NAME

xstm - X11-based support tool manager
 
 

SYNOPSIS

 
/usr/diag/bin/xstm [-l log file name]
 

DESCRIPTION

xstm provides access to a variety of system hardware support tools through an X Windows graphical user interface. 

xstm dynamically scans the host system to identify the machine’s device configuration and the support tools that are installed.  The application then presents the machine configuration with a system device map framed in a main window with a pulldown menu bar along the top.  A descriptive icon is presented in the device map for each interface card and device detected on the system.  The devices are depicted in a hierarchical, inverted "tree" format; the "root" is the host system ID itself.  Beneath the host icon the device map tree breaks out to the system’s I/O and system interface devices, and then to individual system devices.  Subcomponents of the System Processor Unit (SPU) which can be individually identified (such as memory or floating point processor) are presented to the sides of the "host" unit. 

General application functions such as viewing the application log file, loop control, and getting help are available from the main window pulldown menu bar. 

Device support functions may be executed through popup menus activated by pressing the left pointer button with the pointer positioned over the device’s representative icon.  The actions which may be performed on the specified device depend on what support functions are available on the system for the device type.  Typically, these actions are "verify", "exercise", and "diagnose".  "Information" about the device, obtained by the system mapping facility, is available for all devices.  Results (success, failure, warning) are indicated by changes to the color (or grey shade) of the device icon. 

When an action is selected the device icon’s color will change to pale blue, indicating that an action is in progress.  When the action has completed, the device icon’s color will signify the success (green) or failure (red) of the action.  Caution states (yellow) are indicated in some cases where indeterminate results are found or special precautions are required when dealing with the device.  Detailed information on the results of the action can be found by invoking the "information" action, or by viewing the session log file that is maintained by xstm. 

Some actions may require assistance from the user, such as mounting a tape and making sure that tape drive is online.  When such operator intervention is required, a dialog window appears on the display, with instructions on what needs to be done by the user. 
 

OPTIONS

 
-l log file name

This argument allows you to specify the name of the file to which log events that occur during the time the application is active are written.  Default is "./stm.log". 
 

MENUS

 
MAIN WINDOW MENU BAR FUNCTIONS General application functions are available from pulldown menus accessed by the  Main Window Menu Bar.  To access a menu, position the pointer over the Menu Bar label to be activated and press the left button.  Drag the pointer down to the menu item to be selected and release the button. 
 
ACTIONS The Actions Menu provides access to general application functions which are independent of a device.  Following are the available "action" functions:
 
Verify All Invokes the "verify" action on all system devices which can be verified (that is, those device types which have a verifier tool available). 
 
Cancel All cancels all device support functions that are currently active or pending. 
 
Exit causes xstm to shut down and exit. If there are any active support processes, the user is prompted to end these processes, let them complete before exiting, or cancel the exit request. 
 
VIEW The View Menu can be used to display the contents of the main log file maintained by xstm. 
 
OPTIONS
 
The Options Menu permits user access to optional user functions. Currently, the following option is available via this menu:
 
Looping provides loop control over the device support tools that are executed.  This option is intended primarily for troubleshooting intermittent problems with system exercisers.  When this pulldown menu is selected, the user is prompted to select a looping style (that is, loop by number of iterations, loop for a specified period of time in minutes, or loop infinitely), and to enter values appropriate for the style selected. 
 
When a loop value is set, the loop value applies to all device support actions (verify, diagnose, and exercise) that are requested until the loop value is changed.
 
The following looping style options are available:
 
By Count allows the user to loop a specific number of iterations. 
 
By Time allows the user to loop for a specific period of time, measured in minutes. 
 
Forever allows the user to loop on a test infinitely. 
 
The looping styles are selected by positioning the pointer over one of the buttons and pressing the left button. The loop value box (below the buttons) will change to reflect the style selection.
 
Once the user has selected the "count" or "time" looping style, the appropriate value must be entered in the loop value box at the bottom of the looping control panel. ("Loop Forever" does not require an entry in the loop value box). Initially, the default value of "1" is displayed in this window. In order to enter values for number of iterations or duration in minutes in the selection box, the user must move the mouse pointer inside the selection box and press the left button to enter a value (this "selects" the value box). Enter a whole number greater than zero in the loop value box.
 
