to be used both for emulated Alpha CPUs and for CHARON-AXP application itself (including the CPUs to be used for I/O - controlled by "n_of_io_cpus" parameter described below). Host CPUs are enumerated as a comma separated list of host system assigned CPU numbers: `set session affinity="0, 2, 4, 6"`

n_of_cpus

Parameter n_of_cpus

Type Numeric

Value

Limits the number of emulated CPUs. This parameter can be used to force testing of smaller configurations as well by limiting the available "hardware".

Example:

set session n_of_cpus=3

The maximum number of CPUs enabled by CHARON-AXP is specified by the license key, but cannot exceed the original hardware restrictions. See table below.

Alpha Model	MAX Number of emulated CPUs
AlphaServer_AS400	1
AlphaServer_AS800	1
AlphaServer_AS1000	1
AlphaServer_AS1000A	1
AlphaServer_AS1200	2
AlphaServer_AS2000	2
AlphaServer_AS2100	4
AlphaServer_AS4000	2
AlphaServer_AS4100	4
AlphaServer_DS10	1
AlphaServer_DS10L	1
AlphaServer_DS15	1
AlphaServer_DS20	2
AlphaServer_DS25	2
AlphaServer_ES40	4
AlphaServer_ES45	4
AlphaServer_GS80	8
AlphaServer_GS160	16
AlphaServer_GS320	32

n_of_io_cpus

Parameter n_of_io_cpus

Type Numeric

Value

This parameter specifies how many host CPUs CHARON-AXP will use for I/O handling. Use of the “affinity” parameter may limit the number of CPUs available.

By default the CHARON-AXP instance reserves one third of all available host CPUs for I/O processing (round down, at least one). The “n_of_io_cpus” parameter overrides that by specifying the number of CHARON I/O CPUs explicitly. Note: The total of N_of_cpus and N_of_io_cpus can not exceed the available host CPUs.

Example:

set session n_of_io_cpus=2

File inclusion

It is possible to include a configuration file into an existing one using the "include" command. The file extension is usually .icfg.

This method is most helpful when large numbers of disks are configured across multiple Charon instances.

Format:

include "file.icfg"

Example:

include "/charon/commonpart.icfg"

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