Version: 8 - Published: 04 Nov 2024

Products included in the Charon-VAX version 4.12 for Linux

In this document the terms Charon and Charon-VAX are used to refer to following Charon products to be run on a Linux Charon host system:

Charon-VAX/XM
Charon-VAX/XM PLUS
Charon-VAX/XK PLUS
Charon-VAX/XL
Charon-VAX/XL
Charon-VAX/6610
Charon-VAX/6620
Charon-VAX/6630
Charon-VAX/6660

Supported software platforms

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Oracle Linux 7.x to 9.x (64-bit)
Rocky Linux 8.x and 9.x (64-bit)
CentOS 7.x (64-bit)
Hypervisors: VMware ESXi 5.5 – 8.0; Microsoft Hyper-V; KVM (require a supported Linux operating system running in the virtual machine).
Note that prerequisites of additional products may limit the choice of hypervisors. For example, a VE license server VM requires VMware ESXi 6.5 or higher. Please refer to the appropriate documentation.

Please note: for CentOS 7, a connection to the Internet is required to install the glibc.i686 package which is not included in the Standard distribution DVD. If there's no connection available, please use the "Everything" distribution DVD.

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

Support of VE (Virtual Environment) licensing. For more information see Virtual Environment (VE) License Server Documentation
Support for EL9 (RHEL9, Rocky Linux 9, Oracle Linux 9)
New packaging: installation kits are distributed in self-extracting shell archives that require agreeing to the EULA (End User License Agreement) when the archive is unpacked.
To unpack, use the command: sh <archive-name>.
The SCSI device configuration changed. It now is the same as the configuration for SCSI controllers in Charon-AXP. Charon-VAX is backward compatible to the old configuration syntax. Please refer to the 4.12 configuration file template of your model to learn more about the new syntax.

Problems fixed and other changes

Build 210-13

Fix VAX CPU Timer to avoid "Divide by 0" exceptions when booting VAX/VMS standalone backup images (ID#5839). Sample message in case the problem occurs:
```
>>>b mua0
(BOOT/R5:0 MUA0)

2..
|?4F SCBINT, MUA0
|?06 HLT INST
| PC = 00000C1A
|Failure.
|>>>_
```

Build 210-12

None; Charon-AXP bug fixes only.

Build 210-11

Update Stromasys End User License Agreement (EULA) to version issued on 16 February 2024.

Build 210-10

Updated End User License Agreement (EULA) text.

Build 210-09

Products have been rebuild with updated license libraries (VE_LSI 1.0.1) to log a message should there be a certificate mismatch between license server and the emulator host (ID#5799).

Build 210-08

Fix packaging self-extracting archives. Force use of AES encryption to avoid warning (WARNING: message was not integrity protected) on product installation (ID#5792).

Build 210-07

Updated End User License Agreement (EULA) text (ID#5782).

Build 210-06

New End User License Agreement (EULA) text (ID#5782).

Build 210-05

Add logging an error message indicating syntax error in storage container specification. Previously, such errors were quietly igored or the affected devices were set to offline (ID#5766).

Build 210-04

Emulation of VAX 6000-6xx has been fixed to re-enable handling of BREAK and Ctrl-P keys on VAX Serial Console (OPA0) (ID#5760).

Build 210-03

Kit packaging process was corrected to avoid corruption of HASPVLIB shared object files, which provide support for software license (SL) (ID#5748).
Kit packaging process was corrected to provide correct version of NCU script and utility that are best suited for EL9 (ID#5751).

Build 210-02

A fix has been provided so that log flush period is correctly maintained during initial license acquisition. With this fix, a failure to acquire license at startup is reported with (periodic) log flush rather than on emulator exit due to missing license (ID#5747).

Build 210-01

A fix has been provided to built-in license manager to permit use of CHAPI modules (ID#5739).
Dependencies for the Charon-AXP/VAX RPMs have been changed so that charon-license and aksusbd modules are not required (ID#5743). This assumes that a VE license sever will be deployed. For HASP licensing, the two packets must be installed.
Fix default handling of SIGPIPE signal to prevent abnormal termination of emulator process on reception of the signal (ID#5744).

