Version: 2 - Published: 21 Oct 2021

Relevant Products

This document applies mainly to Charon-PAR 3.0.4 (up to build 21802).

This document also contains information about older versions. However, please always refer to the documentation for your product version.

Software and Hardware Requirements

See Software Product Description and Charon-PAR 3.0 for Linux - User's Guide (up to version 3.0.5).

Information about Version 3.0.4

Version 3.0.4 Build 21802

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.4 Build 21802

The following problem fixes and changes were implemented in this release:

Smalltalk application would not start because of reserved instructions error (ID#100194).

Please note: this patch release is not available on all platforms. Please contact your Stromasys representative regarding an upgrade to Charon-PAR 3.0.5 should you require this specific bug-fix.

Known Caveats in Version 3.0.4 Build 21802

See Caveats in Version 3.0.4 Build 21800

Version 3.0.4 Build 21800

New Features in Version 3.0.4 Build 21800

This version contains the following new features:

The Charon-PAR 9000/720 emulator supports HP-UX 10.20 and 11.00 (32-bit).
Additional log file configuration options, in particular improvements for log rotation.
The emulator is no longer stopped if CTRL-C is inadvertently entered in the emulator console window.

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.4 Build 21800

The following problem fixes and changes were implemented in this release:

The HP-UX catman command can hang or crash the emulator (ID#100171).
SCSI tape not working in HP-UX of some versions and specific environments (ID#100164).
Support for new SCSI commands implemented: SCSI Inquiry EVPD page 0x83 support for DASD (ID#100167).
Emulator could not start due to dit_kind dispatch failing with assertion (ID#100182).
Support for running a script in the emulator command console (ID#100179). A script with valid emulator console commands can be run using the command include <file-name> at the paX> prompt.
Suppress very verbose overflow messages (ID#100175).

Known Caveats in Version 3.0.4 Build 21800

Low network performance particular in Google cloud environments when a dedicated NIC is configured for the guest OS (ID#100117). This is related to the cloud environment not properly disabling offloading for the NIC as configured on the Linux level. Workaround: use a bridge/NAT configuration where the emulator uses a TAP interface.
HP-UX 11.11 -- lpmc_em CPU errors (ID#100084). Should this problem occur, the following workaround can be implemented:
# Stop diagnostics daemon # /sbin/init.d/diagnostic stop
# Set config to disable diagnostics # echo "DIAGNOSTICS=0" >> /etc/rc.config
HP-UX 11.11, "btlan: Invalid connection type in SROM" reported in dmesg. This message does not affect network operation (ID: 100118).
Under so far unclear conditions, Charon-PAR can exhibit a TOC reset during network tests (ID#100125).
MPE Virtual tape errors/timeouts when restoring large backup (ID#100130). Workaround:
Force the store to use sequential (instead of index read. Enter the following command before restoring the backup:
:setvar hpfastsearch false
HP-UX 11.23 may fail on boot in rare cases (ID#100031).
The following SCSI commands are not implemented in the emulator: A3 = Maintenance-in and 1C = Receive Diagnostics Results (ID#100143).
The emulator currently has no serial port flow control protocol on telnet port (ID#100080).
When using the signal_toc command on the emulator console, instead of writing a crash dump and reboot, the guest system sometimes hangs (ID#100176).
When installing the aksusbd package version 8.13 in some CentOS 7.x environments it was observed that the aksusbd service did not start automatically after a new installation or an upgrade. The following error was displayed during the installation: Failed to restart aksusbd.service: Access denied. If this happens, uninstall the aksusbd package and reboot the system. After rebooting the system, re-install the package. The cause of this sporadic problem has not yet been identified.
Command parameters entered at the PDC console are converted to lower case internally (ID#100177). This could cause problems with path names.

Information about Version 3.0.3

Version 3.0.3 Build 21701

New Features in Version 3.0.3 Build 21701

This release is a stability release with focus on performance improvements and problem resolutions.

New features and new behavior:

xhpterm is now provided as a separate RPM package (xhpterm-free).
FPU performance option:
The new option -F provides better floating-point performance at the expense of minor deviation in floating-point status reporting. When this option is enabled, all floating-point operations produce exactly the same values as the real hardware. The only deviation is that bit I (Inexact) in the Floating Point Status Register is not always accumulated between subsequent operations. Such differences cause FPU tests (ODE WDIAG and llmc_em) to report errors. However, it is highly unlikely that any real system or application software is impacted by this deviation.

