SCSI Toolbox :: Newsletter - October 2007
IN THIS EDITION
Coming Soon - new and improved ATA SMART capability!
Did you know... Causing random bus resets while testing devices is an excellent way to test proper drive behavior?
Storage Expo 2007 in the UK - If you're in the UK on the 17th or 18th of October stop by Andy Piper's stage and get a Free Demo CD of the SCSItoolbox Suite!
Ask Dr. SCSI - "How do I make my DTB (Developer’s Toolbox) applications continue to work on these modern HBAs that have more than one bus on them?"
Coming Soon - new and improved ATA SMART capability!
Now critical SMART attributes that indicate pending drive problems are highlighted in RED –
Looks like our test machine has got some read errors – better back it up soon!
Did you know... Causing random bus resets while testing devices is an excellent way to test proper drive behavior?
Async reset testing
Causing random bus resets while testing devices is an excellent way to test proper drive behavior. Use the Bus Reset Tool within SCSItoolbox to issue bus resets
The Bus Reset tool can issue resets to any host bus adapter on your system, and can be used in three modes:
- Immediate mode – Click the Issue Bus Reset Now button to immediately issue a reset
- I/O Count mode – chose Reset Every n I/Os – the Bus Reset tool counts I/Os and issues a bus reset when the count set with the dial control is reached
- Timer mode – chose Reset Every n Seconds – when the number of seconds specified by the seconds dial control is reached a bus reset will be issued
Don’t forget – you can monitor the results of your I/O testing, including capturing bus resets, using BAM
Storage Expo 2007 in the UK - If you're in the UK on the 17th or 18th of October stop by Tap Systems stage and get a Free Demo CD of the SCSItoolbox Suite!
The UK's only dedicated data storage event
Storage Expo, the UK’s only dedicated data storage event provides visitors with the opportunity to compare the most comprehensive range of data storage solutions from all the leading suppliers. The show addresses today’s key data storage issues within an unrivalled education programme. Visiting Storage Expo will help you find the definitive answers to your growing data storage needs.
Storage Expo is targeted towards IT Professionals concerned with issues such as data storage, storage archiving, backup, content management, Green IT, storage networking, storage security, disk storage, holographic storage, SAN, NAS, virtualisation and much more...
For more information about the show visit http://www.storage-expo.com/
If you would like to contact Tap Systems, LTD an authorized SCSItoolbox Reseller for over a decade you can reach them at:
Andy Piper
TAP Systems Ltd,
Cedar House,
Cedar Lane,
FRIMLEY,
GU16 7HZ.
Telephone: (44) 01276 21122
Telephone: (44) 07836 594722
Fax: (44) 0870 0520118
Email: andy@tapsystems.com
Ask Dr. SCSI -Making DTB work with more than one bus on them
Q. “How do I make my DTB (Developer’s ToolBox) applications continue to work on these modern HBAs that have more than one bus on them?"
A. Many applications scan for devices only on bus 0 because their HBA only had one bus. So it is commonplace to see software scanning for devices from ID 0 to ID 15, or from 0 to 255. These applications will no longer continue to work on HBAs with multiple buses on them. DTB has a function SCSITargetCount(hba_number) that returns how many targets you should scan for on an HBA. To make your software more robust, when scanning for devices you should always call SCSITargetCount for each HBA on your system, and then scan from 0 to the number return by SCSITargetCount. Here’s an example:
nHBANumber = 5;
nNumTargets = VCSCSITargetCount(nHBANumber)
for (nTargetNum = 0; nTargetNum < nNumTargets;nTargetNum++)
{
……
}
