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1988-02-04
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PRELIMINARY
PROGRAM SPECIFICATION
STORAGE MANAGEMENT EVALUATOR
(EVAL)
SPECIFICATION NO. XX-XXXXXX
FEBRUARY 4,1988
1.0 SCOPE
This document describes the functional characteristics of the Storage
Management Evaluator (EVAL). EVAL is a diagnostic program designed for use
with the IBM AT to test and evaluate hard and floppy storage management
subsystems. It is especially suited for error rate testing. The Features
section describes the operation and features of the program, including how to
invoke EVAL, diagnostic screen definition command structure error methodology
and miscellaneous features. The Commands section describes the command set,
giving a detailed explanation of each command. Appendix A and B describe each
status code, task file, and associated error reporting.
2.0 FEATURES
2.1 Invoking EVAL
EVAL is invoked at the PC-DOS command line, or batch file command line, as
follows:
c>EVAL [cmd-file]
The optional cmd-file parameter specifies a file from which EVAL will read
commands until it encounters an "end" command. All commands described in this
specification may be used in command files except "edit", "run", "def",
"duw", and "dur".
2.2 Floppy Diagnostic Screen
Figure 1 shows the main floppy diagnostic screen. The screen is divided into 4
windows, a command line, and a message line. The command line will be
described in 3.0, and the message line will be referred to throughout the
specification. The following is a brief description of the 4 windows.
2.2.1 Parameter Window
The upper left window of the screen is the parameter window. The parameters
shown will be used for the next disk operation. The parameters are: drive
type, drive number, cylinder number, head number, sector number, and block
size. The parameters are updated dynamically during command execution, if the
operation changes a parameter (see individual commands in section 3).
2.2.2 Status Window
The status window (lower left) shows the latest status returned after
execution of a command which accesses the controller. The status information
includes the status code, status registers and cylinder, head, and sector
numbers returned by the controller. Appendix B gives a detailed explanation of
status codes and associated errors.
2.2.3 Error Count Window
The error count window (upper right) shows total error counts, as well as
individual error counts for 5 groups of errors. The counts are kept for both
hard and soft errors. See 2.5.1 for an explanation of hard and soft errors and
appendix B for a detailed explanation of error reporting.
2.2.4 Error Report Window
The error report window (lower right) shows the last 5 errors which have
occurred since the diagnostic began, or since the last "zero" command was.
issued Appendix B explains each error in full detail.
2.3 Hard Diagnostic Screen
Figure 2 shows the main hard diagnostic screen. The screen is divided into 4
windows, a command line, and a message line. The command line will be
described in 3.0, and the message line will be referred to throughout the
specification. The following is a brief description of the 4 windows.
2.3.1 Parameter Window
The upper left window of the screen is the parameter window. The parameters
shown will be used for the next disk operation. The parameters are: drive
number, cylinder number, head number, sector number, and block size. The
parameters are updated dynamically during command execution, if the operation
changes a parameter (see individual commands in section 3).
2.3.2 Disk Type Window
The disk type window (lower left) shows the disk drive boundary parameters.
The type information includes the maximum cylinders, maximum heads, maximum
sectors, precomp cylinder number, retry flag, step rate, and interleave
value.
2.3.3 Task File Window
The task file window (upper right) shows the task file returned from the
controller after the command was completed. Appendix A gives a detailed
explanation of the task file and associated errors.
2.3.4 Error Report Window
The error report window (lower right) shows the last 5 errors which have
occurred since the diagnostic began, or since the last "zero" command was
issued. Appendix A explains each error in full detail.
2.4 Command Structure
In the interactive mode (commands being input from the keyboard), the cursor
will reside on the command line, which begins with the CMD> prompt. Commands
are typed in lower or upper case. A carriage return <CR> ends command entry
and initiates command execution. Multiple commands may be entered on the same
line, separated by commas. Commands are separated from parameters by one or
more of the following: space tab = / : ( )
2.4.1 Command Types
From a command entry standpoint, there are 6 types of commands:
type 1 cmd
type 2 cmd|<choice>
type 3 cmd|<param>
type 4 cmd|<string>
type 5 cmd|<test>
type 6 cmd|<special>
The six types of commands may be freely mixed on the same line. See section
3.0 for complete listing.
2.4.2 Command Line Repeat
A command line may be repeated up to 32,762 times, simply by entering the
desired command (or a string of commands) followed by a #, followed by a
number. After the <CR> is entered, the commands on the line will be executed
repeatedly, just as if the line were entered the number of times specified
behind the #. In addition, a repeat count is shown on the message line, and
decrements down with each command line execution.
If the Escape key is hit during a line repeat, the repeat count is
automatically zeroed.
Example:
CMD>r,incs #30
will perform a read, increment the sector count operation 30 times.
2.5 Error Methodology
2.5.1 Hard and Soft Errors
Errors are separated into two categories - hard errors and soft errors. A hard
error is defined as an error which is not recoverable after a specified number
of retries (see "rc"). A soft error is defined as an error which is recovered
during retries. In other words, a hard error persists through the specified
number of retries; a soft error does not.
A hard error is distinguished in the error report window, and in the error
file by a 'H' prefix and a soft error is prefixed by a 'S'.
2.5.2 Error logging
In addition to showing the last 5 errors in the error reporting window, an
error log file can be kept on disk for later review. Upon invocation, all
errors are logged to a specified file (see "errlog"). The file may later be
dumped to the screen interactively (see "def").
2.6 Buffer Screen
The buffer screen can be reached from the Floppy or Hard screen by giving a
dur (dump read buffer) or duw (dump write buffer). The buffer screen displays
one sector of data at a time that can be edited. The arrow keys are used to
select the byte to edit and the page keys are used to choose the sector.
2.7 Help Screen
The help screen can be reached from the floppy or hard screen by giving a help
command. The help screen displays all of the commands in alphabetical order
with a short description after it.
3.0 COMMANDS
The command set in EVAL closely resembles that of VHD. Bellow one will find a
list of all the commands by type and alphabetic. Before getting into the
commands we should look at the formats of the commands.
type 1 cmd
type 2 cmd|<choice>
type 3 cmd|<param>
type 4 cmd|<string>
type 5 cmd|<test>
type 6 cmd|<special>