Test tool and methods for facilitating testing of duplexed computer functions

• US 6,910,158 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2001
• Issued: 06/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Stilwell, David A., Jones, Steven B., Tuttle, Scott B., Shaw, Thomas C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Iqbal, Nadeem
• Application Number:
  US09/968,420
• Publication Number:
  US 20030065977A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,359 Days
• Field of Search: 714/38, 714/11, 714/5, 714/33, 714/42, 714/47, 714/39, 714/31, 714/32, 709/212, 709/248, 709/227, 709/228, 709/201, 709/216, 709/108, 709/200, 709/223, 709/224, 711/112, 717/124
• US Class Current: 714/38.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/261 by simulating additional hardware, e.g. fault simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/36 Preventing errors by testing or debugging software

Abstract

Test tool logic and testing methods are provided for facilitating testing a duplexed computer function, such as a duplexed coupling facility. The test tool allows a testcase written for a first environment to be automatically driven in a second environment, thereby facilitating testing of a function of the second environment. Other aspects include logic for intercepting a system event by a test tool to facilitate testing of system-managed event processing, and for adjusting a display characteristic of one or more messages to be displayed by the test tool based on message type. Further, logic for propagating an environmental error indication and for facilitating processing a wait state are also provided, as are several new test tool verbs and macros.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating testing of a computer function, said method comprising:

obtaining a testcase written to facilitate testing of a function of a first environment;

automatically driving the testcase in a second environment to facilitate testing of a function of the second environment; and

wherein the first environment comprises a simplex environment, and the second environment a duplexed environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically driving is accomplished without modifying the testcase written for the first environment.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing at least one switch, wherein setting of said at least one switch defines at least one driven characteristic of the testcase in the second environment.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the function comprises a coupling facility function, and wherein the at least one switch forces said automatically driving to drive different testcase processing internal to the coupling facility.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the automatically driving is responsive to a duplex switch, and wherein the function of the second environment comprises a duplexed structure function.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the automatically driving is responsive to a duplex NOWAIT switch, and wherein the automatically driving drives the testcase in parallel with a duplexing rebuild operation of the second environment when the duplex NOWAIT switch is set.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the automatically driving further comprises initially filtering the testcase at parse time as unable to execute if a structure providing the function of the second environment is system managed duplexed.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the automatically driving comprises parsing the testcase in a test tool application and providing filtering which allows the automatically driving of the testcase to proceed only if not prevented by a particular IXLCONN statement, IXLREBLD statement or CFERROR verb (causing a coupling facility structure failure) in the testcase.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically driving comprises driving different processing flows of the function to be tested in the second environment, wherein the testcase can be used to test different environments and different processing flows within an environment without modifying the testcase.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically driving the testcase comprises automatically driving a request of the testcase in the second environment to facilitate testing of the function of the second environment.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the request comprises an IXLCONN statement, and wherein the automatically driving comprises setting an IXLCONN CFLEVEL with reference to a UDFORDER switch and a NAMECLASSMASK switch for driving different internal processings of a coupling facility function to be tested.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first environment comprises sync processing, and the second environment async processing.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first environment comprises async processing, and the second environment sync processing.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the first environment comprises a function test environment, and the second environment comprises one of a system test environment and an engineering test environment.

4. A method of facilitating testing of a computer function, said method comprising:

obtaining a testcase written for a first environment;

automatically driving the testcase in a second environment to facilitate testing of a function of the second environment;

providing at least one switch, wherein setting of said at least one switch defines at least one driven characteristic of the testcase in the second environment; and

wherein the at least one switch comprises at least one of a sync switch, async switch, duplex switch, duplex nowait switch, UDFORDER switch and NAMECLASSMASK switch.

5. A method of facilitating testing of a computer function, said method comprising:

obtaining a testcase written for a first environment;

automatically driving the testcase in a second environment to facilitate testing of a function of the second environment;

providing at least one switch, wherein setting of said at least one switch defines at least one driven characteristic of the testcase in the second environment; and

wherein said at least one switch resides in a test tool application, and the computer function comprises a coupling facility function.

