Charon Linux Toolkit - Release notes for Kit 1.48

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• Virtual machines (guests) stop script:

  • 3 scripts have been added for ease of clean shutdown of your guests. They can work with either 'expect', 'ssh' or 'rsh' (warning: there are restrictions with the guest operating system version). It is still possible to install your own customized scripts.

  • A new way of editing the script has been implemented and now, newly discovered guests will be added automatically in the script file. This does not mean you won't have to provide the necessary information depending on the method chosen.

  • Information on how to implement these 3 methods is available from the "Create/Edit guest stop script" option in the form of how-to files.

  • Option added to test the stop script.

• When displaying the guests, more information is provided in the "stop script" column. It can now tell if a provided charon_gstop_<xxx> script is used or if a customized script is.

• Syntax highlighting added while editing a configuration file with vim/gvim

• Information on PuTTY settings and recommendations added in the Documentation menu.

• New command lines added:

  • 'vmstart': starts a virtual machine

  • 'vmstop': stops a virtual machine

  • 'vmconsole': connection to the virtual console

  • 'vmcfg': edit the configuration file and performs some checks on exit
    Note: these commands work only for existing virtual machines managed by the toolkit.

• After editing a configuration log file (using the "menu" or "vmcfg"), a test is performed to check the Charon log and OPA0 log files (if defined) can be created. This is to avoid specifying log files in folders that do not exist.

• An option has been added in the preferences to disable semi-graphics/drawing tables (can be useful with some terminal emulators).

• A script can be executed before the virtual machine starts (pre-start). The option is available from the "VM Management" menu option then "Create/Edit guest pre-start script". On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x servers, this requires the service to be reinstalled from the "VM Management" menu option.

• If a stop script is set and comment lines are not removed, the list of guests displayed is showing the wrong method used to stop the virtual machine. Mar 13, 2018 

• Newly added guests are not found until the boot settings (Enable/Disable start at server boot) are set when using the 'vmstart', 'vmstop', 'vmconsole' and 'vmcfg' commands. Mar 13, 2018 

• When editing a configuration file with gvim, the checks were executed before the gvim window was closed. This is now solved.

• When starting/stopping a service, if CTRL-C was pressed, the next operation displayed the service status more than once. This is now solved.

• Fixed a problem that did set all stopped virtual machines status to "unrequested" if the license was not found when starting one virtual machine.

• A freeze could occur when starting a virtual machine or when checks were performed if a "load / interface" line was misconfigured in the configuration file

• USB dongle connection message updated. It is now more simple and understandable. This requires a restart of the aksusb monitor service: menu option "Manage monitored guests logs" then "Start or Restart aksusbd log monitor"

• Copyright updated to 2013-2018

• Fixed a bug that in the connect to console menu: when viewing console logs errors could be listed and number of lines in the log were not displayed

• Network checks: if an IP address was assigned to an interface used for Charon, the check was not correct for RHEL 7.x and CentOS 7.x. This is now solved.

• minor display bug with "Service timeouts" and "Description" on the same line. Now solved.

• In case of kit upgrade, the log monitoring service will have to be restarted for all virtual machines on the server (this does not affect running virtual machines)

• Due to a bug in our Wiki and its PDF exporter some links inside the PDF document are pointing to the online version of the document instead of the document itself

• Support for V4.4 removed. The console autoconnect feature is then disabled (was used to solve a buffer issue in V4.4). It you upgrade from a previous version of the toolkit, please update the root's crontab to remove the 'charon_console_autoconnect' entry. To create a log of the console, please use the 'set OPA0 log=<logfile>' feature available starting with version 4.6

• Show host information:

  • the "top" command output has been added

  • more information on memory added including high memory consumers

  • minor visual updates in HTML output file

• Added checks to notify a log or console log is not unique: it should be when more than one virtual machine is defined

• Menu: the option used to manage services is now renamed to "VM Management"

• Preferences can now be set:

  • default editor for CUI and GUI

  • log display when starting/stopping a guest (virtual machine)

  • Out Of Memory (OOM) Killer settings: preferences can be set for the Charon virtual machine process to be protected against OOM Killer

  • Notes:

    • this menu entry replaces the "Connect to console" one. The "Connect to console" entry is still available from the "VM Management" menu entry.

