Emulation's bones bared, speeds boosted
January 6, 2016
The year 2015 marked significant changes for the virtualization stable at Stromasys. The company now sells five products in all, providing emulation of processors from HP, Sun, and three off the Digital lineup: PDP-11, VAX and Alpha. Those last two Digital models represent the most mature virtualization software from the company. Homesteaders might consider what's being done with those models as a target for futures of the HPA product.
Stromays is making no predictions about whether the Barebones feature in its VAX version of Charon will emerge in Charon HPA. But the newest release for the oldest product line will strip down what's required.
CHARON-VAX Barebone brings the same security and peace of mind as traditional Charon solutions -- but with a Linux microkernel embedded in the Charon software. Barebone uses only the essential components of the Linux OS, increasing your datacenter's stability and performance, while eliminating your OS license cost.
It seems that reducing the need to manage Linux would be a good selling point for Charon in any of its platform versions. "CHARON-VAX allows customers to easily create and deploy new virtual VAXs," product manager Alexandre Cruz reports. "It uses a stripped down Linux version (with GUI) that saves the hassle of host OS installation, configuration and licensing."
This streamlining is not a part of the Charon HPA model yet, but the newest 3000-ready release will make the Intel-based emulation of the PA-RISC faster.
- A 15 percent CPU performance increase
- A new Network Configuration Utility
- Updated Sentinel drivers
- Support for Primary / Secondary (Backup) licenses
- Increased limit in the number of controllers from 6 to 8 in CHARON-HPA/4040
2015 also marked the debut of a Charon version for companies using SPARC-based servers. SPARC emulation was a target of the Charon product line since the earliest days of public announcements about the HPA software.
CHARON-SSP allows Sun Solaris applications that ran on SPARC systems to remain working with no change. As a member of the Oracle Partner Network, Stromasys makes it easier for Sun customers to move to CHARON-SSP on an Oracle x86 server. CHARON-SSP offers different versions, designed for 32-bit and 64-bit machines, from 1-24 CPUs. CHARON-SSP is available for Linux and VMware.
Stromasys calls its product line "classic system virtualization." Classic sounds better than legacy, and certainly better than proprietary. There's something about lines that get cleaner, as their bones get bared, that leads to the label of classic.