Version: 2 - Published: 02 Aug 2022 

Contents

Relevant Products

Charon-PAR 3.0.7 up to build 22100

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 Descriptions and Charon-PAR 3.0 for Linux - User's Guide.

Information about Version 3.0.7

New Features in Version 3.0.7

Charon-PAR version 3.0.7 has the following new features:

• Support for 32-bit workstation B132L without graphics support for HP-UX 10.20, 11.00, and 11.11.
• Support added for Rocky Linux 8.x.

Known Caveats in Version 3.0.7

Charon-PAR version 3.0.7 has the following known caveats:

• HP-UX 11.31 is only supported on specific models. Server models: rp34xx, rp44xx, rp7405, rp7410, rp7420, rp8420, rp6440, rp8440; workstation models: с8000 (ID#100098). Of these models, the current version of Charon-PAR supports rp34xx and rp44xx.
• Ctrl+c in the Charon-PAR console is passed to the emulator's child processes and kills the PuTTY console process (ID#100188). To prevent this behavior, the emulator serial line configuration can be changed as follows:
  
  • Modify the default configuration serial.uart0.device.command="putty -telnet -P 30000 localhost"
    • either to: serial.uart0.device.command="trap '' SIGINT ; putty -telnet -P 30000 localhost", or
    • to: serial.uart0.device.command="setsid putty -telnet -P 30000 localhost"
• PA9-32 continuous output on shutdown: after the guest system has been shut down, the emulator continuously shows  the message PDC CHASSIS:0XDA00 State= OFF until  the emulator is stopped (ID#100190). This does not affect the normal operation of the emulated system. In newer versions, the emulator is stopped automatically. To revert to the previous behavior, a new command can be added to the configuration file:
  system.stop_on_halt = false
  It will disable emulator auto-stop after shutting down HP-UX.
• 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 or (on GCP) configure the instance with gVNIC interfaces.

• 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).
  

• 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.
  
• The emulator currently has no serial port flow control protocol on telnet port (ID#100080).
• 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.
• When using shutdown -r now on HP-UX 11.31, HP-UX does not enter the GSP console. It works correctly with shutdown -h now (ID#100205).
• Repeated MMU assist off messages may be displayed. This message means that the MMU assistance module detected an unsupported guest OS. It is normal to see these messages during a reset and when the guest OS is starting (when the guest OS is not available).
• If running the Charon emulator host in a Nutanix VM, it must be ensured that Nutanix host partitioning be configured in a way that the emulator's domain (node) does not conflict with or share any resources with other nodes. Failing to do so can cause low performance and instability.
• TOC in HP-UX on an emulated rp7400 system when the configuration contains SCSI controllers on the second system bus (ID#100221).
• On a 720 model, the installation of HP-UX fails if a 20GB disk is configured. It works with a 10GB disk (ID#100244).
• Text mode curses applications may not work correctly on the serial console (ID#100252).
• Ethernet interface DMA error on boot (ID#100256).
• Maximum size for SCSI disks is currently 2TB (ID#100258).
• Unexpected halt during Oracle test on HP-UX 11.31 (ID#100262).
• The emulator sets the default physical serial line parameters during boot unless set explicitly by HP-UX (ID#100245). Workaround: use the port_defaults parameter in the configuration file to set the correct parameters.
• Some application workloads may show  performance degradation when going from 11.11 to 11.23 or 11.31 (ID#100225).
• When configuring the emulator to use TAP interfaces, 32-bit models cannot use an already existing TAP interface. In such cases, the emulator will exit with an error message (Unable to open TAP device).
• VE licensing: connection to a non-default license-server port does not work in this version. It is not possible to specify a port number in the license server address.
• SSH-based data transfer performance and overall CPU load on the guest system are influenced by the SSH encryption method used. On Rocky Linux 8, a higher level encryption is used by default which can lead to a lower performance of the guest system when compared to older guest operating system versions. Possible workaround: configure SSH with less demanding parameters (e.g.,  -o 'Ciphers aes128-ctr' -o 'MACs umac-64-etm@openssh.com'). Caveat: this also makes the connection somewhat less secure.
• If a VE license is used, the emulator must always be run as root. If this is not the case, a misleading error message ("wrong passphrase" is logged instead of the real reason.