    • the preferences are asked in the setup process but can be defined later

• When a virtual machine is started or stopped the log is automatically displayed unless this option is disabled in the Preferences (not valid for RHEL 6.x). To end the display, press CTRL-C

• Documentation menu entry: online help has been added for the other command lines (vmlist, logtail, logview)

• Alerts management:

  • Option added to customize the emails sender name, useful when emails are sent using the same sender (with a relay mailer for example). Note: if you did not customize the alert script, please use the menu option "13 - Alerts management" then "6 - Update/reinstall alert script"

  • Option added to send simulation alerts

• Send configuration and log files via email enhanced with color for ease of reading (same as "Show host information" / HTML file)

• When displaying the virtual machines list, if a timeout is defined on service start and/or stop, it is now displayed

• Menu setup: the 'at' package has been added as a requirement

• Menu entries: title changed for Virtual Machines Management

• Show host information:

  • script updated to display more information during the HTML file creation

  • a blank line was added after a comment line when displaying the configuration files. Issue solved

• Log monitoring:

  • In case the aksubd service had to be restarted, an email was sent with the command output (from 'at' job). This is no more the case.

  • when the log is using the rotation mechanism, a license detected message was sent when the rotation occurred whereas it should be sent only when the virtual machine starts or when a dongle has been plugged in. This problem is now solved.

  • when the log is using the rotation mechanism, if a hardware specification is not met, a warning message was sent not only when the virtual machine started but also when the log rotation occurred. This problem is now solved.

  • when a dongle is detected as disconnected but is physically still connected, a message was sent pointing to the wrong menu option. This is now solved. (Reminder: in such a case, an automatic recovery operation is performed to try to reconnect the dongle)

• As the console autoconnect feature is removed, the 'screen' program is no more mandatory

• Clean shutdown: the example script has been simplified and corrected.

• The script that is used to check abnormal termination of services is no more installed in the crontab when running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x and CentOS 7.x as the services are monitored by systemd (script: charon_mongstop)

• Alerts management: solved an issue where the stop alert was sent without the "requested by user" information. Note: this does not take into account the F6 key if enabled as the F6 is not recorded in the log.

• When the virtual machine failed, a wrong status (success) was sent. This is now solved.

• Minor bug correction on Show host information option that did prevent from sending the email when using the "Send HTML file to recipient" option

• Validated with CHARON-AXP and CHARON-VAX V4.8

• Validated on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7 + CentOS 7

• Minor updates on log messages and color display for better visibility

• Some updates in the main menu entries, names set to match the V4.8 utilities, edit configuration files option removed from the main menu as it is located in the menu option 8.

• New option to view and restart the license service status (aksusbd)

• A new command line is added, named "vmlist" to display the list of managed virtual machines and their status (same as menu option 8)

• Show host information option (used for debugging):

  • now reports configuration files description

  • the files located in /opt/charon/log are joined to the zip file when emailed

  • includes the "vmlist" view (see above)

  • extended table of contents

  • now includes the output of 'lsblk' command

  • can be used out of the Linux Toolkit to generate system configuration reports

• Ready for the new "License has changed" messages (0000040B) in the logs (vimrc and continuous tail)

• After editing a log file, a check is performed to verify the full path to the log file, or to the folder if rotating log files are used, is specified

• Copyright updated/year

• Clean shutdown examples updated for RHEL 7.x and CentOS 7: now when a service is stopped it reports INACTIVE/REQUESTED and no more FAILED

• log archive from crontab: gzip issue solved / error with existing files

• Install/Upgrade/Remove CHARON: "Type" column is removed (wrong information was reported)

• License expiration check updated due to changes in the hasp_srm_view output starting with CHARON-AXP/VAX V4.8

• Install/Upgrade/Remove CHARON option now installs packages with gpgcheck disabled to avoid issues with user created repositories

• Email subject changed when events are detected (CHARON was mentioned twice)

• Solved an issue while displayed the virtual machines due to the new version of the 'ncu' utility (stuck when displaying the network interface status)

• Validated with CHARON-AXP and CHARON-VAX build 17103 (patch)

• Comments can be added in the configuration file and will be then displayed when initiating the telnet connection on the console from the menu. Used for example to describe disks layout. Those lines must start with "#INFO:" then the comments

• Kit version updated with major and minor version

• When viewing a log file using 'vim' editor, a configuration file is loaded to highlight log entries making it easier to read

• 'gvim',if installed, is now recognized and proposed as an editor (graphical 'vim')

• When displaying guests (virtual machines), the network cards used are displayed and some checks are performed: existence, already used, managed by 'ncu'. Checks are also performed after editing the configuration file

• Service management option: viewing debug log option has been removed

• Option added when viewing a virtual machine log file from the menu to edit the log without 'regular license check' messages

• Two commands have been added, 'logtail' and 'logview', that allow you to continuous tail a virtual machine log file or to edit it using 'vim' with lines highlighting. If no parameter is passed, it takes the current log file for the virtual machine managed by the toolkit. If there are multiple virtual machines defined, a selection menu is displayed.