Build 210-00

The processing of the following HASP licensing errors was changed such that the emulator will no longer terminate immediately but instead observe the grace period (ID#5717):
- HASP_SHARING_VIOLATION (HASP runtimer error code 84)
- HASP_DEVICE_ERR (HASP runtime error code 43)
- HASP_SCOPE_RESULTS_EMPTY (HASP runtime error code 50)
Fix emulation of KDM70 storage controller to avoid lost interrupt by VAX/VMS (ID#5732). Sample message: "DSA" PORT SUB-SYSTEM, UNIT _PUA0:, LOST INTERRUPT

Configuration changes required when upgrading from previous version(s) or migrating from Windows platform to version 4.12 on Linux

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 a supported version.
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 V4.12 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
load physical_scsi_device pka_5 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=5 set pka_5 container="/dev/sg3"
must be changed to
load virtual_scsi_tape pka_5 scsi_bus=pka scsi_id=5 set pka_5 container="/dev/sg3"

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

Known restrictions of version 4.12

Network booting is supported with exception of VAX6xxx models.
UETP reports errors on MU tape drive, if it runs on VAX-6310 (ID#1942).
CharonCP SET MAGTAPE utility does not support TQK50/TUK50 controllers (ID#5398).
MicroVAX II emulator may hang on booting MDM (ID#3382).
VAX emulator may fail to boot standalone backup from physical tape drive. It is recommended to convert physical tapes to .VTAPE files using MTD utility and perform boot standalone backup from virtual tape. (ID#1870).
Sometimes VAX 6310 does not boot guest OS. The workaround is to restart the emulator (ID#5384).
Sometimes OpenVMS 7.2 freezes on booting. The workaround is to restart the emulator (ID#5396).
A segmentation violation in module NCR53C94 may very rarely occur. If that happens, please provide Charon configuration and log files to Stromasys (ID#4633).
CMS commands may slow down due to a its internal design. STROMASYS provides (on request) a special OpenVMS utility to solve the problem (ID#4651).
Charon cannot correctly define the total number of available CPUs on multi CPU groups systems (NUMA architecture, etc) - it reports only a number of the CPUs found in its first group. This problem will be fixed in future releases.
As a workaround, enable "Node interleaving" in the BIOS (if available) to make the BIOS report the total number of available CPUs (as a part of one consolidated NUMA group) to the operating system.
For example, on HP Proliant servers, the configuration sequence is the following:
- Boot the server, press F9 and enter BIOS setup.
- Select "Advanced Options" -> "Advance Performance Tuning Options" -> "Node Interleaving", set it to "Enabled".
- Boot Linux
If a network cable is disconnected, Charon-VAX might not detect that link is down (ID#4318).
Unexpected exception (SCB + 004) machine check may happen on a VAX 4000 Model 700/705 under certain rare conditions (ID#4242).
Charon-VAX does not emulate graphical adapter. Applications hard-coded to use graphical hardware as their own interfaces may not function correctly.
By default, the layout of the right part of the PC keyboard is not mapped to the layout of the VT100 keyboard. Use a special script created by Geoff Kingsmill ( http://www.decuslib.com/decus/freewarev50/decxterm/decxterm ). Run this script, then run Charon-VAX normally according to instructions in the Users's Guide. (ID#3030). See this article for more: Input issues with telnet.
Telnet to the Charon console is only supported in CHAR mode. LINE mode is not supported. To enable CHAR mode interactively, connect to Charon-AXP via telnet and press Ctrl-]. Then issue the command mode char to enable character mode. Alternatively, you can add the command to your .telnetrc file.

Network speed auto negotiation works with some restrictions (see the table below). It is always recommended to use full duplex mode on the hosting server.

