Name

ss20 – CHARON-SSP/4M 32-bit SPARC V8, sun4m Architecture Virtual Machine

e450 – CHARON-SSP/4U 64-bit SPARC V9, sun4u Architecture Virtual Machine

Synopsis

ss20 | e450 [ [ -a alias_name ] [ -d ] -f config_file [ -s ] ] [ -h ] [ -k pid ] [ -l ]

Description

The sma utility is the lowest level access to the CHARON-SSP virtual machine software. It can be started in four different modes:

Utility,
Foreground,
Background, and
Interactive.

In utility mode it is possible to specify the -l and -k options to list and terminate running instances. In both foreground and background mode, the sma software can be used to start a running SPARC virtual machine. The difference between the two being that background mode will run the virtual machine as a daemon, releasing the controlling terminal. Lastly, interactive mode will run a virtual machine as well as start an interactive command line described in the section Interactive Mode

The following table describes all the options that can be passed to the sma command line utility.

sma Command Line Utility Options

Option	Description
`-a alias_name`	Assign `alias_name` to the new virtual machine instances. This option can be very useful when attempting to locate a specific instance in the list reported by the `-l` option. If this option is not specified, a name of the form `instance-%02d` will be assigned by the `sma` utility.
`-d`	Run the virtual machine as a daemon. This option cannot be specified with `-s`.
`-f` `config_file`	When starting a new instance, use this option to specify the location of the virtual machine configuration file. For further details of the format of this file see the /wiki/spaces/DocCHAXPSMAv2240L/pages/32473949 section. This is not an optional argument.
`-s`	Start the `sma` virtual machine in interactive mode. See the section Interactive Mode below. This option cannot be specified with `-d`.
`-h`	Display a brief usage message.
`-k` `pid`	Stop the virtual machine instance specified by `pid`. Use the `-l` to determine the process id of the relevant instance. This option cannot be specified with an others.
`-l`	This option lists the currently running CHARON-SSP instances. The list is constructed of the following columns: pid – process id of the virtual machine, alias – instance alias specified by the `-a` option at startup, start time – timestamp indicating when the virtual machine instance was started, log time – timestamp indicating last event, and log code – descriptive code indicating the type of event. This option cannot be specified with any others.

Interactive Mode

Running the sma virtual machine with the -s option will, as well as starting a virtual machine, start an interactive command line on the controlling terminal. This command line is indicated by the CHARON/SS20> or CHARON/E450> prompt and allows the user to query and manipulate the operation of the running virtual machine. The terminal output shown below shows the tail end of the virtual machine start up messages before displaying the prompt.

Interactive Mode Session

2015-02-25 15:59:31 INFO    vm       DIT is ON
2015-02-25 15:59:31 INFO    Thread   System has 2 processor(s).
2015-02-25 15:59:31 INFO    NVRAM    Initialize NVRAM with ./vm.nvram......
2015-02-25 15:59:31 INFO    Memory   Allocating 67108864 bytes memory from system...
2015-02-25 15:59:32 INFO    NET      Find 2 interfaces.
2015-02-25 15:59:32 INFO    NET      Connected to eth0.
2015-02-25 15:59:32 INFO    NET      Set 'eth0' to promiscuous mode successfully
2015-02-25 15:59:35 INFO    License  Virtual hardware model SPARCstation_20 is licensed
2015-02-25 15:59:35 INFO    License  Current UTC time:    2015-02-25 07:59:03
2015-02-25 15:59:35 INFO    License  Expiration UTC time: 2015-08-26 23:55:00
2015-02-25 15:59:35 INFO    Thread   Set CPU thread to No.1 processor
2015-02-25 15:59:35 INFO    NET      Network RX started on eth0
CHARON/SS20>

Interactive Mode does not refer to running the SPARC Open Boot console in the current tty.

The following command reference describes the syntax and operation of the commands supported in this version of CHARON-SSP for Linux.

Interactive Mode Command Reference

Command	Description
`help [ command ]`	Display command line help.
	Arguments
	`command`	Specify a command name to return more specific help. This argument is optional.
`d [ address size ]`	Display a region of memory within the virtual machine. If no parameters are specified the command will use the previous values for `address` and `size`.
	Arguments
	`address`	Hexadecimal address of starting memory location to display.
	`size`	Hexadecimal length of the memory region. The default is `0x100`.
`m address value`	Set the 8-bit value at `address` to `value`.
	Arguments
	`address`	Address of memory location to update. This address is specified in hexadecimal notation.
	`value`	8 bit value to be stored at `address`. This value is specified in hexadecimal notation.
`quit`	Exit the virtual machine. This is equivalent of executing `power off` from the Alpha SRM console.

Exit Status

The ss20 and e450 virtual machine exits 0 on success and 255 if an error occurs.

Examples

The following is a very basic example configuration file.

Example SPARCstation 20 Configuration

[system]
model = "SPARCstation_20"

[ram]
size = 64

[nvram]
path = ./vm.nvram

[ethernet]
interface = eth0

[ttya]
type = socket
port = 9000

[log]
severity = info
destination = console
path = vm.log

Assuming the configuration file above is stored in vm.config the following commands can be used to start the virtual machine and connect to the console.

# /opt/charon-spk-ss20/ss20 -f vm.config

This will generate output similar to the following on the current terminal:

CHARON-SSP Virtual Machine Output

***********************************************************

   CHARON-SPK/SS20 V1.0.13
   Copyright (C) 2015 Stromasys S.A. All Rights Reserved.

***********************************************************

2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    vm       Build time: Feb 11 2015 11:49:38
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    vm       Version: CHARON-SPK/SS20 V1.0.13
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    vm       Copyright (C) 2015 Stromasys S.A. All Rights Reserved.
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    System   OS  : Linux localhost.localdomain 3.8.13-35.3.1.el7uek.x86_64 x86_64
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    System   CPU : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4300U CPU @ 1.90GHz (running under 64bit)
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    System   Total memory: 3683MB
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    System   Free memory : 227MB
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    vm       DIT is ON
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    Thread   System has 2 processor(s).
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    NVRAM    Initialize NVRAM with ./vm.nvram......
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    Memory   Allocating 67108864 bytes memory from system...
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    NET      Find 2 interfaces.
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    NET      Connected to eth0.
2015-02-25 14:50:50 INFO    NET      Set 'eth0' to promiscuous mode successfully

The following shows the SPARC Open Boot console after the virtual machine has started:

Open Boot Console Ouptut

           SMCC SPARCstation 20 Emulator by Stromasys

CPU_#0       TI, TMS390Z50(3.x)       0Mb External cache

CPU_#1       ****** NOT installed ******
CPU_#1       ****** NOT installed ******
CPU_#1       ****** NOT installed ******

           >>>>> Power On Self Test (POST) is running .... <<<<<

SPARCstation 20 (1 X 390Z50), No Keyboard
Emulate OBP Rev. 2.25, 64 MB memory installed, Serial #12648430.
Ethernet address 2:c:29:4a:d3:29, Host ID: 72c0ffee.

Type  help  for more

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