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CHARON Linux Toolkit - Release notes for kit 42

CHARON Linux Toolkit - Release notes for kit 42

Dec 07, 2015

December, 7th 2015 - kit version 42

New features

  • 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

Problems fixed

  • 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

August, 24th 2015 - kit version 41

New features

  • 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
    .

WARNING

If updating from a previous version, this kit requires

  • All services to be updated and restarted

  • The alert script, if not already customized, to be reinitialized from the Alerts Management menu

Problems fixed

  • 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

Known issues

  • 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.


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April, 24th 2015 - kit version 40 update

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":

     

February, 21th 2015 - kit version 40

  • Bug correction introduced with Kit 38: it was not possible to start guests when connected via 'ssh'

    • Files: charon_gstart, charon_common_menu

    • 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

    • Files: charon_setup

February, 16th 2015 - kit version 39

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

January 14th, 2015 - kit version 38

  • 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)

    • Files: charon_common, charon_gstart

    • REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE (this does not affect running guests)

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

    • Files: charon_check.alertcmd.example charon_console_autoconnect, charon_gstart

  • Logs archiving is now available using crontab entry

    • Files: charon_logarchive, charon_menu_cron, charon_menu_console

    • 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

    • Files: charon_menu_gstart, charon_menu_logchk, charon_common_menu

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

    • File: charon_menu_sendlogs

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

    • File: charon_expchk

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

    • File: menusetup

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

    • File: charon_menu_gstart

  • 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)

    • Files: guest_shutdown.exp, charon_gstart.stop.example

  • Guests display list reviewed

    • File: charon_common_menu

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

    • Files: charon_common_menu, charon_gstart, charon_menu_gstart

  • 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.

August 27th, 2014 - kit version 37

  • Memory total/free added when displaying the guest

    • Files: charon_menu_gstart, charon_common_menu

  • 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

    • Files: charon_common, charon_common_menu, charon_gstart.stop.example, charon_menu_gstart, charon_menu_logchk, charon_menu_sendlogs,charon_gstart

    • REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE (this does not affect running guests) from menu option "6 - Service Management"

  • Release notes are now in the Documentation submenu

    • Files: charon_menudoc.dat, charon_menuhostinfo.dat

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

 

July 28th, 2014 - kit version 36

  • 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)

    • File: charon_menudoc.dat

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

  • Minor display updates

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

 

July 1st , 2014 - kit version 35

  • 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.

    • Files: templates/STOPPED.mail, templates/STOPPED.wall, templates/STOPPEDREQ.mail, templates/STOPPEDREQ.wall, charon_menu_console, charon_logchk (REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE), charon_check.alertcmd.example (must be reinstalled from the menu option 12 then 5)

  • Update on network interface check after configuration file update

    • Files: templates/IFCFGUNKN.mail, charon_menu_editcfg

 

June 27th , 2014 - kit version 34

  • Console connection: it is now possible to enable/disable the console autoconnect feature from the menu. When leaving the console, the question related to voluntarily stop or not is no more asked: the script detects automatically if a 'power off' command (or its shortcuts) has been issued and the "Connection closed by foreign host" message follows, meaning the user voluntarily wanted to stop the virtual machine. Alerts sent will reflect this.

    • Files: templates/STOPPED.mail, templates/STOPPED.wall, charon_menu_console, charon_console_autoconnect, charon_logchk (REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE), charon_check.alertcmd.example (must be reinstalled from the menu option 12 then 5)

 

June 25th , 2014 - kit version 33

  • Bug correction when sending email: sendmail command required full path

    • Files: charon_logevent, charon_check.alertcmd.example (must be reinstalled from the menu option 12 then 5)

 

June 25th , 2014 - kit version 32

  • Show host info now displays running processes (grep charon) and files list in /opt/charon/utils

    • File: charon_showhostinfo

  • Bug correction: events found in the guest log file were not sent with mail mode set to TEXT (worked with HTML mails)

    • File: charon_logevent

  • Bug correction: mail contents not sent with mail mode set to TEXT

    • File: charon_check.alertcmd.example (must be reinstalled)

 

June 24th , 2014 - kit version 31

  • Minor bugs corrections

  • Added fix for not getting garbage messages when using the 'gedit' editor

    • File: menusetup -> /etc/profile.d/charon_menu.sh

  • Fixed a bug with network interfaces check: now simple and double quotes can be present in the ifcfg-eth files (Valid values examples: ONBOOT=no, ONBOOT="no", ONBOOT='no')

    • File: charon_common

  • Show host info now correctly displays the ifcfg-eth* files content

    • File: charon_showhostinfo

 

June 19th , 2014 - kit version 30

  • Minor bug corrections: network interfaces settings if multiple interfaces defined, display changes, etc...

