Upgrading the Charon-PAR Software
- W.Erber
This section describes how to upgrade the Charon-PAR software to a new version. It covers the following points:
Please note:
- Upgrading to this Charon-PAR from an older version requires a license update. Please contact your VAR or Stromasys representative.
- Charon-PAR version 3.0.0 and higher is incompatible with HASP licenses of earlier versions. Earlier product versions are incompatible with licenses for Charon-PAR 3.0.0 and higher. Charon-PAR licenses of version 2.1.0 are not compatible with emulators running Charon-PAR version 2.0.0.
- VE licensing is supported starting with Charon-PAR version 3.0.6.
Upgrading Charon-PAR Using RPM packages
Charon-PAR Software Packages Overview
Charon-PAR is provided as a set of rpm-packages.
In version 3.0.10, Charon-PAR is provided as one self-extracting archive containing all the RPM packages:
charon-par-<version>.sh
Starting with version 3.0.11, Charon-PAR is provided as one self-extracting archive per Linux major version: one archive each for Linux 7.x, 8.x, and 9.x.
charon-par-<version>.el7.shcharon-par-<version>.el8.shcharon-par-<version>.el9.sh
To unpack the archive, perform the following steps:
- Go to the directory where the package is stored.
- Run the shell script:
# sh <archive-name> - Accept the EULA. To successfully unpack the archive, the end-user license agreement must be accepted.
- After this, the software packages will be extracted into a version-specific sub-directory of the current working directory of the user.
Please note that gzip, md5sum, cksum, gpg, tar, and openssl are required to successfully unpack the RPMs.
For older versions, the individual RPM packages are provided.
The following table lists the required installation packages (the placeholder <version> denotes the version of the package, the placeholder <linux-version> denotes the version 7, 8, or 9 of the supported Linux distributions):
Package | Description |
|---|---|
| aksusbd-<version>.i386.rpm | Sentinel runtime environment. Required for licensing the Charon-PAR software via HASP licenses (not required for VE licenses). |
| charon-mtd-<version>.<linux-version>.x86_64.rpm | Charon-PAR tape utility |
| charon-par-<version>.<linux-version>.x86_64.rpm | Charon-PAR emulator executable, template configuration files, etc. |
| xhpterm-free-<version>.<linux-version>.x86_64.rpm | Charon-PAR emulator executable, template configuration files, etc. |
| charon-license-<version>.x86_64.rpm | Included starting with version 3.0.10. Mandatory package. End-user license agreement text will be installed in /opt/charon/doc. |
| charon-license-hasp-<version>.<linux-version>.x86_64.rpm | Included starting with version 3.0.10. HASP license management utilities and libraries. Previous versions included these utilities and libraries in the Charon-PAR kit, which could cause installation conflicts with other Charon products. |
charon-license-certs-<version>.x86_64.rpm | Sample certificates for the new custom certificate feature of the VE license server. Support planned for Charon-PAR 3.0.11 and later. |
Obtaining the Charon-PAR software: Stromasys will provide the download information or the software packages to you.
Upgrade Commands Overview
The following table provides an overview of the upgrade commands for the supported host operating systems. For details, please refer to the relevant man-pages on Linux. The table only lists command-line options for Linux. There are also graphical tools. To describe all of them is outside the scope of this document.
Upgrade Options | Description |
|---|---|
| Package manager (uses repositories, takes care of dependencies, etc.) |
On Linux 8.x and Linux 9.x replace yum with dnf. |
| Command to upgrade individual local packages | # rpm -U </path/to/package> |
Upgrading the Charon-PAR Software
To install the Charon-PAR packages perform the following steps:
Step | Command | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Log in as the privileged user on the system ("root"). | |
| 2 | Go to the directory in which the rpm packages were stored. | # |
| 3 | Update the Charon-PAR packages. |
#
|
Cloud Image Upgrade
The Charon emulator software running on a Charon host installed from a cloud-specific marketplace image can be updated using RPM packages as shown above.
Alternatively, after careful evaluation, such a host can be upgraded by launching a new Charon host instance from the Charon marketplace image.
This may be useful if
all Charon instance files (e.g., vdisks and ISO images) are on a separate disk storage volume that can easily be moved to a new instance,
the overall configuration of the Charon host system is not very complex, i.e., can be recreated without much time and effort,
a major host operating system upgrade is required.
Steps (only meant for illustration - the details could vary depending on the customer environment):
Create an instance with the new Charon version in the same subnet as the old instance (same security group and key pair as old instance).
Shut down guest systems and stop running emulator instances on the old host system.
Back up disk containers used for emulated disks and the configuration data on the old instance to the separate disk volume.
If applicable, back up important system configuration files to the separate disk volume.
Stop the old instance.
Move the disk volume(s) and (if applicable) static IP addresses to the new instance.
Import the emulated system configurations on the new system.
Adapt the host system configuration as needed.
Start the guest systems.
If everything works, terminate the old instance.
Please refer to your cloud provider's documentation for cloud-specific details.
© Stromasys, 1999-2024 - 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.