IOX detects and diagnoses I/O problems on the disk and tape units of your hardware configuration. Using the IOX command language, you can execute, control, and monitor I/O exercises on device units that you specify for exercising. See the RSX-11M/M-PLUS System Management Guide for more specific information. You can make decisions about three aspects of testing and use the appropriate command to implement those decisions. You must perform these steps: 1. Invoke IOX. 2. Determine which devices you want to test and include them in your test configuration. 3. Determine the kind of exercise to run on each unit in your test configuration 4. Set exercise parameters to affect how IOX tests the units you want to exercise. 5. Begin the exercise and possibly interrupt the exercise to change steps 2, 3, and 4. 6. Monitor the activity and error reports that IOX generates during an exercise. 7. Exit IOX or repeat this process beginning at step 2, 3, 4, or 5 as appropriate. INVOKING IOX Use either >IOX if IOX is installed, or RUN $IOX if it is not. The prompt is TTxx> where xx is your terminal number. You can then enter IOX commands. See also HELP IOX MODES and HELP IOX COMMANDS. 2 MODES IOX HAS THREE OPERATING MODES: Command mode is the mode IOX is in when you receive the prompt. You set parameters, select devices for testing, and initiate tasks to be executed in Command Mode. In this mode, the RETURN key gives you the prompt again, the CTRL/C key exits to MCR for one command line. Execution mode is the mode entered with the START command that you entered in command mode. In this mode, exercises start on the selected devices, tasks initiated with the EXECUTE command start executing, the IOX clock is turned on, and activity and error reporting begins. If you have specifed that CONTROL_C is enabled, when you press CTRL/C in execution mode, IOX enters interactive mode. Interactive mode is entered only if you have enabled CONTROL_C. If enabled, pressing CTRL/C in execution mode causes IOX to enter interactive mode. In interactive mode, CTRL/C and RETURN have the same function as in command mode. The following commands are not valid in interactive mode: BUFFERSIZE, PATTERN, RUNTIME, START, RESTART The following commands are valid only in interactive mode: ABORT, PRINTSUMMARY, PROCEED, SPY See also HELP IOX COMMANDS. 2 COMMANDS IOX HAS FOUR CATEGORIES OF COMMANDS: Function commands that select devices for testing and deselect devices from testing, and initiate tasks to run in parallel with IOX. To list function commands, enter HELP IOX FUNCTION. Control commands that start and stop IOX processing, switch IOX modes of operation, and exit from IOX. To list control commands, enter HELP IOX CONTROL. Display commands that display current default parameters, get help text for IOX commands, and display status and activity reports during an I/O exercise. To list display commands, enter HELP IOX DISPLAY. Parameter commands that set default parameters that affect how IOX tests the devices you select for testing. To list parameter commands, enter HELP IOX PARAMETER. See also HELP IOX MODES. 2 FUNCTION The function commands are: DESELECT EXECUTE FILES11 SELECT VERIFY For information about each command, enter HELP IOX commandname 2 CONTROL The control commands are: ABORT CTRL/C EXIT PROCEED RESTART START For information about each command, enter HELP IOX commandname 2 DISPLAY The display commands are: BADBLOCKS CONFIGURE DENSITY HELP PARAMETERLIST PATTERN PRINTSUMMARY RANGE SPY For information about each command, enter HELP IOX commandname 2 PARAMETER The parameter commands are: BADBLOCKS RANDOM BUFFERSIZE RANGE COMPAREDATA RECORDS CONFIGURE REPORTERRORS CONTROL_C RETRIES DENSITY RUNTIME ERRORLIMIT SUMMARYTIME INTERLEAVE TEMPORARYFILE LOGFILE VOLUMECHECK PATTERN WAIT WRITECHECK For information about each command, enter HELP IOX commandname 3 ABORT ABORT is an IOX control command. The three forms of ABORT are: ABORT Terminates an I/O exercise and tasks initiated by EXECUTE. This form of ABORT is valid only in interactive mode. ABORT /ALL Interactive mode -- Terminates all tasks initiated by EXECUTE and removes them from the list of tasks to be executed. Command mode -- Removes all tasks from the list of tasks to be executed. ABORT taskname Interactive mode -- Terminates a task initiated by EXECUTE and removes it from the list of tasks to be executed. Command mode -- Removes the task from the list of tasks to be executed. You cannot use ABORT to terminate a task that has attached your terminal. 