JPH02294740A - Inspection system for computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain easy and accurate inspection without requiring expert knowledge by allowing a maintenance man to issue a diagnostic instruction for instructing the execution of the representative function of an I/O device, allowing the I/O device to form a command group and parameters for executing the function and storing the formed contents in a main storage device. CONSTITUTION:When a diagnostic instruction displayed on a display device is selected by a keyboard or keyed from a panel by the maintenance man, an originating means 1 in a central processing part 11 generates a diagnostic instruction for commanding a device 13 to execute prescribed device operation. At the time of receiving the diagnostic instruction, a reading means 3 reads out a command word for executing the operation commanded by the diagnostic instruction from a storage means 12 and a storage means 5 stores the command word read out by the means 3 into the main storage part 12. A control part 6 extracts the command word stored by the means 5 from the main storage part 12 based upon a start instruction outputted from the processing part 11 and controls the operation of the device 13 in accordance with the command word. Consequently, the I/O device can easily and accurately be inspected.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [1 Already Required] An object of the present invention is to provide a computer testing method that can easily and accurately perform testing, regarding a testing method for checking the functionality and detecting failures of computer hardware. In a system comprising a central processing unit, a main storage unit, and a control unit that retrieves a command from the main storage based on a startup command from the central processing unit and controls the operation of the device according to the command. , a means for transmitting a diagnostic command instructing a predetermined operation of the device to the central processing unit, a means for storing a command word for causing the device to execute an action instructed for each of the diagnostic commands; means for reading out the corresponding command word from the storage means when receiving the command, and means for storing the command 3c read out by the reading means in the main storage unit, the device Based on the diagnostic instruction, the instruction word stored by the storage means is retrieved from the main storage section and executed, thereby executing the operation instructed by the diagnostic instruction and inspecting the apparatus.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention provides computer hardware functions 61! related to inspection methods for verification and failure detection.

In recent years, all kinds of information in all fields of society are processed by computers, and failures and failures in computer systems have a great impact on business operations. Therefore, there is a need for an inspection method that can easily and accurately find failure locations during maintenance or troubleshooting of computer systems.

[Conventional technology]

Traditionally, testing of equipment hardware has been carried out by: ■ executing a test program under the control of an operating system (OS) or a test monitor, or ■ having a maintenance engineer set the operating conditions necessary for testing the equipment. Inspections were carried out by operating the equipment.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As mentioned above, according to the conventional method (2), it is not possible to directly test the device by running the test program via the OS or test monitor, so it is difficult to isolate whether the fault is caused by software or hardware. There are problems in that it takes time and is difficult to separate. In addition, method ■ requires many interface conditions with the outside,
Particularly in the case of input/output devices that operate differently depending on the conditions, direct inspection requires setting different command sequences and parameters for each device and for each device operation mode, making it difficult for maintenance engineers to There is a problem in that it is necessary to be familiar with the commands, parameters, etc. necessary to execute the operation of the operation mode, and it takes a lot of time to set them.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a computer testing method that can easily and accurately test input/output devices.

The device 13 is configured to perform the specified operations to test the device l3.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the principle of the present invention.

In the figure, 6 is a control unit that is provided in the device 13 and takes out a command from the main storage unit 12 based on a startup command from the central processing unit 1l and controls the operation of the device according to the command. 4 is provided in the device 13 and stores a command word that causes the device 13 to execute the instructed operation; 3 is a means for transmitting a diagnostic command; Means for reading out the corresponding command word from the storage means 4 when received; 5 is means for storing the command word read out by the reading means 3 in the main storage section 12;

Therefore, the system fl3 retrieves and executes the command word stored by the storage means 5 from the main storage unit 12 based on the activation command, thereby instructing the central processing unit 11 according to the diagnostic command. Transmission stage 1 is device I
When the reading means 3 receives the diagnostic command, it reads out a command word for performing the operation specified by the diagnostic command from the storage stage 12,
The storage means 5 stores the command word read out by the reading means 3 in the main memory section 12, and the control section 6 stores the command word from the main memory section 12 by the storage stage 5 based on the activation command from the processing section 11. Since the command word is extracted and the operation of the device is controlled according to the command word, the device 13 can be inspected by executing the action instructed by the diagnostic command.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. The same reference numerals refer to the same objects throughout the design. Components in FIG. 2 that correspond to those in FIG. 1 are surrounded by dashed lines.

In FIG. 2, first, control of normal input/output operations in the configuration of this embodiment will be explained.

1 (Prior to operating the CPU 138, the program of the central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU) IA in advance writes a command (or channel command word, hereinafter referred to as , CCW)
A channel address word (hereinafter referred to as CAW) that specifies the start address of a column is stored, and usually multiple CCWs (CCWs) are stored in the area where the start address is specified by CAW.
i CCW2...) and then issues a start command to start 100 input/output operations. The CCW includes a command code CM, a DA that specifies a transfer start address of data such as parameters for controlling human output operations, and a BC (not shown) that specifies the number of bytes of transfer data.