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.3 Build 21701

Emulator crash happened during log rotation (ID#100173)

Earlier Builds of Version 3.0.3

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.3 Build 21700

DIT stability improvement (ID#100163)
HP-UX incorrect CPU frequency report, the value shown was only half of the correct value (ID#100160)
Correct and improve the emulator operation on hardware with and without FMA support (ID#100165)

Enhancements and Other Important Changes in Version 3.0.3 Build 21700

Improved core dump capabilities for debugging purposes (ID#100168)
FPU code improvements (ID#100146)
Allow valid URI strings be values of license parameters in configuration files (ID#100166)

Information about Versions Before 3.0.3

Version 3.0.2 Build 21600

New Features in Version 3.0.2

Physical UART and serial line server support: the emulated serial line support for physical lines has been re-worked and extended. It now includes support for Linux pseudo-terminals, Linux TTY devices (serial hardware must be supported by Linux), and access to remote serial line servers over IP (RFC2217).

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.2

Oracle 9.2 performance degradation due to extended TLB size (ID#100154)
MPE/iX System Fail Error i/O related (ID#100026)
Slow network performance on AWS (ID#100122)
ODE mapper2 errors on rp7400; requires subsequent restart of emulator to allow successful boot (ID#100131). Same problem for HPUX IKE based rp54xx models fixed in ID#100145.
Typo in MAC address restore error message (ID#100147)
Timer improvements (ID#100149)

Enhancements and Other Important Changes in Version 3.0.2

SCSI DASD WRTE SAME command implemented
Improved error messages for configuration file format errors (ID#100148)

Version 3.0.1 Build 21500

New Features from Version 1.7.x to Version 3.0.1

The following are the main new features introduced since version 1.7.x:

Support the emulation of legacy HP9000 systems (64-bit and 32-bit models) in addition to the emulation of legacy HP3000 systems.
Change of product name to Charon-PAR/PA3 and Charon-PAR/PA9 respectively to match the new support. This name change is reflected in the emulator itself as well as in utilities and configuration file templates.
Support TAP interfaces to be used by emulated Charon-PAR NICs. This change is also reflected in updated and revised Ethernet interface configuration parameters.
New licensing schema. The new licensing schema simplifies the creation and use of licenses as it no longer uses individual emulated models but a small number of licensing levels that include a specified list of models based on their size and abilities. This means that the licenses for version 3.0.1 and above are not compatible with the licenses of older versions.
Super/IO support (serial and parallel ports only).
Improved options for redirecting the emulator console to a Telnet port.
Improved security for emulated system console.

Problems Fixed

Major review of the Ethernet interface emulation (ID#100111). These changes also fixed the Tulip errors reported in ID#100091 as well as ID#100107, and a system hang during network data transfer (ID#100034).
Improved handling of SCSI abort error (ID#100096, Id#100041). The errors themselves could not be reproduced.
Cause of unexpectedly high page fault numbers was fixed (ID#100081).
Problem solved with second NIC for Charon-PA3 (ID#100072).
Serial console hangs (ID#100095) fixed.
Configuration templates updated to reflect changed Ethernet configuration (ID#100109).
Timer overhead reduced (ID#100110).
NCR SCSI controller implementation performance improvements (ID#100112).
Correct model name in 720 configuration file template (ID#100114).
License error log messages were missing in log file (ID#100115).
Improved error messages for incorrect parameters in configuration (ID#100116)
The emulator hung at exit with the message “cpu0 Unexpected eirr 0 on rendezvous” (ID#100123).
Workaround for system call on CentOS 7 that is not thread-safe and thus could cause memory corruption (ID#100126).
Some memory leaks at exit fixed (ID#100127).
When applying autoboot file (via tape) to an emulated system the system hangs without this fix (ID#100133).
Emulator now checks for legal port number range when started with the console redirected to a network port (ID#100134).
Looped traffic on TAP interface fixed (ID#100137).
MPE communication did not work over TAP interface (ID#100139).
Multiprocessor configurations do not restart after shutting down the guest system using a reboot command (ID#100141).

Enhancements and Other Important Changes

PA64 models LAN interface configuration. New options for consistent configuration and TAP interface support.
Serial console connections can now be confined to local interface or specific host addresses (ID#100071).
Emulator console can now be redirected to a network port using new command-line options (ID#100079). This is especially useful when the emulator runs in daemon mode. Only connections from local host are allowed.
The CTRL-B key combination was replaced with the signal_toc (Transfer of Control) command on the emulator console (ID#100119). This command triggers a dump and halts the system. Use with great care! Interrupting the guest operating system during operation may cause data corruption and/or data loss.
New parameter (system.do_timer_correction) to enable timer correction for the emulated system if required (ID#100132).
Improved log file format with standardized severity to enable easier parsing (ID#100136).
Improved NIC handling for RAW NICs dedicated to guest. They run in promiscuous mode by default. The parameter legacy_mode enables non-promiscuous operation and also restores the original MAC address on the NIC should it have been changed by the emulator.

Product Documentation and Knowledge Base

Charon-PAR 3.0.4 - Release Notes

Contents