vtServer® vtAlpha/vtVAX Bare Metal V4.0.1

Reference Manual BU-0002-27

vtServer Reference Manual BU-0002-27 (January 2, 2020)

© 2019 AVT/Vere vtAlpha and vtVAX are marketed jointly by AVT and Vere Technologies LLC

Table of Contents

1. First Steps ...... 1 1.1. Why Use Virtualization ...... 3 1.2. Some Terminology ...... 4 1.3. Features Overview ...... 5 2. Installing vtServer ...... 7 2.1. Prerequisites ...... 7 2.2. Installing vtServer on a Hypervisor ...... 8 2.2.1. Impact of Running on a Virtual Host ...... 9 2.2.2. Virtual Host Criteria ...... 10 2.2.3. Performance ...... 10 2.2.4. Shared Resources ...... 10 2.2.5. CPU Requirements ...... 10 2.2.6. USB Port...... 11 2.2.7. Storage ...... 12 2.2.8. Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) ...... 13 2.2.9. Licensing ...... 14 2.2.10. vtServer Software Installation ...... 14 2.2.11. Hypervisor Specific Information ...... 15 2.2.12. VMware ...... 15 2.2.13. Hyper_V...... 19 2.2.14. KVM ...... 20 2.3. Performing the Installation ...... 21 2.3.1. Upgrade/Repair ...... 21 2.3.2. Install vtServer ...... 22 2.4. Installation of Optional Kits ...... 23 2.5. Install vtLicense ...... 25 2.6. Unattended Installation ...... 26 2.7. Performing an Upgrade ...... 26 2.8. Snapshot Management ...... 27 2.9. Version Updates ...... 29 3. Managing vtServer/vtLicense ...... 30 3.1. Open SSH Console ...... 30 3.2. Backup Host settings ...... 31 3.3. vtScan ...... 33 4. Configuring vtServer/vtLicense ...... 35 4.1. Navigation ...... 35 4.2. Networking ...... 39 4.2.1. Introduction to Virtual Networking ...... 40 4.2.2. Configure Network ...... 44 4.2.3. Using a Virtual Switch ...... 45 4.2.4. Using a Bond ...... 46 4.2.5. Setup a VLAN ...... 48 4.3. Storage ...... 49 4.3.1. Storage Overview ...... 50 4.3.2. Using Physical Disks ...... 52

4.3.3. Creating and Using Logical Disks ...... 54 4.3.4. Tape Image Files ...... 59 4.3.5. CD/DVD Support ...... 61 4.3.6. NFS ...... 64 4.3.7. SMB ...... 66 4.3.8. iSCSI Storage ...... 67 4.3.9. Fiber Channel (SAN) ...... 68 4.4. Hostname ...... 70 4.5. Services ...... 71 4.6. Date and Time ...... 73 4.7. User Management ...... 74 4.7.1. Users ...... 76 4.7.2. Roles ...... 79 4.7.3. Security Settings for Users ...... 82 4.8. Alerts ...... 86 4.9. Keyboard ...... 90 4.10. Snapshots ...... 91 4.10.1. Important Things to Know When Using Snapshots ...... 93 4.10.2. Convert vtServer System Partition from ext4 to btrfs ...... 95 4.11. HTTPS and Certificates ...... 97 4.12. System Parameters ...... 100 4.13. System Information ...... 102 4.14. Shutdown / Reboot ...... 103 4.15. Licensing ...... 104 4.15.1. License Options ...... 105 4.15.2. License Search Order ...... 105 4.15.3. LED Color State ...... 106 4.15.4. License Management ...... 107 4.15.5. License in a Network ...... 108 4.15.6. Network License Installation ...... 110 4.16. Firewall Settings (vtLicense only) ...... 113 4.17. Proxy Settings (vtLicense Only) ...... 115 5. Virtual Machines ...... 116 5.1. Creating a Virtual Machine ...... 116 5.2. Configuring a Virtual Alpha ...... 118 5.2.1. Comment Box ...... 118 5.2.2. Virtual Machine Name ...... 118 5.2.3. Hardware Settings ...... 119 5.2.4. Advanced Options ...... 120 5.2.5. Hardware Model ...... 122 5.2.6. QBB ...... 123 5.2.7. Virtual CPUs ...... 123 5.2.8. CPU Details ...... 125 5.2.9. Memory...... 126 5.2.10. OPA0 / COM2 ...... 127 5.2.11. PCI Bus ...... 133 5.2.12. PCI Slot ...... 134 5.2.13. Ethernet Adapter ...... 136

5.2.14. Serial Lines Adapter ...... 137 5.2.15. SCSI Adapter ...... 139 5.2.16. Fiber Channel Adapter ...... 141 5.2.17. LUN Map ...... 143 5.2.18. Virtual Device Adapter ...... 145 5.2.19. Storage Devices ...... 148 5.3. Configuring a Virtual VAX Machine...... 155 5.3.1. Comment Box ...... 155 5.3.2. Virtual Machine Name ...... 155 5.3.3. Environment: License Group ...... 156 5.3.4. Environment: Temporary License ...... 156 5.3.5. CPU: VAX Hardware Model ...... 157 5.3.6. CPU: Memory ...... 157 5.3.7. CPU: NVRAM File ...... 158 5.3.8. CPU: Auto Boot ...... 158 5.3.9. CPU: EcoMode ...... 158 5.3.10. CPU: Instruction Caching ...... 159 5.3.11. CPU: Instruction Delay ...... 159 5.3.12. CPU: Instruction Delay TMO ...... 159 5.3.13. Console: OPA0 ...... 160 5.3.14. Console: Break Key ...... 160 5.3.15. Console: Password ...... 161 5.3.16. TTA Lines: TTAx ...... 162 5.3.17. vtVAX Storage ...... 162 5.3.18. Physical Devices ...... 162 5.3.19. Logical Devices ...... 163 5.3.20. MSCP Storage Configuration Parameters ...... 165 5.3.21. DSSI Storage Configuration Parameters ...... 167 5.3.22. Network ...... 169 5.3.23. Serial Lines ...... 170 5.3.24. Miscellaneous: Printer File...... 171 5.3.25. VCB02 Stub ...... 172 5.3.26. IEEE Bus Interface ...... 173 5.4. Running Your Virtual Machine ...... 175 5.5. Deleting Virtual Machines ...... 178 5.6. Cloning Virtual Machine Configurations ...... 179 5.7. Importing and Exporting Virtual Machine Configurations ...... 179 6. Logging ...... 180 6.1. Virtual Machine Logging ...... 180 6.2. vtMonitor Logging ...... 182 7. Advanced Topics ...... 184 7.1. Single Network Interface Systems ...... 184 7.2. Graphics ...... 187 7.2.1. DECwindows Setup on OpenVMS ...... 188 7.2.2. DECwindows Setup on Tru64 ...... 189 7.2.3. How to fix X-window restart failure in tru64...... 189 7.2.4. Display ...... 191 7.2.5. Autostart ...... 192

7.2.6. Video Drivers ...... 193 7.2.7. Security...... 194 7.3. vtServer in The Cloud ...... 195 7.3.1. Cloud Configuration ...... 196 7.3.2. vtServer Configuration ...... 197 7.3.3. vtLicense Configuration ...... 199 7.3.4. VPN Security Keys ...... 201 7.3.5. Export Import VPN Configuration ...... 203 7.4. Improving I/O Performance ...... 205 7.5. Transferring Files To/From vtServer ...... 206 7.5.1. Windows Client ...... 207 7.5.2. Client ...... 208 7.6. vtTools ...... 209 7.6.1. Digiboard (Installing Serial Line Drivers in OpenVMS) ...... 210 7.6.2. EcoApp (vtAlpha Only) ...... 215 7.6.3. Installing EcoApp for OpenVMS ...... 216 7.6.4. Activating EcoApp for Tru64 v5 ...... 217 7.6.5. TapeMGR (For Managing Logical Tapes) ...... 218 7.6.6. VTDSK...... 222 7.6.7. XDISP ...... 223 7.6.8. vtSID (vtVAX only) ...... 226 7.6.9. Installation of vtSID ...... 226 7.6.10. Using vtSID ...... 228 7.6.11. vtSID Commands ...... 229 7.7. MOP Boot ...... 230 7.8. Clock_mode in SRM Console ...... 230 7.9. Boot from Fiber Channel (vtAlpha only) ...... 231 7.10. Installing Tru64 on a Fiber Channel Disk (vtAlpha Only) ...... 233 8. Troubleshooting ...... 235 8.1. Create Support File ...... 236 8.2. Open / Close Remote link ...... 237 9. Unattended Installation ...... 239 9.1. Unattended Installation Configuration ...... 239 9.2. Configuration Parameters ...... 240 9.3. Example parameters.conf ...... 246 9.4. Example presetup.sh ...... 248 9.5. Example postsetup.sh ...... 250 9.6. Example template.conf ...... 251 10. SRM Console vtAlpha ...... 252 10.1. BOOT ...... 253 10.2. SHOW ...... 254 10.3. INITIALIZE ...... 256 10.4. POWER ...... 257 10.5. SET / SHOW environment_variable ...... 258 10.6. WWIDMGR ...... 261 10.7. HELP ...... 262

vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 1. First Steps

Welcome to AVTware vtServer! vtServer is a virtualization product that executes on 64-bit X86 architecture computer systems, either on a physical host or in a Virtual Machine environment. What does that mean? It lets you run OpenVMS and Tru64 on an X86 architecture computer. Both VAX and Alpha models install directly on the physical or virtual host without the need for a third-party (like Windows or Linux). vtServer is deceptively simple yet also very powerful. All references to vtVAX in this document refer to the vtVAX for Bare Metal product; vtVAX for Windows is documented separately. The product set consists of the following components:

vtAlpha Alpha virtualization supporting OpenVMS and Tru64. vtVAX VAX virtualization supporting VMS/OpenVMS. vtServer The host control environment that supports the Alpha and VAX emulations. It is the Virtual Machine Manager which controls the host hardware and allows multiple vtVAX and vtAlpha virtual machines to run in parallel on a single host. vtMonitor The web browser-based system management tool. vtLicense Network-based license server.

The system manager can create any number of vtVAX and vtAlpha virtual machines. The content of the license key determines the maximum number of virtual machines that may execute concurrently. 1. There are two management tools at your disposal, the Console Menu and the vtMonitor GUI. The non-graphical Console Menu is essential for first time installations and in situations where vtMonitor is not available. 2. The vtMonitor management tool, which is a web browser-based GUI, is used to define and manage vtAlpha and vtVAX configurations. It also manages the host storage elements (local storage, network storage, and SAN) and the network infrastructure.

