Table of contents

Introduction

The CHARON-AXP product is distributed in the form of a zip file that contains the CHARON-AXP installation executable ("InstallShell.exe"). The InstallShell procedure offers the option to select which modules to install (optionally). It is recommended to install all modules (the default) by not selecting "Display components" checkbox.

Before installing CHARON-AXP, please perform all hardware and software host system checks to ensure the host platform meets minimum CHARON-AXP installation requirements

CHARON-AXP installation steps:

• Optionally, create a specific CHARON username with administrative privileges.
• Extract the CHARON-AXP installation procedure files from its archive.
• Install CHARON-AXP by running the "InstallShell.exe" installer and follow the instructions.
• Install CHARON-AXP license (hardware dongle or software license).
• Configure CHARON-AXP host system, for example, network adapter, disable some Windows features, etc. (see section Host system preparation).

Host Hardware Requirements

Number of CPU cores

Each CHARON-AXP emulated CPU requires a corresponding physical core. The total number of 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 fulfill host operating system needs. If several CHARON instances run in parallel, the required number of CPU cores is cumulative.

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

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.

Please note:

• Hyperthreading must be switched off completely. Disable hyperthreading 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 Hyperthreaded Core Sharing mode to None.

CPU type and speed

Platform emulation is a complex and CPU-intensive task. The performance of the individual cores of the host processors is the single most important factor which determines the emulated CPU performance. For the best performance, Stromasys recommends using the fastest available x86_64 processors of the latest generation. At the time of writing, the current generation of Intel server processors is "4th Gen Intel Xeon® Scalable Processors". The current generation of AMD server processors is "4th Generation AMD EPYC™ Processors".

There is a trade-off between the number of cores a processor provides versus the base (or "sustained all-core") frequency – the higher the number of cores, the lower the frequency. In order to choose the best processor, you must understand the workload you wish to emulate. If your workload can be easily distributed across a large number of CPUs ("multi-threaded"), a host processor with a higher number of cores running at a lower frequency might be appropriate. If, on the other hand, your workload conists of single-threaded tasks, probably a host processor with a low number of cores running at the highest possible frequency would be best.

Both Intel and AMD processors have the capability of increasing the frequency on one or very few cores when the other cores are idle. Intel calls this "Max Turbo Frequency" and AMD calls it "Max. Boost Clock". Because the emulator consists of many threads that all need their own host CPUs, this single/few CPU turbo/boost frequency is of no consequence. You should consider only the "Base Frequency/Clock", or, if a processor is capable, the "all-core turbo/boost speed", which is the frequency that all cores can reach when under load.

in general we recommend that the CPU frequency be 3 GHz or higher.

Memory

The minimum host memory size depends on the amount of Alpha memory to be emulated and the number of CHARON-AXP instances to be run on one host.
The minimum host memory is calculated according to the following formula:

minimum host memory = (2Gb +  the amount of 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 500 MB for the CHARON software plus space required for the normal host OS. Temporary disk storage is often needed when setting up a new server, for saveset storage, software installation kits, etc.

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 etc.

Software Requirements

• Hypervisors
  • VMware ESXi 5.5 and 6.x up to 8.0 (requires a supported Windows operating system on top of an ESXi virtual machine
  • Microsoft Hyper-V (requires a supported Windows operating system on top of a Hyper-V virtual machine)

  • kvm

  • Nutanix AHV
• Microsoft Windows Server
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2022
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2019
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Standard and Datacenter Editions, 64 bit version
• Deprecated Microsoft Windows Server (no longer supported by Microsoft – Stromasys strongly discourages their use)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard and Datacenter Editions, 64 bit version (please notice that only R2 revision is supported)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (SP1) Standard and Enterprise Editions, 64 bit version (please notice that only R2 revision is supported)
• Microsoft Windows Workstation
  • Windows 11 Professional and Enterprise Editions, 64 bit version
  • Windows 10 Professional and Enterprise Editions, 64 bit version
• Deprecated Microsoft Windows Workstation (no longer supported by Microsoft – Stromasys strongly discourages their use)
  • Windows 8.1 Professional Edition, 64 bit version
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate (SP1) Editions, 64 bit version

