102 Chapter 5
cxtest
Overview
Overview
The cxtest program runs on the teststation and communicates with the
test controller via the NVRAM configuration parameters on the Utilities
board. Depending on the command line, cxtest either starts the
graphics display or runs as a command line interpreter.
The GUI provides an easy and flexible way to select and run tests. The
main screen has six drop down menus. The six menus are, File Menu,
Test Menu, Global Parm Menu, Command Menu, System Configuration
Menu, and Help Menu. The menus contents are present in the sections
below.
The advantage of using the command line over the graphics user
interface is that there is a little greater control over the order in which
tests are run and the ability to run the tests from a script. The
disadvantage is that the user must be more aware of what tests are
installed and how to run them.
The test controller must be in the stand-alone mode in order for cxtest
to be able to communicate with it. To run the test controller in stand-
alone mode, run the following command:
do_reset <node> | tc_standalone
For example:
do_reset 0 | tc_standalone
When cxtest is invoked, it first retrieves system information from
NVRAM and EEPROM on the Utilities board. This information includes:
• Tests loaded
• Parameters required for those tests
• Hardware configuration
The cxtest program works with the test controller to execute tests
based on the options selected by the user. It performs the following
functions:
• Looping
• Dispatching tests
• Configuring hardware