BU-0002-27 Page 1 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

The following screenshot shows how vtMonitor is running and how windows are displayed throughout this manual.

vtMonitor May run from any location with HTTPS connectivity to the host(s) running vtServer. vtServer Allows a user to manage the vtServer system from a local console in case there is no network available for the vtMonitor connection. vtLicense Is a dedicated license server that allows distributing vtAlpha and vtVAX licenses in the company network, enabling the setup of disaster-tolerant installations.

vtLicense is a dedicated unit provided by AVT or Vere Technologies with a management interface that is very similar to vtMonitor. Unless specifically noted, the information provided in this manual applies to both vtAlpha and vtVAX for Bare Metal.

BU-0002-27 Page 2 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 In this User Manual, we’ll begin with a quick introduction to vtServer and how to get your first virtual machine running with the easy-to-use vtMonitor web interface. Subsequent chapters will go into more detail covering more powerful tools and features, but fortunately, it is not necessary to read the entire User Manual before you are able to use and control vtServer.

1.1. Why Use Virtualization

The techniques and features that vtServer provides are useful for several scenarios: Replace VAX and/or Alpha hardware by more modern hardware using X86 architecture. vtServer makes it possible to replace VAX and/or Alpha hardware by X86 systems without needing to touch your current OpenVMS or Tru64 software or the applications which they run. Infrastructure consolidation. Virtualization can significantly reduce hardware and electricity costs. Most of the time, today’s computers only use a fraction of their potential power and run with low average system loads. A lot of hardware resources as well as electricity are thereby wasted. So, instead of running many such physical computers that are only partially used, one can pack many virtual machines onto a few powerful hosts and balance the loads between them. ‘Green’ power savings. And when the program ecoapp (see sections 7.6.2 through 7.6.4) (designed by AVTWare) is installed, even more energy savings will result.

With ecoapp we see a decrease in energy use of 50-80%.

BU-0002-27 Page 3 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

1.2. Some Terminology

When dealing with virtualization (and also for understanding the following chapters of this document), it helps to acquaint oneself with a bit of crucial terminology, especially the following terms:

Host This is the computer system on which vtServer is installed. This has to be a 64-bit X86 architecture computer system, and it can be a physical system or a Virtual Machine environment. Note: This User Manual describes both of these types of vtServer installations. Guest operating This is the operating system that is running inside the system (guest OS) virtual machine, either OpenVMS or Tru64. Virtual machine (VM) This is the special environment that vtServer creates for your guest operating system while it is running. In other words, you run your guest operating system in a VM. In a more abstract way, internally, vtServer thinks of a VM as a set of parameters that determine its behavior. They include hardware settings (how much memory the VM should have, what hard disks vtServer should virtualize through which container files, what CDs are mounted etc.) as well as state information (whether the VM is currently running, stopped, its snapshots, etc.). vtAlpha Alpha virtualization supporting OpenVMS and Tru64. vtVAX VAX virtualization supporting VMS/OpenVMS. vtServer The host control environment that supports the Alpha and VAX emulations. vtMonitor The web browser-based system management tool. vtLicense Network-based license server.

BU-0002-27 Page 4 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

1.3. Features Overview

Here’s a brief outline of vtServers main features: Portability vtServer runs on a large number of 64-bit X86 architecture computer systems, either on a physical host or in a Virtual Machine environment. vtServer is a so-called bare-metal or type 1 hypervisor, and will directly run on the hardware. Whereas hosted hypervisors like VirtualBox (sometimes referred to as a type 2 hypervisor), need a host operating system. vtServer is functionally identical on all of the host computers, and the same file and image formats are used. This allows you to take virtual machines, created on one host, and run them on another host computer. So you are able to move virtual machines from one vtServer to any other vtServer installation without modifying the used files. Extensive hardware Among others, vtServer supports: support Systems Any 64-bit X86 host; however, there may be occasions where a specific chipset or on-board controller may not (yet) be included. Processors Intel i5, i7; Xeon models 5500, 5600; E3, E5, E7 AMD A6, A8, A10; Phenom II; Opteron 4000, 6000

On the AVT website a host compatibility list is available: https://www.avtware.com/pdf/vtserver- hpcl.pdf

Guest multiprocessing vtServer can present up to 32 virtual CPUs to each (SMP) virtual machine. CD/DVD device support vtServer implements a virtual CD controller and allows you to connect CD/DVD devices to your virtual machines without having to install device- specific drivers on the host. Hardware compatibility vtServer virtualizes a vast array of virtual devices. That includes IDE, SCSI, SATA and Fiber Channel hard disk controllers, multiple virtual network cards

BU-0002-27 Page 5 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 and virtual serial ports. Built-in iSCSI support This unique feature allows you to connect a virtual machine directly to an iSCSI storage server. The VM accesses the iSCSI target directly. Built-in NFS/SMB support This unique feature allows you to connect a virtual machine directly to a NFS or SMB storage server. The VM accesses the NFS/SMB target directly. Built-in Fiber Channel This unique feature allows you to connect a virtual support machine directly to a Fiber Channel storage device. The VM accesses the Fiber Channel storage directly without the extra overhead that is required for virtualizing hard disks in container files. Multigeneration branched vtServer can save arbitrary snapshots of the state of snapshots the virtual machine. You can go back in time and revert the virtual machine to any such snapshot and start an alternative VM configuration from there, effectively creating a whole snapshot tree. You can create and delete snapshots while the virtual machine is running. Easy to use web interface vtServer can be managed and configured using a very intuitive web interface. Using the web interface it is easy to manage all vtServer installations in just one browser window. Security options vtServer delivers a secure environment. User accounts can be given only the access rights they need for their function.

vtMonitor uses HTTP by default. The system parameter enable_http can be left blank to force HTTPS.

BU-0002-27 Page 6 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

2. Installing vtServer

All of the required software (vtAlpha, vtVAX, vtServer, and vtMonitor) is provided as a single installation kit, in the form of an IMG or ISO file. These can be used for an installation through a USB installation device (IMG) or a (virtual) CD device (ISO). Software updates and patches are distributed as TGZ format files that are uploaded to the host, or they may be installed from the distribution media as an update rather than a full re- installation of the software.

2.1. Prerequisites

To install vtServer you need a host environment. This can be almost any X86 based computer system, or a virtual environment like VMware. Before installing some components must be checked.

Number of CPUs Depends on the virtual machine type to use. Only one CPU is needed to install vtServer, but to run a virtual machine there must be at least one CPU for every virtual machine, so at minimum a dual-core CPU is required. vtServer will automatically take advantage of all available CPUs. Disk Space vtServer needs 40GB disk space to install and run. For logical disks (files) tally the additional space needed. Network Interface vtServer can be used with one network interface. For more performance and reliability it is better to use one network interface for vtServer, plus one for every virtual machine. License There is no license needed to install vtServer, but to start and run a virtual machine a license is needed.

vtServer can be installed on a small host. Also keep in mind the resource usage by the Virtual Machines.

BU-0002-27 Page 7 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

2.2. Installing vtServer on a Hypervisor

The vtServer host may be a physical system or it may be virtualized using VMware, Hyper- V, or KVM. vtServer installs on Bare Metal. That is, there is no operating system running on the x86 host system. This is similar to other hypervisors such as VMware ESX, Citrix XenServer, and Microsoft Hyper-V. Advantages of the Bare Metal approach versus running as an application on a general purpose operating system include:

Maintainability There is no external operating system to be updated and maintained separately from the vtServer environment. Reliability Only the necessary components are included in the bundled operating environment, which is integrated and tested with the emulation layer. There are no other users on the system to affect performance, stability, or the virtual Alpha/VAX operating environments. Security At installation, vtServer has only three network ports enabled: 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) for the vtMonitor management interface, and 22350 for license verification. Users must ‘opt-in’ to use additional ports.

BU-0002-27 Page 8 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 2.2.1. Impact of Running on a Virtual Host

Placing an x86 hypervisor between vtServer and the physical hardware negates to an extent some of the advantages of the Bare Metal environment noted above:

Hardware Control The x86 hypervisor has direct control of the physical hardware. It may impose constraints that are not compatible with the way vtServer uses the hardware. Some issues of this nature and workarounds for them are discussed in the sections below. Performance The x86 hypervisor itself consumes some system resources. In addition, there are often other guest systems running at the same time as vtServer. If the resources are not allocated properly, as explained below, this can impact the performance of the virtual Alpha and VAX systems. Nevertheless, this option is reliable and popular, especially in large datacenters. Maintainability The x86 hypervisor is a software layer that can be updated independent of vtServer. While it is not expected, updates to the x86 hypervisor could impact vtServer. Always check with AVT, VERE or your reseller before upgrading hypervisors. Alpha and VAX System The vtServer user interface contains safeguards to Stability prevent the emulated Alpha and VAX systems from being shut down unintentionally when the operator is managing the vtServer host system. However, when the vtServer host is virtualized, the x86 hypervisor operator has ultimate control of the virtual host system and can shut it down unexpectedly while the virtual Alpha or VAX systems are running.

BU-0002-27 Page 9 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 2.2.2. Virtual Host Criteria

When configuring the physical host system that the x86 virtual machine will run on, the following details should be considered.

2.2.3. Performance

The maximum achievable performance running vtServer on a virtual host will be somewhat less than that achieved when running on a physical host using the same hardware platform due to the hypervisor overhead. Typically, I/O performance will be impacted more than CPU performance. The hypervisor overhead varies considerably depending on a number of factors, such as the hypervisor used, the virtual host configuration, and the nature of the workload. Because of this variability, we are not able to estimate the hypervisor overhead.

2.2.4. Shared Resources

When other guest systems will execute on the same x86 host system, CPU-, memory-, and network-resource reservations should be made for the VM used for the vtServer host to ensure that critical hardware resources are always available when needed. Sharing of these critical resources with other VMs can result in unpredictable performance and a possible unstable operation of the virtual Alpha or VAX system.

2.2.5. CPU Requirements

The minimum CPU requirement for each virtual machine is 1.5 virtual CPU cores per virtual Alpha CPU or two cores for each virtual VAX CPU; additional cores may improve performance and avoid resource shortages on systems with heavy I/O loads. Hyper-threaded CPUs should have hyper-threading disabled in the host system BIOS or UEFI. This is to prevent logical threads (which have lower and less predictable performance than the physical cores) from being assigned to a virtual machine. Performance degradation of over 75% has been observed as a result of running vtAlpha/vtVAX on hosts with hyper- threading enabled.

