SVR5 and SCO OpenServer 5

loadtests(1Mcert)

loadtests, hcptest -- system load tests

Synopsis

/usr/bin/loadtests # SVR5
/usr/bin/hcptest # SCO OpenServer 5

Description

NOTE: plt(1Mcert) documents a new test suite that replaces loadtests and hcptest. plt can be downloaded from the HDK testsuites web page for either platform. The old documenation is retained for reference but will be removed in a future release.

loadtests and hcptest are the interfaces to an earlier suite of tests that exercise a computer system under a heavy load. These tests were used to qualify computer systems with the SVR5 or SCO OpenServer 5 operating system. These suites can also be used to test kernel sanity after new device drivers and other kernel-level code have been added.

These test should run from 36-48 hours without errors in order to give reasonable confidence of system and driver sanity; specific requirements will be specified by the certification agreement.

Usage

To run the tests

Log in as root and run the /usr/bin/loadtests program on SVR5 or the /usr/bin/hcptest program on SCO OpenServer 5.
The tests display notices on the screen, ask for user input, and allow the user to select the tests that will be run.
At the menu screen, enter 1 (the number ``one''), follows by <Enter> to run the Balanced Load Tests.
You will see the description string change to READY TO RUN.
Enter r to run the tests.
Insert a scratch floppy disk in the floppy drive, then enter c in response to the program prompt. The tests will then begin.
Enter <Del> to terminate test execution. It could take several minutes for the system to respond; please be patient.

The tests' stderr content is redirected to a file in the log directory. Examine these files for error messages after the tests complete. Note that some files in this directory are empty (have a size of 0 bytes). This is normal and acceptable and indicates that the test did not generate an error. Also, some of the files contain informational log entries that are not errors.

The tests write a timestamp to the log/date.dat file once each minute. Should the test suite fail, or should the system hang or panic, subtracting the first timestamp from the last timestamp will provide the elapsed time the tests ran. The last timestamp in this file determines the date and time at which there was a failure.

Note the following:

System auditing must be disabled before running loadtests or the hard drive will rapidly be filled with auditing log files. System auditing is disabled by default.
On systems with 32MB of memory or less, the X server should be disabled before the tests are run. To do this, run the following as root:
```
   /usr/bin/X11/scologin disable
```
You may also have to disable optional services such as ArcServ and VisionFS to obtain enough free memory for the tests.
The log files may contain status messages that do not indicate failures in the tests.

TEST GROUPS

These test suites contain several tests groups, described below.

Memory tests: malloc(3C) and free( ) system calls are exercised to allocate and free memory continuously over a wide range of addresses.
CPU tests: Tests the floating point calculations by using sin(3M), exp(3M), log(3M), atan(3M), and cos(3M). The equivalent functions are documented in the Section S manual pages on SCO OpenServer 5 systems.
Hard disk tests: Files are created, copied, and removed to exercise the filesystem. fsck(1M) is run to verify filesystem integrity.
Floppy disk tests: A continuous format and dd(1M) loop is executed. Data transfers occur using 30K blocks.
CD-ROM tests: (SVR5 loadtests only) Recursive ls(1) and find(1) commands are executed to exercise the CD-ROM subsystem. An unmounted CDFS filesystem CD-ROM must be installed in the drive before starting the test.

Version applicability

loadtests: ddi: 7, 7mp, 8, 8mp on SVR5
hcptest: oddi: 3, 3mp, 4, 4mp, 5, 5mp on SCO OpenServer 5.

Files

The files and directories listed with a relative pathname, are created under the /home/loadtests directory on SVR5 and under the /usr/hcptest/tests directory on SCO OpenServer 5. Note that there is no actual loadtests user.

usr/bin/loadtests: The SVR5 test script. This can be run only as ``root''.
usr/bin/hcptest: The SCO OpenServer 5 test script. This can be run only as ``root''.
log/date.dat: Contains timestamps. The data and time is written to this file once per minute while the tests are running.
doc/bulletin: Bulletin that must be completed after a successful test run.

Directories

tests/cpu/*: CPU tests.
tests/disk/*: Disk tests.
tests/cdrom/*: CD-ROM tests.
log/*: Log files generated by the tests.
tests/mem/*: Memory tests.
tests/oes/*: Balanced load tests.
tmp/*: Temporary workspace used for the loadtests.

References

``Driver testing and debugging'' in Developing device drivers
``Guidelines for all kernel drivers'' in Developing device drivers