Usage and Defaults

Many arguments are available for the micro-test utility. The arguments define which tests are run, the extensiveness of the testing, and (in some cases) the directory that is used for testing purposes. The micro-test utility accepts one option per execution. If you specify more than one option, all options after the first one are ignored.

In some tests, you can specify the name of a directory in which to run the tests. On Linux® systems, the specified directory must be the full path name of the directory where you want to run those tests. If you specify a directory that uses a relative path name, that path name is interpreted as being relative to your installation directory, not your current working directory. On Microsoft Windows systems, you can specify either a full or relative path name, and relative path names are interpreted as being relative to your current directory.

The micro-test utility has the following usage options:

--all [dir]

This option runs all the tests available in the micro-test utility, except for the exec test. Each test is run by using default arguments for that test. The directory [dir] where the tests are run is a required parameter.

--fast [dir]

This option runs all the tests available, excluding the buffered-read, buffered-write, and exec tests. Each test is run by using default arguments for that test. The directory [dir] where the tests are run is a required parameter.

--exec [reps]

This option runs the process creation test. The argument [reps] (default=2000) defines the number of times that the test is to be run.

This test is not run as part of either the --all or --fast test sets, and must be run manually.

--mktemp [dir] [reps] [P leaking]

This option runs the temporary file creation test. You can specify the following arguments:

• [dir] - the directory that the temporary file is written to (default=/tmp on Linux systems, or the location that is specified in your temp variable on Windows systems)
• [reps] - the number of times that the file is written (default=20000)
• [P leaking] - the probability (a value between 0 and 1) that any single temporary file is not deleted (default=0)

--buffered-write [filename] [size] [hunk]

This option runs the buffered write speed test. The file that is created by this option is not automatically deleted. You can specify the following arguments:

• [filename] - the file to be written (default=micro-test.data)
• [size] - the size of the file to write, in bytes (default=42949672960)
• [hunk] - the amount of data that is written at one time, in bytes (default=1048576). Depending on the file size that is specified, this test might take a significant amount of time.

--buffered-read [filename] [hunk]

This option runs the buffered read speed test. You can specify the following arguments:

• [filename] - the file to be read (default=micro-test.data)
• [hunk] - the amount of data that is read at one time, in bytes (default=1048576). Depending on the size of the file that is specified, this test might take a significant amount of time.

The default values that are listed here assume that the specified file exists. The file exists if the --buffered-write test was previously run by using the defaults values.

--unbuffered-write [filename] [size] [hunk]

This option runs the unbuffered write speed test. The file that is created by this option is not automatically deleted. You can specify the following arguments:

• [filename] - the file to be written (default=micro-test.data)
• [size] - the size of the file to write, in bytes (default=1073741824)
• [hunk] - the amount of data that is written at one time, in bytes (default=1048576)

--unbuffered-read [filename] [hunk]

This option runs the unbuffered read speed test. You can specify the following arguments:

• [filename] - the file to be read (default=micro-test.data)
• [hunk] - the amount of data that is read at one time, in bytes (default=1048576)

The default values that are listed here assume that the specified file exists. The file exists if the --unbuffered-write test was previously run by using the defaults values.

--seeks [filename] [#threads] [file-size] [block-size] [seconds]

This option runs the unbuffered seek rate test. You can specify the following arguments:

• [filename] - the file that the seek is to be run on (default=micro-test-test)
• [#threads] - the number of threads to be maintained at one time (default=16)
• [file-size] - the size of the file that is being used, in bytes (default=1073741824)
• [block-size] - the block-size to be used by the seek test (default=8192)
• [seconds] - the number of seconds for which the seek test is to be run (default=30)

The default values that are listed here assume that the specified file exists. The file exists if the --unbuffered-write test was previously run by using the defaults values.

--virus-scanner [filename] [reps] [sleep]

This option runs the virus scanner detection test. You can specify the following arguments:

• [filename] - the name of the file that is to be written with the signature of a common virus (default=virus-sample.exe)
• [reps] - the number of times that the file is to be written (default=5)
• [sleep] - the amount of time to pause between writes (default=6)

--xsl [reps]

This option runs the XSL time test. The argument [reps] defines the number of times that the test is to be run (default=100).

--sqlite [filename] [count]

This option runs the SQLite performance tests. You can specify the following arguments:

• [filename] - the name of the database file that is created (default=micro-test.sqlt)
• [count] - the number of SQLite operations to be run for each test (default=5000)

--switch [reps]

This option runs the process-switching test. The argument [reps] defines the number of times that the test is to be run (default=1000). This test is available only on Microsoft Windows systems.