BU-0002-27 Page 10 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 2.2.6. USB Port

If network license servers are not available to provide access to the vtAlpha and vtVAX license information, a dedicated USB port must be provided on the physical host and dedicated to the guest VM that will run vtServer. Please see the Licensing section below and the applicable hypervisor-specific section for considerations and restrictions pertaining to the USB port.

USB ports can also be used to connect external disks. These can be used by vtServer.

BU-0002-27 Page 11 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 2.2.7. Storage

vtServer supports a variety of storage backends, including storage technologies that were not available on physical VAX or Alpha hardware. The table below shows the supported storage options for various configurations when running on a physical vtServer host vs. running on a virtual host for both standalone and clustered environments:

Standalone Clustered same host Clustered multi host

KZPBA/VTDSK KGPSA KZPBA/VTDSK KGPSA KZPBA/VTDSK KGPSA

Local Disk Container File Y Y Y Y X X Physical Disk Y Y Y Y X X

SAN Volume Container File Y Y Y Y X X Physical Disk Y Y Y Y P(2); V(2,3) P(2); V(2,3) Direct Access X P; V(1) X P;V(1) X P; V(1)

iSCSI Volume Container File Y Y Y Y X X Physical Disk Y Y Y Y P(2); V(2,3) P(2); V(2,3) NFS Mount Point Container File Y Y Y Y Y(2) Y(2)

Legend:

Y supported on both physical and virtual vtServer hosts P supported on physical vtServer hosts only V supported on virtual vtServer hosts only X unsupported

1 only FC card with PCI pass-through (VMware) 2 cache must be disabled 3 only with RAW mapping mode

KZPBA SCSI adapter KGPSA Fiber Channel adapter

BU-0002-27 Page 12 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 2.2.8. Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP)

When running on multiprocessor configurations, OpenVMS performs frequent checks to ensure that all processors are functioning and that there are no synchronization deadlocks. If abnormal conditions are detected, the system will crash with a CPUSANITY or CPUSPINWAIT bugcheck. When an emulated multiprocessor Alpha or VAX system is running on a virtual host, certain events, most notably a host migration (e.g., using VMware vMotion), can cause the virtual machine execution to stall long enough for the SMP sanity timers to expire when set to their default values. To reduce the risk of OpenVMS bugchecking in these situations, we recommend that the following SYSGEN parameter (in OpenVMS) changes should be made:

SMP_SPINWAIT increase from 100000 (1 second) to a value between 3000000 (30 seconds) and 6000000 (60 seconds) SMP_SANITY_CNT increase from 300 (3 seconds) to a value between 3000 (30 seconds) and 6000 (60 seconds)

These changes should be added to SYS$SYSTEM:MODPARAMS.DAT, and then AUTOGEN should be run so they will take effect the next time the system is restarted.

When using SMP it is a good idea to change the OpenVMS system parameters SMP_SPINWAIT and SMP_SANITY_CNT to the recommend values. Not only on VMWare installations.

BU-0002-27 Page 13 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 2.2.9. Licensing

The vtAlpha and vtVAX license information is stored on a physical USB license key. In some situations (e.g., the hardware has no available USB port or the x86 hypervisor does not support attaching USB ports to virtual machines) it may not be possible to provide a USB port for the license key on the vtServer host.

In high availability and disaster resilient configurations using live host migration features such as VMware vMotion, it is desirable for the license key to be accessible to multiple host systems. The vtLicense server is a standalone network appliance that can host multiple license keys (both production and disaster recovery licenses), making the license content of these keys available across the network. Virtual Alpha and VAX systems can fail over or be migrated between multiple physical hosts without having to move the USB license keys. More information about the vtLicense server is available on our web site.

2.2.10. vtServer Software Installation

A dedicated (virtual) disk of at least 40GB should be provided for the vtServer software installation. This disk should not be used for storing logical disk container files or other user data, to avoid data loss if the vtServer software must be re-installed at a later time.

If possible use a dedicated disk for vtServer. Store data and logical disk containers on other disks. This gives more flexibility.

BU-0002-27 Page 14 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 2.2.11. Hypervisor Specific Information

vtServer can be used on many hypervisors. vtServer is tested on the following hypervisors:

- Vmware - Hyper-V - KVM

2.2.12. VMware

Supported versions: ESXi 4.1 and higher.

We discourage the use of a local USB license with VMware ESXi versions prior to 5.5 because VMware occasionally loses connection to USB devices, resulting in license problems.

A vtLicense server is recommended for all VMware environments to facilitate migration of the vtServer host across VMware hosts

When using VMware prior to version 5.5 a vtLicense server is recommended to avoid license loss.

BU-0002-27 Page 15 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

Storage

Supported Storage Controllers in VMware are: - LSI Logic Parallel (recommended) - LSI Logic SAS - VMware Paravirtual

Unsupported Storage Controllers are: - BusLogic Parallel

BU-0002-27 Page 16 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

Network

Supported Network Adapters in VMware are:

- E1000 (recommended) - E1000E - VMXNET 3

Unsupported Network Adapters are:

- VMXNET 2 (enhanced)

The adapters used for vtVAX or vtAlpha must have Promiscuous Mode, MAC Address Changes and Forged Transmits enabled on the vSwitch in VMware, as shown below.

Promiscuous mode and MAC address changes must be enable when using DECnet on OpenVMS.

BU-0002-27 Page 17 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 License Key

When running VMware ESX 5.5 or newer, a USB port can be assigned to the vtServer host VM to use for the vtServer license key. This is not recommended with VMware ESX versions prior to 5.5 because the USB device can become detached from the VM, resulting in a loss of the vtServer license with eventual shut down of the vtAlpha or vtVAX emulations if the problem is not corrected within the allowed time (16 hours). The VMware vMotion feature can be used to improve availability and disaster tolerance of the virtual Alpha and VAX systems by allowing the vtServer host with running emulations to be migrated between VMware host systems. When vMotion is used, we recommend the use of a vtLicense server to provide access to the license keys via the network, removing dependence on a specific host system.

BU-0002-27 Page 18 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 VMware Tools

The VMware Tools package provides operations like shutdown or restart Guest OS. When vtServer is installed on a VMware machine, the option to start or stop VMware Tools is available in the Console menu and in the vtMonitor menu.

2.2.13. Hyper_V

Supported versions: Hyper-V 2012, Hyper-V Core, Hyper-V 2016

Storage

Supported Storage Controllers in Hyper-V are:

- IDE (recommended) - SCSI (only for data; Hyper-V cannot boot from SCSI)

BU-0002-27 Page 19 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

Network

Supported Network Adapters in Hyper-V are:

- Hyper-V NIC - Legacy NIC

The adapters used for vtVAX or vtAlpha must have MAC address spoofing enabled on the network adapter in Hyper-V.

USB License / Network License

Hyper-V does not support attaching physical USB devices to virtual machines; therefore, a remote license server is required. The remote license server may be a dedicated vtLicense server or another vtServer host that has a free USB port.

2.2.14. KVM

vtServer supports virtio for disks, which may, in some cases, improve disk I/O performance when running vtServer on a virtual host under KVM.

BU-0002-27 Page 20 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

2.3. Performing the Installation

Booting from the installation media, USB or a (virtual) CD, offers the following options:

2.3.1. Upgrade/Repair

This option will look for update versions on the install media and apply them in sequence. This upgrade method is especially useful when previous upgrades are skipped. The process will sort out which ones need to be applied. It also allows reparation of a damaged installation.

BU-0002-27 Page 21 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 2.3.2. Install vtServer

Installs vtServer, vtAlpha, vtVAX and vtMonitor on the x86 system and prepares it to act as a host computer for your virtual Alpha and VAX environment. Anything on the target disk will be overwritten by this installation. The installation process requires the following user input:

1. Read and accept the license terms for vtAlpha and vtVAX. 2. Select the appropriate keyboard language and time zone. 3. Select the target disk for the installation. Note: Installation is supported only when the target is a physical device (e.g., /dev/sdb), not a partition (e.g., /dev/sdb1). When installing to a device with existing partitions, all the partitions will be destroyed. 4. Acknowledge that the selected disk will be overwritten. 5. Enter and confirm the password for the root account. This account is created during installation. The root account is required to access the vtServer host menu structure and perform certain system management functions. This account cannot be removed. 6. Set the size of the storage you want to use for the vtServer software. The default value of 0 will use the entire device for the software. A non-zero value will result in a partition of the specified size being created for the software; the remaining storage on the device will be allocated to a second partition with the label data that can be mounted temporarily or permanently in the vtMonitor Storage tab. 7. The minimum required partition size for the vtServer software is 8 GB. However, we strongly recommend allocating at least 40 GB for the vtServer software to provide adequate room for dynamic files such as logs as well as future software growth. 8. Upon completion of the installation, reboot the host system from the installation target device to start vtServer.

When using more vtServer systems in the same network we advise to use the same version of vtMonitor on all systems. Keep the transition time as short as possible.

BU-0002-27 Page 22 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

2.4. Installation of Optional Kits

When using the Console Menu, select the option update.

Select the removable storage that contains the kit.

Select the appropriate kit from the list to install, or select remove graphics to delete a previously installed graphics kit.

BU-0002-27 Page 23 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 When using the vtMonitor GUI the Product Update is part of the Host -> Info menu.

Select the update file and start the update process.

When the update file is copied to the map update with SMB or FTP leave the file selection blank and select OK. The update process will use the file in the map update.

BU-0002-27 Page 24 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

2.5. Install vtLicense

Installs vtLicense and prepares it to act as a vtLicense to distribute vtAlpha and vtVAX licenses in the company network. Anything that was on the disk will be overwritten by this installation. The installation process requires the following user input:

1. Read and accept the license terms for vtAlpha and vtVAX. 2. Select the appropriate keyboard language and time zone. 3. Select the target disk for the installation

Installation is supported only when the target is a physical device (e.g., /dev/sdb), not a partition (e.g., /dev/sdb1). When installing to a device with existing partitions, all the partitions will be destroyed.

4. Acknowledge that the selected disk will be overwritten. 5. Enter and confirm the password for the root user. This user is created during installation. The root user is required to access the vtLicense host menu structure and perform certain system management functions. This user cannot be removed. 6. Upon completion of the installation, reboot the host system from the installation target device to start vtLicense.

