Intended Audience

This Getting Started guide is intended for anyone who needs to install, configure, or manage the Stromasys Charon-SSP processor/platform emulation software in the Google cloud (GCP). Its main focus is on installations that use the prepackaged Charon-SSP images available on the GCP marketplace. However, it may also be helpful when creating a Linux server in the cloud for a conventional RPM installation of Charon-SSP products. A general working knowledge of PC operating systems and their conventions is expected.

This guide describes the cloud-specific aspects of Charon-SSP for GCP. It is supplemented by the general Charon-SSP User's Guide for your Charon-SSP product version (see CHARON-SSP for Linux) and the VE License Server User's Guide in Licensing Documentation.

For additional information about this product, please contact Stromasys at the regional offices listed below in Obtaining Technical Assistance or General Product Information, send an email to Team.Support.GCP@Stromasys.com, or contact your Stromasys VAR.

Product Overview

Stromasys provides Charon-SSP for on-premises installations and cloud environments. For both environments, there are several different options. The availability of cloud-specific options may differ depending on the cloud environment. Please contact your Stromasys representative for availability details. The typical cloud-specific options are:

Prepackaged images provided on the cloud-specific marketplace:
1. Cloud-specific Charon-SSP AL (Automatic Licensing) image using a public, Stromasys-operated, cloud-specific license server for metered licensing (license created automatically at first instance launch). Starting with Charon-SSP version 5.3.8, Charon-SSP AL also supports AutoVE where the instance can be configured at first launch to automatically connect to a customer-operated license server running in AutoVE mode. The minimum VE license server version for AutoVE mode is 1.1.21.
2. Specific to AWS: the original Charon-SSP AL marketplace image was replaced by an AWS service providing the same features as the original AL image. However, the underlying Linux host system is Amazon Linux 2023, and licensing is based on public AutoVE servers, i.e., different public servers (operated by Stromasys) are used than in the original AL image. Please contact your Stromasys representative should you require a private, customer-operated AutoVE license server.
3. Cloud-specific Charon-SSP VE (Virtual Environment) image using a customer-operated, private VE license server in the cloud (license must be obtained from Stromasys).
Installation of Charon-SSP for Virtual Environments (VE) on a Linux server in the cloud using RPM packages provided by Stromasys, and utilizing a customer-operated, private VE license server in the cloud (license must be obtained from Stromasys).

Overview of the relevant documentation for Charon-SSP for cloud environments:

This Getting Started Guide covers basic cloud-specific aspects when installing a Charon-SSP product in the cloud. The main focus is on the prepackaged images provided on the cloud-specific marketplaces. However, it can also serve as an introduction to general cloud-specific aspects when installing the individual Charon-SSP RPM packages on a server in the cloud.
The general Charon-SSP User's Guides (see CHARON-SSP for Linux) cover features, configuration, and management of the Charon-SSP products.
The VE License Server User's Guide in the Licensing Documentation section of the Stromasys Product Documentation site covers features, installation, and management of the VE (Virtual Environment) license server and the VE licenses.
The Release Notes of your product provide important information regarding known problems and possible workarounds.

Charon-SSP overall product overview:

The following table provides an overview of Charon-SSP packaging in cloud and non-cloud environments, the associated licensing, and the applicable product documentation:

Basic Packaging	Packaging Variants		Installation Location ⁵⁾	Licensing	Documentation
Prepackaged Versions including underlying host OS and Charon-SSP software	Cloud marketplace image	Automatic Licensing (AL) AWS SSP Amazon Linux (AL)	Cloud only	Public, Stromasys-operated license server ¹⁾or Customer-operated VE license server in AutoVE mode	Cloud-specific Getting Started Guide General Charon-SSP User's Guide VE License Server Guide (for AutoVE)
	Cloud marketplace image	Virtual Environment (VE)	Cloud only	Private, customer-operated VE license server ²⁾	Cloud-specific Getting Started Guide General Charon-SSP User's Guide VE License Server Guide
	Baremetal ISO		On-premises (physical HW or VM)	HASP license (local or via license server)	General Charon-SSP User's Guide

