fsx(8) System Manager's Manual fsx(8)
NAME
fsx - file system exerciser
SYNOPSIS
/usr/field/fsx [-h] [-ofile] [-tn] [-fpath] [-pm]
OPTIONS
The fsx options are: Prints the help messages for the fsx command. Saves the output diagnostics in file. Run time in minutes (n). The
default is to run until the process receives a Ctrl/C or a kill -15 pid command. Number (m) of fsx processes to spawn. The maximum is 250;
the default is 20. Path name of directory on file system you wish to test. For example, /mnt or /usr. The default is /usr/field.
DESCRIPTION
The fsx exerciser spawns the background process fsxr, and these two processes exercise a file system by creating, opening, writing, open-
ing, reading, validating, closing, and unlinking a test file. These test files are created in the /usr/field directory (the default)
unless the -fpath option is used.
You can spawn up to 250 (default is 20) fsx processes (fsxr1, fsxr2, ... fsxrn where n is the number of processes spawned). The exerciser
will run until a Ctrl/C or kill -15 pid command is sent to the process.
A logfile for you to examine and then remove is created in the current working directory. If there are errors in the logfile, make sure you
check the syslog file where the driver and kernel error messages are saved.
RESTRICTIONS
If you must run a system exerciser over an NFS link or on a diskless system, there are some restrictions. For exercisers such as fsx(8),
which must write into a file system, the target file system must be writable by root. Also, the directory in which any of the exercisers
are executed must be writable by root because temporary files are written into the current directory. These latter restrictions are some-
times difficult to overcome because often NFS file systems are mounted in a way that prevents root from writing into them. Some of the
restrictions may be overcome by copying fsx and fsxr to another directory and then executing it. Avoid using the fsx exerciser over an NFS
or diskless file system.
Each time you run fsx, it creates a log file. The exerciser allows you to accumulate up to 9 log files. If you run fsx to create a tenth
log file, it exits and displays the following error messages:
fsx: Remove old log files fsx: Can not start report generator, test aborted
When this situation occurs, remove at least one log file and run fsx again.
EXAMPLES
The following example runs 10 fsx processes on /mnt until the process receives a Ctrl/C or kill -15 pid command: % /usr/field/fsx -p10
-f/mnt The following example runs 20 fsx processes on /usr/field for 120 minutes in the background: % /usr/field/fsx -t120 &
SEE ALSO
Commands: cmx(8), diskx(8), memx(8), shmx(8), tapex(8)
fsx(8)