CHARON-VAX V4.7 Build 171-01 for Linux - Release Notes

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

Products included in the CHARON-VAX version 4.7 build 171-01 for Linux

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

• CHARON-VAX/XM version 4.7 build 171-01 for Linux

• CHARON-VAX/XM PLUS version 4.7 build 171-01 for Linux

• CHARON-VAX/XK PLUS version 4.7 build 171-01 for Linux

• CHARON-VAX/XL version 4.7 build 171-01 for Linux

• CHARON-VAX/XL PLUS version 4.7 build 171-01 for Linux

• CHARON-VAX/6610 PLUS version 4.7 build 171-01 for Linux

• CHARON-VAX/6620 PLUS version 4.7 build 171-01 for Linux

• CHARON-VAX/6630 PLUS version 4.7 build 171-01 for Linux

• CHARON-VAX/6660 PLUS version 4.7 build 171-01 for Linux

Supported software platforms

• Linux Red Hat Enterprise 7.0 and 7.1

• Linux FedoraCore 20, 21, and 22

• VMware ESXi 5.x and 6.0 (requires a supported Linux operating system on top of a ESXi virtual machine)

Hosting hardware requirements and configuration recommendations

• 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 v3 generation and above (E3 v3, E5 v3, E7 v3), CPUs with a clock frequency of 3GHz and higher are recommended for optimal CHARON performance.

• DDR4 RAM 1866 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.

• On VMware, E1000 network adapters must be used for CHARON; VM network adapters dedicated to CHARON and vSwitch dedicated to CHARON network segment should be set to Promiscuous mode.

New functionality introduced in build 171-01 since previous release (build 165-02)

• New platform support

  • Linux Red Hat Enterprise 7.x

  • Linux FedoraCore 20, 21 and 22

  • VMware ESXi 6.0

  • Please notice RHEL 6.x is not supported 

• CHARON product packaging

  • CHARON binaries are linked statically since this release. CHARON-VAX and CHARON-AXP can be installed on the same host (ID#4710)

  • Charon Linux Toolkit is included in the distribution. It is a set of text based menu and utilities to simplify CHARON operational procedures and provide Guest to Host communication channel. CHARON WebUI has been retired

  • All emulated VAX models are installed by default. Allowed VAX models are controlled by CHARON license (ID#4711)

• Performance improvements

  • On 64bit Linux CHARON is able to address up to 3.5 GB emulated VAX RAM for /6630 and /6660 models

• New configuration options and configuration changes

  • MPIO storage path support is implemented (ID#4328)

  • Full support for CI/DSSI virtual clusters (ID#4389)

  • VLANs are supported (ID#4401)

  • CHARON Sample configuration templates updated, some minor errors fixed (ID#4435)

  • The log file language is set to English (ID#4509)

  • CHARON console log rotation has been implemented (ID#4639)

  • CARON log file format switched to UTF-8 (ID#4188)

  • Rotating log file switch can be configured to be triggered by maximum file size and time period (ID#4639)

  • LK401-AT keyboard sequences (i. e. PF4 + Compose) is supported (ID#3837)

• New licensing options. Please refer to User Manual and online Knowledge Base for details,  technical restrictions, and best practices (ID#2856, #4137, #4285)

  • Software licensing (SL) is available. Software license is bound to physical system hardware components or virtual machine hardware components (ID#4344)

  • Network licensing is available, for both hardware dongles (require special dongle) and software licensing

  • CHARON instance counter on a Network license switched to instance mode from station/instance mode, which allows CHARON instances to be spread around the network at user convenience. For example, a Network license with 6 CHARON instances allows to run 3 instances on a first hosting server, 2 instances on a second hosting server, and one instance in a third hosting server. In the previous versions of CHARON Network license controlled number of hosting systems and CHARON instances per host system.

  • CHARON license check order can be managed via configuration file, Production and Backup license IDs can be specified (ID#4249) 

  • Software License can be relocated to another host 

  • New parameter "license_key_lookup_retry" has been introduced allowing to set a number of license retries with specified time interval for the license checks on CHARON startup (ID#4399) 

  • License protection run time package (Sentinel) has been upgraded to the current stable version, stability improved (ID#4209, 4711)  

  • Please notice that CHARON HASP runtime environment is customized by Stromasys. Environment downloaded directly form SafeNet would not provide full functionality (specifically, Software Licensing will not work). Stromasys will maintain and distribute HASP environment updates as CHARON product patches if necessary

• CHARON utilities

  • MTD utility supports SCSI Passthrough mode for tapes without Linux driver (ID#3927)

  • CHARON utilities fully support mixed encoding in log files (ID#4642, 4646)

  • Network Configuration Utility (NCU) compatibility with supported OS versions has been improved, functionality extended (ID#4530, 4563, 4454)

  • hasp_srm_view utility can display either a particular license or all available licenses (ID#4618)

  • mkdskcmd utility does not allow to reduce vdisk size (ID#4506)