CHARON-VAX Installation, Configuration, and Migration

A VAX can be virtualized (emulated) on a modern computer, which allows the existing operating system (such as VAX/VMS, OpenVMS, VAXELN), its software, and all applications to be run without change. No reprogramming is required. Most customers report that the emulated system is faster than the original. The CHARON-VAX/6660 Plus product, running on an 4-way dual-core Opteron PC, is faster than any VAX ever built!

This document shows how to get started with the CHARON-VAX product. It's not a complete guide -- customers with questions should contact Quayle Consulting Inc. with questions.

Sections:

Application Notes
Installation
Configuring
Migrating disks using DECnet
Migrating disks using clustering
Mapping disks
Upgrading to a new version of CHARON-VAX

Application Notes and Documentation

The following CHARON-VAX application notes are available. Warning: Some of these items are not application to current versions of CHARON-VAX.

Title	Number	Revision Date
Utilities and Interconnects	Interconnects
CHAPI manual	CHAPI
CD-ROM drives usage in CHARON-VAX	AN-046	(05 Nov 2007)
Migrating systems with local DECWINDOWS display to CHARON-VAX	AN-044	(21 Nov 2006)
Tape devices usage in CHARON-VAX	AN-042	(5 May 2006)
CHARON-VAX applying Windows Patches	AN-041	(30 Jan 2006)
CHARON-VAX clustering using the Open-e iSCSI target	AN-040	(4 Jan 2006)
Remote Management of CHARON-VAX	AN-039	(3 Jun 2005)
Replacing legacy removable storage with CHARON-VAX	AN-038	(3 Jan 2005)
CHARON-VAX as an automatic Service; dependencies and restrictions	AN-037	(24 Jan 2005)
Testing various Shared Disk VAX-cluster	AN-036	(16 Sep 2005)
CHARON-VAX network adapter security	AN-035	(3 Jun 2004)
Required Windows Standard Services	AN-033	(16 Jan 2006)
Configuring devices on the Qbus of a VAX or CHARON-VAX	AN-032	(5 Oct 2005)
Using terminal emulators with CHARON-VAX	AN-030	(3 May 2006)
Recommendations Regarding Security of CHARON-VAX Host Platforms	AN-029	(16 Jun 2004)
Avoiding CHARON-VAX disk time out messages on Windows XP	AN-028	(16 Sep 2003)
Using CHARON-VAX on single CPU Windows systems	AN-027
VAX system performance chart (obsolete)	AN-026
The VAX/VMS licensing structure	AN-025	(23 Jan 06)
Transfer files to CHARON-VAX/AXP virtual SCSI disks	AN-024
Building VMS disk cluster systems with CHARON-VAX	AN-022
Multi-volume tape backup	AN-021
Tape support in CHARON-VAX	AN-020
CHARON-VAX & Alpha/OpenVMS host cluster configuration	AN-019
Ethernet adapters in CHARON-VAX	AN-018
Running VAXELN on CHARON-VAX	AN-017
Running NetBSD 1.5 on CHARON-VAX	AN-016
Accessing SCSI & IDE disks attached to a CHARON-VAX host	AN-014
Serial line LAT terminal performance in CHARON-VAX	AN-013
Running XWindows/Motif applications on CHARON-VAX	AN-012
An example of using VDDRIVER	AN-009
Using ZIP/UNZIP utilities to retain file attributes on VMS	AN-008
Use MGPCX to access DOS floppies in CHARON-VAX	AN-007
Sharing disk container files with other VMS systems	AN-006
Using VAX CD's and floppy disks with CHARON-VAX for OpenVMS/Alpha	AN-005
Using real disks with CHARON-VAX under Windows NT and Windows 2000	AN-004
Connecting CHARON-VAX to a host application	AN-003
Using KERMIT to exchange files with CHARON-VAX	AN-001

Installing CHARON-VAX on Windows using CHARON-VAX XM/XK/XL

The temptation is to insert the Hardlock dongle and slap in the CD. Don't do it! Windows will helpfully install a broken driver, and you'll be dead before getting started. Instead, do the following in order.

Log into Windows as local Administrator, or with Administrator privileges -- do not log in through a domain controller. The install must be done from the console window -- using Terminal Services or other remote-control software that creates a separate session will not work.
Install the Hardlock driver. Download it from ftp.stanq.com (username and password upon request).
Plug in the dongle.
If you have a key update, un-ZIP the short executable and run it. Press the "Write Update" button when the window appears.
Install the CHARON-VAX software. Note: choosing the "default" emulation only changes an icon written to the desktop. All the VAX models are installed, depending on the settings in the dongle.
CHARON-VAX cannot "share" a network interface with any other network protocols.