In the input/output control device (hereinafter referred to as fOc) 3A,
The foilJ control unit 6b controls 1(138) according to commands from the channel control unit 6a, and exchanges data between 1(13B and the channel control unit 6a).

The channel control unit 6a controls the IO3 via the IO control unit 6b.
IO3B, and performs DMA transfer of data input/output from IO3B via interface 10. That is, CPUI
When a start command is received from A (the S bit of the 10 register 6l is set), data is sent from a predetermined address in the main memory 2A to CA. Take out W and C A. WR, address the main memory 2A with the contents of CAWR, take out the first CCWI, and write it to CCWR.
The contents of WR are updated to prepare for the next retrieval of CCW2. Next, change the command code of CCWl in CCWR to so! For example, in the case of a read command, the data input from 13B to the main memory 2A address specified by DA is transferred to the address of the main memory 2A specified by DA. In addition to transferring and storing, a predetermined number (transfer byte number) is added to DA and a predetermined number is subtracted from BC to prepare for DMA transfer of the next input data.In this way, DMA transfer is executed. When the termination condition of the command being executed occurs in the process (BC is zero, etc.), the next CCW2 is extracted by using the contents of CAWR as a go.
It is configured to control input/output operations by repeating similar operations.

Next, the main structure of the embodiment of the present invention will be explained.

The transmitting unit 1a of the CPUIA transmits a series of diagnostic input/output operations (referred to as operation modes) to the 1 (13B), for example, gives parameters to the IO control units 6b and I (13B, operates according to the parameters, and reads the data of the operation results. etc.) is transmitted (hereinafter referred to as DoP).In other words, by selecting the DOP displayed on the display device (not shown) with the keyboard or manually inputting a key from the maintenance panel, the IO register 61 of the IOC3A Set the DOP code to .

The command table 4a is composed of a read-only memory (ROM), etc., and stores a command (CCW) group and parameters corresponding to the operation mode specified by the DOP.

The sequel section 3a reads ■0 register 61 from the command table 4a.
Read out the command group and parameters corresponding to the DOP code.

The DMA transfer unit 5a DMA transfers the command group and parameters read by the reading unit 3a to a predetermined address area of the main memory 2A, and stores the commands and parameters.

The operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to flowchart 1 in FIG.

- The maintenance person operates the maintenance panel or the like to specify operation mode 1, and the CPUIA transmitter 1a transmits DOP.

∎ The succession unit 3a sequentially reads the command group and parameters corresponding to the DOP from the command table 4a, and ③The DMA transfer unit 5a transfers the read command (CCW) group to an area of the main memory 28 starting from address a, for example. In addition, when parameters are transferred, DMA transfer is performed and stored in the area specified by the DA of the CCW.

■Based on the maintenance person's operation, the CP (JIA) sends a start command to the IOC3A, ■[The channel control unit 6a of the OC3A sends a predetermined value a to CAWR,
, updates the CAWR, and instructs the 10 control unit 6b to perform the input/output operation specified by CCW1.

■IO3B executes the input/output operation specified by the ccwt command code, and when the command termination condition occurs,
The next CCW2 is extracted by specifying the address with the contents of CAWR and the same simulation is performed.

(2) When the command termination condition of the last CCW in the CCW sequence occurs, a status word indicating the command execution result is stored in a predetermined area of the main memory 2^.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, a maintenance person can issue a diagnostic command that instructs an input/output device to execute a typical function through a simple operation, and the input/output device can then execute a set of commands to execute that function. Since the parameters are created and stored in the main memory, maintenance personnel can execute the function of the input/output device and inspect the device simply by issuing a startup command, without requiring specialized knowledge. This has the effect of allowing easy and accurate testing to be performed, thereby improving system reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, ■ is a sending means, la is a sending part, 3 is a reading means, 3a is a follow-up part, 4 is a storage means, 4a is a command table, 5 is a storage means, 5a is a DMA transfer part, 6 is a control part, 6a is the channel control unit, 6b is the ■0 control unit, 61 is the 10 register, IO is the interface, l1 is the central processing unit, 1A is the CPU, 12 is the main storage unit, 28 is the main memory, 13 is the k4b unit, 3A indicates IOC, 3B does not indicate IO. / $ Hatsuro ρ7 Kori Buguchi... I Fu Figure No. 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] A central processing unit (11), a main storage unit (12), and a main storage unit (12) based on a startup command from the central processing unit (11).
2), and a device (13) having a control section (6) that extracts a command from a computer and controls the operation of the device according to the command. means (1) for transmitting a diagnostic command instructing the operation of the device (13), means (4) for storing a command word for causing the device (13) to execute the operation instructed for each of the diagnostic commands; means (3) for reading the corresponding command word from the storage means (4) when receiving the command word; and means for storing the command word read by the reading means (3) in the main storage section (12). (5), and the device (13) stores the storage means (5) from the main storage (12) based on the activation command.
1. A method for testing a computer, characterized in that the device (13) is tested by extracting and executing a command word stored in the diagnostic command to execute an operation instructed by the diagnostic command.