3 BADBLOCKS BADBLOCKS is both a parameter and display command. Used as a parameter command, you can enter those blocks that you do not want IOX to test. These blocks would be the ones that were found by the BAD utility. BADBLOCKS used as a display command, displays those blocks that you have entered in the IOX badblocks list by using BADBLOCKS as a parameter command. IOX does not find the badblocks for you as the BAD utility does. Use BADBLOCKS as a parameter command by specifying the device and the blocks to be entered on the list. For example: BADBLOCKS DM1: 3 enters block 3 of device DM1 on the badblocks list. BADBLOCKS DM1: 3,4,5,11,12,13,99,151 enters blocks 3 to 5, 11 to 13, 99, and 151 on the badblocks list BADBLOCKS DM1: 3:5,11:4,99,150:10 enters 5 blocks starting at 3, 4 blocks starting at 11, block 99, and 10 blocks starting at 150. In other words, blocks 3 to 8, 11 to 14, 99, and 150 to 159. Use BADBLOCKS as a display command to show the badblock list. You do this be entering only the device. For example, after the last command above, if you entered BADBLOCKS DM1: IOX would display: 000003:005 000011:004 000099:001 000150:010 3 BUFFERSIZE BU[FFERSIZE] buffersize Use BUFFERSIZE, a device-dependent paramenter command, to determine the amount of data transfered in read/write requests. Use this command for nonfile-structured disks, magnetic tapes, and cassettes. BUFFERSIZE rounds the nember up to the next four-byte boundary. If you use the RANDOM data pattern, do not specify more than 3400(10) bytes. FILES-11 testing is fixed, using a 512.-byte buffer. DECtape testing is fixed, using a 1024.-byte buffer. Use BUFFERSIZE only in command mode, and only when units are not currently selected. Use BUFFERSIZE before selecting devices. You can use BUFFERSIZE in the SELECT and VERIFY command lines to override the default buffersize for the selected device as long as you set the buffersize smaller than the default. The initial default is 1024(10) bytes. 3COMPAREDATA COM[PAREDATA] Y[ES]/N[O] COMPAREDATA, a parameter command, compares data read from to the data written to a device. COMPAREDATA YES enables the compare and COMPAREDATA NO disables the compare. If the data does not match, IOX generates an error report. Used within the command lines of FILES11 and SELECT, COMPAREDATA overrides the current setting for the device being tested. The initial default is COMPAREDATA YES. 3 CONFIGURE CONF[IGURE] [dduu:[=type]] CONFIGURE is both a parameter and a display command. As a parameter command, CONFIGURE adds devices to be tested. As a display command, it shows the current configuration of devices to be tested. Devices must be configured before selection for testing. Devices remain configured until you issue the RESTART IOX command. CONFIGURE used alone displays the current configuration, as: IOX>CONFIGURE Disks: DB0 DD0 DF0 DK0 DL0 ... Tapes: CT0 DT0 MM0 ... To add devices to a test configuration, use: IOX>CONFIGURE DK1: DB1: YY: MM5: MQ1:=TAPE Separate unit specifications with spaces or tabs. Defaults: Each supported unit is assumed to be unit "0". Any device assignable with MCR ASN can be configured. If a unit of a device type is configured as a disk, all such devices are configured as disks. The same is true for tapes. IOX does not allow disks to be configured as tapes or tapes as disks. In the above example, YY: is configured as YY0: and as a disk, both of which are defaults because YY: was not previously configured. MQ: would default to a disk because it was not previously configured, but TAPE is specified to inform IOX of its true nature. 3 CNTRL/C #CTRL/C 3 CTRL/C CTRL/C, a control command in IOX, has different actions depending on the mode in which it is executed. See also HELP IOX CONTROL_C. In command mode: CTRL/C generates an MCR prompt "MCR>" allowing you to enter one MCR command line. In interactive mode: CTRL/C generates an MCR prompt "MCR>" allowing you to enter one MCR command line. In execution mode with the CONTROL_C YES command previously entered, CTRL/C causes IOX to leave execution mode and enter interactive mode. In execution mode with the CONTROL_C NO command previously entered, CTRL/C generates the MCR prompt "MCR>" to allow you to enter one MCR command line. 3 CONTROL_C CONTROL_C Y[ES]/N[O] CONTROL_C, a parameter command, enables or disables the use of CTRL/C to interrupt an I/O exercise. The mode of operation determines the effect of CONTROL_C. See also HELP IOX CTRL/C. Command mode: