test

SunVTS 5.0 User's Guide

Using Additional Features with the SunVTS TTY UI

This section describes additional SunVTS features using the SunVTS TTY user interface:

Connecting to Another Host

You can connect the SunVTS user interface on your local system to a SunVTS kernel that is running on another system in your network. Once you are connected to the remote system, all of the controls in the TTY UI control the testing of the remote system.

To Connect to Another Host

  1. Make sure that the SunVTS kernel is running on the remote system.

    You can do this in several ways. You can remote login (using rlogin or telnet) to the remote system and run the vtsk command (see "To Start the SunVTS Kernel (vtsk)") to start the kernel.

    Note -

    On the remote system, you must login (or switch user) as a user that has SunVTS privileges (superuser by default) before you can start the SunVTS kernel (vtsk).

  2. Open the Connect_to_Host menu:

    1. In the Control panel, highlight connect_to and press return.

    2. Enter the remote system hostname in the connect_to_host field.

    3. Highlight Apply and press return.

    4. Press <Esc> when you receive the connect_to confirmation box.

    The SunVTS UI now controls SunVTS on the remote system. The remote system hostname is displayed at the top of the TTY main menu.

Using the Email Notification Feature

You can have SunVTS send test status messages to you using email.

To Enable Email Notification

  1. In the Control panel, highlight set_options and press return.

    The set_options menu is displayed.

  2. Select Notify and press return.

  3. Complete the notify menu items.

  4. Highlight Apply and press return.

Controlling the Size of the Log Files

The log file sizes of the SunVTS test error log (/var/opt/SUNWvts/logs/sunvts.err), the SunVTS kernel error log (/var/opt/SUNWvts/logs/vtsk.err) and the information log (/var/opt/SUNWvts/logs/sunvts.info) are each limited to a maximum size of 1 Mbyte by default. When the log file reaches the maximum size, the content is moved to a file called logfilename.backup. Additional events are added to the main log files. If the log file reaches the maximum size again, the content is moved to the backup file, overwriting the earlier backup file content. Only one backup file is maintained for each log file.

You can modify the log file maximum size specification.

To Modify the Log File Size Limits

  1. In the Control panel, highlight set_options and press return.

    The set_options menu is displayed.

  2. Highlight Thresholds in the set_options menu and press return.

  3. Enter a value (1-5) in the Max System Log Size field.

  4. With Apply highlighted, press return.

Preserving Test Options with Locks and Overrides

With locks and overrides you can preserve or override the options you set at the system level, group level, and device level.

Locks

Normally, when you change an option setting at the system level or group level, the new option setting propagates down to all lower levels. Enabling the lock prevents an option setting made at a higher level from affecting the lower-level option setting.

Note -

Overrides nullify lower-level locks.

To Set (or Unset) a Lock

  1. Open the Test Advanced Options dialog box from the group level or device level you want to lock as follows:

    1. Move to the Test_Groups panel.

    2. Highlight the group that has the device for which you plan to set (or unset) a lock, and press return.

      The group devices are displayed.

    3. Highlight the device and press return.

      The Test_Options menu is displayed.

    4. Highlight Advanced and press return.

      The Advanced options menu is displayed.

    5. Highlight the setting for the Test Lock and press return.

    6. Highlight enabled (or disabled) and press return.

    7. Highlight Apply in the Advanced menu.

      The lock is set (or unset).

Overrides

You can use overrides to void the lock protection. Setting the system-level override nullifies all locks, and setting a group-level override nullifies all the locks below that group.

To Set (or Unset) an Override

  1. Open the Advanced Option dialog box at one of the following levels:

    • System-level--select Advanced from the set_options in the Control panel.

    • Group-level--select Advanced from Options next the to group in the Test_Groups panel.

  2. Highlight the Override setting (enable/disable), and press return.

    The enable disable menu is displayed.

  3. Select enable (or disable), and press return.

  4. Highlight Apply, and press return.

Scaling Your Test Session

You can use a combination of options to scale testing intensity to meet your diagnostic needs. For example, you can modify test options so that each test instance runs simultaneously, thus increasing the stress level for a single or multiprocessor system. The following procedures can be used individually or in combination to scale the test session.

To Modify the Number of Test Instances

You can scale your test session by running multiple copies of the same test on your devices. Each copy is called a test instance. Each test instance is a separate process of the same test. The number of test instances can be set at the system level, group level, and the device level as follows:

  1. Open the Test_Execution Option menu at one of the following levels:

    • System-level--select Test_Execution from the set_options menu in the Control panel.

    • Group-level--select Test_Execution from Options next to the group in the Test_Groups panel.

    • Device-level--select Test_Execution from the device in the device option menu.

  2. Highlight the Num of Instances setting, and enter the value you want.

  3. Highlight Apply, and press return.

To Modify Test Concurrency Options

The test concurrency option sets the number of tests that run at a given time during a test session. You can set this value to one to run one test at a time, or increase the test concurrency value thus increasing the stress level of your test session.

There are two options you can modify in the Schedule Option dialog boxes (at the system level and group level) to scale your test session:

  1. Open the Schedule Option menu at one of the following levels:

    • System-level--select Schedule from the set_options menu in the Control panel.

    • Group-level--select Schedule from Options next to the group in the Test_Groups panel.

  2. Highlight the concurrency setting, and enter the value you want.

  3. Highlight Apply, and press return.

To Bind a Test to a Processor with the Processor Affinity Option (for Multiprocessor Systems)

By default, the Solaris kernel assigns each test instance to whichever processor is available at the time. On multiprocessor systems, you can bind (assign) a test instance to a particular processor as follows:

  1. Open the Test_Execution Option menu at one of the following levels:

    • System-level--select Test_Execution from the set_options menu in the Control panel.