 

June 3rd , 2014 - kit version 29

  • Menu setup/install reviewed for better readability

    • File: menusetup (old name: menusetup.sh)

    • File: charon_setup (old name: charonsetup.sh)

  • Added checks after editing the crontab for missing scripts

    • File: charon_menu_cron 

  • If md5sum files are downloaded from kit location, comparative checksum is automatically performed before installation

    • File: charonsetup.sh

  • Changed way used to get hasp_srm_view output from show license and send C2V file

    • Files: charon_menu_c2v, charon_menu_showlic

  • Connect to console: after leaving the telnet session, the autoconnect utility is activated directly, it does not wait next execution from crontab (minimum 1 minute interval, could induce loss of console history)

    • File: charon_menu_console

  • Log files list to be monitored is now gathered from the managed guests list (can also be edited manually)

    • File: charon_menu_logchk

  • It is now possible to update and reinstall the alert script from the alerts management submenu (used when upgrading kit for example)

    • File: charon_menu_alertcmd

  • Various display changes (more information provided)

    • Files: charon_menu_*

  • Wall messages can now be disabled from the alerts management menu option

    • Files: charon_menu_walloff, charon_check.alertcmd.example (MUST BE REINSTALLED using the alerts management submenu)

  • Following Bug#4297 and issues found with FTP and NFS transfers with large files, all offloading features are switched off before guest start

    • File: charon_common

  • After editing a configuration file or before starting a guest, a simple check is performed for the network interfaces defined: is it already used (IPaddr defined)? Is ifcfg/ONBOOT parameter set to no (mandatory) ? Is ifcfg/NM_CONTROLLED parameter set to no (recommended). If the ifcfg-ethX file is not correctly set, the menu will propose you to update it automatically

    • Files: charon_menu_editcfg, charon_common, charon_gstart

    • REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE (this does not affect running guests)

  • Menu update: now displays kit version to facilitate support

  • Connection to console updated: if a connection is already active and user aborts the connection, the console port selection is no more displayed, connection is done directly 

    • Files: charon_menu_console

 April 30th, 2014 - kit version 28

  • Bug correction for sending mails with Fedora systems: messages with text or html content in body and with attachments are not received -> mails sent on Fedora systems will have then only attachment

    • Files: charon_menu_sendlogs, charon_showhostinfo

 April 29th, 2014 - kit version 27

  • Bug correction for sending mails with Fedora systems: messages were empty (removed 'Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit' from mail header)

    • Files: charon_logevent, charon_menu_c2v, charon_check.alertcmd.example (MUST BE COPIED to charon_check.alertcmd if not already customized)

  • Minor bug correction when displaying server boot time

    • Files: charon_menu_console, charon_menu_editcfg, charon_menu_gstart, charon_menu_sendlogs

 April 28th, 2014 - kit version 26

  • Bug correction for license dongle immediate detection: this happened when the /var/log/messages was renamed (tail -0f replace by tail -Fn0)

    • Files: charon_logchk, charon_menu_logchk 

    • REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE - Important note: kill all running "tail -0f" processes for /var/log/messages and guests log files before installing the new kit (tar -xf)

  •  Menu rearranged to add a new option to send configuration and log files via email: these files are displayed in the email body and also sent as attachment

    • Note: your email client must be able to render MIME Application/base64 content

    • File: charon_menu_sendlogs

  • If the license dongle is not present at server boot, the startup procedure is aborted after 5 tries with 20 seconds interval. Services will have then to be started manually when the license dongle is connected

    • File: charon_gstart

    • REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE (this does not affect running guests)