CONTROL_C has no effect on CTRL/C in command mode. CTRL/C allows you to enter one MCR command line. Execution mode: CONTROL_C NO -- CTRL/C gives control to MCR and you get an MCR prompt ">" with the RETURN key and "MCR>" with CTRL/C. You cannot interrupt IOX to enter IOX commands. You can abort IOX with the MCR ABORT command. CONTROL_C YES -- CTRL/C is the only valid input. It gives the IOX prompt and IOX enters interactive mode. Interactive mode: CONTROL_C YES -- IOX can enter interactive mode only if CONTROL_C is enabled. In this mode, most IOX commands are valid. RETURN and CTRL/C have the same effect as in command mode. The initial default is CONTROL_C YES. 3 DENSITY DEN[SITY] dduu: [n] DENSITY is both a parameter and a display command valid only for magnetic tapes. The device is dduu and the density is n. Enter n as a decimal number (200, 556, 800, 1600) without a decimal point. If n is not present, DENSITY displays the current density and the characteristic word of the device. The default characteristic word is 004004(8). The density may appear in the characteristic word for some devices. 3 DESELECT DES[ELECT] ddnn: DESELECT, a function command, deselects devices that were selected with SELECT, VERIFY, or FILES11 commands. Issued in interactive mode, DESELECT terminates testing on the device and removes it from the list of devices to be tested. Issued in command mode, DESELECT removes the device from the list of devices to be tested. DESELECT does not remove a device from the test configuration. 3 ERRORLIMIT ER[RORLIMIT] n ERRORLIMIT, a parameter command, sets the maximum number of errors that IOX will tolerate between interval reports before deselecting a device. The SUMMARYTIME command determines the interval in minutes between reports. If errors during that interval exceed the limit set by ERRORLIMIT in that interval, IOX deselects the device from testing. The initial default is 10 errors. 3 EXECUTE EXE[CUTE] taskname commandstring EXECUTE, a function command, directs a command to the operating system for execution. The task to be run must be installed and the system must support task spawning. The rules for entering the taskname commandstring follow the same rules as the SPWN$ directive described in the RSX-11M/M-PLUS Executive Reference Manual. In interactive mode: Testing is in progress. The task named runs immediately. In commmand mode: No testing in progress. IOX queues the task for execution. The task executes when you use the START command. The task runs in parallel with I/O exercises. Example: IOX>EXE ...BAD #DL0:/LI Some tasks need a space between the command and the command string. Some tasks, such as PIP, do not. The pound sign forces a space. To remove a task from the list of tasks to be executed and terminate task execution, use the IOX ABORT command. 3 EXIT EXI[T] EXIT, a control command, terminates IOX processing. 3 FILES11 F[ILES11] dduu: [command=qualifier] ... FILES11, a function command, selects a Files-11 disk for exercising. FILES11 protects the contents and structure of the disk. You must configure the disk first. The following parameter commands override default parameters: COMPAREDATA ERRORLIMIT INTERLEAVE RANDOM TEMPORARYFILE Eample: IOX>FILES11 DB0: COMPAREDATA=YES RANDOM=NO TEMPORARYFILE=600 The example command line selects DB0: for exercising. IOX compares the data read with that written, uses sequential access, and opens a 600 block temporary file. Once selected, the device's parameters are fixed until you deselect the device. If you enter only the device in the command line, the parameters are those currently in effect. Issuing FILES11 in interactive mode causes immediate testing of the device. Issuing FILES11 in command mode, IOX puts the device on the list of device to be tested when you issue the START command. 3 HELP HELP HELP is a display command that you can enter to display a brief description of IOX and its commands at your terminal. 3 INTERLEAVE I[NTERLEAVE] number INTERLEAVE, a parameter command, sets the number of blocks to be skipped before IOX writes the next buffer of data. INTERLEAVE works only if you set RANDOM NO. You can use INTERLEAVE within the FILES11, SELECT, and VERIFY command to override the current default. The initial default is RANDOM YES. The initial default for skipping is 4 blocks. 