Table of Contents

General Description

Alpha Hardware Virtualization allows users of Alpha (known as DIGITAL Alpha, Compaq Alpha or HP Alpha) computers to move application software and user data to a modern Intel or AMD based x64 compatible platform without having to make changes to software and data. Alpha Hardware Virtualization is a software solution that replaces Alpha hardware. 

This approach is best understood when the Alpha Hardware Virtualization Software is viewed as a special interface between the old Alpha software and a new hardware platform.  Basically, the Charon software presents an Alpha hardware interface to the original Alpha software, so that the existing software cannot detect a difference. This means no changes have to be made to the existing software. User programs and data can be copied to a new modern industry standard server (64-bit Intel or AMD) and continue to run for many more years.

The Alpha virtualization software is designed to replace single and multi-CPU Alpha computer systems, including:

The principles of Alpha Hardware Virtualization

Virtualized hardware

Charon-AXP virtualizes various Alpha architectures and meets or exceeds the performance level of these Alpha systems when run on the recommended hardware platform.

The following table shows which hardware boards Charon virtualizes:

Host platform

The Virtualization Software presents standard Alpha devices to the Alpha operating system, allowing the OS to function as though it were still running on an Alpha computer. For example, virtual disk container files in a directory or physical devices of the host Linux platform are presented by the Virtualization Software to the Alpha OS as emulated SCSI disks attached to a PCI SCSI adapter.

With the use of current storage technology, disks do not have to be physically attached to the Host platform, they can also reside on a SAN or iSCSI storage structure. A similar translation process is also valid for other emulated hardware devices.