Mastering Computers 3

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Text File | 1991-03-23 | 25.7 KB | 424 lines

TESTNET.EXE Version 2.20 03-23-1991 (c) 1987,1991 By Scott Taylor 228 Gold Kettle Drive Gaithersburg, MD. 20878 (301) 921-0437 ************************************************************************** *** THIS UTILITY IS GRANTED FOR USE BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC, BUSINESSES, *** *** AND VENDORS. IT IS PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE! ITS USE IS INTENDED TO *** *** PROMOTE THE UNDERSTANDING AND OPERATIONS OF LOCAL AREA NETWORKS *** *** AND HOW THEY RELATE TO DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. *** *** THE SOURCE CODE WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. *** *** *** *** USE OF THIS PROGRAM ACKNOWLEDGES THIS DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: *** *** "THIS PROGRAM IS SUPPLIED AS IS. THE AUTHOR LISTED ABOVE DISCLAIMS *** *** ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, AND WITHOUT *** *** LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND OF FITNESS OF *** *** THIS PROGRAM FOR ANY PURPOSE. THE AUTHOR LISTED ABOVE ASSUMES NO *** *** LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES DIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL, WHICH MAY RESULT *** *** FORM THE USE OF THIS PROGRAM." *** ************************************************************************** TESTNET: This utility is intended to test the performance of Local Area Networks within the realm of file I/O activity. It may also be used to test stand alone PC's or to compare the two environments. This application has been designed to allow for many different testing options, primarily to give more real time results. This utility should also be used as a tool to gauge performance while applications and tests are running on other nodes in a network. TESTNET can also be used in conjunction with low-level packet analysis programs such as The Sniffer or LANalyzer for problem determination. It is important to remember that benchmarking Local Area Networks is far from an exact science. However this test will give you relative performance statistics. The program checks for the existence of Novell's NetWare. If Novell is running TESTNET will display the version of NetWare underwhich it is running. Also, if the test is running under a NetWare environment the filename being used for the test will have the same extension as the station number in the network. In version 2.10 each of the time sensitive routines, such as low-level file I/O and timing, have been rewritten in Assembler and optimized to provide greater accuracy and lower overhead in calculating throughput. I tried to eliminate as many non-essential instructions as possible in the timing process. TESTNET is now in its 7th revision and 2nd generation. Most of the recent changes have been made due to response from different LAN Hardware/Software vendors. RESULTS OF THE TESTS (See EXAMPLE-3 For A Sample Test Result) The valuable results of this test will show the total elapsed time in seconds and total throughput in KB/sec transferred between the disk. An additional feature is a display bar graph of total throughput for each iteration in kilobytes per second. The bar graph has been enhanced since version 1.4. A bright, or highlighted, bar represents the current throughput. A darker, or shaded, bar extension represents the peak throughput for the currently running test. Version 2.20 now displays a PASS counter beside the test filename. This is used in conjunction with the REPEAT TEST mode. Every time the test repeats the PASS counter will be incremented. TESTING TECHNIQUES NOTE: It is important to remember that test results will vary depending on several of the following conditions: the speed of the CPU used for testing; the speed of the disk or controller; if caching is employed; the type of network adapter and topology; the amount of CPU instructions used in the test; any TSR's, or memory resident utilities, that check interrupts or timer ticks; and more importantly the type of test and parameters being used. There is no precise method of determining how a