A vtServer can get a license from any vtLicense server, independent of the vtLicense version. From the point of view of maintenance, it is advisable to keep the versions as similar as possible.

BU-0002-27 Page 25 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

2.6. Unattended Installation

The unattended installation function, allows users with multiple similar vtServer installations to automate the installation and configuration of these host systems using custom installation templates. The templates can perform operations such as importing prepared virtual VAX and Alpha configurations, disk images, and setting network and other configuration parameters. Please see the appendix for detailed instructions on how to prepare and execute the unattended installation templates.

2.7. Performing an Upgrade

This option will look for update versions on the install media and apply them in sequence. This upgrade method is especially useful when previous upgrades are skipped. The process will sort out which ones need to be applied. It also allows reparation of a damaged installation.

BU-0002-27 Page 26 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

2.8. Snapshot Management

With snapshots it is possible to preserve the state of the system at a particular point in time. When needed, a snapshot made earlier can be used to bring the system back to the state when the snapshot is made. Snapshots are only available for the vtServer installation; no user data files will be saved using snapshots. Snapshots are mainly made to restore the previous vtServer installation. To use snapshots the disk must be formatted as btrfs disk. When installing vtServer select btrfs as vtServer filesystem when this is asked for.

To use snapshots, the vtServer disk must be formatted btrfs. Consider converting the vtServer disk from ext4 to btrfs (see chapter 4.10).

BU-0002-27 Page 27 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 The snapshot utility will scan all available disks to see whether at least one of them is a btrfs disk. When no btrfs disk is available an error message will be shown.

VtServer installations before version 3.2 are usually installed on an ext4 disk. To enable snapshots, vtServer must be re-installed and on a disk which is (newly) formatted with btrfs. This will remove the current installation, including all the configurations. So plan this change carefully if you wish to use snapshots.

Before the actual upgrade takes place, a snapshot will be made automatically (as long as there is enough space on the disk).

Snapshots use disk space. To avoid disk full problems perform some snapshot management, see chapter 4.10

By using the snapshot which was made before the upgrade, it is always possible to restore the system to the state it was before the upgrade. Snapshots can also be made manually when needed. It is advisable to make a snapshot before complex and/or large changes are made to vtServer or its configuration.

BU-0002-27 Page 28 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

2.9. Version Updates

As with the initial installation, updates to vtServer, vtAlpha, vtVAX, vtLicense and vtMonitor are bundled in a single package. There are several ways to update the software:

1. Boot from the Installation DVD for the new version and select the Upgrade/Repair option from the menu; 2. Select the Update option from the vtServer Configuration menu on the host system console; 3. Select the Product Update option from the Host tab in the vtMonitor Toolbox.

When using methods 2 or 3, a small TGZ file containing the incremental update may be copied to the /update directory on the host using FTP prior to beginning the update, or it may be installed from the installation DVD or a USB storage device. When the update is performed from vtMonitor it may also be uploaded from any location on the user’s PC at the time the update process is initiated. Incremental updates will apply only to software at the release level immediately prior to that of the update; if there is a gap, all previous updates must be applied manually in sequence. The last portion of the full release number corresponds to the suffix of the update file for that release (e.g., update49.tgz is used to update from version 3.2.0-48 to 4.0.0-49).

It is always wise to use the latest version of vtServer. New versions support more hardware and often contain performance improvements.

BU-0002-27 Page 29 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 3. Managing vtServer/vtLicense

The standard managing interface for vtServer is the Graphical User Interface (GUI). The GUI runs in a web browser. To perform some advanced settings the console menu must be used.

3.1. Open SSH Console

It is possible to start the Console menu from the GUI. Go to Host -> Info and select the menu Open SSH Console

This will start a new browser window. Answer yes on the first question and enter the password for root to log in.

The service SSH must be running to use the SSH console menu.

The console menu will now run in a browser window.

BU-0002-27 Page 30 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

3.2. Backup Host settings

To save the host settings a backup can be made. Go to Host -> Info and select the menu Backup

Select to make a Backup or to Restore the host settings.

The backup will be saved as a .tgz file on the location selected. This .tgz files contains all the configuration files for this vtServer. It has all the host settings, network settings, virtual machines, storage settings, user settings and license settings. It does NOT contain the virtual machine itself, only the configuration off the virtual machine. It can be used to make a functional copy of the vtServer.

The Backup Host Settings is NOT a replacement for an OpenVMS or Tru64 backup.

BU-0002-27 Page 31 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

To Restore the Hosts settings, use the “Restore Host Settings” and select the backup file to use for the restore. It is best to reboot the host after a “Restore Hosts Settings”.

To prevent network conflicts, virtual network interfaces receive a different MAC address after a host restore.

For example: mgr0 is a virtual network interface.

If the virtual network interface is set to get an IP address from a DHCP server it will get a different IP address after a restore.

It is possible to restore the host settings backup on another vtServer. This creates a functional equivalent of the vtServer used to make the backup from.

Restoring a host backup on another vtServer must be done with care. Various conflicts can arise, such as the vtServer name, the IP address and the use of logical disks by multiple emulators.

BU-0002-27 Page 32 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

3.3. vtScan

VtMonitor can be used to manage many vtServer hosts. The service vtScan is created to manage all vtServer hosts found in the network. Only hosts with vtScan running can be managed using one vtMonitor window. vtScan is the only host setting which is running by default. There are a number of points of attention for the management of multiple vtServers to work flawlessly:

Users It is recommended to keep the user IDs and settings synchronized across multiple systems. Roles New roles can be created and roles can be changed. It is recommended to keep the roles synchronized. Security Security settings can be set differently over the vtServer systems, but keeping the settings synchronized is recommended.

Synchronization of users, roles and security settings is not necessary for managing multiple server systems. But if users, roles and security settings are synchronized, various management tasks can be performed with far fewer actions.

BU-0002-27 Page 33 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 To keep the users, roles and security settings on all vtServers the same, a selection window is created to select the vtServer systems to update. Example when updating security settings:

Only connected systems are listed in these selection windows. vtScan uses IP protocol UDP with port number 9456.

Only vtServer systems where you are logged in are visible

BU-0002-27 Page 34 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4. Configuring vtServer/vtLicense

4.1. Navigation

The navigation window is used to navigate through the virtual machines and other connected vtServer/vtLicense servers. When a virtual machine is created, the status of this virtual machine is shown in the navigation window.

VMS-1 Stopped

A VMS-1 Stopped, A indicates Autostart enabled

VMS-1 Starting

VMS-1 Running, awaiting console input

VMS-1 Running normally

VMS-1 OpenVMS crashed and the virtual machine is writing a dump file

VMS-1 Configuration is consuming a Disaster Recovery License

VMS-1 Virtual machine runs but the license will expire within 10 days VMS-1 Warning that this virtual machine lost access to a license and will stop 16 hours after the loss was detected VMS-1 A stop request is send to the virtual machine.

BU-0002-27 Page 35 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 Right-click on a virtual machine to get a context-sensitive menu with commands to perform on this virtual machine or virtual machine configuration.

The available commands are:

Start To start the virtual machine. Halt The virtual machine will be halted. This is equal to CTRL-P on the console. Stop The virtual machine will be stopped. Connect to OPA0 Open a new browser window which connects to OPA0.

After closing an OPA0 or COM2 window there is a timeout period in which no connection can be made. This is approximately 20 seconds for a Telnet port and 1 minute for an SSH port.

Connect to COM2 Open a new browser window which connects to COM2. Clear Log Clear the virtual machine log file. Enable Autostart Enable Autostart to start this virtual machine automatically when vtServer is (re)started. Disable Autostart To disable Autostart for this virtual machine. Delete Delete the virtual machine configuration. Rename … Rename the virtual machine configuration.

BU-0002-27 Page 36 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 Save a Copy As… Save a copy of this virtual machine configuration as another virtual machine. Export Configuration… Save the virtual machine configuration as TGZ file. This file can be imported on the same or another vtServer.

Not all commands are always available. This depends on the state (running, halted, stopped) of the virtual machine.

When the service vtscan is active it will search the network to locate more vtServer/vtLicense systems. Select the menu -> Connect server to get a list of found vtServer/vtLicense systems.

Select the vtServer or vtLicense to connect, and manage all available server systems using one browser window.

BU-0002-27 Page 37 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

Right-click on the vtServer/vtLicense name to get a menu with the available options.

BU-0002-27 Page 38 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.2. Networking

The vtServer network subsystem is used to both manage the vtServer host system and to provide network connectivity for the virtual Alpha and VAX systems. In the simplest form, there is a one-to-one association between virtual and physical network interfaces, with one additional interface used for vtServer host management. In addition, vtServer provides server logical network devices that can be used to provide additional flexibility and reliability for the network configuration.

BU-0002-27 Page 39 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.2.1. Introduction to Virtual Networking

A virtual network consists of the following components: eth# Designates a physical Ethernet interface. A physical interface may be dedicated to either vtServer host management or a virtual network interface, connected to a virtual switch, or bonded with other physical interfaces. The latter options are described below. avt# Designates a virtual network switch (VNS). A VNS is used to allow multiple virtual interfaces, including the vtServer host management interface, to share a single physical interface. A VNS may also be used to provide connectivity between virtual machines running on the same host without routing the traffic onto the physical network. A virtual switch can be attached to one or more physical host Ethernet interfaces. Only one physical interface can be active at any given time. When more than one eth# device is assigned to a VNS, one link is the main link; the others are for fail-over only. When multiple eth# devices are connected to a virtual switch, the potential exists for a loop to be introduced into the network. To prevent this from occurring, the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is activated by default. If local policy prohibits use of STP, it can be disabled; however, careful manual review of the configuration is advised to prevent the introduction of a loop that can disrupt the entire network. mgr# Designates a vtServer host management port, which must be defined when a single physical interface is used for both the host management interface and one or more virtual network interfaces. Multiple management ports may be configured on multiple virtual switches. bond# Designates a bonded network device. A bonded device combines multiple host Ethernet interfaces into one virtual network device that can be configured to provide various combinations of load sharing and fail-over. VLAN Designates a virtual LAN, which can be assigned to eth and bond devices. VLANs should be defined only when they are supported by the local network environment and under the guidance of the local network support organization. xwi0 Designates the virtual X-Windows interface used for Alpha and VAX workstation virtualizations. The eth and xwi devices are always configured; all other devices listed above are created on demand.