16. A method of facilitating testing of a computer function, said method comprising:

obtaining a testcase written for a first environment;

automatically driving the testcase in a second environment to facilitate testing of a function of the second environment; and

wherein the testcase written for the first environment specifies a system of the first environment upon which at least a portion of the testcase is to execute, and wherein the automatically driving comprises mapping the testcase to the second environment, the mapping comprising selecting a system of the second environment upon which the at least a portion of the testcase is to execute.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first environment comprises a first sysplex having multiple systems and the second environment comprises a second sysplex having multiple systems.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the mapping comprises referencing at least one table in a test tool, the at least one table comprising a system name mapping between the first environment and the second environment.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the test tool comprises multiple tables, each table providing system name mapping for a different system of the second sysplex.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the automatically driving comprises automatically driving the testcase in the second environment without modifying the testcase to select said system of the second environment upon which the at least a portion of the testcase is to execute.

22. A method of processing a testcase within a plurality of testing environments, said method comprising:

allowing for indication of a testing environment within which a testcase is to execute, the environment comprising one environment of a plurality of testing environments;

at execution time of the testcase, checking the indication of the testing environment and controlling testcase processing based upon the indication of the testing environment within which the testcase is to execute; and

wherein the plurality of testing environments comprise at least some of a functional test environment, a system test environment, and an engineering test environment.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the indication comprises a control statement in a control file of a test tool employing the testcase.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the controlling comprises automatically controlling testcase processing based on the control statement, wherein a testcase written for a first testing environment of the plurality of testing environments automatically adjusts for execution in a second testing environment of the plurality of testing environments.

25. A system for facilitating testing of a computer function, said system comprising:

means for obtaining a testcase written to facilitate testing of a function of a first environment;

means for automatically driving the testcase in a second environment to facilitate testing of a function of the second environment; and

wherein the first environment comprises a simplex environment, and the second environment a duplexed environment.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the means for automatically driving comprises means for driving without modifying the testcase written for the first environment.

27. The system of claim 25, further comprising means for providing at least one switch, wherein setting of said at least one switch defines at least one driven characteristic of the testcase in the second environment.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the function comprises a coupling facility function, and wherein the at least one switch forces said means for automatically driving to drive different testcase processing internal to the coupling facility.

31. The system of claim 27, wherein the means for automatically driving is responsive to a duplex switch, and wherein the function of the second environment comprises a duplexed structure function.

32. The system of claim 27, wherein the means for automatically driving is responsive to a duplex NOWAIT switch, and wherein the means for automatically driving drives the testcase in parallel with a duplexing rebuild operation of the second environment when the duplex NOWAIT switch is set.

33. The system of claim 27, wherein the means for automatically driving further comprises means for initially filtering the testcase at parse time as unable to execute if a structure providing the function of the second environment is system managed duplexed.

34. The system of claim 25, wherein the means for automatically driving comprises means for parsing the testcase in a test tool application and providing filtering which allows the automatically driving of the testcase to proceed only if not prevented by a particular IXLCONN statement, IXLREBLD statement or CFERROR verb (causing a coupling facility structure failure) in the testcase.

35. The system of claim 25, wherein the means for automatically driving comprises means for driving different processing flows of the function to be tested in the second environment, wherein the testcase can be used to test different environments and different processing flows within an environment without modifying the testcase.

36. The system of claim 25, wherein the means for automatically driving the testcase comprises means for automatically driving a request of the testcase in the second environment to facilitate testing of the function of the second environment.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the request comprises an IXLCONN statement, and wherein the means for automatically driving comprises means for setting an IXLCONN CFLEVEL with reference to a UDFORDER switch and a NAMECLASSMASK switch for driving different internal processings of a coupling facility function to be tested.

38. The system of claim 25, wherein the first environment comprises sync processing, and the second environment async processing.

39. The system of claim 25, wherein the first environment comprises async processing, and the second environment sync processing.

45. The system of claim 25, wherein the first environment comprises a function test environment, and the second environment comprises one of a system test environment and an engineering test environment.