Once the appropriate value has been entered in the selection box, the user sets the chosen values by clicking on the "OK" widget, or rejects them by clicking on the "CANCEL" widget.
 
The default loop value is "one iteration".  If any loop value other than default is selected, the value is displayed on the device map to remind you what looping selection you are working with.  You can reset looping to default by setting looping back to looping style "count", with a value of "1" iteration.
 
Note that if time expires in the middle of an operation’s excution, the operation will complete.  That is, "time" looping will not cause the operation to end prematurely or to abort.
 
HELP provides online information about xstm.  A window with information about the selected topic is displayed.  Press the window’s OK button to close a help window.  Topics available are:
 
On xstm has general information about the X11-based Support Tool Manager. 
 
On Menu Bar contains information about using the main window menu bar pulldown menus and the functions available from the pulldown menus. 
 
On Device Map provides help on the system device map, how to perform support functions, and how to get information about the devices represented on the map. 
 
On Miscellany provides miscellaneous information about the product, including tips on using  xstm and graphic user interface behaviour. 
 
On Version displays the version of xstm being used and the copyright declaration. 
 

DEVICE ICON POPUP MENU FUNCTIONS

Support functions for specific devices are available from popup menus associated with each device icon (graphic symbols representing devices, cards, and major system components) on the device map area. 
 
To access a device action popup menu, position the pointer over the icon representing the device to be investigated and press the left button. Drag the pointer down to the menu item to be selected and release the button.
 
Every device icon has at least one selection, "information", that displays a window with device type and status information (see below). The other selections on the popup menu represent support functions which can be performed on the device. Selecting one of these menu items causes the respective function to be executed on the device or component.
 
Availability of other device action selections depends on whether or not support tools for the device type are installed on the system, and are detectable by the Support Tool Manager.
 
The device action selections are:
 
Information pops up a Device Information window.  This window displays the part number and part name information detected by the device mapping facility, and where applicable, the status of device support functions that have been executed on the device. 
 
The top of the window displays the hardware path, part number and device description. If there are support functions available for the device, a radio button is displayed for each support function. Pressing one of these buttons causes the status of the respective support function for the device and, if the support tool provides one, the log file for the device to be displayed. Press the OK button to close the window.
 
The other selections which may be available are:
 
Diagnose runs a diagnostic program on the device.  Diagnostic programs are designed to detect and isolate faulty hardware on a device. 
 
Exercise. Exercisers continuously stress a device or subsystem.  This function is useful in providing very high confidence verification and in detecting intermittent errors. 
 
Verify performs a simple test of component function, providing a "pass/fail" indication of device condition.  "Verify" would typically be the first level test of a device’s condition. 
 

RESOURCES

xstm user-configurable application X11/Motif resources are in the file "XStm".  A base copy of this resource file is in the directory /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XStm. 
 
XStm contains the resources for device icon indication of device action results. These are set to colors by default. An example set of resources for grey scale is provided in a comment area of the file.
 
The bitmaps to use for representing various device types, as well as fonts and background colors are also in the resource file.
 

ENVIRONMENT

 
DISPLAY Must be set to the desired X Windows display ID (e.g. local:0.0). 
 

FILES

 
XStm

Default X11 application resource definition file.  Directories /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults and $HOME are searched to find XStm. 
 
SESSION LOG FILE

The session log (default name: stm.log) contains a detailed history of the actions performed by xstm.  This log begins with a chart indicating the system and I/O configuration for the system and records the results for each action performed during the session.  Each line of the chart specifies the location of the device, a description of the device, the current status of the diagnose action, and the current status of the verify action. 

Please note that the Diagnostic Status and Verifier Status columns will contain entries of "N/A" or "Not Checked".  "N/A" signifies that the Diagnose or Verify action is not available for the device. "Not Checked" signified that the action has not been invoked, which is correct when xstm begins. 
 