system should perform. This test utility will allow you to compare relative environments and operating systems. Please consider all these factors when performing comparative tests! Using a SEQUENTIAL file access method tests server disk and caching performance. Using OVERLAID file access tests reflects more of the network interface performance as well as local (workstation) cache techniques. Larger record sizes are handled more efficiently by most operating systems (especially DOS). Using larger record sizes (4K and up) demonstrates overall throughput. Smaller record sizes demonstrate the operating systems ability to deal with small record blocks. A good example would be to run this test from a local workstation C: drive. Then run it again from that workstation but to a network drive. Usually you will see a significant increase in performance. Also try running the test with the VERIFY option on/off. This is another good example, especially for comparing different server hardware (disk, memory, cpu). This is especially useful on Novell networks since the server console displays performance characteristics. If using NetWare 2.10 or greater, FCONSOLE will give some useful information. To compare hard disks generate a file size, using Testnet, that is larger than the total memory installed in the server. Then you can compare throughput times displayed by Testnet. This way the file size is to large to fit in cache memory and tests raw disk I/O. To compare CPU's (as servers) or cache memory generate a file size, using Testnet, that is approximately 512K smaller than the total memory installed in the server. Then set Testnet to read the file. This will test the raw CPU & Cache memory performance. Then you can compare the throughput displayed by Testnet. It is best to use a large record size (eg. 32768), this will use the least amount of CPU instruction overhead for performing the actual I/O. As the test is in progress you can monitor the server console for peak "I/O PENDING" and peak "% UTILIZATION." MAIN MENU SCREEN FUNCTIONS (See EXAMPLE-1 Below To View A Sample Of The Main Menu Screen) MENU: Press the UP and DOWN arrow keys to highlight a menu option. Press RETURN to select a highlighted option, then input the desired value for that option. Instructions accompany each menu option when the RETURN key is pressed. <ESC> will exit TESTNET to the operating system. RUNNING THE TEST: From the main menu pressing the <F1> key starts the test in single station, or stand alone mode. RUNNING MULTIUSER TESTS: MULTI-STATION testing requires that SHARE be installed, unless you're running Novell's NetWare. This is because aggregate results are tallied in a file that uses record locking. Pressing <F2> sets the station into the MULTI-STATION test mode. Simply press <F1> when the last station is set into the MULTI-STATION test mode, then all stations activated will begin testing. A new feature since version 1.4 is the ability to use identical test parameters during MULTI-STATION testing. This is achieved by pressing <F4> instead of <F1>. Pressing <F4> from the last node will cause all nodes to start testing with that station's test parameters. Once the MULTI- STATION testing begins each station will then show its average throughput to/from the file server. All stations running in the MULTI-STATION mode must be able to access the same root directory. A new feature in version 2.10 is the ability to stop or restart all stations from a single node. Once MULTI- STATION testing has begun, and repeat testing was selected, pressing the <ESCAPE> key on any node will cause testing to stop on all nodes. TESTNET will then prompt with "Continue Testing (Y/N)." Pressing <Yes> will cause all other nodes to enter MULTI-STATION testing mode again. You may then change test parameters if desired and re-enter MULTI-USER test mode. Pressing the <No> key will cause all nodes to exit back to the operating system (DOS, OS/2, Windows, etc.) Another new feature since version 2.10 is the display of aggregate and average throughput. This function has a watch-dog timer built in that checks for nodes that do not report. For example, if a node crashes or does not complete the tests, the