# represents a unique sequence number that is assigned to each physical or logical device.

BU-0002-27 Page 40 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 The configuration examples that follow show different ways the physical and logical network elements can be utilized.

Host Ethernet adapters that are connected to a virtual switch must permit promiscuous mode operation and forged transmits. When using a virtualized host system (e.g., VMware), these settings must be enabled in the hypervisor configuration.

Usage Virtual machine connected to a physical Ethernet adapter or vLAN on that adapter

Usage One or more virtual machines with more connections then physical adapters Network Failover Extra network setup Virtual Switch

Usage Connect multiple virtual machines on one host No physical network adapters Extra network setup Virtual Switch

BU-0002-27 Page 41 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 Usage Connect one virtual machine to a bond device with two or more host Ethernet adapters or a vLAN on this bond device Failover/redundancy/load balancing Extra network setup Bond device

Usage Connect multiple virtual machines to a bond device with two or more host Ethernet adapters or to a vLAN on this bond device Failover/redundancy/load balancing Extra network setup Virtual Switch Bond device

Usage

Connect multiple virtual machines to a bond device with two or more host Ethernet adapters Failover/redundancy/load balancing vtServer management via bond Extra network setup

Virtual Switch Bond device

BU-0002-27 Page 42 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 The network configuration details are displayed and managed using the vtMonitor GUI tab Network.

A list of the available physical and virtual network devices is displayed.

BU-0002-27 Page 43 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.2.2. Configure Network

To make a network active, it needs to be configured. A network interface must have an IP address, a subnet mask, a gateway and DNS configured. Select the network interface to configure and a setup window will be shown.

The interface can be configured to use DHCP to get the network settings from a DHCP server. When DHCP is not used, the appropriate values have to be entered manually. The interface will then have a so-called fixed IP address.

The default MTU is usually correct; change this only after consulting your vtServer support organization.

It is NOT allowed to have the same subnet on different NICS. Always use a different subnet for each network adapter including the XWI adapter.

BU-0002-27 Page 44 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.2.3. Using a Virtual Switch

When using the vtMonitor GUI a network switch can be added and configured via the Network menu.

This (like most other functions) can also be done via the Console menu

Select Add Switch will create a new switch avt#, where # is the first free number starting with 0. The first switch will be avt0, the next one avt1 and so on. Right-click on the switch to connect network components to it.

BU-0002-27 Page 45 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.2.4. Using a Bond

When using the vtMonitor interface, a bond can be added and configured via the Network menu.

Select Add Bond, choose the bond option and a new bond# will be created, where # is the first free number starting with 0. The first bond will be bond0, the next one bond1 and so on. The bond mode options are described below: balance-rr This is a round-robin policy where each packet is transmitted on a different physical interface. The balanced-rr mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance. active-backup Only one slave in the bond is active. A different slave becomes active only if the active slave fails. The bond's MAC address is externally visible on only one port (network adapter) to avoid confusing the switch. balance-xor Transmit based on the selected transmit hash policy. The default policy is formatted [(source MAC address XOR'd with destination MAC address) modulo slave count]. Alternate transmit policies may be selected via the xmit_hash_policy option. Broadcast Transmits each packet on all slave interfaces. This mode provides fault tolerance.

802.3ad Dynamic link aggregation: Creates aggregation groups that share the same speed and duplex settings. Utilizes all slaves in the active aggregator according to the 802.3ad specification. Slave selection for outgoing traffic is done according to the transmit hash policy, which may be changed from the default simple XOR policy via the xmit_hash_policy option, documented below. BU-0002-27 Page 46 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

balance-tlb Adaptive transmit load balancing: Channel bonding that does not require any special switch support. In tlb_dynamic_lb=1 mode; the outgoing traffic is distributed according to the current load (computed relative to the speed) on each slave. balance-alb Adaptive load balancing: Includes balance-tlb plus receive load balancing (rlb) for IPV4 traffic, and does not require any special switch support. The receive load balancing is achieved by ARP negotiation. The bonding driver intercepts the ARP replies sent by the local system on their way out and overwrites the source hardware address with the unique hardware address of one of the slaves in the bond such that different peers use different hardware addresses for the server.

Select the bond to open a configuration window.

Right-click on a switch to connect the bond to it.

BU-0002-27 Page 47 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.2.5. Setup a VLAN

VLANs allow a network manager to logically segment a LAN into different broadcast domains. Since this is a logical segmentation and not a physical one, workstations do not have to be physically located together. Users on different floors of the same building, or even in different buildings can now belong to the same LAN. To create a VLAN go to Host -> Network and right-click on the network adapter.

Select Create a VLAN to create a VLAN. A VLAN must have a unique VLAN-ID.

Example: An extra adapter with the VLAN-ID is created. (VLAN-ID = 25)

BU-0002-27 Page 48 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.3. Storage

VtServer can connect various storage devices to a virtual Alpha or VAX.

This can be done exclusively via the vtMonitor GUI (not via the console menu).

- Physical disk - Physical tape - Logical disk - Logical tape

Physical disks and tapes can be assigned to any virtual system. Logical devices, disks and tapes, are virtual storage components residing on a disk, as a container file, accessible by the host system. The Storage section of the vtMonitor GUI is used to manage the host’s storage components. There are 5 tabs in the Storage section:

Devices Manage all storage devices accessible from this host File Browser Browse and manage the mounted devices NFS/SMB Add/remove NFS/SMB shares iSCSI Add/remove iSCSI storage Fiber Channel Add/remove Fiber Channel storage

BU-0002-27 Page 49 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.3.1. Storage Overview

The Devices tab displays a device list. These devices are available on vtServer, not on Virtual Machines.

These can be physical, network, iSCSI or Fiber Channel devices. To mount a device, right-click on the device. A menu will appear. Devices with a mount point name are already mounted and are ready to use.

Partitions or devices can be mounted temporarily (until the next reboot), or permanently (will automatically be mounted at boot time). Clicking on a column heading will sort the list by the values in that column. Right-clicking on a device will show extra available commands. Some mount points, such as /root, are protected to prevent access by the VAX and Alpha virtual machines; the remainder can be assigned to the virtual clients in the configurations. BU-0002-27 Page 50 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 Unmounted storage elements with a label are available to mount. The mount device dialog box allows the user to specify the mount point name; the volume label is used by default. The user may also specify that the volume will be mounted permanently, meaning it will be automatically mounted each time the host system reboots.

When a mounted volume is manually dismounted, it will be removed from the permanent mount list.

The File Browser tab will show all mounted file systems in the left window-pane; in the right window it displays a list of the files and directories that it contains. Container files for the client systems logical disks and tapes are listed as any other file.

Right-click on a folder to get the available folder options.

BU-0002-27 Page 51 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 Right-click on a file to get the available file options.

4.3.2. Using Physical Disks

Physical disks are directly (physically) attached to the vtServer host and accessed by vtAlpha as a single device. For example, it is possible to connect SCSI drives from the Alpha system directly to the vtAlpha host.

We recommend that such configurations be limited to migrating data to new drives. The reason is that these older mechanical devices are generally slower and have much higher failure rates than more modern disks.

Physical disks are shown as /dev/s . . .

/dev/sda is the disk used by vtServer and has usually one partition /dev/sda2 (the system partition) and sometimes a second one /dev/sda3 (a data partition).

BU-0002-27 Page 52 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 /dev/sr0 is the DVD device attached to the vtServer hardware. To make this DVD accessible to a virtual machine it must be mounted.

It is only possible to mount a physical device when there is a medium available. So insert a DVD before trying to mount it.

BU-0002-27 Page 53 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.3.3. Creating and Using Logical Disks

A logical disk (or virtual disk) is a software component that emulates an actual disk, such as a hard disk, or even an optical disk. Seen from the virtual machine, and therefore also visible to OpenVMS or Tru64, a logical disk looks and behaves like an actual physical device.

A logical disk is a file on a filesystem that can be used as a disk by the virtual machine. Follow these steps when creating a new logical disk: Choose File Browser in the Storage tab. Right-click on the desired folder (where you want to create the logical disk) and select Create logical device.

Often a virtual disk file has the file extension .vdisk and a virtual tape .vtape. This is not necessary, but gives direct insight into the type of virtual use.

BU-0002-27 Page 54 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 In the Add logical device window, enter the parameters for the new disk.

A display window containing standard disks is available to choose from. When a standard disk is selected, all necessary parameters (like disk size) are set automatically.

When creating a custom disk, the minimum parameters to enter are: Name and Size.

The size of a (custom) disk can be any size. It is only limited by the space available on the device it is created on.

Select Ok and the logical disk will be created. A newly created disk is like a factory-new disk. It is empty and it has to be initialized for (and using) the operating system it will be used on.

BU-0002-27 Page 55 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

In the File Browser a logical disk will be displayed as a file.

Several actions to perform on a logical disk are available in an options menu. Right-click on the filename to open this menu.

Cut To move the file to another map on the same vtServer storage area. Copy To copy the file to another map on the same vtServer storage area. Delete To delete the logical disk. A confirmation will be requested. When Yes is selected, the file will be removed. Rename Rename the file. Extend Logical disks can be extended. This can only be done when the logical disk is not in use by a running virtual machine. Compress Compress the logical disk to a ZIP file. This is very useful when logical disks need to be copied to another host.

BU-0002-27 Page 56 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 Here is a Copy operation example.

Use the file browser to locate the file to copy. Right-click on the file and select Copy.

Right-click on the destination map and select Paste.

When copying a logical disk over the network, compress it first. The copy will be much faster.

BU-0002-27 Page 57 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 The logging window will show the progress.

This way you can, for instance, duplicate disk and tape image files on the same host to quickly produce a second virtual machine with the same disks and tapes.

Be careful to copy only logical disk files that are not active. Active disks can have open files which make the copy an unusable disk.

When FTP or SMB is enabled (via services in the Host tab), disk and tape files can also be copied using an FTP client or using windows mapping.

When copying a Logical disk to Physical, the existing data on the physical disk will be removed.

When copying a Logical OpenVMS disk to Physical the physical disk can be mounted in OpenVMS. After the first mount, there will be a mismatch in disk size and usage. Enter the following OpenVMS commands to solve this mismatch.

$ set volume/limit “disk” $ set volume/size “disk”

BU-0002-27 Page 58 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.3.4. Tape Image Files

A virtual tape is a software component that emulates an actual tape unit. Seen from the virtual machine, and therefore also to OpenVMS or Tru64, a virtual tape unit looks and behaves like an actual physical tape unit.