Version 3.0.7 Build 22100

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.7 Build 22100

• On HP-UX 11.31, shutdown -r now does not enter GSP console (ID#100205).
• Large TLB affected Oracle performance (ID#100243).
• HP-UX version 9 would crash during reboot on an emulated 720 model due to missing serial line reset on reboot (ID#100246).
• Timer improvement (ID#248).
• Emulated system would run into an exception when resetting after a TOC (ID#100246).
• Using an existing TAP interface is now possible again for 64-bit models. The problem still exists in 32-bit models (ID#100251).
• Serial line infrastructure improvement (ID#100253).
• The 64-bit HASP library haspvlib_x86_64_68704.so was missing from the installation kit (ID#100255).
• DIT improvements (ID#100257).
• Regression of a problem caused segmentation fault (ID#100260).
• Implementation of B132L licensing (ID#100261).
• Overlapping timer interrupts (ID#100263). Problem with mmu_assist=advanced also fixed under this defect number.
• New log messages to indicate that HASP and VE licenses are both configured in configuration file (ID#100242). In such cases, VE licensing takes precedence.
• SCSI controller test of 53cxxx failed consistently with SCSI tracing enabled and sporadically without tracing enabled (ID#100250).

Information about Version 3.0.6

New Features in Version 3.0.6

Charon-PAR version 3.0.6 has the following new features:

• VE license support enabling cloud-adapted licensing.
• AMD support (FMA support required).
• Charon IDLE feature as installable HP-UX service. The feature provides the an HP-UX service which forces the Charon-PAR emulator to release unused CPU cycles to the Linux host. This significantly reduces the Charon-PAR CPU usage in cases when the guest OS is idle or does not require 100% CPU utilization.

Known Caveats in Version 3.0.6

Charon-PAR version 3.0.6 has the following known caveats:

• HP-UX 11.31 is only supported on specific models. Server models: rp34xx, rp44xx, rp7405, rp7410, rp7420, rp8420, rp6440, rp8440; workstation models: с8000 (ID#100098). Of these models, the current version of Charon-PAR supports rp34xx and rp44xx.
• Ctrl+c in the Charon-PAR console is passed to the emulator's child processes and kills the PuTTY console process (ID#100188). To prevent this behavior, the emulator serial line configuration can be changed as follows:
  
  • Modify the default configuration serial.uart0.device.command="putty -telnet -P 30000 localhost"
    • either to: serial.uart0.device.command="trap '' SIGINT ; putty -telnet -P 30000 localhost", or
    • to: serial.uart0.device.command="setsid putty -telnet -P 30000 localhost"
• PA9-32 continuous output on shutdown: after the guest system has been shut down, the emulator continuously shows  the message PDC CHASSIS:0XDA00 State= OFF until  the emulator is stopped (ID#100190). This does not affect the normal operation of the emulated system. To revert to the previous behavior, a new command can be added to the configuration file:
  system.stop_on_halt = false
  It will disable emulator auto-stop after shutting down HP-UX.
• 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).
  

• 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.
  
• The emulator currently has no serial port flow control protocol on telnet port (ID#100080).
• 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.
• When using shutdown -r now on HP-UX 11.31, HP-UX does not enter the GSP console. It works correctly with shutdown -h now (ID#100205).
• Repeated MMU assist off messages may be displayed. This message means that the MMU assistance module detected an unsupported guest OS. It is normal to see these messages during a reset and when the guest OS is starting (when the guest OS is not available).
• If running the Charon emulator host in a Nutanix VM, it must be ensured that Nutanix host partitioning be configured in a way that the emulator's domain (node) does not conflict with or share any resources with other nodes. Failing to do so can cause low performance and instability.
• TOC in HP-UX on an emulated rp7400 system when the configuration contains SCSI controllers on the second system bus (ID#100221).
• When configuring the emulator to use TAP interfaces, you cannot configure an already existing TAP interface for emulator use. This will lead to the error message tap_open (): tap10: TUNSETIFF failed: Invalid argument.
• The Charon-PAR installation kit does not contain the 64-bit HASP vendor library (/var/hasplm/haspvlib_x86_64_68704.so). This can lead to the error message Unable to find Vendor Library when trying to install a license. If you encounter the problem, please contact Stromasys support who can provide the library to you.

