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fctest - test Fibre Channel environment
fctest [ -B ] [ -t minutes ] [ -v ] [ adapter ]
fctest -T [ -t minutes ] [ -v ] adapter
fctest [ -R ] [ -W ] [ -A ] [ -V ] [ -B ] [ -t minutes ] [
-n sects ] [ -v ] [ -s <shelf-list> ] [ -d <disk-list> ] [
-a <adapter-list> ]
Use the fctest command to test Fibre Channel adapters and
disks on an appliance. This command provides a report of
the integrity of your Fibre Channel environment. It is
only available in maintenance mode. By default, it takes
about 5 minutes to complete.
The -R option executes a sequential read test with optionally
specified large block size (default is 1024kb per
I/O).
The -W option executes a sequential write test with
optionally specified large block size (default is 1024kb
per I/O).
The -A option executes a test that alternates between
writes and reads with optionally specified large block
size (default is 1024kb per I/O). No data verification is
peformed.
The -V option executes a sequential write verify test
which uses 4kb per I/O operation. This is identical to the
way fctest would function on previous releases.
The -T option executes a test that alternates between
writes and reads with varying I/O sizes. It also steps
through permutations of shelves on the specified loop. If
-t minutes is specified, each iteration of the test will
run for the specified time. This test is a continuous test
and will run until stopped via ^C.
The -n option is used to optionally specify the number of
sectors to be read for each I/O of the -R,-A or -W option.
The number of sectors used by the the -V command is fixed
at 8 (4kb) and cannot be altered.
The -d option allows for running fctest over a specific
set of disks in the system by specifying a disk list of
the form: <disk-name1> <disk-name2>
The -s option allows for running fctest over all disks
contained in a specific shelf by specifying a shelf list
of the form: <a>:<m> [<b>:<n> ...] where <m> and <n> are
integer shelf ids and <a> and <b> are the PCI slot numbers
of the Fibre Channel Adapter(s) the shelves are connected
to. (on board adapter is slot 0a) Hint: use fcadmin
device_map to get slot locations.
The -a option allows for running fctest over a specific
set of Fibre Channel adapters in the system by specifying
an adapter list of the form: <slot1> <slot2> ... <slotN>.
If the -v option is specified, the output is verbose.
If the -B option is specified, disks attached to the Fibre
Channel loop via their B ports will also be tested.
By default, the test runs for about 5 minutes. However, if
the [ -t minutes ] option is used, the test will run for
the specified duration. If [ -t 0 ] is specified, the test
will run CONTINUOUSLY until stopped with a ^C.
If the adapter or disk-list, adapter-list and shelf-list
arguments are missing, all Fibre Channel adapters and
disks in the system are tested. Otherwise, only the specified
adapter and disks attached to it are tested.
When finished, fctest prints out a report of the following
values for each Fibre Channel adapter tested:
1. Number of times loss of synchronization was
detected in that adapter's Fibre Channel loop.
2. Number of CRC errors found in Fibre Channel
packets.
3. The total number of inbound and outbound frames
seen by the adapter.
4. A "confidence factor" on a scale from 0 to 1
that indicates the health of your Fibre Channel
system as computed by the test. A value of 1 indicates
that no errors were found. Any value less
than 1 indicates there are problems in the Fibre
Channel loop that are likely to intefere with the
normal operation of your appliance. For more information
see the Easy Installation Instructions for
your specific filer or your Fibre Channel Storage
Shelf Guide.
If the confidence factor is reported as less than 1,
please go through the troubleshooting checklist for Fibre
Channel loop problems in the document "Easy Installation
Instructions for NetApp Filers" and re-run the fctest command
after making any suggested modifications to your
Fibre Channel setup. If the problem persists, please call
your Customer Support telephone number.
The actual arithmetic that is used to compute the confidence
factor is as follows:
The number of Fibre Channel errors is obtained by adding
the number of underrun, CRC, Synchronization and link
failure errors with all errors weighted the same.
The allowable number of errors by the Fibrechannel protocol
is calculated by adding fibre channel frames (inbound
+ outbound) and then multiplying by 2048 bytes per frame
and dividing by the BER of 1e-12 converted to bytes at
1e-11.
The confidence factor is calculated as follows:
if total errors = 0 then confidence factor = 1.0
if total errors < allowable errors then confidence factor
= 0.99
if total errors > allowable errors then confidence factor
is decremented by .01 for each error seen which the protocol
error rate does not allow.
In a clustered configuration, only disks on a filer's primary
loop (the A loop) are tested, unless the -B option is
specified. If -B is specified, disks on the B loop are
tested as well.
The following command runs fctest for 5 minutes doing a
sequential alternating write and read test in verbose mode
on all Fibre Channel adapters in the system, while testing
only those disks which are attached via their A ports:
fctest -v
The following command runs fctest for an hour doing a
sequential write test in verbose mode, using 1024kb I/O
blocks while testing disks attached to adapter 8 via both
A and B ports:
fctest -W -v -B -t 60 -a 8
The following command runs fctest for 5 minutes doing a
sequential read test on all disks in shelf 0 on adapter 7.
fctest -R -s 7:0
The following command runs fctest continuously (until
stopped) doing a sequential write test of 512kb I/O's to
all disks on shelf 1 on adapter 7, shelf 2 on adapter 7,
disks 7.0 and 7.1 and all disks on adapter 8.
fctest -W -n 1024 -t 0 -d 7.0 7.1 -s 7:1 7:2 -a 8
The following command runs fctest continuously (until
stopped) doing an alternating sequential write/read test
with varying I/O sizes across all shelf permutations in
the loop attached to adapter 7 for 4 minutes on each iteration.
fctest -T -t 4 7
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