Host settings	VAX/VMS (autodetect mode)
1 Gbps full duplex	10 Mbps full duplex
100 Mbps full duplex	10 Mbps full duplex
100 Mbps half duplex	10 Mbps half duplex
10 Mbps full duplex	10 Mbps full duplex
10 Mbps half duplex	10 Mbps half duplex

VMS 7.x Monitor utility shows the maximum CPU quantity instead of actually configured quantity.
A Telnet session from OpenVMS running on emulated host may freeze console output. The console output can hang when the virtual serial line sends XOFF/XON sequence. The TELNET client sends XOFF to the remote node's TELNET server to suspend output, but for unknown reason XON is discarded and remote node's TELNET server has no chance to resume output. The console remains "frozen". As the remote site is not sending any output to it. When that happens, the local node is reachable over network, and can be unlocked by typing the 'break' character - usually "Ctrl-]" and exiting telnet session by typing "exit" at "TELNET>" prompt.

New functionality introduced in previous versions

New functionality introduced in version 4.11 build 204-13

Feature Request: incoming connection requests are by default filtered for virtual serial lines and then allowed only for the localhost. This is to avoid security scanners that can block the port, OPA0 console mainly. To allow other hosts to connect to the virtual line, add the "set OPA0 access_control = disable" line in the configuration file (ID#5707). Please note: this requires to use the new syntax to define OPA0. Please read the user's guide "Console" chapter.

New functionality introduced in version 4.11 build 204-11

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).

New functionality introduced in version 4.11 build 204-10

None, used to match build number of Charon-AXP in case both products are installed on the same server.

New functionality introduced in version 4.11 build 204-09

Sentinel Runtime upgraded to version 8.13.
Special version of NCU (Network Configuration Utility) is included with Linux products for RHEL8.
Remote management console feature added. Its purpose is to let the emulator trigger actions on the Charon host to properly unload and save a vtape container while the guest operating system is running.
To facilitate online log monitoring by third-party tools, the log file (session or OPA0) is flushed on disk regularly. Interval for periodic flush to be supplied through configuration file (optionally) (ID#5532).
New version of PuTTY, supporting "-title" option (ID#5590).
The parameter "port_enable_mac_addr_change" is available on Linux version of Charon as well (ID#5594).
Charon executable files print a summary of options on "-h" or "--help" command line option (ID#5578).
Sample configuration files are updated (ID#5246, #5622).
Fixed a problem where Charon could report a "failed clock_nanosleep" error message (ID#5684, ID#5685).

New functionality introduced in version 4.10 build 202-03

IEQ11 board is implemented on top of (couple of) NI PCI-GPIB interface cards (ID#4670).
Linux bonding adapters are supported (ID#4750).
Kernel version and System release are included to the log (ID#5393).
Log is flushed regularly and asynchronously to facilitate online LOG monitoring by third-party tools (ID#5532).
VMware Ethernet adapters: in addition to the E1000, E1000E and VMXNETx adapters are now fully supported.
Copyright notes are updated in all sample configuration files (ID#5399).
Licensing mechanism is improved (ID#5375, 5458, 5459).
Network License management processing changes (ID#4631).
hasp_srm_view output is improved (ID#5392).
"ncu" utility is improved (ID#5404).
"license_key_lookup_retry" functionality has been broken (so no retry was performed) (ID#5538).

New functionality introduced in version 4.9 build 194-02

To address security issues new Sentinel LDK 7.6 is used for building this release; most up-to-date Sentinel run-time (v7.63) is included (ID#5211, ID#5227).
Network performance and stability has been significantly improved (ID#5111, ID#4987).
USB physical drive support is improved (ID#3323).
Virtual lines implementation is improved (ID#4983).
User part of Charon configuration (set by CFG file) is reflected in the log (ID#5156).
Some improvements of the messages in the log (ID#5356).
Minor update in Charon logs on Linux: kernel version and system release are added (ID#5393).
Hard-coded host system limits are replaced with limits encoded in the license's memory block (ID#3263).
Hard-coded upper limit on license check interval to 168 hours is increased (ID#5031, Case #00029470).
New configuration options "license_use_any_key" and "license_id" are implemented (ID#5289).
Should Charon lose access to its license, the product now offers a longer grace period and more frequent intermediate checks.
RPM script is improved for update process (ID#5139).
hasp_srm_view is improved (ID#5027, ID#5214, ID#5243, ID#5304, ID#5322).
TapeUtil (CharonCP) is improved (ID#3589).
NCU is improved (ID#5133, ID#4950).

