Version: 1 - Published: Sep 16, 2021 

Table of Contents

Please review this document before proceeding with installation of Charon-VAX for Linux

Products included in the Charon-VAX version 4.11 build 204-11 for Linux

In this document the terms Charon and Charon-VAX are used to refer to all the products below:

• Charon-VAX/XM version 4.11 build 204-11 for Linux

• Charon-VAX/XM PLUS version 4.11 build 204-11 for Linux

• Charon-VAX/XK PLUS version 4.11 build 204-11 for Linux

• Charon-VAX/XL version 4.11 build 204-11 for Linux

• Charon-VAX/XL PLUS version 4.11 build 204-11 for Linux

• Charon-VAX/6610 PLUS version 4.11 build 204-11 for Linux

• Charon-VAX/6620 PLUS version 4.11 build 204-11 for Linux

• Charon-VAX/6630 PLUS version 4.11 build 204-11 for Linux

• Charon-VAX/6660 PLUS version 4.11 build 204-11 for Linux

Supported software platforms

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x - 64-bit

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x - 64-bit

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 to 6.10 - 64-bit

• Linux CentOS 8.x - 64-bit

• Linux CentOS 7.x - 64-bit

• VMware ESXi 5.5 and 6.0 up to 6.7 (requires a supported Linux operating system on top of a ESXi virtual machine)

Hosting hardware requirements and configuration recommendations

• CPU requirements:

  • The number of available x86/x64 compatible (Intel or AMD) CPU cores in the hosting server should be at least 150% of the number of emulated CPU cores.

  • The recommended number of available (Intel or AMD) CPU cores in the hosting server is twice the number of emulated CPU cores.

  • Intel Xeon E-series v3 and above with a CPU clock frequency from 3GHz; to achieve the best performance use the latest Intel Xeon CPUs from the Scalable Processors family.

• Memory requirements:

  • DDR4 RAM 2133 MHz and above is recommended for optimal Charon performance.

  • The minimum host memory size depends on the amount of emulated VAX memory and on the number of Charon instances running on one host. The minimum host memory = (2Gb +  the amount of VAX memory emulated) per Charon-VAX instance.

• Mid range and high end RAID controllers with at least 1GB cache with write-back enabled and battery backup option is recommended.
  (Using low-end RAID controllers may cause significant performance degradation and Charon-VAX crash. RAID5 and similar configurations are not recommended.)

• Intel HT (Hyper-Threading Technology) should be disabled on the hosting server.

• Hosting server should always run at full speed. Power management and the screen saver should be disabled on the hosting server.

• The Port Group Security Tab containing the Charon network adapter(s) must be set to Promiscuous mode, MAC Address Change and Forged Transmit=Accept.

New functionality

• Log file numbering implemented when log rotating is used: when starting the Charon emulator the first log file name will be like <configuration_name>-YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss-xxxxxxxxx.log where xxxxxxxxx will be 000000000, this number will increase with each log rotation (ID#5702)

• The emulator UPTIME is reported on every log rotation (ID#5683, ID#32702)
  Example: 20210916:000000:INFO :0:00000479:hexane.cxx(3376): "VAX_4000_Model_106" started at Wed Sep 15 16:12:53 2021 (uptime 0 07:47:07).

Problems fixed

• Fixed missing SIGSEGV and core files: recent crash because of SAN switch reboot, no fix to crash yet, but to collect more data (ID#5705 / Case 00033336)

• Fixed console hangup reported on MicroVAX II, MicroVAX 3600, MicroVAX 3900, VAXserver 3600, VAXserver 3900, VAXstation 4000 models 700 and 705 (ID#5695)

Configuration changes required when upgrading from previous version(s) or migrating from Windows platform to version 4.11 build 204-11

• A Charon license update is required. Stromasys might request a HASP dongle state (c2v file) or a host fingerprint taken by HASP Update Service (which is included in the Charon kit) in order to issue a license update. Please refer to License installation for details.

• Uninstall any installed version of Charon-VAX before installing the new version.

• If VMware is used, it must be upgraded to version 5.x, 6.0, 6.5 or 6.7.

• It is recommended to archive the old Charon log files before starting the new version in order to avoid mixing character encoding in the log files.

• Charon-VAX cannot be started remotely via ssh, telnet, VNC, etc. if a local HASP dongle or a local software license is used. Please use Charon Linux Toolkit. Alternatively, network dongle or network software license can be used. Another option is to configure Charon-VAX as a Linux service/daemon manually. See "Running as system service" chapter for details of how to configure Charon-VAX as a service/daemon.

• Intelligent packet processing should be switched off for the network adapters dedicated to Charon with "Network Configuration Utility" (ncu) utility. Please refer to FTP, NFS, and general network issues with Charon-AXP and Charon-VAX on Linux for details.

• Linux Xterm does not provide the full functionality of a VT100 terminal by default. Please refer to the user manual for the details of setting up the mode for emulating VT100.

• The Charon-VAX configuration file should be reviewed if migrating from Charon-VAX for Windows. Windows specific configuration parameters (for example, network adapter references) should be changed to Linux specific parameters. Please refer to the "Charon-VAX V4.11 for Linux - User's Guide" for details.

• Charon executables, libraries and data (disk container files) files should be excluded from all the antivirus checks, including on-the-fly checks and scheduled scans.

• HT (Hyper-Threading Technology) should be disabled on the hosting server.

• Power management and screen saver should be switched off on the hosting server.

• Please note that the actual network communication speed and mode are determined by the Linux network speed and mode settings. This feature is required to avoid network timeouts in VAX/VMS during the negotiation phase.

• The extension of the kfddb.cfg file, used to load extra pair of DSSI port on some VAX models, and kzdda.cfg file, used to load optional SCSI controller on some VAX models, has changed to .icfg. Existing configuration files have to be updated.

• If you have any troubles with physical SCSI tape drives mapped to Charon, it is recommended to change the corresponding instance name to "virtual_scsi_tape", for example, the original configuration

  must be changed to

Note related to upgrade from previous version

• A Linux server reboot is highly recommended after uninstallation of the previous version of Charon and a reboot is also highly recommended after 4.11 kit installation (some issues found with licenses detection)

• Software licenses have to be renewed as they are not compatible with previous version (prior to 4.11) even if your license was 4.11 ready.
  An error code 78 (HASP_SECURE_STORE_ID_MISMATCH) may appear while trying to read the license content if the SL has not been updated.