  • Show host information now only sends one mail to recipient. The mail will contain HTML report in the mail body and the attached mail file

    • File: charon_showhostinfo

 April 23th, 2014 - kit version 25

  • Changed the way the email recipient is entered when sending hasp_srm_view output, C2V file or host information HTML report: do not use anymore editor to enter email stop and remembers the last address entered

    • Files: charon_common, charon_menu_c2v, charon_menu_hostinfo, charon_menu_showlic

  • Added the possibility to send a test mail when setting the mail mode (HTML or TEXT)

    • File: charon_menu_mailmode

 April 15th, 2014 - kit version 24

  • Alert mail system reviewed to be compatible with Exchange: 'mailx' command replaced by 'sendmail' to be able to send HTML emails that are interpreted as HTML and not TEXT

    • Files: menusetup.sh, charon_logevent, charon_menu_hostinfo, charon_menu_showlic, charon_menu_c2v, charon_showhostinfo, charon_check.alertcmd.example (MUST BE COPIED to charon_check.alertcmd if not already customized)

 April 11th, 2014 -  kit version 23

  • Qualified for Charon-AXP V4.5 Build 15505

    • Files: charon_logchk

    • REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE

  • Alerts via emails: a footer can be added from the Alerts Management menu

    • Files: charon_check.alertcmd.example (MUST BE COPIED to charon_check.alertcmd if not already customized), charon_check.mailfooter, charon_menu_mailfooter

  • Added entry in log file when an abnormal guest termination is detected

    • Files: charon_gstart.log, charon_mongstop

  • Emulator is now started from the /opt/charon/log directory and not from the / directory. In case the config file does not contain the log file definition or the config file is not a correct config file, a default log file will be placed there.

    • Files: charon_gstart

    • REQUIRES SERVICE UPDATE (this does not affect running guests)

 March 28th, 2014

  • Minor display updates

  • Added kit version for Linux utilities for better readability

    • Files: charon_showhostinfo, maketar, kit.version

 March 21th, 2014

  • Added monitoring of unrequested guests stop: if a guest is stopped without proper service shutdown or user request from the console, an alert message is sent

    • Files: charon_gstart, charon_mongstop (new), charon_menu_cron, charon_menu_console, charon_menu_gstart

    • Note: if not done, please add the following line in the root's crontab:

  • Minor display changes

    • File: charon_menumain.dat

 March 18th, 2014

  • C2V file is now generated in the background (via 'at' command) in case of ssh connection that could prevent from getting C2V file interactively (case could be due to remote_desktop and virtual_machine options missing in the key)

    • File: charon_menu_c2v

 October 17th, 2013

  • Continuous log monitoring can now alert for INFO, WARN and ERROR messages depending on level selected
    Service charon_keychk renamed to charon_logchk
    REQUIRES:

    • charon_keychk service to be uninstalled

      • stop service

      • remove it: # chkconfig --del charon_keychk

      • remove script: # rm /opt/charon/utils/charon_keychk

    • installation of charon_logchk service

    • rename charon_keychk.startlist to charon_logchk.list

    • add entry "* * * * * /opt/charon/utils/charon_logevent" in crontab

    • Files: charon_logchk, charon_menu_logevent, charon_logevent

  • Connection to console: if a session is already active, an option has been added to kill the active one.

    • File: charon_menu_console

  • Automatic console connection utility added to:

    • continuously get the console log even if not interactively connected

    • solve an issue with TX buffer overflow that prevents the system to boot or generates console errors

    • File: charon_console_autoconnect (must be added to crontab)

    REQUIRES:

    • add entry "* * * * * /opt/charon/utils/charon_console_autoconnect" in crontab

  • Alert script has been totally changed, it uses now templates instead of 'case' utility to send emails and wall messages.
    Goal is to be able to add new alerts easily without script rewriting
    REQUIRES:

    • copy charon_check.alertcmd.example to charon_check.alertcmd (if not already customized)

    • Files: charon_check.alertcmd.example, templates/*.mail, templates/*.wall

 October 2nd, 2013

  • Added 'expect' common script for Tru64 and VMS clean shutdown (when 'ssh' cannot be used) and usage examples


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