New functionality introduced in version 4.8 build 183-02

DIT (ACE) is enabled starting from this release for all Charon-VAX products.
Charon performance is improved (ID#4769).
HASP libraries have been upgraded (ID#4709, ID#4450).
All the libraries are linked statically (ID#4710).
Instruction scheduling is updated with Ivy Bridge and Haswell tables (ID#4619).
Preserving console saved state across product upgrades is implemented (ID#4782).
The default log mode has been set to "append" in the configuration templates (ID#4752).
Loop devices ("/dev/loop0") support as the storage containers is implemented (ID#4908).
Field Test and Production builds offer identical functionality (ID#4552).
One license can serve Charon instances on one host or different hosts by choice (ID#4884).
Software License transfer feature is disabled (ID#4787).
This release is available on RHEL 6.x x64 as well (ID#4894).
CentOS 7.x is now supported.
Fedora support has been removed.
"Charon.service" template is introduced instead of the old "Charon" template (ID#4968).
NCU supports VLAN configuration (ID#4857).
Tape Utilities package is added (ID#3589).
The "-key <key-ID>" option (when generating a C2V file using the "-c2v" option) is implemented in "hasp_srm_view" utility. This option is required if more than one license is visible. (ID#4965).

New functionality introduced in older versions

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x is supported.
VMware ESXi 6.0 is supported.
Charon binaries are linked statically starting with 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.
All emulated VAX models are installed by default. Allowed VAX models are controlled by Charon license (ID#4711).
On 64-bit Linux Charon is able to address up to 3.5 GB emulated VAX RAM for /6630 and /6660 models.
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).
Charon 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).
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 (requires 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 note that Charon HASP runtime environment is customized by Stromasys. Environment downloaded directly from 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.
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).
ACE (DIT) has been significantly improved (ID#4423).
Network Configuration Utility (NCU) is improved. Now it supports virtual adapters (TAP), VLAN, switching off the offload features etc (ID#4373).
An interface for external diagnostic data collection is implemented (ID#42385).
Charon is able to support disabling network offload features (ID#4298).
The help for "mkdskcmd" utility is improved (ID#4372).
NI cluster support is improved (ID#4392).
"license_key_lookup_retry" parameter is introduced to wait for Charon license to become available (ID#4399).
Usage of PCI-to-PCI bridges is available (ID#4428).
"disconnect_timeout" parameter is introduced to deal with some attached SCSI devices operations delays correctly (ID#4438).
"mkdskcmd" feature of transforming one disk to another one (having different type/geometry) has been significantly improved (ID#4506).
Charon log is only in English language now (ID#4509).
VLAN is supported by Charon (ID#4401).

Problems fixed in previous versions

Problems fixed in version 4.11 build 204-15

KDM70 reports many LOST INTERRUPT errors while running multiple backup tests (ID#5732).

Problems fixed in version 4.11 build 204-13

Log rotation now correctly reports ACTUAL license details in log header: it takes care of license change (ID#5720 - Support Case 00033462)

Problems fixed in version 4.11 build 204-11

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)

Problems fixed in version 4.11 build 204-10

None, used to match build number of Charon-AXP in case both products are installed on the same server.