A virtual tape is a file on a filesystem that can be used as a tape unit by the virtual machine. The initial size of a newly create tape is 0 bytes. If you do not use the maximumsize option on the virtual tape unit, the size of the tape can grow until you run out of disk space. When the Autoload setting is enabled, the tape will be loaded automatically when a VMS MOUNT or INITIALIZE command is executed.

When manual control of tape loading and unloading from the VMS system is desired, set the Autoload parameter to disabled and use the TAPEMGR utility to control the tapes.

Tapemgr is available on the vtTools disk, see chapter 7.6.

When the Compress setting is enabled, the tape is created and uses a compressed format. This is similar to the OpenVMS command:

$ INITIALIZE/MEDIA_FORMAT=COMPACTION

BU-0002-27 Page 59 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 The tape format can be set in the configuration or via a TapeMGR command in OpenVMS.

Available formats are:

vtAlpha Default, MTD, LM, SMA vtVax Default ,MTD

Changing tape format in the configuration requires a reboot of the Virtual Machine. With TapeMGR you can set/change the format while OpenVMS is running. When a tape format is changed, the tape with the OLD format cannot be read anymore. Change the format back to read the OLD formatted tape.

In OpenVMS (on Alpha) you can set the format of the tape with the following command:

$ tapemgr set MKA100: /format=mtd

On VAX, by using a specific tape file extension you can force the tape to use a specific tape format (other than the default .vtape extension on VAX). By using a tape with the extension vtt or mtd on the VAX you force the tape unit to use these tape formats. So a tape with the filename tape0100.mtd will use the tape format mtd. Valid extensions on VAX are vtape, mtd and vtt.

BU-0002-27 Page 60 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.3.5. CD/DVD Support

The Logical and Physical CD-ROM options create a logical or physical read-only disk, respectively. When viewing a saved configuration, the CD-ROM devices will be displayed as regular disks with the appropriate characteristics. A physical CD-ROM attached to vtServer is displayed in the Devices tab of the Storage menu. It is usually displayed as /dev/sr0.

Such a drive can be mounted as any other device to make it accessible to a virtual machine. It is also possible to create a virtual CD-ROM using an ISO formatted disk file.

BU-0002-27 Page 61 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 ISO files can be attached (directly) to a virtual machine as CD-ROM device. Add a Logical CD-ROM to a virtual machine, see the example below. When configuring this CD-ROM in the next step, point to the desired ISO file.

This is done in the Virtual Machine tab via Settings (this cannot be done in the Storage tab).

BU-0002-27 Page 62 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

The default settings for CD-ROM are Read-only and Removable.

BU-0002-27 Page 63 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.3.6. NFS

To use NFS, the NFS client service must be enabled in the vtMonitor Host Settings menu.

To set the uid/gid for NFS the console must be used. Go to Configuration -> Services -> NFS to set the uid/gid.

BU-0002-27 Page 64 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 The NFS/SMB tab is used to connect and disconnect NFS and SMB storage locations to the host.

The NFS/SMB tab will show already connected storage locations and will let you connect new NFS/SMB storage locations.

Example: Adding a NFS storage location to the storage area.

BU-0002-27 Page 65 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.3.7. SMB

To use SMB, the SMB client service must be enabled in the vtMonitor GUI Host menu.

The NFS/SMB tab is used to connect and disconnect NFS and/or SMB storage locations to the host.

The NFS/SMB tab will show already connected storage locations and will let you connect to new NFS/SMB storage locations.

Example: Adding an SMB storage location to the storage area.

BU-0002-27 Page 66 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.3.8. iSCSI Storage

The vtServer host must connect to iSCSI devices before these devices will be available in the Storage display. iSCSI device connections are added and deleted in the iSCSI tab.

The top line on the right of the iSCSI server window displays the host’s iSCSI Qualified Name, which is automatically generated from the vtServer hostname and cannot be changed. The center section of the screen displays the known iSCSI targets. Click on a target in this list to edit or delete it. The right section of the screen displays configuration details of the selected iSCSI target. These configuration items may be modified by editing the text. In most cases it is sufficient to enter only the server address.

BU-0002-27 Page 67 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.3.9. Fiber Channel (SAN) vtServer connects to multiple types of SAN storage (HP MSA, EVA, 3PAR, EMC, Hitachi, VPLEX, etc.) via modern host Fiber Channel (FC) adapters. At the time this document is written, most of the QLogic and Emulex Fiber-channel adapters are supported. vtServer makes the attached SAN storage transparent for the Alpha operating system (OpenVMS or Tru64), allowing it to connect SAN types for which (originally) no support was included in the OpenVMS or Tru64 operating systems.

The Fiber Channel tab shows all physical FC adapters that are installed in the vtServer Host system. vtServer allows the sharing of physical FC adapters by multiple virtual Alpha systems. When an FC adapter is shared, all storage attached to controllers connected to the FC is also shared. If this is not desirable, such as when storage zones are required, multiple virtual FC adapters may be created and attached to one physical FC adapter. Each virtual FC adapter may be shared or not, as desired, and configured to access a subset of the physical storage.

BU-0002-27 Page 68 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

To configure an FC adapter, right click on one of the adapters to display a context menu with available options. In the images shown above, physical FC adapter fcad3 has three virtual FC adapters assigned (fcad5, 8 and 9). By assigning a virtual FC adapter in your SAN using the IDs of the virtual storage adapter, it is possible to restrict access to portions of the storage network to certain virtual Alpha systems (Virtual Zoning).

NPIV or N_Port ID Virtualization is a Fibre Channel feature whereby multiple Fibre Channel node port (N_Port) IDs can share a single physical N_Port. This allows multiple Fibre Channel initiators to occupy a single physical port, easing hardware requirements in Storage Area Network (SAN) design.

In order to create/use a NPIV adapter:

- Host adapters link must be online. - Host adapter must support NPIV (all adapters that support speeds of 4 Gbit and higher can do this). - Host adapter must be connected to a FC Switch, and the switch must support NPIV.

- When Host adapter is connected with a Point to Point connection (no fc switch) NPIV is not possible.

BU-0002-27 Page 69 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.4. Hostname

This menu is used to change the host name and domain of this vtServer host. If no name or domain is specified, vtServer.avt will be used by default.

When maintaining multiple vtServer hosts in a network, you should assign unique names.

When using DHCP to get an IP address, the domain name is given by the DHCP server and cannot be changed using vtMonitor.

When using the Console Menu, select the option hostname and enter the host and DNS domain name in the entry-fields.

Changing the hostname also creates new certificates. So when using HTTPS to connect to vtMonitor, you have to refresh the browser window and log in again.

If multiple vtServers are available in the network, it is necessary to give each vtServer a unique name. It is not possible to “connect” to vtServers with the same name in the Navigation window.

BU-0002-27 Page 70 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.5. Services

vtServer supports several services which can be enabled (and disabled) using the services menu. Some of these services are enable/disable only, while others have extra configuration settings. By default, all services (except vtscan) are disabled. Each service can be started using the corresponding option in the Console Menu or the vtMonitor GUI. You have the option to start the service immediately and/or to enable it so it starts each time vtServer boots. The following services are available to configure:

ftp Start/stop FTP server to make it possible to use FTP for file transfer. multipath When accessing SAN LUNs as physical devices using virtual KGPSA adapters, the guest operating system (OpenVMS or Tru64) provides multipath redundancy and this setting should remain in the default OFF state. Enable it only when using logical disks with the container files located on SAN storage. The clean option removes all current multipath definitions and generates a new list. nfs Start/stop NFS service. Use NFS for access to remote disks. ssh Start/stop SSH service. Use/open a terminal window on vtServer using SSH. smb Start/stop SMB service. Use Windows share access. snmp Start/stop SNMP service. Enable SNMP access. vtscan Start/stop vtScan service. This service scans for vtServer and vtLicense systems in the local network. vmware Start/stop VMware tools. The VMware Tools package provides support required for shared folders and for drag-and-drop operations.

The VMware option is only available when vtServer is installed on a VMware virtual machine.

BU-0002-27 Page 71 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 When using the vtMonitor GUI the Host services menu is part of the Host Settings menu. Every service available in vtServer can be enabled or disabled here and setup to start automatically after a reboot.

When using the Console Menu select the option Service settings in the System configuration menu.

Every service available in vtServer can be enabled or disabled here and setup to start automatically after a reboot.

BU-0002-27 Page 72 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.6. Date and Time

Date and time can be set manually, or setup to use NTP to automate the date and time setting. The time zone has to be set to get the correct date and time when using NTP. When using the vtMonitor GUI the date/time management is part of the Host -> Settings menu.

When using the Console Menu, select the option Date and time functions in System configuration and perform the required settings. The vtServer date and time is used in many internal procedures and is also used to create readable and accurate logging. Background processes use the date and time to create daily backups.

BU-0002-27 Page 73 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.7. User Management

Users can be managed using the Console Menu and using the vtMonitor GUI. The following table shows the difference between the Console Menu and the vtMonitor GUI.

User Console vtMonitor GUI Menu Create a new user X X Add a role to a user X Manage roles X Manage security options Limited X Show detailed user settings X

In the Users tab, three options are available to manage users and security: Users, Roles and Security.

Users To create/delete and manage users. Roles To manage user roles. Security To configure security settings (password complexity, password lifetime, etc.).

BU-0002-27 Page 74 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 When using the Console Menu, select the option Account management in the System configuration menu.

The Account management menu is a subset of the vtMonitor Users menu. Not all options which are present in vtMonitor are available.

The Account menu is used to add or delete users or change passwords. All users created using the console account menu will, by default, have the role Administrator and have full access to perform all system management functions. To enhance security, password lifetime may be enabled. Password lifetime is disabled by default. There are two password expiration parameters.

Maximum Days Specifies the age at which a password must be changed. When the user logs on to vtServer or vtMonitor after this period has expired they will be forced to change the password before continuing. Minimum Days Prevents a user from changing a password before the specified period has elapsed. The default value of 0 indicates there is no minimum password lifetime.

Roles and security are extensively described in the chapter on Account configuration.

BU-0002-27 Page 75 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.7.1. Users To manage users select Users in the host menu.

Select the user to manage or select the menu to create a new user.

The User ID cannot be changed. Only the Role and the Password are mandatory, the other fields are for informational purposes only.

BU-0002-27 Page 76 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

To add a new user, select the sub-menu option Add New User.

A new user has three mandatory fields.

User ID The identification for the user, the username. Role The role this user must have. Password The password for this user.