Host system preparation

Important points:

• All antivirus, screen saver, automatic (scheduled) backup and any other CPU consuming software as well as software that is able to temporarily lock CHARON files (such as automatic indexing) must be turned off, uninstalled and disabled. Alternatively it is also possible to exclude all CHARON executables and material folders from scanning for viruses, but please note that scanning slows down CHARON host anyway - it may be critical for some installations requiring maximum performance.
• The power scheme must be set to "High Performance" with all the "Sleep" and "Standby" modes turned off.
• The automatic installation of Microsoft updates must be disabled. MS 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 host that will act as network licence server (where the network license will reside): open port 1947 for both TCP and UDP
• On the client, 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.
  
• On server and client: set default gateway

Please consult the Windows online documentation for details.

If stricter firewall rules are required, it is possible to open the ports 30000-65535 and 1947 only for the "Sentinel HASP License Manager" (hasplms.exe) service (installed by CHARON-AXP ).

If any magneto-optical (MO) drive installed on the host system is going to be used with CHARON (mapped as "\\.\PhysicalDrive<N>" to CHARON emulated disk controllers) the host "MediaChangeNotification" (MSN) service must be switched off manually for these drives according to the following procedure:

1. Type "regedit" in the search field under "Start" menu or press Windows+R and enter "regedit"; press Enter to run the program.

2. Find the "AlwaysDisableMCN" parameter in the following path:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE  + SYSTEM     + CurrentControlSet        + Enum           + SCSI              + Disk&Ven_DEC&Prod_RWZ53_____(C)DEC  <- This one depends on Vendor and Model of your MO drive                 + 5&fd233cf&0&000500 <- This one depends on hardware connection (SCSI ID of MO drive, location of SCSI HBA on the host's mainboard, etc ...)                    + Device Parameters                       + MediaChangeNotification                          + AlwaysDisableMCN = DWORD:00000000

    
   

3. Change the "AlwaysDisableMCN" parameter to "1", for example: "AlwaysDisableMCN = DWORD:00000001".
4. Reboot the host system.

Before installation

1. Login as the local system administrator ("Administrator") on the host system.

2. [optional] Create a special user for running CHARON-AXP. This user must have all the administrative privileges. Please consult with Windows online documentation for details.
   Please note:
   The CHARON installation procedure will create a special group called CHARON-GRP and the current user will be automatically included to this group. Do not remove this group and do not remove any CHARON user from it, otherwise a problem with virtual memory allocation may appear on CHARON startup.
   The created user may belong to some domain, but please note that in this case you have to add this user to the CHARON-GRP manually as described in this article, and then reboot the CHARON host.

3. Stay logged in as local system administrator ("Administrator") or log off and log in as the CHARON-AXP user having administrative privileges (if this option has been chosen).

4. Create a special directory for the CHARON-AXP distribution kit and copy the provided files there.

Upgrade cases

• Extract the content of the distribution archive to the current directory or copy the content of the provided distribution directory to the current directory.
  The kit folder must not be the same as the target installation folder (Example: C:\Program Files\CHARON\Build_20410) otherwise the installation procedure may report "Charon is in use".

• Run the "InstallShell.exe" file:
  

Installation

The following description assumes that this is the first installation of CHARON-AXP on the target host. Installation of additional CHARON products follows the same procedure.

The first dialog lists the CHARON-AXP product:

Select the CHARON-AXP product, or all products, by checking the corresponding box. Select the "Display components page" to include the products components page if you need to choose individual components. Stromasys recommends installing all components.

Please note: the CHARON products may be highlighted in red color. This indicates that the CHARON host configuration does not meet CHARON minimal requirements. To see what requirements are not met, point the mouse cursor on that product and a pop-up box with details will appear.

Press the "Next" button.

Read the license, check "Agree" and press the "Next" button.

If the "Display components page" option was selected, the setup procedure will display a dialog for the CHARON-AXP product components:

 It is strongly recommended to leave the selection as it is unless you clearly understand what the impact is if you uncheck some modules.