other nodes will consider that station dead and will continue testing without it. The timeout period is two minutes after the last node reported. Version 2.20 now has a command line option, \M, to enter MULTI-STATION mode. Using this will allow a test node to start up in MULTI-STATION mode without any keystroke intervention. This is especially useful when starting network stations from a batch file. Example: type 'TESTNET /M' <return>. RESULTS REVIEW: The <F4> key is used to view a record of all the tests that have been performed at a particular station. This feature has been modified in TESTNET since version 2.20. Pressing <F4> will display all current test data (see EXAMPLE-4 for a sample data screen). This is data that is kept in memory. Up to 500 test results can now be displayed. If more than 750 tests have been performed, the remainder is ignored. This function is separate from the Data Recording Function because that function saves its data to a file. While viewing the test data the UP and DOWN arrow keys will scroll through the data. Pressing <ESCAPE> will return to the Main Menu Screen. Pressing <F1> will print all of the tests results in memory to a printer. SPECIAL OPTIONS MENU: A new sub menu has been added to TESTNET 2.20. This is activated by pressing the <F3> key at the main menu screen. The same menu keys apply, as in the MAIN MENU (arrow keys, return key, and escape key). See example-5 for a sample of the Special Options Menu screen. The SPECIAL OPTIONS sub menu provides four functions as follows: BIT PATTERN: This option allows you to select a bit pattern to be used in the data buffer for writing to disk. You may select your own byte value between 0 and 255, or choose the random option. The random option will randomly select a byte value (0 - 255) for each byte of the data buffer. The default is 255. Changing the byte pattern may have little or no effect on test results, but can have an additional value when used in conjunction with packet/data analyzers. FILE SIZE: The file size option is a utility to select a file size or byte length count. Simply enter the desired file size in Kilobytes. The utility will then calculate the number of repetitions needed to achieve that size (up to 10000). This is accomplished by dividing the file size by the current record size and rounding up to the nearest multiple of the record size. This can be especially useful for creating sequential files that need to fit within a cache memory limit. BEST BUFFER: This utility will test all record sizes between 1024 and 65535 in 1K increments returning the optimum performing buffer size. When prompted, select an appropriate number of iterations from 20 - 100. The larger the number the more accurate the result will be. Be aware that a large number of iterations will require much more time to execute. The results of this test will vary depending on changing operating system environments such as TSR's, LAN traffic, multi tasking, etc. DATA RECORDING: The state of the recording function (Enabled or Disabled) is displayed just above the MAIN MENU instruction area. This will record historical data to a file. This data file will be created in the root of the volume, or drive, on which you are testing. You should take care to make sure that all stations testing have access rights to the root of the volume or drive. The data file is TESTFILE.DAT, and is used by all stations. The test data is written to the file at the end of each test cycle. If Repeat Testing has been selected, the data is written each time the test restarts. See EXAMPLE-6 at the end of this document for a sample printout. This data can be used comparatively. You can easily sort out the information by using the DOS SORT utility. At the DOS prompt, type in the following "TYPE TESTFILE.DAT|SORT > LPT1:". This will redirect the sorted information to the LPT1 printer port. You can also replace the 'LPT1:' with a file name to have the sorted information dumped into a file for viewing. MENU OPTIONS (See EXAMPLE-1 Below To View A Sample Of The Main Menu) REPEAT TESTING: This will allow testing to be repeated over and over again until the <ESCAPE> key is pressed at which point