Problems fixed in version 4.11 build 204-09

Fixed DEMNA implementation to prevent VAX 6000 Model 6x0 from hang while joining NI cluster on boot.
Very new SCSI tape drives may fail if they are addressed via "physical_scsi_device" instance (as it is recommended). In this case their support is provided via "virtual_scsi_tape" instance (ID #5488).
Fixed a problem leading to repeating "circuit down" situation immediately followed by STARTNET if DEMNA network interface is used (ID #5641).
Fixed a problem where the specification of "log_rotation_period = 0" ("never") did not work correctly (ID#5580, Support Case 00031938).
Fixed a problem with fast growing "Unrecognized frame destination" counter of DEMNA with customer application on VAX 6000 Model 610 (ID#5617).
Fixed a problem where negotiated line speed is reported incorrectly at DECnet startup (ID#5626).
Fixed a problem where sometimes PT.EXE (performance tool) may freeze (ID#5614).
Fixed a problem with CPUSPINWAIT bugcheck of VAX 6620 (ID#5551).
DEMNA logging mechanism is corrected (ID #5646).
Serial lines logging is corrected (ID #5647).

Problems fixed in version 4.10 build 202-03

Fixed a problem where Charon-VAX hung on exit waiting for PUTTY to terminate (ID#5528).
Fixed a problem where VAX Cluster hung in certain configurations (Support Case 00030570, 00030564, ID#5426).
Fixed a problem where it was impossible to mount physical tape on "MicroVAX_3100_Model_98" model (ID#5488, 5489).
Fixed a problem where sometimes network does not work with PMAD-AA (ID#5067).
Fixed a problem leading to the message "(95) Operation not supported: EWA0: Failed to query for max frame size. Assume 1518." (ID#4899).
Fixed an issue where Team0 interface disappearing after being dedicated to Charon with NCU (ID#5434).
Fixed a problem where CharonCP failed to install on OpenVMS 6.2-1H3 (ID#5329).
Fixed a problem where Charon reports "Can not change current Ethernet address... Dynamic change of ethernet address is disabled or is not supported" if port_enable_mac_addr_change is set to false (error code 00000113) as an error instead of a warning (ID#5443).

Problems fixed in version 4.9 build 194-02

Fixed a problem where the "mtd" utility accepts a parameter w/o notification that this parameter is not allowed (ID#5300).
Fixed a problem where Virtual Machines Manager does not pick up changes in log file specification and configuration names if the VM name contains spaces (ID#5390, Case #00029909).
Fixed a problem with incorrect license information in the log file (ID#5287).
Fixed a problem where Charon may start with expired license (ID#5265).
Fixed a problem where "mkdskcmd" was not able to enlarge a disk image if its size is more than 4Gb (ID#5237).
Fixed a problem where OpenVMS periodically stalls for few seconds then recovers (ID#5060, Case #00029554).
Fixed a problem where host CPU (its number of threads) is reported incorrectly in the log file (ID#5004).
Fixed performance degradation caused by slowing down I/O thread by DIT one (ID#5162).
Fixed a data loss during backup to virtual tape, leading to lost savesets (ID#5144, Case #00029944).
Fixed a problem where a virtual disk is "unloaded" on dismount and cannot be mounted again (ID#5136, Case #00029906).
Fixed "print" option in "ncu" utility (ID#5133).
Fixed "hasp_srm_view" issue of impossibility to display all available licenses (ID#5088).
Fixed VAX 4705 ROM self-test fatal hardware error (ID#4958, Case #00029315).
Fixed a loss of date/time synchronization after DST change (ID#5029).
Fixed a problem where VAX 4705 ROM self-test detects a fatal hardware error on the VAX virtual machine (ID#4958, Case #00029315).
Fixed a problem leading to setting incorrect ethernet address to FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF (ID#5097).
Fixed a BUGCHECK on backup of a bypass disk to a virtual tape (ID#5239).