Select a directory to be used for the CHARON installation or use the default. The path can either be entered manually or selected using the "Browse" button.

Once done, press the "Next" button to start the installation of the selected components.

During the CHARON installation procedure, you will have to confirm the installation of the CHARON-specific network driver. Press the "Install" button:

Once the installation is done, the following dialog will be displayed:

 It is strongly recommended to reboot the CHARON host system immediately: leave the "Reboot computer now" box checked and press the "Finish" button.

Once the host system is up again, you will notice a new shortcut, "CHARON Virtual Machine Manager", created on the desktop during the installation procedure:

The CHARON Virtual Machine Manager is essential for managing Charon emulator instances. The Charon installation always keeps most up-to-date version of Charon Virtual Machine Manager.

Please note: in case of an upgrade from V4.8, V4.9, V4.10 or V4.11, you must update all existing CHARON virtual machines to allow them to use the latest version - otherwise they will remain at the previous version. See the following chapters for details.

The CHARON installation procedure creates the following simple structure under the "Start" menu:

CHARON-AXP home directory

By default CHARON-AXP is installed in the "C:\Program Files\CHARON" directory.  It has the following sub-directories:

Folders indicated with a * : will be created and populated if you have installed previously some additional tools known as Charon Toolkit Components.

The "Virtual Machine Templates" directory contains template configuration files to build CHARON virtual machines using the CHARON Virtual Machine Manager. We will focus our attention on this subject in the next chapter.

License installation

Regular HASP USB dongle

The license is provided on a dedicated USB device ("dongle"). Simply plug the dongle into one of the USB sockets on the emulator host.

Please note:

• If the CHARON host is accessed remotely, please note that the contents of a regular HASP license cannot be displayed using RDP. ILO or iDRAC, some other console-capable program must be used. Network HASP (red dongles) licenses have no restrictions with respect to remote access.
• Microsoft Hyper-V is not capable of passing USB devices through to virtual machines, which includes HASP license dongles.

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 licenses 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 file "hasp_install\haspdinst.zip" from the CHARON distribution to any directory on the server, for example "C:\Temp".
• Extract the contents of this archive to the same directory.
• Login as "Administrator" on the server and open "cmd.exe" from the "Start" menu.
• Switch to that directory.

• Install the extracted file:
  Example:

  ...> cd c:\temp c:\temp> haspdinst.exe -fr -kp -nomsg c:\temp> haspdinst.exe -install -cm

• Copy the file "hasp_install\hasplib.zip" from the CHARON distribution to any directory on the server, for example "C:\Temp".
• Extract the contents of this archive to the same directory.
• Copy the file "haspvlib_68704.dll" to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Aladdin Shared\HASP" (in case of x64 host) or "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Aladdin Shared\HASP" (in case of x86 host)
• Connect the network HASP dongle to the server USB port.

Software license

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

1. Double click the "CHARON Virtual Machine Manager" icon on the desktop or select this utility in the tray menu; select the "Host Information and Utilities" section and press the "License Update Tool" button:
   
   
   
   The following default dialog window will appear:
   
   

   
   

   If you're installing a "Provisional" (demo) license, jump to step 5.
   
   

2. Ensure no license dongle is connected, select the "Installation of new protection key" radio-box and press the "Collect Information" button. The following window will appear:
   
    
   
   Specify the directory and name of the system "fingerprint" file to be created the press the "Save" button.
    
3. The "License Update Service" will save the fingerprint file under the given name and will report the status:
   
   
   
   
4. Send the resulting file to Stromasys. In return Stromasys will provide you with a ".v2c" file, for example "Your License.v2c".
    

5. Copy the received v2c file to the CHARON host in a folder of your choice and select the "Apply License File" tab:
   
   
   
   

   
   
6. Press the "..." button and browse for the received v2c file.
   Example:
   
    
   
   Press the "Open" button to apply the license. 
    
7. From the "CHARON Virtual Machine Manager" utility (see above) select the "Host Information and Utilities" section and press the "Sentinel Admin Control Center" button or (optionally) 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.