Click through Start -> Control Panel -> Network to find the network device(s) to be used by CHARON-VAX.
Make sure the network interface that's to be used by CHARON-VAX has the protocol checked.
All other network interfaces must have the CHARON protocol unchecked.

From the properties page of the network interface, cut the name of the device(s). Starting at the right side of the name, left click and hold to highlight the entire name. Press Ctrl-C to get the text into your cut/paste buffer.
Edit an appropriate configuration file (supplied by request from Quayle Consulting) and paste in the device name(s).
"Lock down" the server by following Stromasys application note AN-033.
If you are using physical serial ports, follow these directions from the CHARON-VAX manual:.

Open Computer Management, select Device Manager, open Ports (COM&LPT), select the desired COM port, open the Properties dialogue, select the tab Port Settings, then click "Advanced". There you will see FIFO settings. Set the TX FIFO depth to 1 (lowest possible). Otherwise CHARON-VAX/XX is not able to properly detect when the TX FIFO is empty. For the same reason, it is strongly recommend not to enable the option "COMPLETE WRITE REQUESTS IMMEDIATELY".

You are now ready to run CHARON-VAX.

Configuring CHARON-VAX

The CHARON-VAX software requires a configuration file. Entries in the configuration file include:

The model of VAX to emulate
The amount of memory to emulate
Whether or not to use the "Plus" functionality (if the key is enabled for Plus)
What to use as the VAX console. Choices include mapping to a host's serial port, or launching a terminal emulator.
Disks visible to the VAX, how they appear (MSCP, SCSI, etc.), and what they connect to in the host system
Tape drives visible to the VAX
Network interfaces, and how they appear
Optional special devices, such as the VAXprint line-printer emulation

Configuration tips:

If a terminal emulator is launched as the console, its executable must be in the same directory as the configuration file. The "opa0.ht" file which comes with CHARON-VAX works because files ending in ".ht" are associated in Windows with HyperTerminal.
The directory holding the configuration file should only have letters and digits in it. For example, "CHARON VAX" is to be avoided, while "CHARONVAX" is fine.
Disks container files and virtual tape container files can be on any drive in the host system, but the directory name cannot contain spaces or dashes.
If Windows installs a device driver for a tape drive, its device name is "\\.\Tape0". The SCSI_Check utility can find devices on the host's SCSI bus, but doesn't work on Windows Server 2003.
The VAX 4106 emulation can display devices as either SCSI-connected or MSCP-connected. The MSCP version is faster.

The CHARON-VAX Launcher application is a very convenient tool to start CHARON-VAX. Use the "browse" button to find your configuration file. Some tips:

The CHARON-VAX log file is displayed in the main window. Errors are color-coded. Red messages usually prevent CHARON-VAX from starting.
Click the "Run selected configuration" button to launch CHARON-VAX using the displayed configuration file.
The "Edit CFG" button is only active when CHARON-VAX is not running. When active, it brings the configuration file up in Notepad. You must close Notepad before the "Run" button will work.
The button to create a Windows Service should be avoided until you're to "burn" that configuration file into the Windows Registry as a Windows service.

Things to look out for:

It's possible to use the host system's CD drive as a CD drive in the VAX environment. However, if a disk has been in the drive with a Windows-readable format prior to starting CHARON-VAX, the start of CHARON-VAX will fail. The host system must be rebooted and the drive left empty until CHARON-VAX starts.
CHARON-VAX cannot "share" network interfaces with Windows protocols. If an emulated interface is off-line or doesn't work, check the protocols on the device.
Emulating a VAX processor is a full-time job, so don't be surprised to see that one processor is running at 100% CPU. This is why dual-processor or hyperthreading is required for a supported configuration. A special "idle" program is available from Stromasys to throttle the CPU when nothing is happening, but it's not recommended for production use.
If the VAX system clock loses time during operation, the host system is most likely too slow for correct performance. Single-processor systems are very likely to exhibit this behavior.