Version 3.0.6 Build 22001 (Patch Release)

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.6 Build 22001

• Implemented workaround for DMA failures at Ethernet adapter startup (ID#100256). The workaround can be disabled using the configuration parameter (replace example adapter name with actual adapter name):
  EWA0.ignore_tx_start_error = false

Version 3.0.6 Build 22000

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.6 Build 22000

• On SMP host systems an unexpected TOC reset was observed during network tests for HP-UX 11.00 and 11.11 (ID#100125, ID100210).
• 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).
• Under high load tests, a ABORT TAG SCSI error may occur (ID#100180).
• Under rare circumstances, an HP-UX 11.31 guest system may experience a TOC crash (ID#100200).
• Ethernet initialization failure at system startup on Nutanix (ID#100204).
• Emulator crash could be triggered by repeated execution of the ioscan <disk-device-path> command. Observed in emulated systems with several disks and HP-UX 11.31 (ID#100208).
• Further performance and stability improvements (ID#100217).
• Emulator crash during start when too many interrupts (by loading many devices into expansion slots) were requested in the configuration file (ID#100118).
• DIT: excessive number of retranslations related to Oracle database (ID#100222).
• Oracle 11 appears to hang when loading the dataset of the HammerDB TPROC-H workload (ID#100223). Includes MMU statistics improvement.
• Emulator crash when executing the exit command due to a hang on a trap flood (ID#100226).
• Signal 11 crash after SCSI ABORT TAG message (ID#100232).

Enhancements and other Important Changes in Version 3.0.6 Build 22000

• Improvements in the NCR/LSI/SYM 53cXXX SCSI controller code (ID#100113).
• The following SCSI commands were implemented in the emulator: A3 = Maintenance-in and 1C = Receive Diagnostics Results (ID#100143).
• Improvements for the TLB cache (ID#100151).
• VE (Virtual Environment) license support (ID#100158, ID#100178, ID#100239).
• AMD support (ID#100213).
• Implemented real-time priority for timer task, memory locking, and counters at disk level (ID#100229). If Charon-PAR is to be run from a non-root user, the executable image requires certain capabilities. These capabilities can be set with the command: sudo setcap 'cap_sys_nice+eip cap_ipc_lock+eip cap_net_admin+eip' /opt/charon/bin/charon-par
  Please note: the real-time priority for the timer task requires CPU accounting to be disabled.
• Serial port default parameters can now be added with the new port_defaults parameter; the new keep_on_reset preserves settings on reset (ID#100237).
• Added license_lost_usr_cmd parameter as an alternative to hasp_lost_usr_cmd to reflect VE license support (ID#100240).

Information about Version 3.0.5

New Features in Version 3.0.5

Charon-PAR version 3.0.5 has the following new features:

• Support for additional emulated models: rp34xx, rp44xx.
• Support for oversized emulated models of rp3440,rp4440 (up to 128 CPUs and 512GB of RAM), and rp7400 (up to 64 CPUs and 512GB of RAM). Please check the availability for your model with your Sales contact.
• Performance improvements related to the libc library.
• Support for additional guest operating system:  HP-UX 11.31.
• Support for extended TLB in rp7400X-NN-750 and N4000X-NN-750 models (experimental feature). In particular, MPE performance may benefit from this (depending on workload characteristics).
• New DIT cache size configuration options.
• Improved SCSI I/O counters.
• JSON statistics output via FIFO and unix domain socket.

New experimental feature in version 3.0.5 build 21904: AMD CPU support.

Known Caveats in Version 3.0.5

Charon-PAR version 3.0.5 has the following known caveats:

• HP-UX 11.31 is only supported on specific models. Server models: rp34xx, rp44xx, rp7405, rp7410, rp7420, rp8420, rp6440, rp8440; workstation models: с8000 (ID#100098). Of these models, the current version of Charon-PAR supports rp34xx and rp44xx.
• Ctrl+c in the Charon-PAR console is passed to the emulator's child processes and kills the PuTTY console process (ID#100188). To prevent this behavior, the emulator serial line configuration can be changed as follows:
  
  • Modify the default configuration serial.uart0.device.command="putty -telnet -P 30000 localhost"
    • either to: serial.uart0.device.command="trap '' SIGINT ; putty -telnet -P 30000 localhost", or
    • to: serial.uart0.device.command="setsid putty -telnet -P 30000 localhost"
• PA9-32 continuous output on shutdown: after the guest system has been shut down, the emulator continuously shows  the message PDC CHASSIS:0XDA00 State= OFF until  the emulator is stopped (ID#100190). This does not affect the normal operation of the emulated system. To revert to the previous behaviour, a new command can be added to the configuration file:
  system.stop_on_halt = false
  It will disable emulator auto-stop after shutting down HP-UX.
• 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).
  