3 LOGFILE L[OGFILE] Y[ES]/N[O] LOGFILE, a parameter command, directs activity and error reports to your terminal or to a log file in your default disk area. NO Directs activity and error reports to your terminal. YES Directs activity and error reports to the log file. Summary reports, generated by the PRINTSUMMARY command, always appear at your terminal. IOX appends to the log file every time you specify LOGFILE in an IOX session. The file is named: yyyyyy.LOG where yyyyyy is IOX, another task running IOX, or your terminal; for example, TT10.LOG. 3 PARAMETERLIST PAR[AMETERLIST] PARAMETERLIST displays the current default parameters and IOX buffer space statistics, and may display the list of tasks initiated by EXECUTE, and devices selected for testing with FILES11, SELECT, and VERIFY. What is displayed depends on which commands you have previously entered. CTRL/O suppresses the output of PARAMETERLIST in command mode. 3 PATTERN PAT[TERN] [patternnumber] PATTERN, a parameter command and display command, selects and displays the pattern IOX uses for read/write testing. PATTERN shows the thirteen patterns and show the current default pattern with an asterisk (*). For example: IOX>PATTERN 0 = Random Data * 1 = 000000,000000 2 = 177777,177777 3 = 125252,052525 4 = 165555,133333 5 = 163126,163126 6 = 055555,155555 7 = 022222,122222 8 = 111111,111111 9 = 007417,007417 10 = 021042,021042 11 = 104210,104210 12 = 052652,052652 To change the pattern, use the number of the pattern you want in the PATTERN command. You must be in command mode to change the pattern. Do not exceed 3400. bytes of buffersize if using the random data pattern. 3 PRINTSUMMARY PRI[NTSUMMARY] PRINTSUMMARY, a display command for use in interactive mode, causes IOX to generate a summary report to your terminal. It shows the IOX activity from the last interval report to the time you entered PRINTSUMMARY. 3 PROCEED PRO[CEED] PROCEED, a control command entered in interactive mode, causes IOX to exit interactive mode and enter execution mode. If no exercises are in progress and no tasks are scheduled, IOX terminates. If activity is occurring, IOX resumes display of activity and error reports to your terminal if you have set LOGFILE NO. Use the proceed command if you want IOX to terminate an exercise as soon as activity terminates or if you want to resume activity and error report display at your terminal with LOGFILE disabled. 3 RANDOM RAND[OM] Y[ES]/N[O] RANDOM, a parameter command, applies to disk testing and controls either random or sequential block selection for testing. RANDOM YES causes IOX to select blocks for testing randomly. RANDOM NO causes IOX to select blocks for testing sequentially. The number entered in the INTERLEAVE command causes IOX to skip the number of blocks specified between tested blocks. Use RANDOM in FILES11, SELECT, and VERIFY to override the current default. The initial default is RANDOM YES. 3 RANGE RANG[E] dduu: [minimum:maximum] RANGE, both a display and parameter command, applies to disks selected for nonfile-structured testing with SELECT or VERIFY. RANGE sets a range of blocks to be tested by specifying the minimum and maximum block numbers of the range. RANGE used without numbers displays the block numbers. The device must have been selected previously. The default is from zero to the maximum available block on the disk. 3 RECORDS REC[ORDS] recordcount RECORDS, a parameter command, specifies the number of records on a magtape or cassette to be exercised. Entering a zero causes IOX to test the tape until end-of-tape. You can use RECORDS in the SELECT command. The initial default is 1024. records. 3 REPORTERRORS REP[ORTERRORS] Y[ES]/N[O] REPORTERRORS, a parameter command, enables or disables IOX error reports. IOX directs reports to your terminal with these exceptions: o Error reports never interrupt activity reports o With LOGFILE enabled, IOX enters error reports in the log file instead of displaying them at the terminal o IOX does not pring error reports in interactive mode The default is REPORTERRORS YES. 3 RESTART RES[TART] RESTART, a control command valid only in command mode, enables you to restart IOX without first exiting from it. RESTART: o Deselects devices that are selected for testing o Resets all parameters to their initial defaults o Removes all tasks from the list of tasks to be executed o Unconfigures all devices added to the configuration 3 RETRIES RET[RIES] Y[ES]/N[O] RETRIES, a parameter command, applies to the testing of magnetic tapes and nonfile-structured disks. RETRIES YES allows the device driver to use its standard error recovery techniques. RETRIES NO dissallows the driver from doing this. You can use this command within SELECT and VERIFY. The default is RETRIES YES. 3 RUNTIME RUN[TIME] minutes RUNTIME, a parameter command valid in command mode, specifies the length of time that IOX is to test the selected devices. If you use 0 minutes, IOX tests the devices until you abort the exercise. The default is five minutes. 