testing will discontinue. This option will also work in the MULTI-STATION test mode. I/O DELAY CYCLE: This option is used to create run/stop periods. There are actually two fields to this. The first is for defining how long transactions will be exchanged, in seconds, before the test period is delayed. The second option is for defining how long each delay cycle will last, in seconds. The values are between 0 and 10 seconds. If 0 is indicated in any field any delay at all will be negated. This option is useful for creating a pulsed like environment that more closely resembles a true network environment. You might set the run cycle to 5 seconds and the delay period to 10 seconds for example. This means that data is exchanged for 5 seconds, then stops for 10. And this is repeated until all the iterations have been completed. This will not affect the time counter in any way. This is an excellent way to measure the amount of degradation in a hard working environment. Of course you can set many different operating variables to produce different results, depending on what type of network conditions you wanted to simulate. RECORD SIZE: TESTNET version 2.10 has increased the record size from 32768 to 65535 bytes. The record size is the size of each block to be read or written, each time the disk is accessed for I/O. The values range from 1 byte to 65535 bytes. The most common physical block size for most disks is 4K (4096). Although, some operating systems, such as NetWare 386, are adjustable. REPETITIONS: Repetitions represents how many times the record, or buffer, will be transacted (read or written). The values range from 1 to 10000 iterations. I/O: This is the type of file I/O transactions that will occur. It determines if you want to Read, Write, or Alternate (switch between Write & Read). FILE: This determines how the file will be accessed. Either Sequential access (each record is appended to the end of the previous one), or Overlay access (meaning each record overlays the previous one). RECORD MANIPULATION: This is how the record size will be maintained. The record will remain the same size (STD). It can increment from 1 to the value specified (INC). It can also decrement from the value specified down to 1 (DEC), as well as be set to a random value between 1 and the value set (RAND). Any questions, comments, or suggestions are welcomed ! *********************** EXAMPLE-1 (Main Menu Screen) ************************ TESTNET.EXE Version 2.20 03-23-1991 By Scott Taylor Operating Environment| NetWare 386 V3.10 Rev. A ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ║ │ TESTNET - THE NETWORK & STANDALONE FILE I/O PERFORMANCE TESTER │ ║ ║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║ ║ ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ ▌DATA RECORDING DISABLED▐ ║ ║ │ REPEAT TESTING <YES - NO> ▌ NO │ ║ ║ │ I/O DELAY CYCLES <0 - 10> ▌ 0 \ 0 │ <ESC> = Exit to system ║ ║ │ RECORD SIZE <1 - 65535> ▌ 4096 │ <F1> = Start Testing ║ ║ │ REPETITIONS <1 - 10000> ▌ 1000 │ <F2> = Start Multi-Station Test ║ ║ │ I/O <1=READ 2=WRITE 3=ALT> ▌ 2 │ <F3> = Enable Data Recording ║ ║ │ FILE <1=SEQUENTIAL 2=OVL> ▌ 1 │ <F4> = Display Test Results ║ ║ │ RECORD MANIPULATION STYLE ▌ 4 │ <> & <> = Select Menu Option ║ ║ │ <1=INC 2=DEC 3=RAND 4=STD> ▌ │ <ENTER> = Enter Data For Option ║ ║ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ ║ ╟────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ **************** EXAMPLE-2 (Multi-Station Mode Option Screen) ***************** TESTNET.EXE Version 2.20 03-23-1991 By Scott Taylor Operating Environment| NetWare 386 V3.10 Rev. A ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ║ │ TESTNET - THE NETWORK & STANDALONE FILE I/O PERFORMANCE TESTER │ ║ ║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║ ║ ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ ▌DATA RECORDING DISABLED▐ ║ ║ │ REPEAT TESTING <YES - NO> ▌ NO │ ║ ║ │ I/O DELAY ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════╗m ║ ║ │ RECORD SIZ║ ║ ║ ║ │ REPETITION║ ═══ MULTI-STATION TESTING MODE ═══ ║ation Test ║ ║ │ I/O <1=REA║ ║cording ║ ║ │ FILE <1=SE║ ║esults ║ ║ │ RECORD MAN║ This mode is to allow multiple stations ║nu Option ║ ║ │ <1=INC 2=D║ to run the I/O tests at the same time. ║For Option ║ ║ └───────────║ ║ ║ ╟─────────────║ All stations to participate in the test ║────────────╢ ║ ║ should be set into this mode (pressing ║ ║ ║ ║ <F2> from the main screen). To begin ║ ║ ║ ║ testing, press <F1> from one of the work ║ ║ ║ ║ stations activated. All nodes will then ║ ║ ║ ║ start testing. Pressing <F4> will cause ║ ║ ╚═════════════║ all nodes to begin testing with the same ║════════════╝ ║ set of test parameters. <ESC> WILL ABORT! ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ****************** EXAMPLE-3 (Sample Testing/Results Screen) ****************** TESTNET.EXE Version 2.20 03-23-1991 By Scott Taylor Operating Environment| NetWare 386 V3.10 Rev. A ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ║ │ TESTNET - THE NETWORK & STANDALONE FILE I/O PERFORMANCE TESTER │ ║ ║ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║ ║ ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ ▌DATA RECORDING DISABLED▐ ║ ║ │ REPEAT TESTING <YES - NO> ▌ YES │ ║ ║ │ I/O DELAY CYCLES <0 - 10> ▌ 0 \ 0 │ -FILENAME- -PASS- ║ ║ │ RECORD SIZE <1 - 65535> ▌ 65535 │ TESTFILE.001 #001 ║ ║ │ REPETITIONS <1 - 10000> ▌ 100 │ ╔════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ │ I/O <1=READ 2=WRITE 3=ALT> ▌ 2 │ ║ NODES IN TEST # 1 ║ ║ ║ │ FILE <1=SEQUENTIAL 2=OVL> ▌ 2 │ ║ NODES REPORTED # 1 ║ ║ ║ │ RECORD MANIPULATION STYLE ▌ 4 │ ║ AVERAGE KB/SEC # 219.77 ║ ║ ║ │ <1=INC 2=DEC 3=RAND 4=STD> ▌ │ ║ AGGREGATE KB/SEC # 219.77 ║ ║ ║ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ ╚═══════[ COMPLETED ]════════╝ ║ ╟────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ║ TIME = 29 I/O COUNT = 100 TOTAL BYTES = 6553500 KB/SEC = 219.77 ║ ║ ║ ║ KB/ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░ ║ ║ SEC ┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴▄┴ ║ ║ 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Total Seconds = 29.12 ************* EXAMPLE-4 (Sample Display Of Cumulative Test Data) ************* TESTNET.EXE Version 2.20 03-23-1991 By Scott Taylor Operating Environment| NetWare 386 V3.10 Rev. A ╔ NODE PASS OPERATION I/O TIME BUFFER I/O COUNT TOTAL BYTES KB/SEC ╗ ║ ║ ║ 001 001 WRITE SEQ 9.12 4096 500 2048000 219.28 ║ ║ 001 002 WRITE SEQ 9.12 4096 500 2048000 219.28 ║ ║ 001 003 WRITE SEQ 9.12 4096 500 2048000 219.28 ║ ║ 001 004 WRITE SEQ 9.12 4096 500 2048000 219.28 ║ ║ 001 001 READ SEQ 8.96 4096 500 2048000 223.31 ║ ║ 001 002 READ SEQ 8.79 4096 500 2048000 227.50 ║ ║ 001 003 READ SEQ 8.74 4096 500 2048000 228.93 ║ ║ 001 001 ALTERNATE OVL 8.90 4096 250 2048000 224.69 ║ ║ 001 002 ALTERNATE OVL 8.96 4096 250 2048000 223.31 ║ ║ 001 003 ALTERNATE OVL 8.96 4096 250 2048000 223.31 ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╟ ╢ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╚ [ ESC-Key To Exit ] [ F1-Key To Print ] ╝ ************* EXAMPLE-5 (Sample Display Of Special Options Menu) ************* TESTNET.EXE Version 2.20 03-23-1991 By Scott Taylor Operating Environment| NetWare 386 V3.10 Rev. A ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ║ │ BIT PATTERN FILE SIZE BEST BUFFER DATA RECORDING │ ║ ║ │┌────────────┐┌────────────┐┌─────────────┐┌─────────────┐│ ║ ║ ││ 255 ││ 4096000 ││ 16384 ││ DISABLED ││ ║ ║ │└────────────┘└────────────┘└─────────────┘└─────────────┘│ ║ ║ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ This option is provided to allow you to select the byte pattern to ║ ╟ be used in the test buffer for writing to disk. You may select your ╢ ║ own pattern from 0 - 255 or select the random option to have a ║ ║ randomized mixed byte pattern. The default is 255 ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ********* EXAMPLE-6 (Sample Printout Of Recorded Data File Results) ********** TYPE TESTFILE.DAT NODE PASS OPERATION I/O TIME BUFFER I/O COUNT TOTAL BYTES KB/SEC 001 001 WRITE SEQ 6.04 32768 100 3276800 529.45 001 001 READ SEQ 5.99 32768 100 3276800 534.31 001 002 READ SEQ 5.99 32768 100 3276800 534.31 001 003 READ SEQ 5.99 32768 100 3276800 534.31 001 001 ALTERNATE OVL 21.76 65535 100 13107000 588.27 001 002 ALTERNATE OVL 21.70 65535 100 13107000 589.76 001 003 ALTERNATE OVL 21.70 65535 100 13107000 589.76