Sneak Preview of STB Suite 8.7

STB Suite | The Industry Standard in Peripheral Testing.

Custom Log entries for DMM

The upcoming next release of the STB has, as usual, a number of new features and improvements. One of these is Custom Log entries for DMM.

A customizable field for each test step

Each test step can have a user-entered text field which is defined while defining the test step, using the Advanced Options page –

Each test step can have it’s own entry, and of course these entries are stored in any sequence file that you save.

An “Overall” field for the entire test

When a test is run you are given the opportunity to enter an operator ID and also an overall test description –

The final result

Here is an edited example log file generated by the “DoD5220DiskPurge” test sequence
(bold and red emphasis added for clarity):

================================================================================
 >> SCSI Toolbox32, Version 8. 6. 2  (build) 121003, running on \\WIN7TESTBOX    <<
 >> Default Driver: 10, Operating  System: Windows 7<<
 >> Number of Drives Under Test: 1  <<
 ================================================================================
Test Date:  10/10/2012   10:49:09
 Test Pass:  1
     Device:  6:271:0   Vendor: SEAGATE, Product: ST373455SS

     Serial: 3LQ1271W, Version: S513
Script Filename:  C:\Users\mikej\Documents\Dod5220.seq
 Results:
 -- OPERATOR NAME: MDJ  
 -- SPECIAL TEXT: DoD 5220 Disk Purge  
 -- TEXT FOR THIS TEST: Step 1 of DoD 5220 
 - write all blocks with 0's data pattern 
10/10/2012  10:49:10  TEST 1 of 4:
                           Write Test;  Sequential; for 2,000,000 Blocks
                           Fixed-Length  Transfers of 128 (0x0080) Blocks
    ...
 10/10/2012  10:49:17                                                  PASSED   
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- TEXT FOR THIS TEST: Step 2 of DoD 5220 
 - write all blocks with 1's data pattern (inverse of step #1)   

10/10/2012  10:49:18  TEST 2 of 4:
                           Write Test;  Sequential; for 2,000,000 Blocks
                           Fixed-Length  Transfers of 128 (0x0080) Blocks
 ...
 10/10/2012  10:49:26                                                  PASSED   
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- TEXT FOR THIS TEST: Step 3 of DoD 5220 
 - write all blocks with Random data pattern   

10/10/2012  10:49:26  TEST 3 of 4:
                           Write Test;  Sequential; for 2,000,000 Blocks
                           Fixed-Length  Transfers of 128 (0x0080) Blocks
    ...
 10/10/2012  10:49:35                                                  PASSED   
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- TEXT FOR THIS TEST: Step 4 of DoD 5220 
 - read all blocks with data compare verify   

10/10/2012  10:49:35  TEST 4 of 4:
                           Read Test;  Sequential; for 2,000,000 Blocks
                           Fixed-Length  Transfers of 128 (0x0080) Blocks

Summary

DMM logs can now contain any user-entered information to help clarify what was done during a test sequence. Here is a summary of what is now included in all DMM log files:

  1. The version of STB Suite that was ran
  2. The name of the test system
  3. The version of Windows running on the test system
  4. What driver was used during the test run
  5. The drive information
    1. Address
    2. Vendor
    3. Product
    4. FW Version
    5. Serial Number
  6. How many drives were under test during the test run
  7. The date and time the test run was started
  8. The name of the test sequence file which was run (if applicable)
  9. The test operator ID
  10. The “Overall” test custom text
  11. For each test step
    1. The type of test (write, read, etc)
    2. The access method (random, sequential, CPAM, etc)
    3. All test parameters such as
      1. starting block
      2. number of  blocks to test
      3.  data pattern
      4. Queue depth
      5. Stop-on-Error type
    4. Test final status (PASSED, FAILED)
      1. In the case a step fails all details of the failure are logged
    5. The starting and ending date and time for the test step
    6. If the test does data transfers performance metrics
      1. Transfer rate in MB/s
      2. IOP’s
      3. Number of blocks transferred
      4. Fastest, slowest, and average command completion time
      5. Average and standard deviation of command completion times
    7. The new custom text for each test step