BU-0002-27 Page 77 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

User definitions can be exported into an XML file.

Select the sub-menu option Export User List to get the following window.

Microsoft Excel has a good XML parse function. It will look like this

Or save it as an XML file.

BU-0002-27 Page 78 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.7.2. Roles

In order to be able to separate tasks, vtServer establishes user roles. Each user is assigned a role which gives the user the correct rights to perform his task when using vtServer. Roles are introduced to create users with different levels of responsibility. There are standard roles, but it is possible to define new roles. The standard roles are:

Administrator Gives a user access to all vtServer functions and settings. Power user Gives a user access to almost all vtServer functions and settings. Only software updates and security settings are not accessible. Operator Can perform everything related to the operation of a virtual machine, but with no access to vtServer. Guest Can see almost everything but can only change his/her password.

New roles can be given to differentiate users privileges.

BU-0002-27 Page 79 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 To add a new role select the menu option Add New Role.

The Role Definition window can be used to define a custom role.

Select the desired privileges and Add the new role. To delete a role, click on it and select Remove Role.

Every role can be deleted. Users that are assigned a role that is removed cannot login anymore.

BU-0002-27 Page 80 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

Role definitions can be exported into an XML file.

Select the sub-menu option Export Role Definition to get the following window.

Microsoft Excel has a good XML parse function. It will look like this:

Or save it as an XML file.

BU-0002-27 Page 81 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.7.3. Security Settings for Users

To improve security, password requirements can be set. Go to Users -> Security

Every setting can be customized.

The user root can always login using the console.

To use vtMonitor, FTP or SMB all these settings also apply to the user root.

BU-0002-27 Page 82 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 It is possible to automatically lock users that are not active for a given number of days. Select Lock on inactivity to enable automatic locking and enter the inactive days threshold.

It is possible to lock users after a number of consecutive login failures. Select Lock on login failure to enable and enter the number of consecutive failed logins threshold.

Every user account which is inactive for the specified number of days will be locked for vtMonitor, FTP and SMB access.

Every user account which has more than the specified number of consecutive login failures will be locked for vtMonitor, FTP and SMB access.

The user root can always login using the console.

But to use vtMonitor, FTP or SMB the user root may not be locked.

BU-0002-27 Page 83 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

Only a user account with the account lock-unlock setting activated can lock and unlock user accounts.

To lock or unlock a user account, right-click on the user account.

A locked user account has a red lock to the left of the account name.

BU-0002-27 Page 84 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 To improve security, inactive user sessions will be logged out after a specified timeout period.

The default timeout value is 30 minutes. This means that a user process is stopped after 30 minutes off inactivity.

Go to Users -> Security to change the settings for the timeout value.

The session timeout value can be changed or disabled. The timeout setting is set for the vtServer system and is active for all user accounts.

The timeout setting can be set using the console in the System Parameters menu.

The session timeout keeps track of the use of vtMonitor. Ongoing activities in the background, for example a copy of a logical disk, have no influence on this.

BU-0002-27 Page 85 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.8. Alerts

The vtServer alert notification feature will send messages when any of the following conditions occur:

- vtAlpha/vtVAX license is not available when an emulator is active - vtAlpha/vtVAX license expired (warnings continue for 16 hours before shutdown) - Disaster Recovery License has less than 24 hours of run-time remaining - High host memory utilization. When the swapfile use is over 80%. - OpenVMS Bug check detected - vtServer system partition/disk almost full. When there is less than 2% of free space. - There is a VPN configured, but it is not active - A Virtual Machine has Autostart enabled, but it is not started after a reboot of the vtServer host.

Additional alert conditions will be added in the future. User suggestions are welcome. All alerts are displayed in vtMonitor in the Logging/Alerts Window. To configure the mail settings for alerts there is an Alert Mail Service window. This window is part of the Host -> settings.

Alerts are always displayed in the Logging/Alerts window. To receive Alerts mail, configure the Alert Mail Service.

To monitor the whole system yourself, memory/CPU/Disk etc. SNMP is available.

BU-0002-27 Page 86 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 The following information is needed to configure the Alerts Mail Service.

SMTP Server To send a mail, alerts will need an SMTP server. Enter the name of the SMTP server here. Sender A mail message originates with a from user. This is the mail address you will see as From in your mail client.

When special authentication is needed to use the SMTP server, enable it and fill in the user and password. User User to use for SMTP authentication Password Password to use for SMTP authentication

BU-0002-27 Page 87 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 To test the SMTP settings, select the Test Configuration button.

Fill in a mail address and a test message will be sent to this address.

Or right-click on a mail address in the list to send a test mail to the selected address.

Now that the SMTP settings are correct and tested, mail addresses can be added to receive the alerts messages.

Select Add Mail Address to add more mail addresses.

BU-0002-27 Page 88 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 Fill in the new mail address to receive the alert messages.

Right-click on a mail address to remove it from the list.

Alerts are always displayed in the Logging/Alerts Window. When a new alert is added to the alerts window, the alerts counter will be changed.

To lower the alert counter the alert needs to be Acknowleged. Right-click the alert message to acknowledge and select Acknowledge Alert.

BU-0002-27 Page 89 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.9. Keyboard

The keyboard settings can be changed using the Console Menu. Select keyboard.

And select the desired keyboard setting.

BU-0002-27 Page 90 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.10. Snapshots

With snapshots it is possible to preserve the state of the system at a particular point in time. When needed, a snapshot made earlier in time can be used to restore the system to the state it was in at that time. Snapshots are only available on disks formatted with the btrfs filesystem. The snapshot utility will scan all available disks to see whether at least one of them is a btrfs disk. Snapshot management is part of the Host menu.

When selecting Snapshots a list of all available snapshots will be shown. Right-click on a snapshot to get a context sensitive snapshot menu.

It is possible to delete, rename or restore the selected snapshot.

BU-0002-27 Page 91 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 To restore a snapshot the vtServer will be rebooted. It is not possible to restore a snapshot on a running vtServer.

Two questions must be answered before the snapshot will be restored.

It is possible to create a snapshot from the current state, confirm whether this is desired or not. If you select Yes an extra questions needs to be answered: where to put the snapshot.

A confirmation must be given to continue the snapshot restore. Note that the vtServer will be rebooted during this process. When Yes is selected, the restore will run fully automatically and reboot vtServer two times.

BU-0002-27 Page 92 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

To create a snapshot manually select the context menu and select Create New Snapshot…

Accept the given name for the snapshot or fill in another name to create the snapshot.

4.10.1. Important Things to Know When Using Snapshots

Snapshots are only available when the system partition is created as btrfs partition.

1. A snapshot is NOT a replacement for a backup. A snapshot is only to preserve the state of the system partition.

BU-0002-27 Page 93 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 2. A snapshot will be made automatically before an update or patch installation. 3. A snapshot uses disk space. When there is not enough disk space available, it is not possible to create a snapshot before the update or patch installation.

vtMonitor will show the total disk space occupied by the snapshots in the Host -> Info menu.

4. During a full installation, or re-installation, the system partition will be completely overwritten. This will delete all snapshots. There are no snapshots available to restore the vtServer to the state before a full installation. 5. Snapshot is a powerful feature, but it is primarily intended to enable a fast rollback to the status before an update or patch installation. 6. A snapshot is NOT a replacement for a backup.

BU-0002-27 Page 94 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.10.2. Convert vtServer System Partition from ext4 to btrfs

VtServer installations prior to version 3.1 are installed on an ext4 formatted partition. To enable snapshots on such a system, vtServer must be re-installed and the new installation must be on a btrfs formatted disk.

Take care of the following before switching from ext4 to btrfs:

Re-installing will remove the current installation, including all the settings and virtual machine configurations.

A backup made in version 3.x cannot be restored on a version 4 of vtServer.

If you want to switch from the ext4 to the btrfs filesystem (and are currently using version 3.x), take the following steps: 1. Upgrade to vtServer V4.This will do the necessary conversion of the configuration files. 2. Make a backup via Host -> Backup -> Backup Host Settings

BU-0002-27 Page 95 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

3. Re-install vtServer (clean install). Choose btrfs filesystem when asked with at least 40Gb disk size. Restore the backup via Host -> Backup -> Restore Host Settings. Reboot.

On servers with a btrfs system disk, a snapshot will automatically be made when an update/upgrade is applied to the system. Using this snapshot, which is made for you before the actual upgrade takes place, it is always possible to revert back to the state before the upgrade. Snapshots can also be made manually when required. It is advisable to make snapshots before complex and/or large changes are made to vtServer or virtual machine configurations.

To convert a vtServer disk from ext4 to btrfs, first upgrade to V4. Then a V4 backup can be made.

BU-0002-27 Page 96 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.11. HTTPS and Certificates

Some explanation about SSL and certificates.

SSL Certificates are small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic key to an organization’s details. When installed on a web server, it activates the padlock and the https protocol and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser. Typically, SSL is used to secure credit card transactions, data transfer and logins, and more recently is becoming the norm when securing browsing of social media sites.

SSL Certificates bind together:

- A domain name, server name or hostname. - An organizational identity (i.e. company name) and location.

An organization needs to install the SSL Certificate onto its web server to initiate a secure session with browsers. Once a secure connection is established, all web traffic between the web server and the web browser will be secure.

When a certificate is successfully installed on your vtServer, the application protocol (HTTP) will change to HTTPs, where the ‘S’ stands for ‘secure’. Depending on the type of certificate you purchase and what browser you are surfing the internet on, a browser will show a padlock or green bar in the browser when you visit your vtServer that has an SSL Certificate installed.

When the system parameter field enable_http is left blank, HTTPS is forced when connecting to vtMonitor.

BU-0002-27 Page 97 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

When HTTPS is enabled to use by vtServer, it uses a so called “self-signed certificate”, a certificate that is not signed by a certificate authority (CA). To get more security it is possible to use (import) a certificate that is signed by a CA.

Go to the Host menu and select Certificates

This will show the currently active certificate.

Open the Host sub-menu to Import a Certificate.

BU-0002-27 Page 98 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

Select the Public and Private keyfile to use.

A commonly used tool to create Public and Private security keys is: Putty Key Generator. These certificates are NOT valid to use for HTTPS.

To update the public key open the Host sub-menu and select Update Certificate…

BU-0002-27 Page 99 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.12. System Parameters

The sysparams tab in the vtServer configuration menu can be used to set or remove some system settings.