OTHER FILES

 
/usr/diag/bin/am - support application manager.
/usr/diag/bin/dtm - diagnostic tool manager.
/usr/diag/bin/CXSTM000 - default NLS message catalog.
 

SEE ALSO

 
cstm(1m)
 

WARNINGS

Please remember that xstm is a tool that controls the execution of system and device level diagnostic and support tools.  The execution of this product places additional load on system throughput and sensitive system peripheral devices.  The program xstm itself uses considerable CPU time due to the nature of it’s internal processing.  Unnecessary use of this product is strongly discouraged. 

xstm (and cstm) are delivered configured such that any user can execute the "verify" tools.  This can cause unnecessary system load should the program be executed indiscriminately.  System administrators and managers may wish to change the permission bits of the program so that only "root" level user may use the tool.  The command would be:
 
chmod 544 /usr/diag/bin/xstm
 
Most of the various dialog windows that appear in xstm are not delivered such that they will "auto-raise" with the main window; this is so the window is not unnecessarily obscured.  If you are "missing" a window, try lowering the "top" window (or "shuffling" up or down).  The window you’re looking for is probably underneath.  In particular, if a Device Information window is already active, and you request the "information" action, the window doesn’t auto-raise.

When you start xstm or cstm while someone else is running diagnostics on a device (e.g. SCSI disk), this device will not show up on the xstm or cstm device map.  This is because the diagnostic has the device for exclusive use and as a result the facility which maps system devices is not able to probe the device and thus treats it as non-existent. 

When you initiate a diagnose operation on MEMORY while someone else is already running the memory diagnostic program (either through xstm, cstm, or sysdiag), you will see the following error message:
 
(MEMERR 10260) Memdiag unable to OPEN memory, BAD exit status = 501
  This message does not imply a memory hardware problem.  This is due to the limitation where only one diagnostic process is able to diagnose memory at a time.  This situation can also be encountered if the memory logging process (MEMLOGP) is scanning the memory controllers.

Occasionally, following a "Cancel Requests" request made from the "Actions" menu (on the main window pulldown menu bar), an error message stating "UNKNOWN CHILD SENT AM COMMAND" or "Reply is to non-existent request" may appear.  This occurs when a test is canceled or aborted by the user, but the test result has already been issued.  This condition is harmless and should be ignored in this circumstance. 

When xstm has an execution error during startup, the error popup windows don’t always get displayed entirely before execution stops.  In this condition, please check the "standard error" port for your environment.  Standard error may be directed to the x-terminal panel from which you entered the command "xstm", or an error log file such as "$(HOME)/.vue/Xerrors". 

If xstm should fail during startup, the most common reason is that the program cannot open it’s log file "stm.log".  This can happen when the root user runs xstm from an NFS mounted file system, or when the log file permissions are set such that the xstm user has no "write" privilege. 

Initiating exercise operations may impact system performance.  In some cases, entering the diagnostic user interface (sysdiag) will result in the following error message:
 
*** ERROR - Could not establish communication with external parts of the
    diagnostic system (DUIINITERR 1)
 
*** Diagnostic system error 4435
 
It this situation, the user must wait for the exercise operations to complete so that more resources can be shifted to the diagnostic system.

Do not run xstm or cstm from NFS mounted current working directories.  Running xstm or cstm from an NFS directory can lead to execution problems due to NFS security features and the execution mode of xstm and cstm. 

Only one graphics verifier or exerciser can be run at a time.  A program or system crash could prevent the graphics tool lock file from being removed when it should be. If a graphics verify or exercise cannot be started and no other test is being executed, removing the lock file "/tmp/.graphicsdaf.lock" should allow a single test to run. 

To test floppy diskette drives, blank formatted media must be used.  If the floppy is not formatted, floppy drive verification or exercise will fail, usually with a read error.  If the media is not in the drive, tests will also fail. 

When reporting problems on xstm, refer to part number B2478-10001.  For cstm, refer to B2478-10002. 
 

COPYRIGHT

 
(c) Copyright 1991, Hewlett-Packard Company
 

ORIGIN

 
xstm was developed by Hewlett-Packard Company. 

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  HP-UX Release 8.07: October 1991