  Use 'logtail -h' and 'logview -h' for help.

  Notes:

  • If you're upgrading from a previous version, use the following commands to define the new aliases:

    .

  • These options are also available from the "Service Management" menu option then "View latest guest log file"
    .

• Connection to console now offers an option to kill active 'telnet' sessions on consoles

• The installation menu now handles the 'complete pack' files, including their associated md5sum file, that can be downloaded from the FTP server

• Sending logs via email: it is now possible to select the number of logs to send (default = 3 latest ones)

• When editing a configuration file or when starting a virtual machine, .iso files (*.[iI][sS][oO]) existence is checked as well as the .vdisk files

• License expiration check failed to read some licenses with expiration set to unlimited. If you receive error messages from root related to execution of charon_expchk script and you can't immediately upgrade to version 1.44, you can just comment the related line in the crontab ("menu" → "Manage recursive jobs")

• Console autoconnect feature is now disabled at Toolkit installation as starting with version 4.6 the console logging can be defined in the configuration file

• Minor display issues solved when displaying guests list

• When installing/updating licenses using the Character User Interface, V2C files are now sorted by license number then sequential number

• When starting a virtual machine from the console connection menu, the service startup log was not displayed, now solved.

• When sending a C2V file, it's content is no more displayed in the email body

• Table vertical align issue with HTML generated configuration information file and ncu output added

• Viewing guest log files did generate a 'tail' error. Solved

• When editing a configuration file using a graphical editor, checks where performed before leaving the editor. Solved

• 'telnet' is no more a mandatory package, it is now recommended. Not installing 'telnet' will prevent from connecting from the server to the CHARON virtual machine(s) console.

• 'screen' is no more a mandatory package, it is now recommended. Not installing 'screen' will prevent from the autoconnect feature to run in the background (this feature was mainly designed for CHARON-AXP/VAX V4.4)

• 'wall' alert messages are now disabled by default at installation

• License expiration check when executed in the crontab did send an incomplete alert message if the license was disconnected. Solved.

• When a virtual machine was stopped via the console and the user answered the service was voluntarily stopped, the guests list displayed the service stopped in a 'unrequested' state whereas it should be 'requested'. Solved

• Regular license expiration check (crontab) was sending email with either errors (unlimited licenses only) or blank email to root even if no error was found. Solved

• None, bug fixes only

• While displaying the guests list, if the service is inactive the charon_gstart.chkrun script is no more executed (used to gather information from the guest)

• Installation of a new license option using the character user interface failed with 'hasp_update' error message.

• License expiration alerts were sent from the log file even if the alert was disabled from the menu.

• When manually creating the log file entry in the monitored logs list, the service "ExecStart=" line was reporting "create" instead of the log name full path

• In some cases a log file could be present more than once in the managed log files list

• Alerts on "Sentinel HASP RunTime Error" messages now report the KeyId and mode (regular or backup) for errors 41 (expired) and 50 (key id not found)
  Example:

• The required "bc" package was not requested during installation, now solved

• Kit validated on CHARON-AXP and CHARON-VAX V4.7

• The installation menu option can now manage CHARON kits from V4.4 to V4.7

• Log monitor and usb license disconnection will now auto-restart in case of failure - Red Hat Enterprise 7 and Fedora only

• If auto-restart settings are defined for a virtual machine service, the settings are now displayed in the services view

• Log rotation is now supported - Requires CHARON-AXP or CHARON-VAX V4.7 minimum. Note: if switching to rotating log file, the log monitoring service must be restarted (preferably removed and redefined)

• When stopping and starting virtual machine on Linux distribution using systemd (Red Hat Enterprise 7 and Fedora) the progression is displayed

• When sending configuration and log files via email, those files are now zipped and sent in a unique .zip file. Also log files displayed in the mail body are limited to the last 64 lines (full log is available in the attached zipped file)

• Minor update in main menu layout

• The automatic log archive script can now handle guests log files, rotating and non rotating files

• When starting a guest (virtual machine), the failure counter is now always reset (if auto-restart settings have been defined)

• Send configuration and log files via mail now takes into account rotating log files

• On most of the menu options, if only one guest (virtual machine) is set, you are not prompted to enter it's number for selection

• If the configuration file format is wrong, containing ^M (carriage return) at the end of the line, ^M are automatically removed. Original file is saved as .bak

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x systems: before 'ncu' installation, a check is performed in the repository to verify the 'tunctl' package can be installed

• Naming change: CHARON Linux Utilities becomes CHARON Linux Toolkit. This is to prevent from confusion between the utilities provided with CHARON-VAX and/or CHARON-AXP and this collection of tools

• If the console is accessed remotely, the foreign address is displayed.