3 SELECT SE[LECT] dduu: [command=qualifier] ... SELECT, a function command, selects a device with an nonfile-structured volume mounted for an I/O exercise that destroys the contents and structure of thevolume. The device must first be configured. You may use the following commands within the SELECT command to determine the testing parameters that you want: NFS DISKS CASSETTES DECTAPES MAGTAPES BUFFERSIZE BUFFERSIZE COMPAREDATA BUFFERSIZE COMPAREDATA COMPAREDATA ERRORLIMIT ERRORLIMIT ERRORLIMIT ERRORLIMIT DENSITY INTERLEAVE RECORDS RECORDS RANDOM RETRIES RANGE RETRIES VOLUMECHECK WRITECHECK Once you have selected the device, the default parameters are fixed and you must first deselect the device to reset the parameters. In interactive mode, SELECT causes IOX to start testing the device immediately. In command mode, IOX puts the specified device on the list of devices to be exercised but the exercise begins with the START command. If you use no commands in the SELECT command line, the current parameters are used. 3 SPY SP[Y] [dduu:] SPY, a display command valid in interactive mode, display the status of devices being tested. Without an argument, the status of all devices is shown. The display shows: o Device being exercised o Type of testing being performed o Virtual block number being tested, or, for nonfile-structured devices, the logical block number o I/O request status: AST queued, in progress, or idle. o Type of I/O: read or write The output is always to the terminal. 3 START ST[ART] START, a control command valid in command mode, causes IOX to exit command mode and enter execution mode. After configuring and selecting devices, you start the exercise with START. START turns on the IOX clock, begins activity and error reports, and executes tasks queued by EXECUTE. 3 SUMMARYTIME SU[MMARYTIME] minutes SUMMARYTIME, a parameter command, specifies how often in minutes IOX outputs interval reports. Reports are suppressed by using 0 minutes. The default is one minute. 3 TEMPORARYFILE T[EMPORARYFILE] filesize TEMPORARYFILE, a parameter command, is for Files-11 disk testing with the FILES11 command. FILES11 protects disks by writing a temporary file that IOX deletes at the end of the exercise. Specify filesize in blocks. Use the TEMPORARYFILE command in FILES11 to change the number of blocks for the disk being selected. The default is 500 blocks. 3 VERIFY VE[RIFY] dduu: [command=qualifier] ... VERIFY, a function command, selects a mounted nonfile-structured disk for exercise. VERIFY reads only and does not destroy the disk's contents. VERIFY accepts the following parameter commands to override defaults: BUFFERSIZE, ERRORLIMIT, INTERLEAVE, RANDOM, RANGE, RETRIES Once selecting the device, you must deselect it to change parameters. VERIFY issued in interactive mode begins exercising immediately. Issued in command mode, it includes the device in the list of devices to be exercised and you must issue START to begin the exercise. Without parameter commands, VERIFY uses the current parameters in effect. 3 VOLUMECHECK VO[LUMECHECK] Y[ES]/N[O] VOLUMECHECK, a parameter command, applies to nonfile-structured disk testing and is used with SELECT. VOLUMECHECK enables or disables nonfile-structured volume checking for a home-block and Files-11 structure. Using YES disallows selecting a volume with a Files-11 structure. Using NO allows selecting the disk without warning that the disk contents will be destroyed. Use VOLUMECHECK YES unless you intentionally want to write all over the disk. The default is VOLUMECHECK YES. 3 WAIT WA[IT] Y[ES]/N[O] WAIT, a parameter command, can cause IOX to wait for an event flag (I/O completion) while an exercise is in progress. The Executive may execute another task during this time. With NO, IOX goes into an idle loop during I/O. WAIT NO can monopolize the system. WAIT NO has no effect on tasks initiated with EXECUTE. The default is WAIT YES. 3 WRITECHECK WR[ITECHECK] Y[ES]/N[O] WRITECHECK, a parameter command, applies to testing nonfile-structured disks and it is used with SELECT. WRITECHECK determines whether drivers perform writechecks to nonfile-structured disks. The default is WRITECHECK NO.