Problems fixed in version 4.8 build 183-02

Fixed the situation when Charon does not start if "/var/lock/lockdev/" semaphores are in "incorrect" state (ID#4228)
Fixed incorrect mapping to "/dev/st" devices in the sample configuration files (ID#4703)
Fixed incorrect denotation of the distributive RPM package (ID#4734)
Fixed incorrect handling of disconnect timeout on devices connected as "/dev/sgN" (ID#4790)
Fixed the situation where "hasp_srm_view" incorrectly displays license expiration date when multiple licenses are examined (ID#4922)
Fixed wrong error message in log if no core is available for reservation (ID#4867, Case #00028768)
Fixed a negative value in Charon log displayed in the case of long ID some Software Licenses (SL) may have (ID#4913)
Fixed impossibility to install Ultrix 4.3 and 4.5 on MicroVAX II (ID#4383)
Fixed VAX 6620 hang up when running VAX ROM diagnostic (ID#3542)
Fixed invalid message in the log file when starting MicroVAX II with RAM size 8Mb (ID#4699)
Fixed Charon-VAX service (cluster config) stuck after an overflow of the RX buffer (ID#4821)
Fixed incorrect reporting of Host CPU (N of Threads) in Charon log file (ID#5004)
Fixed irrelevant messages on unlocking VDISK media (ID#5012, Case #00029419)
Fixed a problem where NCU disables "Create and Remove bridge" option (ID#4950)
Fixed an issue leading to situation when a serial line output is frozen (ID#4983)

Problems fixed in older versions

Compatibility issue between Charon-VAX and Charon-AXP on the same host has been fixed. Please use the same build 204-09 of Charon-VAX and Charon-AXP to run on the same host
Fixed an incorrect handling of block data transfer via CI/DSSI cluster interconnect (ID#4648)
Fixed an overflow of SST Queue Progress Counter (ID#4434, 4539)
Fixed an exception (C0000005) at 10005324: Segmentation violation crash (ID#4481, 4540)
Fixed various issues with Charon on the fly switching between primary and backup licenses of different types (local, network, software) (ID#4058, 4179, 4502, 4622)
Fixed a crash during a reboot after performing Autogen (ID#4598)
Fixed VAX/VMS 5.5-2 DSSI Cluster hang on boot (ID#4658)
Fixed logging with RAM set to 8MB for MicroVAX configuration (ID#4699)
Fixed an inconsistent error message "Cannot connect to *.vtape" (ID#4612)
Fixed an "F6" key handling for Charon-VAX running as a service (ID#4600)
Fixed examples in configuration templates for "/dev/st" mapping (ID#4703)
Fixed VAX SRM console test 19 failure on autoboot after Linux boot (ID#4528, 4672)
Fixed an issue with setting a baud rate on a serial line other then 9600 (ID#4590)
Fixed MSCP disks shown as DSSI in SRM console (ID#1840)
Fixed VMS on VAX 66x0 presenting vtape container as a vdisk (ID#4352)
Fixed an occasional time drift (ID#4341)
Fixed a VAX 66x0 crash due to segmentation violation (ID#4304)
Fixed out of order network packets transmission if multiple network sessions are established with a single host (ID#4302)
Fixed iSCSI disk sharing MV II and MV 3600 (ID#3054)
Minor fixes to logging and utilities version information (ID#4214, 4349, 4388, 4425)
In some particular situations F6 button did not stop Charon execution, now it is fixed (ID#4365)
Incorrect info about HOST in Charon's log file is fixed (ID#4367)
ULTRIX version 4.3 and 4.5 cannot be booted on any model of Charon-VAX having an RQDX3 adapter (for example MicroVAXII, MicroVAX3600) and the ACE feature of CPU turned on. Now this problem is fixed. (ID#4383)
A Valid Network license was not accepted automatically on expiration of the SL (Software License). It leaded to Charon-VAX stopping. Now this problem is fixed. (ID#4179)
"mkdskcmd" utility changed uppercase letter to lowercase including file names (ID#4562)
The NCU utility sets the "gro" feature to OFF when it dedicates a networks card to Charon-VAX. However this feature was still ON after Linux reboots (ID#4409)

Charon-VAX V4.12 for Linux - Release Notes

Table of Contents