28. A system for facilitating testing of a computer function, said system comprising:

means for obtaining a testcase written for a first environment;

means for automatically driving the testcase in a second environment to facilitate testing of a function of the second environment;

means for providing at least one switch, wherein setting of said at least one switch defines at least one driven characteristic of the testcase in the second environment; and

wherein the at least one switch comprises at least one of a sync switch, async switch, duplex switch, duplex nowait switch, UDFORDER switch and NAMECLASSMASK switch.

29. A system for facilitating testing of a computer function, said system comprising:

means for obtaining a testcase written for a first environment;

means for automatically driving the testcase in a second environment to facilitate testing of a function of the second environment;

means for providing at least one switch, wherein setting of said at least one switch defines at least one driven characteristic of the testcase in the second environment; and

wherein said at least one switch resides in a test tool application, and the computer function comprises a coupling facility function.

40. A system for facilitating testing of a computer function, said system comprising:

means for obtaining a testcase written for a first environment;

means for automatically driving the testcase in a second environment to facilitate testing of a function of the second environment; and

wherein the testcase written for the first environment specifies a system of the first environment upon which at least a portion of the testcase is to execute, and wherein the means for automatically driving comprises means for mapping the testcase to the second environment, the means for mapping comprising means for selecting a system of the second environment upon which the at least a portion of the testcase is to execute.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the first environment comprises a first sysplex having multiple systems and the second environment comprises a second sysplex having multiple systems.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the means for mapping comprises means for referencing at least one table in a test tool, the at least one table comprising a system name mapping between the first environment and the second environment.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the test tool comprises multiple tables, each table providing system name mapping for a different system of the second sysplex.

44. The system of claim 40, wherein the means for automatically driving comprises means for automatically driving the testcase in the second environment without modifying the testcase to select said system of the second environment upon which the at least a portion of the testcase is to execute.

46. A system for facilitating testing of a computer function, said system comprising:

a computing unit adapted to obtain a testcase written to facilitate testing of a function of a first environment;

wherein said computing unit is further adapted to automatically drive the testcase in a second environment to facilitate testing of a function of the second environment; and

wherein the first environment comprises a simplex environment, and the second environment a duplexed environment.

47. A system for processing a testcase within a plurality of testing environments, said system comprising:

means for allowing for indication of a testing environment within which a testcase is to execute, the environment comprising one environment of a plurality of testing environments;

at execution time of the testcase, means for checking the indication of the testing environment and for controlling testcase processing based upon the indication of the testing environment within which the testcase is to execute; and

wherein the plurality of testing environments comprise at least some of a functional test environment, a system test environment, and an engineering test environment.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein the indication comprises a control statement in a control file of a test tool employing the testcase.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein the means for controlling comprises means for automatically controlling testcase processing based on the control statement, wherein a testcase written for a first testing environment of the plurality of testing environments automatically adjusts for execution in a second testing environment of the plurality of testing environments.

50. A system for processing a testcase within a plurality of testing environments, said system comprising:

a computing unit adapted to allow for indication of a testing environment within which a testcase is to execute, the environment comprising one environment of a plurality of testing environments;

wherein the computing unit is further adapted to check for the indication of the testing environment at execution of the testcase, and to control testcase processing based upon the indication of the testing environment within which the testcase is to execute; and

wherein the plurality of testing environments comprise at least some of a functional test environment, a system test environment, and an engineering test environment.

51. At least one program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of facilitating testing of a computer function, said method comprising:

obtaining a testcase written to facilitate testing of a function of a first environment;

automatically driving the testcase in a second environment to facilitate testing of a function of the second environment; and

wherein the first environment comprises a simplex environment, and the second environment a duplexed environment.

52. The at least one program storage device of claim 51, wherein the automatically driving is accomplished without modifying the testcase written for the first environment.

53. The at least one program storage device of claim 51, further comprising providing at least one switch, wherein setting of said at least one switch defines at least one driven characteristic of the testcase in the second environment.