• 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.
• On SMP host systems an unexpected TOC reset was observed during network tests for HP-UX 11.00 and 11.11 (ID#100125).
• 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).
• Under high load tests, a ABORT TAG SCSI error may occur (ID#100180).
• Under rare circumstances, an HP-UX 11.31 guest system may experience a TOC crash (ID#100200).
• When using shutdown -r now on HP-UX 11.31, HP-UX does not enter the GSP console. It works correctly with shutdown -h now (ID#100205).
• Emulator crash can be triggered by repeated execution of the ioscan <disk-device-path> command. Observed in emulated systems with several disks and HP-UX 11.31 (ID#100208).
• Repeated MMU assist off messages may be displayed. This message means that the MMU assistance module detected an unsupported guest OS. It is normal to see these messages during a reset and when the guest OS is starting (when the guest OS is not available).
• If running the Charon emulator host in a Nutanix VM, it must be ensured that Nutanix host partitioning be configured in a way that the emulator's domain (node) does not conflict with or share any resources with other nodes. Failing to do so can cause low performance and instability.

Version 3.0.5 Build 21908 (Patch Release)

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.5 Build 21908

• Further performance and stability improvements (ID#100217).

Version 3.0.5 Build 21907 (Patch Release)

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.5 Build 21907

• Improved stability and fix of SCSI problem causing HP-UX crash (ID#100217).

Version 3.0.5 Build 21906 (Patch Release)

Enhancements and other Important Changes in Version 3.0.5 Build 21906

• Implemented real-time priority for timer task, memory locking, and counters at disk level (ID#100229). If Charon-PAR is to be run from a non-root user, the executable image requires certain capabilities. These capabilities can be set with the command: sudo setcap 'cap_sys_nice+eip cap_ipc_lock+eip cap_net_admin+eip' /opt/charon/bin/charon-par
  Please note: the real-time priority for the timer task requires CPU accounting to be disabled.

Version 3.0.5 Build 21905 (Patch Release)

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.5 Build 21905

• Oracle 11 appears to hang when loading the dataset of the HammerDB TPROC-H workload (ID#100223). Includes MMU statistics improvement.

Version 3.0.5 Build 21904 (Patch Release)

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.5 Build 21904

• DIT: excessive number of retranslations related to Oracle database (ID#100222).

Enhancements and other Important Changes in Version 3.0.5 Build 21904

• As part of the bugfix described above, the following improvements were added:
  • Improved SCSI I/O statistics.
  • FIFO and Unix socket support for json statistics output.
  • DIT cache size can be increased up to 128GB.

Version 3.0.5 Build 21903 (Patch Release)

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.5 Build 21903

• Emulator crash due debug assertion trap (ID#100224).

Version 3.0.5 Build 21902 (Patch Release)

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.5 Build 21902

• Removed restrictions for the number of SCSI disks defined in the emulator configuration (ID#100219).

Version 3.0.5 Build 21901

Problems Fixed in Version 3.0.5 Build 21901

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

• The charon-report tool failed (ID#100193).
• The Infineon SmallTalk application could not start, and emulator showed reserved instruction errors (ID#100194).
• MMU assistance was off on certain emulated models due to a problem with memory layout (ID#100197).
• Trap handling problem when using FPU fast-mode (-F) (ID#100199).
• The LSI/SL 53C1xxx controller family is now supported by the emulator (ID#100189).
• The configuration file templates for the emulated rp3440,rp4440, and oversized rp7400 models are now available (ID#100203).
• Extended TLB size for certain rp7400 and N4000 models (ID#100207).
• PA9-32 continuous output on shutdown: after the guest system has been shut down, the emulator continuously showed  the message PDC CHASSIS:0XDA00 State= OFF until  the emulator was stopped (ID#100190). This did not affect the normal operation of the emulated system. By default, these messages are no longer shown. To revert to the previous behavior, a new command that will disable the auto-stop feature can be added to the configuration file:
  system.stop_on_halt = false
• Message reserved instruction c0000000 (0x30, OP_CTL(0, 0x0)) <--> (0x30, 0x0) is no longer shown (ID#100212).
• When creating a fingerprint file, if it does not contain the data required by the Stromasys licensing concept, hasp_srm_view shows an error message and the reason for the problem (e.g., aksusbd not running) (ID#5623).

Information about Version 3.0.4

Version 3.0.4 Build 21802 (Patch Release)

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).
• 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).
  

• 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 no longer 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)

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.