    • Group-level--select Test_Execution from Options next to the group in the Test_Groups panel.

    • Device-level--select Test_Execution from the device in the device option menu.

    Note -

    The Processor Affinity field is only displayed on multiprocessor systems.

    Note -

    The Processor Affinity option is not available for processor tests such as cputest and fputest. These tests are associated with each individual processor on your system and you cannot bind these tests to a different processor.

  2. Highlight the Processor Affinity setting, and enter the value you want.

  3. Highlight Apply, and press return.

Using the Debugging Features

You can enable certain options that cause the SunVTS test session to output more test data than when you run the session with the default option values. The following procedures describe how to enable these features.

To Enable (or Disable) Debugging Options

  1. Open the Test_Execution Option menu at one of the following levels:

    • System-level--select Test_Execution from the set_options menu in the Control panel.

    • Group-level--select Test_Execution from Options next to the group in the Test_Groups panel.

    • Device-level--select Test_Execution from the device in the device option menu.

  2. Enable (or disable) one or more of the following options:

    • Verbose--displays verbose messages indicating when the test is starting and stopping during the test session.

    • Core File--when enabled, creates a core file when a test session results in a core dump. The core file is called sunvts_install_dir/bin/core.testname.xxxxxx , where testname is the test that dumped the core, and xxxxxx is a character string generated by the system in order to make the file name unique.

  3. Highlight Apply, and press return.

Saving a Test Session Configuration for Repeated Use (Option Files)

You can use the Option Files feature to save the current set of selected devices and test options for reuse. This is a convenient feature when you plan to use the same test session configuration over and over again.

The configuration information is saved in a filename of your choice in the /var/opt/SUNWvts/options directory.

Note -

Do not manually edit any option file. Unnecessary or spurious characters in the option file can cause unexpected behavior when you use them.

To Create an Option File

  1. Configure SunVTS for the test session that you want to save.

    See "To Configure SunVTS for a Test Session".

  2. Highlight option_files in the Control panel, and press return.

    The Option Files menu box is displayed.

  3. Specify an option file name in the Option File field.

  4. Highlight Store, and press return.

To Load an Option File
Note -

Loading an option file that was created on another system is permitted, but you must make sure that the configuration is valid for the system you plan to test.

Note -

Do not load an option file that was created in a 64-bit environment into a 32-bit environment.

  1. Highlight option_files in the Control panel, and press return.

    The Option Files menu box is displayed.

  2. Highlight List and press return.

    The list of available option files is displayed.

  3. Highlight an option file from the list, and press return.

  4. Highlight Load, and press return.

    The test session configuration is loaded into SunVTS. You can use this configuration, or modify it before you start the test session.

To Remove an Option File

  1. Highlight option_files in the Control panel, and press return.

    The Option Files menu box is displayed.

  2. Highlight List and press return.

    The list of available option files are displayed.

  3. Highlight the option file from the list that you want to delete, and press return.

  4. Highlight Remove, and press return.

Using the Auto-Start Feature

You can use the auto-start feature, along with saved option files, to simplify the process of configuring a test session and running it.

To Configure SunVTS to use the Auto-Start Feature

  1. Highlight set_options from the Control panel, and press return.

    The set_options menu is displayed.

  2. Highlight Schedule and press return.

    The Schedule menu is displayed.

  3. Enable the Auto Start setting in the Schedule menu.

  4. Highlight Apply and press return.

  5. Create an option file as described in "To Create an Option File".

    The option file that you create is configured to use the auto-start feature.

To Use the Auto-Start Feature

  1. Highlight quit UI and Kernel from the quit menu in the Control panel.

    You must quit SunVTS and restart it for the auto-start feature to work.

  2. Use the following command to restart SunVTS from the command-line, specifying the Option File that you created:


    # /opt/SUNWvts/bin/sunvts -to option_file

    SunVTS displays the TTY main window and automatically starts the test session.

Suspending and Resuming a Test Session

You can suspend a test session. For example, you might want to look at messages on the Console panel that have scrolled out of view, or you may want to view and print a log file.

To Suspend and Resume a Test Session

  1. While the test session is running, highlight suspend in the Control panel, and press return.

    "Suspended" is displayed in the Status panel, and the test session pauses until you resume it.

  2. While the test session is suspended, highlight resume in the Control panel, and press return.

    "Testing" is displayed in the Status panel, and the SunVTS kernel resumes the suspended test session.

Recording and Replaying a Test Session

You can use the Record and Replay feature to record a SunVTS test session. Only one test session recording is saved at a time.

The events are recorded in a file called /var/opt/SUNWvts/vts_replay_file.

Once a test session is recorded, you can use the recorded events to drive the SunVTS kernel so it reproduces the recorded sequence of events at a later time.

Note -

The Record and Replay feature closely reproduces the sequence of events, but it cannot reproduce the time periods of these events because the execution times vary from one run to another.

To Record and Replay a Test Session

  1. Configure SunVTS for the test session that you want to run.

    See "To Configure SunVTS for a Test Session".

  2. Highlight start in the Control panel and press return.

    The start menu is displayed.

  3. Highlight Start with Record and press return.

    The test session runs, and the events are recorded. When testing stops, the recorded session is available to replay.

  4. Highlight start in the Control panel and press return.

    The start menu is displayed.

  5. Highlight Replay and press return.

    The kernel reruns the same tests, with the same configuration that you specified.

Note -

During the replay, the kernel is actually rerunning the tests, not just re-displaying the recorded session.