54. The at least one program storage device of claim 53, wherein the at least one switch comprises at least one of a sync switch, async switch, duplex switch, duplex nowait switch, UDFORDER switch and NAMECLASSMASK switch.

55. The at least one program storage device of claim 53, wherein said at least one switch resides in a test tool application, and the computer function comprises a coupling facility function.

56. The at least one program storage device of claim 53, wherein the function comprises a coupling facility function, and wherein the at least one switch forces said automatically driving to drive different testcase processing internal to the coupling facility.

57. The at least one program storage device of claim 53, wherein the automatically driving is responsive to a duplex switch, and wherein the function of the second environment comprises a duplexed structure function.

58. The at least one program storage device of claim 53, wherein the automatically driving is responsive to a duplex NOWAIT switch, and wherein the automatically driving drives the testcase in parallel with a duplexing rebuild operation of the second environment when the duplex NOWAIT switch is set.

59. The at least one program storage device of claim 53, wherein the automatically driving further comprises initially filtering the testcase at parse time as unable to execute if a structure providing the function of the second environment is system managed duplexed.

60. The at least one program storage device of claim 53, wherein the automatically driving comprises parsing the testcase in a test tool application and providing filtering which allows the automatically driving of the testcase to proceed only if not prevented by a particular IXLCONN statement, IXLREBLD statement or CFERROR verb (causing a coupling facility structure failure) in the testcase.

61. The at least one program storage device of claim 51, wherein the automatically driving comprises driving different processing flows of the function to be tested in the second environment, wherein the testcase can be used to test different environments and different processing flows within an environment without modifying the testcase.

62. The at least one program storage device of claim 51, wherein the automatically driving the testcase comprises automatically driving a request of the testcase in the second environment to facilitate testing of the function of the second environment.

63. The at least one program storage device of claim 62, wherein the request comprises an IXLCONN statement, and wherein the automatically driving comprises setting an IXLCONN CFLEVEL with reference to a UDFORDER switch and a NAMECLASSMASK switch for driving different internal processings of a coupling facility function to be tested.

64. The at least one program storage device of claim 51, wherein the first environment comprises sync processing, and the second environment async processing.

65. The at least one program storage device of claim 51, wherein the first environment comprises async processing, and the second environment sync processing.

66. The at least one program storage device of claim 51, wherein the testcase written for the first environment specifies a system of the first environment upon which at least a portion of the testcase is to execute, and wherein the automatically driving comprises mapping the testcase to the second environment, the mapping comprising selecting a system of the second environment upon which the at least a portion of the testcase is to execute.

67. The at least one program storage device of claim 66, wherein the first environment comprises a first sysplex having multiple systems and the second environment comprises a second sysplex having multiple systems.

68. The at least one program storage device of claim 67, wherein the mapping comprises referencing at least one table in a test tool, the at least one table comprising a system name mapping between the first environment and the second environment.

69. The at least one program storage device of claim 68, wherein the test tool comprises multiple tables, each table providing system name mapping for a different system of the second sysplex.

70. The at least one program storage device of claim 66, wherein the automatically driving comprises automatically driving the testcase in the second environment without modifying the testcase to select said system of the second environment upon which the at least a portion of the testcase is to execute.

71. The at least one program storage device of claim 51, wherein the first environment comprises a function test environment, and the second environment comprises one of a system test environment and an engineering test environment.

72. At least one program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of processing a testcase within a plurality of testing environments, said method comprising:

allowing for indication of a testing environment within which a testcase is to execute, the environment comprising one environment of a plurality of testing environments;

at execution time of the testcase, checking the indication of the testing environment and controlling testcase processing based upon the indication of the testing environment within which the testcase is to execute; and

wherein the plurality of testing environments comprise at least some of a functional test environment, a system test environment, and an engineering test environment.

73. The at least one program storage device of claim 72, wherein the indication comprises a control statement in a control file of a test tool employing the testcase.

74. The at least one program storage device of claim 73, wherein the controlling comprises automatically controlling testcase processing based on the control statement, wherein a testcase written for a first testing environment of the plurality of testing environments automatically adjusts for execution in a second testing environment of the plurality of testing environments.