• If a console connection is requested to a virtual machine that is not running, it is now proposed to start it directly from the console menu

• Expiration check display updated

• Service management / View guest log file: it is now possible to perform a continuous view of the current log file (menu option 6 then 3)
  The continuous view is also proposed when the guest is started

• License update can now be performed from the menu without graphical user interface (no need for firefox). Requires the hasp_update program provided either with CHARON-AXP/VAX kit or with a Software License package

• The "send C2V file" option can now handle Software Licenses (update and collect)

• Possible editors selection: 'vim' is added

• Minor update on menu layout

• Alerts are now reported in a log file that can be viewed from the "Alerts management" menu option (continuous view or using editor)
  NOTE: you must reinstall the common alert script from menu "Alerts management" menu option then "Update/reinstall common alert script" if you did not customize it

• Alerts management menu rewritten: one page to view all settings

• 'Create/Edit guest stop script' option: it is now possible to edit the script provided as an example (read only) while editing the active stop script file (for ease of copy/paste)

• View console logs now takes into account console log files specified in the configuration file, rotating and fixed named files

• Integration with systemd service management (Red Hat 7 and Fedora)

• When adding a new guest:

  • the log file monitoring is implemented automatically (less operations to perform)

  • the presence of .vdisk files is checked

  • you can re-edit the configuration file (if issues are found) before starting the guest

• When editing the configuration file, the presence of .vdisk files is checked.

• The CHARON products installation process now records the output to /opt/charon/log/yum.install.<date> file.

• While editing the configuration files, if the log is defined as a folder (for rotating log files), an error message is displayed (not supported at the moment)

• Some alerts sent by email have been reworded and in some cases more explanations have been added

• It is now possible to define (manually) a file containing information on licenses that will be displayed when using the "License key display" and "Check for license expiration" menu options. This information will also be sent in email alerts.

• Expiration alerts can now be sent from the virtual machines log monitoring. This option is by default disabled because of the crontab entry that checks for expiration once a day (can be changed) and because one or two alerts will be sent every hour 120 hours before expiration.

• Network Configuration Utility (ncu) can be called from the menu

• Show host information menu option: the html file generated now includes the latest log and the configuration file for each managed virtual machine
  .

• Number of CPUs displayed could be wrong if it was not forced in the configuration file, corrected. Warning: the number of CPUs displayed does represent the number defined in the configuration file or the default number of cpus for this hardware model. The real number of CPUs the virtual machine owns depends on the CHARON server HW limitations, licenses and also licenses on the virtual machine side

• Show host information HTML output did not correctly display the semicolon ';' character, corrected. The HTM file is now sent in zipped format

• CHARON setup (menu option 1) does not display 'ncu' as an emulator anymore

• Fixes a bug that prevented from gathering information from software licenses

• Expiration check: fixed an issue that could prevent from informational alerts to be sent with daily checks. Runtime limited licenses are now taken into account

• Disabled network interface will no more generate an alert at guest startup

• The install/upgrade/remove menu now handles CHARON-AXP V4.6 correctly

• Minor update information reported in the log when stopping a virtual machine

• Scheduled license expiration check: if the dongle is not present, the alert is sent once until the dongle is reconnected and no more each time the script is executed.

• Console log file view: fixed an issue that prevented from using 'gedit' in some cases (unreadable characters)

• Exit code issue found in expect script given as an example (in case of timeout for example)

• Main and backup licenses are now correctly handled: this affects license display menu option, expiration check that both will display and check all license detected (depends on CHARON version, "hasp_srm_view -all" option must be available) and log monitoring alerts that will report the correct license number.

• The expiration check script log file is now currently archived weekly

• If the virtual machine ends with a "license has expired" message, this will be correctly reported in the alert

• Expect script: Tru64 shutdown command replaced by "init 0" as some old versions of Tru64 do not execute the shutdown scripts. Added also "send_slow" settings to prevent from losing characters while sending commands

• License expiration checks: if multiple products have expired, only one alert email is sent instead of one per product

• All described operations will have to be performed on the CHARON server and logged in as 'root' (no other user supported).