There are four system parameter settings available:

enable_http Set this to yes to force vtMonitor to use HTTP instead of HTTPS. We encourage everyone to use HTTPS but in a mixed environment with vtServer versions V3 and V4 in the same network it is recommended to use HTTP. boot_options Can be set to any parameter that will be added to the server command line when vtServer is booting. Example: "nomodeset" to disable changing the video mode on boot. session_timeout Every user process has a timeout value. When a user does not use the session for a time longer than this timeout value, the user will be logged out. The session timeout is in minutes. 0 Session timeout is disabled

1 - . . Session timeout value in minutes, default is 30 minutes.

BU-0002-27 Page 100 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

startup_delay Can be set to a number that specifies the delay in seconds that should occur before a Virtual Machine is started automatically at system boot time. Is only used for Virtual Machines with autostart enabled. All Virtual Machines with autostart enabled will start one after the other, with the startup_delay time in the meantime.

BU-0002-27 Page 101 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.13. System Information

Show a summary of the system information. When using the vtMonitor GUI the Info menu is part of the Host tab.

When using the Console Menu, select the option System information in the System configuration menu.

BU-0002-27 Page 102 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.14. Shutdown / Reboot

These options allow you to perform a shutdown or reboot of the host system. When using the vtMonitor GUI the shutdown and reboot option is part of the navigation window. Right-click on the server to get a context-sensitive menu.

When using the Console Menu, select the option Shutdown Host or Reboot Host in the top menu.

A warning message will be displayed if virtual machines (vtVAX or vtAlpha) are still running. This message can be overridden in the Console menu, not in vtMonitor. In vtMonitor the running virtual machines have to be stopped first.

BU-0002-27 Page 103 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.15. Licensing

There is no limit in the number of virtual machines that can be created. There is a limit however on the number of machines that can be started or running simultaneously. Before a virtual machine starts, it checks for a proper license. If it does not find one, or the number of licenses is insufficient, it will not start.

Check the log-file of the virtual machine to check if licensing is the reason the machine won’t start.

The simplest way to use a license is the single host license. • vtServer with Alpha/VAX virtual machine. • USB license key in a local USB port

When there is more than one vtServer in the network, it is more efficient to use a vtLicense server. This will be easier to manage than multiple USB keys with multiple licenses.

A vtLicense server can be any PC hardware running on X86.

There are several advantages to using a dedicated vtLicense server:

- Commodity hardware in large datacenters often has no accessible USB slot with the result that it is not possible to use a licensed USB Key. - When using multiple vtLicense servers, there is a single location for easy management of all license keys. - With multiple vtLicense servers it is possible to create no single point of failure.

AVT, VERE or your reseller can quote a dedicated vtLicense server upon request.

BU-0002-27 Page 104 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.15.1. License Options

There are 3 license types:

1. Date limited time (e.g., annually renewable or for evaluation) License has an end date. 2. Permanent (production) No end time. 3. Pre-determined amount of runtime Disaster Recovery Licenses – low cost emergency use.

4.15.2. License Search Order

When a virtual machine starts, it will search for a valid license using the following search order:

1. Locally connected license 2. Network license 3. Locally connected DR license 4. Network DR license 5. Network broadcast to check for other vtLicense servers with an available license

A disaster Recovery license will not be charged when another license is found. It is a simple method to prevent production loss through license unavailability.

BU-0002-27 Page 105 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.15.3. LED Color State

The LEDs (for the Alpha emulator) in the USB License key have 3 states: 1. checking: orange 2. obtained license: green 3. failure to get license: red

When there is more licenses available, “normal” license, DR license or network license, the LED color will be red when the license is checked, but another license is used as current license.

Example:

A DR key is plugged into a USB port, and vtServer is configured to use the license in a license server on the network.

The license check process will first find the DR key. Because it is a DR key it continuous to look for another license and finds this on the license server. The LED color for the DR key will become red, although it has a valid key, it is not obtained as valid for that moment.

BU-0002-27 Page 106 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.15.4. License Management

The vtAlpha and vtVAX licensing mechanism utilizes license specifications stored on a hardware license container. By default, each vtServer host looks for the license container on a local (USB) port. The license can be managed using the Console Menu and using the vtMonitor GUI. When using the vtMonitor GUI there is a License tab with a Settings option.

Here a Remote License server can be added (or removed) and the host itself can be enabled to act as a vtLicense server for other (remote) vtServers.

When using the Console Menu, select the option License in the System configuration menu and perform the license options.

Info Displays the content of the license key(s) accessible to this host. The vtServer host can be configured to check for license containers on remote host systems or dedicated vtLicense servers. The use of remote license servers increases configuration flexibility and allows for disaster-tolerant configurations. Settings Remote Used to define one or more remote license servers that vtServer will poll for the required vtAlpha or vtVAX license. Settings Enable Used to enable the remote server capability on this host so that it may function as a remote license server.

BU-0002-27 Page 107 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.15.5. License in a Network

vtAlpha and vtVAX license information is stored on a special license key that fits into a USB slot of the host computer or vtLicense server. The Alpha and VAX virtual machine will check for the presence of a valid license when started and at periodic intervals while the Virtual Machine is running. A valid license, appropriate for the emulated system, must be detected for the virtual machine to be able to start. If the license is not found during one of the periodic checks an alert will be issued and the emulation will continue executing for up to 16 hours before the virtual machine is terminated. Each license key may contain primary or backup licenses for one or more vtAlpha and vtVAX virtual machines. The type, and number, of virtual machines that may execute simultaneously is determined by the available licenses. When primary and backup licenses are present, the primary licenses will be allocated first, and after that, the backup licenses will be allocated. In the simplest situation, the license key is inserted in a USB port on the vtServer host system. There are several circumstances under which the license key may be located on a system other than the host:

- There is no physical access to the host. - The host has no available USB slots (e.g., a blade system or virtual host). - The host is a virtualized system that may be migrated to other physical servers (e.g., VMware vMotion). - Fault tolerant configurations that provide redundancy for the host servers and/or license dongles. - Licenses for multiple host systems are stored on a single license key.

BU-0002-27 Page 108 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 The vtAlpha/vtVAX licensing mechanism supports these options by the ability to access license keys installed on remote license servers that are network-accessible to the vtServer host. The remote license server may be another vtServer host on the network, or a vtLicense server, which is a dedicated network appliance with USB ports for the license keys. The diagram below shows the license key inserted in a remote license server.

To create a redundant situation, more vtLicense servers can be used. Each license server may serve licenses for multiple vtServer host systems. When using a virtual machine fail-over mechanism like VMware’s vMotion, the deployment of multiple vtLicense servers in a network in combination with production and disaster recovery licenses allows you to create a robust disaster resilient (DR) virtual Alpha/VAX installation.

BU-0002-27 Page 109 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 4.15.6. Network License Installation

To use the network-based license setup, identify the systems that will be used as remote license servers and their IP addresses. The remote servers may be a vtLicense appliance or another vtServer host. The remote server must be accessible via IP from the vtServer host utilizing the server.

Step 1. Setup the license server computer

There are two scenarios possible: An existing vtServer can act as a license server, or a dedicated vtLicense system can be installed.

a) vtServer host On the vtServer host system hosting the license dongles: Click on the selection button in the License -> Settings window to enable this vtServer as a license server.

This activates the license server task, which runs in the background. b) vtLicense Obtain the product, assign it a network address and connect it to the network. AVT and VERE supply plug-and-play vtLicense servers.

These vtLicense servers come pre-installed and ready to use.

BU-0002-27 Page 110 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

Installation

1. Obtain IP settings to assign to this vtLicense server. 2. Insert the license key in one of the USB slots on the back of the unit (if not yet pre-installed), or open the cover and plug it into one of the internal USB slots. 3. Do not connect the network cable yet. 4. Plug in the power cable. 5. It will take the vtLicense server approximately 90 seconds to start. 6. The vtLicense server has IP address 192.168.0.1 factory installed. 7. Create a point-to-point network connection between the vtLicense server and your PC. 8. Assign the network address 192.168.0.2 to this PC (temporary) in order to connect to the vtLicense server. 9. Connect the network cable to the vtLicense server and open an Internet browser window 10. Enter 192.168.0.1 in the URL box and hit return. 11. A vtMonitor window should appear. 12. Default user-id and password both are root 13. Select Network  Interface 14. Select the port: mgr0 15. Enter the desired IP settings. 16. Connect the vtLicense server to your network and restore the network status of your PC (i.e., remove the 192.168.0.2 address). 17. Configure vtLicense via the user interface. 18. We recommend altering the default password for security reasons.

BU-0002-27 Page 111 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 Step 2: Point the vtServer host to the network server

Click on the selection button in the License -> Settings window to Add License Server to this vtServer.

Multiple remote license servers may be defined to provide increased redundancy and reliability. A secondary license key may be a full license or a disaster recovery key with a limited run- time to survive temporary unavailability of the primary license key.

BU-0002-27 Page 112 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.16. Firewall Settings (vtLicense only)

Configure the firewall for vtLicense. By default the following ports are enabled:

22350 Codemeter license service 443 HTTPS 80 HTTP 53 DNS 9456 vtScan

Do not delete a standard firewall rule.

Other ports can be added if so desired.

IP address 0 translates to localhost.

BU-0002-27 Page 113 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 To delete a firewall rule right-click on the rule to delete.

To add a new rule selects the menu option and select Add New Rule.

Fill in the firewall rule to add and select Add to save the new rule on the vtLicense server.

Enable/Disable switches the Firewall function on or off. Default is Disabled. Share Rules is used to copy the current rules to another vtLicense server. Firewall rules can only be shared with vtLicense servers which are connected via the Navigation Window.

BU-0002-27 Page 114 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1

4.17. Proxy Settings (vtLicense Only)

Proxy support can be enabled on a vtLicense server.

When Enable Proxy Support is active the option to enable authentication will be available.

BU-0002-27 Page 115 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 5. Virtual Machines

5.1. Creating a Virtual Machine

To create a virtual machine click on the menu tab New Virtual Machine in the Navigation Window.

Changed Virtual Machine settings are active after a restart of the Virtual Machine.

All changes made in Virtual Machine settings are not directly active. This makes it possible to change the settings without affecting the running Virtual Machine.

BU-0002-27 Page 116 January 2, 2020 vtServer Reference Manual V4.0.1 A selection window will pop up with all the pre-defined virtual machines you can create. Select Alpha or VAX to switch between a list of available Alphas or VAXes.

The default name for a new Virtual Machine is New_