Migrating Disks Using DECnet

My preferred approach is to perform BACKUP/IMAGE operations across DECnet. The general process is:

On the CHARON-VAX system, create a container file (using MKDISK) that's at least 25% bigger than the largest disk on your system. On a suitably new version of VMS, you could create a container that would hold all of your existing disks at the same time, which would allow you to overlap some operations.
Create empty containers, one for each disk on the original VAX. You might want to consider making them bigger than the real disks if they are short on space.
Modify the configuration file to reference all the containers from the previous steps.
Boot VMS.
Start DECnet.
Mount the virtual disk created in the first step (the following assumes you've used DUA100 for this disk):

$ INIT DUA100 SCRATCH
$ MOUNT/SYS/NOASSIST DUA100 SCRATCH

On the real VAX, shut down all the batch queues, kick off the users, and close any databases. The goal is to close as many files as possible. For each disk, you can do (this example is for DKA100):

$ SHOW DEV/FILE DKA100

The system disk will have several files open (pagefile, swapfile, etc.), but this is normal.
Maximize the performance of transfers with the following command:

$ SET RMS/BUFFER=127/NET=127

Back up each disk. I've assumed that the CHARON-VAX system is node 1.400 in this example. And I've created a DECnet proxy so no username and password are required.

$ BACKUP/IMAGE/IGNORE=INTER DKA100: 400::DISK$SCRATCH:[000000]DKA100.BCK/SAVE
$ BACKUP/IMAGE/IGNORE=INTER DKA200: 400::DISK$SCRATCH:[000000]DKA200.BCK/SAVE
etc.

After each copy is complete and successful, do the following for each disk:

$ MOUNT/FOR DUA100:
$ BACKUP/IMAGE DISK$SCRATCH:[000000]DKA100.BCK/SAVE DUA100:
$ DISMOUNT DUA100:
If you'd like to test the restored disk, do:

$ MOUNT/OVER=ID DUA100:
$ ANALYZE/DISK DUA100:
$ DISMOUNT DUA100

Migrating Disks Using Clustering

Another way to migrate using the network is via clustering. This is simpler than the DECnet migration, since the disks are directly accessible. The general process is:

Create empty containers, one for each disk on the original VAX. You might want to consider making them bigger than the real disks if they are short on space.
Modify the configuration file to reference all the containers from the previous step.
Boot VMS using one of these two methods:

Using the existing VAX as a boot server. This requires that you do @CLUSTER_CONFIG on the real VAX, which modifies the existing system. The MAC address to specify to CLUSTER_CONFIG can be set using the "STATION_ADDRESS" feature of CHARON-VAX.
Use a stand-alone version of VMS. If you don't know the cluster number and cluster password, use DECnet to copy SYS$SYSTEM:CLUSTER_AUTHORIZE.DAT from the real VAX to SYS$SYSTEM on the emulated VAX. Modify SYSGEN parameters to enable clustering on the emulated VAX and then reboot.

On the real VAX, shut down all the batch queues, kick off the users, and close any databases. The goal is to close as many files as possible. For each disk, you can do (this example is for DKA100):

$ SHOW DEV/FILE DKA100

The system disk will have several files open (pagefile, swapfile, etc.), but this is normal.
Back up each real disk:

$ MOUNT/FOR DUA100:
$ BACKUP/IMAGE/IGNORE=INTER REAL$DKA100: DUA100:
$ DISMOUNT DUA100:
If you'd like to test the restored disk, do:

$ MOUNT/OVER=ID DUA100:
$ ANALYZE/DISK DUA100:
$ DISMOUNT DUA100:

Mapping Disks

In the "Migrating Disks" sections, I glossed over an important bit about device naming. Notice that the original system has disk DKA100, and we restored it to device DUA100. In CHARON-VAX, the emulated "DU" devices are much higher performance that the emulated "DK" devices. There's no "DI" device types, since CHARON-VAX doesn't have a DSSI emulation. So, the names of the disks might need to change on the CHARON-VAX system.

First create a list of the disks on the original system. In this list, I've included the size of the disk, in blocks, which you'd need to create the matching container files.

Original Device Name	Disk Size, blocks
$1$DIA0	4419450
$1$DIA4	4419450
$1$DUA500	7622370
$1$DUA501	7622370
DAVE$DUA0	3461990
DAVE$DUB0	2766299

This looks like we're home free on DUA500 through DUA501, but CHARON-VAX has a limit of DUA255. And there are DIA and DUB device types, too.