Individual RPMs	VE-enabled emulator		Cloud or on-premises (physical HW or VMware VM) ³⁾	Private, customer-operated VE license server	General Charon-SSP User's Guide VE License Server Guide
	Non VE-enabled emulator		On-premises (physical HW or VM)	HASP license (local or via license server)	General Charon-SSP User's Guide
	Marketplace RPM packages ⁴⁾		Cloud only	Public, Stromasys-operated license server ¹⁾ or Customer-operated VE license server in AutoVE mode	Cloud-specific Getting Started Guide General Charon-SSP User's Guide VE License Server Guide (for AutoVE)
¹⁾Use of public license server requires Internet access of Charon host. ²⁾ Typically the VE license server is installed in the same cloud environment - either on the Charon host itself or a separate license server system. ³⁾ For the VMware case, there are some restrictions: The Charon emulator must be on the same VM as the VE license server, or on a VM running on the same ESXi host as the VE license server (ESXi binding), or on a VM running on an ESXi host managed by the same vCenter Server as the ESXi host on which the VE license server VM runs (vCenter binding). ⁴⁾ Only for updating the Charon-SSP emulator software on hosts based on Charon-SSP cloud-specific marketplace images for Automatic Licensing (AL). ⁵⁾ Non VE-enabled packages can also be installed in cloud environments. However, this is not recommended as HASP licenses are not suitable for clouds.

Please contact your Stromasys representative for availability details of cloud-specific Charon-SSP options in the GCP cloud environment.

Document Structure

Introduction to Charon-SSP: overview of emulator concepts.
Charon-SSP Cloud - Virtual HW and Guest OS Support: list of supported virtual hardware and supported guest operating systems.
Setting up a GCP Cloud Instance for Charon-SSP: basic steps to create and launch a cloud instance to be used as a Charon-SSP host system.
Installing the Charon-SSP Manager: steps to install the main management tool for the cloud-based Charon-SSP host instance.
Installing the VE License Server Software: steps to install the VE license server package if VE licenses are to be used.
Accessing the Charon-SSP Cloud Instance: explains how to use SSH, SFTP, and the Charon-SSP Manager to access the cloud-based Charon host instance for management and file transfer, and how to set the initial management password.
Additional Charon-SSP GCP Instance Configuration: adding additional storage and network interfaces; cloud-specific networking aspects.

Please note:

Cloud providers may change their management GUI without prior warning. Hence, the screenshots in this document may not always reflect the latest GUI appearance of the cloud provider. However, they will still provide an illustration of the described configuration steps.
In general, the sample outputs in this document may show different versions than the one documented in this manual, but they are still representative of what a user will see.

Obtaining Documentation

The latest released version of this manual and other related documentation are available on the Stromasys support website at Product Documentation and Knowledge Base.

Obtaining Technical Assistance or General Product Information

Obtaining Technical Assistance

Several support channels are available to cover the Charon virtualization products.

If you have a support contract with Stromasys, please visit http://www.stromasys.com/support/ for up-to-date support telephone numbers and business hours. Alternatively, the support center is available via email at support@stromasys.com.

If you purchased a Charon product through a Value-Added Reseller (VAR), please contact them directly.

Obtaining General Product Information

If you require information in addition to what is available on the Stromasys Product Documentation and Knowledge Base and on the Stromasys web site you can contact the Stromasys team using https://www.stromasys.com/contact/, or by sending an email to info@stromasys.com.

For further information on purchases and the product best suited to your requirements, you can also contact your regional sales team by phone:

Region	Phone	Address
Americas	+1 919 239 8450	Stromasys LLC 871 Marlborough Ave, suite 100, Riverside CA 92507 USA
Europe, Middle-East and Africa	+41 22 794 1070	Avenue Louis-Casai 84 1216 Cointrin Switzerland

Conventions

Notation	Description
$	The dollar sign in interactive examples indicates an operating system prompt for VMS. The dollar sign can also indicate non superuser prompt for UNIX / Linux.
#	The number sign represents the superuser prompt for UNIX / Linux.
>	The right angle bracket in interactive examples indicates an operating system prompt for Windows command (cmd.exe).
`User input`	Bold monospace type in interactive examples indicates typed user input.
`<path>`	Bold monospace type enclosed by angle brackets indicates command parameters and parameter values.
`Output`	Monospace type in interactive examples, indicates command response output.
[ ]	In syntax definitions, brackets indicate items that are optional.
...	In syntax definitions, a horizontal ellipsis indicates that the preceding item can be repeated one or more times.
`dsk0`	Italic monospace type, in interactive examples, indicates typed context dependent user input.

Definitions

Term	Description
Host	The system on which the emulator runs, also called the Charon server
Guest	The operating system running on a Charon instance, for example, Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, Solaris, MPE or HP-UX

Charon-SSP Version 5 and higher for Google Cloud - Getting Started

About this Guide

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