STB Suite

March 2013

In this Issue:

  • What is Performa?
  • New High-Speed Performance Test in 8.7
  • STB Help Issues
  • Interim 8.7.1 Release shipping
  • Ready to receive your 8.7.1 Performa upgrade email?

What is Performa?

Performa is the STB Suite annual support and maintenance plan.

In most cases each purchase of the STB Suite includes 12 months of Performa coverage.
What does that coverage include?

 

New License discounts

STB offers attractive discounts on new licenses when you keep your licenses covered.

If you have Performa for 1-3 licenses you’ll receive a 10% Performa Discount on New licenses.
If you have Performa for 4-10 licenses you’ll receive a 15% Performa Discount on New licenses.
If you have Performa for 11-20 licenses you’ll receive a 20% Performa Discount on New licenses.

Contact STB today to receive a customized quote!

 

Updates to the STB Suite

There are typically two major updates to the STB Suite per year. In between these major updates there are typically a number of maintenance updates which will be used to fix bugs and occasionally introduce new features. For example, between the 8.6 update and the recent 8.7 update there were 6 maintenance updates released. With Performa coverage you are entitled to all of these.

Product Support

Performa coverage provides you with contact with our development team, to answer questions, discuss changes or improvements, etc. With decades of storage experience our support team is willing and able to help you. Our World-class support typically responds to email support issues within one hour!

How to keep Performa fresh

Every time you renew your Performa coverage you need to update your USB key. This is a simple process whereby your key is updated to reflect your new Performa expiration date. Once your key has been updated you will be able to run any new STB Suite versions that are released while you are covered. Instructions for the key update process are emailed with your Performa renewal.

Purchase Performa for your STB Suite license(s) now here!

New High-Performance Test in 8.7 using Developer Toolbox

High Speed Performance Test

New “High-Speed Performance Test” in DTB:

We here at ScsiToolbox have been asked many times “Can you create for us a test that is as fast as possible?”  Finally in our version 8.7.0 release we have our “High-Speed Performance Test”.  Here are some numbers we performed on a solid state drive:

Sequential-Write Test:  168.42 MB/sec
High-Speed Performance Test: 199.62 MB/sec   == 18% FASTER!!!!

As you can see from the results above, in many types of benchmarking tests, the High-Speed Performance Test can be much-much faster than the sequential-write test – sometimes as much as 18% faster (as in the above example).  On other types of drives we have seen the High-Speed Performance Test running 28% faster!!

Details on using the new “High-Speed Performance Test”

Our Developer’s Toolbox (DTB) comes with the new API VCSCSIHighSpeedTest_Time.  The prototype is

int VCSCSIHighSpeedTest_Time(int nNumberOfMinutes);

In your C/C++ code you make a call to above API as follows:

int nNumberOfMinutes = 5;
BOOL bSuccess = VCSCSIHighSpeedTest_Time(nNumberOfMinutes);

Here is a sample logfile entry for the High-Speed test:

01/15/2013  09:24:46  TEST 6 of 6:
High Speed Test, Sequential, for 1 Min, 0 Sec
Queue Depth = 8

01/15/2013  09:25:46  Test Completed Successfully

Transfer Rate: 247.43 MB/sec
I/O Per Second: 3958.95 IO/sec
Number of Blocks Transferred: 30404736

01/15/2013  09:25:46                       PASSED

 

 

 

 

STB Help Issues

Help - Help

Microsoft has changed the format of help files in their later OS’s, rendering older help files not-readable.

Fortunately there is an easy fix for this problem.

Seeing the Problem

If you click on the STB Help ->Help Topics and get this message then your OS needs the Microsoft patch –

Fixing the Problem

Simply click on the link in the error box which will lead you through the process of getting the legacy help file patch. Microsoft will verify the “authenticity” of your OS, and then will present you with a few choices to download the file which is appropriate for the OS you happen to be running.

That’s all

It’s as easy as that. If you get the error just follow the link, get the fix, apply it by running the program it downloads, and from now on all of your legacy help files will be readable.

 

 

8.7.1 Interim Release

Interim Release

  • Enable database logging
  • When test fails in DMM, device will be displayed as “Red” for the duration of testing
  • On “External Program” test, if error occurs and Stop-On-Error type is “Stop All Tests”, then stop all testing
  • Fix STBTrace driver for systems that have multiple quad HBAs
  • Add SATA Trim command functionality

 

 

 

 

Receiving your Performa upgrade emails?

Performa EmailsTo make sure you are running the latest version of the STB Suite and are notified ASAP on the new releases be sure to follow the outline below.

  1. Purchase the STB Suite, it comes with one year of Performa
  2. Maintain the license with the Performa program
    1. Be sure to keep your Technical Contact information updated with STB so you receive the latest emails regarding new releases.
      1. Email – This is very important and we would recommend using a technical support distribution email address so it is visible by more than one person to avoid accidental deletions, junk mail filtering, or just missing the “Official Performa” emails.
      2. Name
      3. Company
      4. Phone
  3. Have your testing teams or technical co-workers sign-up for the STB Suite Monthly newsletter so they can see what’s coming, what’s new and not miss out on any special promotions or announcements for the STB Suite. Please note if you sign-up for the newsletter you will receive a follow-up email that requires a confirmation. If you don’t receive that email then your company mail server is blocking @scsitoolbox.com and/or @stbsuite.com.

If you’re not sure who your technical contact is for your license(s) or have any questions contact STB today!