It's possible to define a second DU controller, and those container files would come up as "DUB" devices. Just add the following to the configuration file:

load RQDX3/RQDX3 DUB
set DUB container[0]="C:\DISKS\dub0.vdisk"

For the other devices, we choose new device names. So, for example:

Original Device Name	Disk Size, blocks	New Device Name
$1$DIA0	4419450	DUA100
$1$DIA4	4419450	DUA104
$1$DUA500	7622370	DUA50
$1$DUA501	7622370	DUA51
DAVE$DUA0	3461990	DUA0
DAVE$DUB0	2766299	DUB0

The entries in the configuration file would look like:

load RQDX3/RQDX3 DUA
set DUA container[100]="C:\DISKS\dia0.vdisk"
set DUA container[104]="C:\DISKS\dia4.vdisk"
set DUA container[50]="C:\DISKS\dua500.vdisk"
set DUA container[51]="C:\DISKS\dua501.vdisk"
set DUA container[0]="C:\DISKS\dua0.vdisk"
load RQDX3/RQDX3 DUB
set DUB container[0]="C:\DISKS\dub0.vdisk"

The container file names could be anything, but that would make it extra confusing.

Now that we've got these devices appearing in the emulated VAX, it's time to hook them up to the old device names. There are several command procedures in SYS$MANAGER that can be modified to mount disks. These should be scanned (use SEARCH) for references to the old device names. The order that these are executed are as follows.

SYCONFIG.COM
SYSECURITY.COM
SYPAGSWPFILES.COM
SYLOGICALS.COM
SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM (for VMS V6.0 and later)
SYSTARTUP_V5.COM (for VMS V5.0 through V5.5 and later)

Make sure to check any other command procedures that these routines might call!

When the MOUNT/SYSTEM command is used on a disk whose label is XYZ, a system logical name of DISK$XYZ is created. If all accesses to that disk use that logical name, you're done. If only life was that simple...

The devices in the table above can be accessed by any of the following references (excluding the trailing colon):

Reference	Comment
DIA0 DUA0	The local system is assumed, if more than one disk in the cluster matches
$1$DIA0	The ALLOCLASS SYSGEN parameter is 1, or (for DSSI devices) the disk was configured with a value of 1
_$1$DIA0 _DAVE$DUA0	This is the FULLDEVNAM of the device
DAVE$DUA0	If the ALLOCLASS is zero, and SCSNODE is "DAVE", the disks can be accessed via this name.

You have two choices on fixing this situation. You can either fix every reference, or cheat using logical names.

Here are the logical names you have to set (using the mapping table above). Don't forget the colon (:) after the new device name!

$ DEFINE/SYS/EXEC/TRANS=CONCEAL DIA0            DUA100:
$ DEFINE/SYS/EXEC/TRANS=CONCEAL $1$DIA0    DUA100:
$ DEFINE/SYS/EXEC/TRANS=CONCEAL _$1$DIA0   DUA100:

The DUA0 references don't have to be set, since they didn't change. Unless the SCSNODE value isn't DAVE anymore. Suppose we merge system DAVE into the system named FRED. We'd have to do the following:

$ DEFINE/SYS/EXEC/TRANS=CONCEAL DAVE$DUA0 DUA0:
$ DEFINE/SYS/EXEC/TRANS=CONCEAL _DAVE$DUA0 DUA0:

Upgrading to a New Version of CHARON-VAX

Shut down VMS normally.
Exit CHARON-VAX

If installed as a service, stop the service
If not installed as a service, right-click the CHARON icon in the system tray and exit

If personalized files (configuration files, disk images, CHARON parameters such as .dat and .log files) are stored in the CHARON-VAX installation area, copy them elsewhere.
Uninstall CHARON-VAX using the "Add or Remove Programs" entry in the Windows Control Panel.
Remove the CHARON Packet driver (NDIS 5) from the assigned network adapter(s).
Remove the license key.
Delete the Hardlock driver using the Control Panel.
Re-boot the host PC.
Apply the CHARON-VAX license key update.
Install the new CHARON-VAX kit.
Add the CHARON Packet driver (NDIS 5) from the new kit to the network adapters to be used by CHARON-VAX. Make sure any adapters used by Windows have that porotocol uncheck.
Re-boot the host PC.
Restore the files saved earlier, if applicable.
Restart CHARON-VAX and boot VMS.

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OpenVMS is a trademark of Hewlett-Packard.
CHARON-VAX and CHARON-AXP are trademarks of Stromasys. Quayle Consulting Inc. is an authorized reseller of CHARON products.
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