• Virtual machines log monitoring: the log file name must be defined with full path within the configuration file. Rotating log files are not supported.

• Licenses updates: gathering information (c2v) and applying updates (v2c) cannot be performed when more than one dongle is connected to the Linux server.

Information related to CHARON-AXP V4.6 for Linux support:

• Updating to CHARON-AXP V4.6 requires an update of the guests list managed (/opt/charon/utils/charon_gstart.boot file) as the folder where the emulators binaries were located has changed from /opt/charon/bin/axp to /opt/charon/bin. To update this, use menu option "6 - Service Management" → "1 - Update guests list" → "4 - Edit guests list"

• The kit is not validated on Fedora 20 and Red Hat 7.0

• Menu option "1 - Install/Upgrade/Remove Charon":

  • This option can manage CHARON-AXP V4.6 installation but will report CHARON-VAX is installed. This display issue will be solved with Kit version 41

  • The uninstallation of CHARON-AXP V4.6 is not complete, the "charon-ncu" package has to be uninstalled manually.

  • Remember all CHARON-VAX & CHARON-AXP products must be uninstalled before installing CHARON-AXP V4.6. See  CHARON-AXP/4100/DS/ES/GS version 4.6 Build 168-03 for Linux - Release Notes - Known Restrictions in Build 168-03 

• Bug correction introduced with Kit 38: it was not possible to start guests when connected via 'ssh'. REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE (this does not affect running guests)

• Installation menu: removed a check that could prevent from installing different emulators for either CHARON-AXP or CHARON-VAX

• Found a bug that could prevent from login in with Gnome Desktop when the menu is installed

• Charon-VAX V4.6 Build 16502 (minimum) is now supported

• Each time a guest is started its log file is archived, whatever the log_method parameter is: log file renamed to 'name'.uptoYYYY-MM-DD-HHMNSC (Example: pluto.log.upto2015-02-10-120947). REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE (this does not affect running guests)

• The 'wall' command generates errors while used in non interactive processes on Fedora only.

• Logs archiving is now available using crontab entry

  • Note: Use the 'Manage recursive jobs' option from the menu to add the entry (default is archive every Monday at 00:00 and 60 days retention and zip old log files)

  • Guests log files cannot be renamed while the guest is running. They will be archived only at guest restart (whatever log_method parameter is set to)

• Archived log files can be viewed from the menu

• 'Send configuration and log files via mail' option now sends the 3 latest log files

• Expiration check alert message updated in case the license dongle is not connected

• 'menusetup' can only be executed if the current directory is set to '/opt/charon/utils'

• Service management option: bug found when adding a new guest with network checks, solved.

• The expect script provided as an example can now send the F6 key if the 'power off' command is not recognized or if a VAX VMS shutdown ends with "use console to halt system" (F6 must be allowed in the configuration file). The script exits with code 9 if 'power off' and F6 key were not allowed (so that the emulator must be killed)

• Guests display list reviewed

• Guest auto start at Linux server boot can now be disabled

• Important note: Clean service shutdown is not functional at server shutdown with Fedora due to service management system change (systemd).

  • Will be solved in a future release.

  • Issue: the emulator processes are killed before service stop and then clean guests shutdowns are not executed.

• Memory total/free added when displaying the guest

• Update in log file name gathering from configuration file. This solves a bug in gathering log file name if log_method is not on the same line as log name. REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE (this does not affect running guests) from menu option "6 - Service Management"

• Release notes are now in the Documentation submenu

• Updated on 26-Nov-2014 / Stromasys new logo. No kit number increase

• Documentation can now be read online via firefox. It is recommended to use this option rather than the local PDF document whose conversion is not 100% compatible (case open)

  • Note: solved on August 12th, 2014 (no new kit generated, PDF updated)

• Minor display updates

• Kit: the .tar file name contains the kit number

• Several updates on console connection: if a 'power off' command or its shortcuts or a VMS shutdown 'SYSTEM SHUTDOWN COMPLETE' is detected with a "Connection closed by foreign host" message then the guest stop is considered as requested. If not the script asks to confirm for voluntatily stop.

  • The 'charon_check.alertcmd.example' file MUST BE COPIED to charon_check.alertcmd if not already customized

• Update on network interface check after configuration file update