Testing a storage network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016307643-A1
Application number	US-201615097589-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 13, 2016
Priority date	Apr 17, 2015
Publication date	Oct 20, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for testing a storage network comprising a processor configured to generate a configuration signal in response to a test request; and a tester coupled to the processor and configured to, by the configuration signal, operate under different operation modes so as to test different to-be-tested objects in the storage network. The test request indicates an operation mode of the tester, wherein various types of to-be-tested objects in a storage network can be tested by one test device, at a low test cost and with more convenient operations.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus for testing a storage network, comprising:
a processor configured to generate a configuration signal in response to a test request; and a tester coupled to the processor and configured to, by the configuration signal, operate under diverse operation modes to test different to-be-tested objects in the storage network; wherein the test request indicates an operation mode of the tester.

2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the tester is further configured to simulate, under one of the operation modes, at least one to-be-tested object of the to-be-tested objects to test other to-be-tested objects communicating with a simulated to-be-tested object.

3 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the tester is configured to support a communication protocol between different to-be-tested objects.

4 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the tester further comprises:
at least one test port configured to transfer a test signal to the to-be-tested objects and receive a response to the test signal from the to-be-tested objects; wherein each of the test ports is associated with one of the operation modes.

5 . The apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the test ports comprise at least one of the following: a Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS) port, a Fibre Channel (FC) port, and a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) port.

6 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor comprises an embedded processor.

7 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the to-be-tested objects at least comprise two of the following:
a host bus adapter (HBA); a physical storage device; and a storage expansion device coupled between the host bus adapter and the physical storage device.

8 . A method for testing a storage network, the method comprising:
generating a configuration signal in response to a test request; and configuring a tester, by the configuration signal, to operate under diverse operation modes to test different to-be-tested objects in the storage network; wherein the test request indicates an operation mode of the tester.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein testing different to-be-tested objects in the storage network comprises:
under one of the operation modes, simulating at least one to-be-tested object of the to-be-tested objects to test other to-be-tested objects communicating with a simulated to-be-tested object.

10 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the tester is configured to support a communication protocol between different to-be-tested objects.

11 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the tester further comprises:
at least one test port configured to transfer a test signal to the to-be-tested objects and receive a response to the test signal from the to-be-tested objects; and associating each of the test ports with one of the operation modes.

12 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein the associating each of the test ports with one of the operation modes comprises:
generating another configuration signal in response to a configuration request; and associating each of the test ports with one of the operation modes with the another configuration signal, wherein the configuration request indicates one of the operation modes.

13 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the protocol comprises at least one of the following: Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS) Protocol, Fibre Channel (FC) Protocol, and Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) Protocol.

14 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the to-be-tested objects at least comprise two of the following:
a host bus adapter (HBA); a physical storage device; and a storage expansion device coupled between the host bus adapter and the physical storage device.

15 . A computer program product, the computer program product being tangibly stored on a non-transient computer readable storage medium and comprising machine executable instructions which, when executed, cause the machine to. generate a configuration signal in response to a test request; and
a tester configured to, by the configuration signal, operate under diverse operation modes to test different to-be-tested objects in the storage network; wherein the test request indicates an operation mode of a tester.

16 . The computer program product according to claim 15 , further configured to simulate, under one of the operation modes, at least one to-be-tested object of the to-be-tested objects to test other to-be-tested objects communicating with a simulated to-be-tested object.

17 . The computer program product according to claim 15 , wherein the tester is configured to support a communication protocol between different to-be-tested objects.

18 . The computer program product according to claim 15 , wherein
the tester further comprises:
at least one test port configured to transfer a test signal to the to-be-tested objects and receive a response to the test signal from the to-be-tested objects;
wherein each of the test ports is associated with one of the operation modes.

19 . The computer program product according to claim 18 , wherein the test ports comprise at least one of the following: a Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS) port, a Fibre Channel (FC) port, and a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) port.

20 . The computer program product according to claim 15 , wherein the processor comprises an embedded processor.

Assignees

• Emc Corp

Inventors

• Wu Chao
• Zhai Li
• Fu Bryan Xiaoguang
• Zhang Hongtao
• Hou Andrew Anzhou

Classifications

• H04L67/1097

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• G11C29/56 Primary

  External testing equipment for static stores, e.g. automatic test equipment [ATE]; Interfaces therefor · CPC title

• H04L43/00 Primary

  Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks · CPC title

• G11C29/36

  Data generation devices, e.g. data inverters · CPC title

• G11C29/38 Primary

  Response verification devices · CPC title