Setting up an OCI Instance for Charon-SSP
This chapter describes how to set up a basic cloud instance for Charon-SSP.
Contents
Prerequisites
General Prerequisites
To install and configure Charon-SSP in the OCI cloud, you need an Oracle Cloud account.
Licensing
Charon-SSP requires a license to run emulated SPARC systems. For a typical cloud-based installation, there are two different Charon-SSP product variants with two different licensing models (availability may differ depending on cloud environment):
The cloud-specific, prepackaged Charon-SSP AL (Automatic Licensing) image utilizing a public, Stromasys-operated cloud-specific license server.
Charon-SSP VE (Virtual Environment) utilizing a customer-operated, private VE license server in a supported cloud environment. Charon-SSP VE is available as a prepackaged image on some cloud platforms, and in RPM package format for a conventional installation.
Both licensing options are briefly described below. Please contact your Stromasys representative for any questions about product availability and licensing options.
Please note: the user is responsible for any Solaris licensing obligations and has to provide the appropriate licenses.
Charon-SSP Automatic Licensing Overview
The Charon-SSP AL image for OCI requires a license to run emulated SPARC systems. This license is created automatically upon first launch of the Charon-SSP instance. Please note the following points:
The Charon-SSP instance requires Internet access (via public IP address or NAT) for the license mechanism to work. If NAT is used, the gateway must be an OCI instance (the source address must be from the OCI range). At the time of writing, the license servers that must be reachable are cloud-oci1.stromasys.com and cloud-oci2.stromasys.com on port 8080. Also a DNS service must be reachable to resolve the host names of the license servers, or corresponding entries in /etc/hosts must exist.
If the number of host CPU cores is changed in any way, it will invalidate the license.
Some licensing problems or other requirements (e.g., additional CPU cores needed) may make it necessary to move the emulator to a new instance. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to store all relevant emulator data on a separate block volume that can easily be detached from the old instance and attached to a new instance.
Should access to the license be lost, there is a grace period of 24 hours. If license access is not restored within this period, the emulator will stop (if a guest system is running at the time, this is the equivalent of disconnecting the power without clean shutdown, i.e., it may lead to loss of data).
Please note: You will be billed by Oracle for your use of the Charon-SSP instance. Stromasys will not bill you directly.
VE Licensing Overview
This licensing option is applicable to prepackaged Charon-SSP VE images on cloud marketplaces and to VE-capable Charon-SSP emulator software installed from RPM packages. For the OCI cloud environment, only the RPM installation of Charon-SSP VE is available.
Charon-SSP VE license characteristics
The main characteristics of VE licenses are the following:
Software licenses only.
Installed on Charon-SSP host or separate license server.
Require the Charon-SSP VE license server software (RPM package included in the prepackaged, cloud-specific marketplace Charon-SSP VE image).
Require matching Charon-SSP emulator software (preinstalled on the prepackaged, cloud-specific marketplace Charon-SSP VE image).
If supported by the cloud provider, the VE license server instance can be moved to a different subnet, as long as the original instance can be moved. It is also possible to backup and restore (to the same instance) the license server data. However, the following actions will invalidate the license:
Changing the number of CPU cores of the license server system.
Copying the license server data to a different instance.
Seriously damaging the root filesystem of the license server system.
Re-installing the license server system.
Charon-SSP VE License Server Communication Requirements
For proper functionality, the system on which the license server runs must be able to communicate with the cloud infrastructure:
The metadata server of the cloud environment (169.254.169.254)
It must also be able to communicate with the client systems using the license. The following ports are used for this communication:
TCP/8083: must be permitted from the client to the license server to enable the use of the license by the client.
TCP/8084: must be permitted by the license server for any system that should access the web interface to display license information.
Basic License Installation Steps Before an Emulator Can be Started
If there is no VE license server running already, decide on which cloud instance it should run and install the VE License Server package on the selected system. The VE License Server RPM package is included in the prepackaged Charon-SSP VE marketplace images. Alternatively, Stromasys will provide a download location. See Installing the VE License Server Software.
If you don't already have a license, contact your Stromasys representative to procure an appropriate license.
Log in on your Charon-SSP VE License Server instance.
Create a C2V file and send it to the email address Stromasys will provide to you.
Install the V2C file you will receive from Stromasys.
Configure the emulator instance(s) to use the license server.
Please refer to the VE License Server User's Guide for more information.
OCI Shape Prerequisites (Hardware Prerequisites)
By selecting a shape in OCI, you select the virtual hardware that will be used for Charon-SSP. Therefore, the selection of an instance type determines the hardware characteristics of the Charon-SSP virtual host hardware (e.g., how many CPU cores and how much memory your virtual Charon host system will have).
The minimum hardware requirements are described below. To learn about the default settings and how to use the Charon-SSP configuration options to determine the resource allocation, refer to the different configuration sections of the general Charon-SSP User's Guide of your Charon-SSP version (see CHARON-SSP for Linux), in particular, the CPU Configuration section.
Please note: the OCI non-baremetal shapes available at the time of writing offer CPU frequencies up to 2.2GHz. This limits the ability of the emulator to deliver the highest performance. Please contact Stromasys to discuss your requirements if you have any concerns.
OCI New Instance Launch
Please note: This section only shows a very basic example. Please refer to the Oracle Cloud documentation for more detailed information.
To start the creation of a new cloud instance for Charon-SSP, perform the following steps:
Step 1: log in to your Oracle Cloud environment.
Step 2: go to the instance list in the compute section and click on Create Instance.
This opens the Create Compute Instance window.
Step 3: on the first part of Create Compute Instance window, name your instance and select the correct image for it. If installing a prepackaged marketplace Charon-SSP image, this image must be used. If you plan to install Charon-SSP using RPM packages, use a Linux version supported for Charon-SSP.
To select the correct image, select Change Image. This will allow you to browse the different available categories for the Charon-SSP image.
The image below shows an example of the image selection screen:
Optionally, change the compartment. Select the correct image and confirm your selection by clicking on Select Image at the bottom of the page. This will take you back to the Create Compute Instance window.
Step 4: in the middle part of the Create Compute Instance window, select the appropriate shape (i.e., the virtual Charon host hardware), the subnet membership of the instance and whether to assign a public IP address. If required, you can also create a new virtual cloud network or a new subnet here.
To select an appropriate shape conforming to the hardware requirements of the emulated SPARC system, click on Change Shape.
This will open a window where you can select the correct system type. Currently, it will only allow you to select one of the fixed OCPU Intel shapes.