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Charon-PAR/PA3 Guest - Basic Configuration and Installation

Charon-PAR/PA3 Guest - Basic Configuration and Installation

Apr 25, 2022

Contents

Please note: All Linux sample commands in this section are performed as the root user (prompt = #). This may not be necessary for all commands in all environments depending on the local permission settings. The commands can be executed on the Charon host graphical console or via a non-graphical login (e.g., SSH). However, for accessing the running emulator, the use of PuTTY is strongly recommended because it works best with the MPE/iX environment.

The Charon-PAR/PA3 functionality of Charon-PAR emulates historic PA-RISC systems for MPE/iX. This section shows a sample installation of an MPE/iX guest system

Downloading and Unpacking the Provided MPE/IX Disk Container

If not already done, please download the image with the preconfigured MPE/IX 7.5 disk container from Stromasys. Contact your Stromasys representative or your VAR for download instructions. The preconfigured LDev1 image allows the emulated system to boot without having to separately install or update MPE/iX.

Once the image has been downloaded, copy it to the Disk directory and unpack it:

 

Step

Command

 

Step

Command

1

Copy/uncompress the image to the Disk directory.

# bzcat mpe75a.dsk.bz2 > /data/Stromasys/host1/Data/Disk/ldev1.dsk

After this step, if the image is not needed for other systems, you can delete the compressed image to save disk space.

Adapting the Configuration File Template

The configuration file template must be adapted to the customer environment and the required guest system characteristics. This section describes the minimum number of changes required to configure a Charon-PAR/PA3 emulator instance. Please refer to Configuration File Reference for a detailed description of the configuration file options.

Perform the following steps to create a basic configuration file for a Charon-PAR/PA3 emulator instance:

 

Step

Description (configuration file settings are examples!)

 

Step

Description (configuration file settings are examples!)

1

Create a copy of the configuration file template.

Example: 

# cd /data/Stromasys/host1/

# cp  /opt/charon/cfg/pa3.cfg host1.cfg

2

Open the configuration file in a text editor.

# vi host1.cfg

or

# gedit host1.cfg

3

Configure the system model.

model "A400-100-110"
Configured model must be covered by your license.

4

Configure the RAM for the emulated system.

memory 2G

5

Configure LDEV 1 (preconfigured system disk).

Change definition of DKA0 to:

DKA0.image="/data/Stromasys/host1/Data/Disk/ldev1.dsk"

6

Configure a tape devices.

Change definition of MKAx to:

MKA600.image="/data/Stromasys/host1/Data/Tape/ldev7.img"

MKA500.image="/data/Stromasys/host1/Data/Tape/ldev8.img"

7

Configure a network card based on a physical host NIC. This NIC is dedicated to the guest operating system and cannot be used for network communication by the host system. To share an interface, a virtual bridge would have to be used (see Ethernet configuration sections in this document).

In the configuration file template, comment out the dummy interface and the tap interface configuration. Then uncomment the interface configuration of the physical interface example. Change the definition of EWA0 to the interface that is assigned to the emulated system (example: eth1) and disable the offload parameters for the interface:

EWA0.mapping_mode="RAW"

EWA0.iface="eth1"

EWA0.initialize_command="ethtool -K $IFACE rx off ; ethtool -K $IFACE tx off ; ethtool -K $IFACE sg off ; ethtool -K $IFACE gso off ; ethtool -K $IFACE gro off ; ethtool -K $IFACE txvlan off ; ethtool -K $IFACE rxvlan off"

Depending on the capabilities of the Ethernet device, not all off-load parameters maybe be available. This will create a warning message. The variable IFACE is set by the system before executing the initialize command.

8

Save the configuration file.

 

Starting the Charon-PAR/PA3 Emulator Instance

Please note: The examples in this section assume that a graphical interface is used, on which a PuTTY session can be run. Should this not be possible, you can access the console of the emulated system by using, for example, a telnet client and pointing it to the TCP port on the Charon host defined for the serial console port in the configuration file. The default port is 30000 (sample command: $ telnet <charon-host> 30000).

To start the Charon-PAR/PA3 emulator instance, perform the following steps:

 

Step

Command

 

Step

Command

1

Go to the directory where the configuration file is located.

# cd /data/Stromasys/host1/

2

Start the emulator instance.

# /opt/charon/bin/charon-par -f host1.cfg

If everything works, you will see log output in the current terminal window ending an a pa3> prompt. This is the Charon-PAR emulator console.

Should you receive an error indicating that PuTTY cannot load the preconfigured font, open PuTTY as the root user, load the PAR-Telnet profile, select a font that is available on your host system and save the profile.

At the same time, a green PuTTY console window will open. In this green console window perform the following steps:

  • Press the Enter key.

  • This should produce the prompt Main Menu: Enter command or menu >.

  • Enter the command boot and confirm by pressing the Enter key.

  • This should produce the prompt Interact with IPL (Y or N)?>

  • Press Y.

  • The system should stop at the ISL> prompt.

  • Type start norecovery and press the Enter key.

  • The system will boot. It may prompt you for the correct date/time. 

  • After a successful boot you will see the : prompt.


© Stromasys, 1999-2025  - All the information is provided on the best effort basis, and might be changed anytime without notice. Information provided does not mean Stromasys commitment to any features described. 
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