Ensure that the software license is now visible in the "Sentinel Keys" section of the ACC.

Please note: software licenses are always network licenses. Hence, they have no restrictions with respect to being displayed or accessed via a remote connection.

License validity verification

Check the CHARON license validity by invoking the "Charon License Details" utility to make sure that the CHARON license is visible and is correct. Double click the "CHARON Virtual Machine Manager" icon on the desktop or select this utility in the tray menu; select the "Host Information and Utilities" section and press the "HASP License Details" button:

Verify the the license content is correct and no error message is shown

• Verify the content of the license looks correct. Check for example the license number, the major and minor versions, the minimum and maximum build numbers, the CHARON-AXP products and allowed hardware (CHARON-AXP models). More details on the license content can be found in the CHARON-AXP Licensing chapter of this Guide.

Troubleshooting

If the CHARON license content cannot be displayed by the "CHARON License Details" utility or is incorrect, check that the license is available and correctly used:

1. From the "CHARON Virtual Machine Manager" utility (see above) select the "Host Information and Utilities" section and press the "Sentinel Admin Control Center" button or (optionally) invoke the system default web browser and enter the URL http://localhost:1947 to display the "Sentinel Admin Control Center" (ACC) web interface.
2. Click on the "Sentinel Keys" link to open up the "Sentinel Keys Section" page
3. 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.

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 a local network (or by disabling remote access to network licenses from the CHARON host - see detailed explanation below). 

Software licenses can also be uninstalled using the method, described in the "Removing CHARON-AXP Software Licenses" chapter of this Guide

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.

Please note:

• 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 possible to have several licenses available to CHARON-AXP at the same time. In this case you have to specify in the CHARON-AXP configuration file the license key ids to be used.
  Example:
  set session license_key_id="1877752571,354850588"

Network configuration

If the CHARON virtual machine needs access to the network, one or more dedicated network interfaces cleared from any other protocols including TCP/IP will have to be defined.

Configuring the network is done with the "Network Control Center" (NCC) utility. Double click the "CHARON Virtual Machine Manager" icon on the desktop or select this utility in the tray menu; select the "Host Information and Utilities" section and press the "Network Control Center" button:

In the appearing dialog, select "Configure NIC":

 

Press the "Next" button, the following dialog will appear:

Select the interface to be dedicated to CHARON (in our example it is Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller named "Charon") and press the "Dedicate adapter to CHARON" button.

CHARON supports VLAN adapters. If you are going to use them, proceed with their installation and configuration according to the network adapter vendor User's Guide and then select the VLAN interface in the dialog shown above, the same as you would for a regular network interface. There is no difference in configuring a regular network adapter and a VLAN one, so all the provided instructions are fully applicable for VLAN adapters as well.

 

After a few seconds the chosen interface will be assigned to CHARON:

It is possible to release the interface back to the CHARON host by selecting the target interface and pressing the "Release adapter to HOST" button.

 

The next step displays the text to be included in the CHARON configuration file for the interface dedicated to CHARON. Select the target interface and press the "Next" button. The following dialog will appear:

Selecting the target emulated network interface displays the configuration lines specific for the selected CHARON host network interface. Press the "Copy suggestions to clipboard" button to copy the suggested configuration lines. They can be pasted into the CHARON-AXP configuration file during the next editing session by pressing "Ctrl-V".

Press the "Cancel" button to exit from the "Network Control Center" utility.

 

After the installation

If you plan to use the local system administrator acount ("Administrator") or the CHARON-AXP user having administrative privileges, no other actions are required.

If the CHARON-AXP user belongs to an AD domain, you must add this user to the CHARON-GRP group as described in this article and then reboot the CHARON host.

Otherwise it is possible to use a standard account (both local and domain) for running CHARON-AXP:

1. Login as the local system administrator ("Administrator") on the host system.

2. Create a special user for running CHARON-AXP. This user must have administrative or standard privileges (in this case login as Administrator for managing NDIS drivers and running NCC utility). Please consult the Windows online documentation for details.

3. Add this user to the CHARON-GRP group as it is described in this article and then reboot CHARON host.

4. Log in as the new user.