Getting Started With Oracle HCTS
Oracle Hardware Certification Test Suite (Oracle HCTS) is an application that includes several tests for the Oracle Solaris Operating System (OS) Hardware Certification Program. Oracle HCTS enables you to certify your systems, components, and virtual platforms for the Oracle Solaris OS SPARC and x86 platforms. This tool is useful for independent hardware vendors (IHVs), system manufacturers, and system integrators.
Be sure to download the most updated version of Oracle HCTS. Check the Oracle HCTS web site frequently to see whether a newer version is available. Before installing Oracle HCTS, back up your test systems and install the most updated version of the Oracle Solaris OS SPARC and x86 platforms. See the Oracle Solaris web site to check for a newer version of the Oracle Solaris OS.
This chapter contains the following information.
Benefits of Oracle HCTS
By participating in the Oracle Solaris OS Hardware Certification Program and successfully completing the test by using Oracle HCTS, system vendors, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and IHVs have the following benefits.
Systems and components are listed in the Oracle Solaris OS Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).
Customers get a choice of platforms for the hardware components that they purchase. The device drivers and the certified components that they support gain increased exposure to customers whose purchasing policy requires them to select certified peripherals.
Compete in new markets and help your products stay competitive in current markets thereby increasing the product sales.
Establish a link to the HCL entry of the Oracle Solaris system certified product on your product web site. HCL entries can also point to your driver download page.
The certification process can be completed quickly and is free of charge.
If hardware passes all the tests after running the Oracle HCTS application at the first pass, that hardware is listed under the Certified category of the HCL.
The hardware that fails to clear one or more tests at the first round after running the Oracle HCTS application, is listed under the Reported to Work category of HCL. The hardware under the Reported to Work category can be later updated to the Certified category once the hardware passes all the tests of Oracle HCTS.
Note - Before you use Oracle HCTS, be sure to check whether the system that you want to test is already listed on the Oracle Solaris OS HCL as Certified.
Configuring Test Machines to Run Oracle HCTS
To test systems, InfiniBand, network components, network performance, WiFi, Suspend/Resume feature, and serial I/O components and NIC FMA test, you need two test machines with the following details.
System Under Test (SUT) - System to certify or the system that has the device that you want to certify.
Test Manager system (TM) - System that is used by the SUT to test system, network, InfiniBand, WiFi, Suspend/Resume feature, network performance feature, and serial I/O devices. The TM should be a system that is already listed on the HCL as Certified.
Storage, storage performance, CD or DVD reader and writer, video, audio, CPU memory, USB devices, tape drive devices, Performance Monitor, Storage FMA test and virtual platforms certifications require only SUT to be configured.
To test external storage devices, you need four machines. For more information, see the Chapter 5, External Storage Certification.
To test FCoE devices, refer to the requirements of storage and network testing, as FCoE testing requires storage and network certification to be done on FCoE devices.
Table 2–1 lists the types of tests and its requirements. It also indicates the number of machines required for each test. The entry Required indicates that the particular type of certification requires the respective number of test machines. For example, to do system certification, you might need two test systems.
Table 1-1 Machine Requirements
Type of Test |
Requires SUT and TM: |
Requires Only SUT |
|---|---|---|
System Certification |
Required |
NA |
Serial I/O Component Certification
|
Required |
NA |
Storage Component Certification
|
NA |
Required |
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, CD-RW or DVD-RW, CPU or Memory, Audio, Video, and Component Testing |
NA |
Required |
USB Device Certification
|
NA |
Required |
WiFi Card Certification |
Required |
NA |
InfiniBand Component Certification - InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter (HCA) |
Required |
NA |
InfiniBand SR-IOV Virtual Functions testing |
Required |
NA |
Suspend/Resume Test |
Required |
NA |
Virtual Platform Certification |
Required |
NA |
Tape Drive Certification |
NA |
Required |
Network Performance Test |
Required |
NA |
Storage Performance Test |
NA |
Required |
FCoE Certification |
Required |
NA |
Performance Monitor |
NA |
Required |
NIC FMA Test |
Required |
NA |
Storage FMA |
NA |
Required |
Ethernet Network switch |
Required |
NA |
Creating the Oracle HCTS Test Environment
The Oracle HCTS environment is created based on the type of hardware or system that needs to be certified. Based on the method of creating test environment, the hardware or systems can be categorized in the following four groups.
System, network, InfiniBand, InfiniBand SR-IOV Virtual Functions, WiFi, Suspend/Resume feature, network performance feature, serial I/O, Ethernet network switch, and NIC FMA testing that requires TM and SUT.
FCoE testing requires storage certification and network certification to be done on FCoE devices. For FCoE requirement, refer to the requirements of storage and network testing.
External Storage Testing that required four machines. For more information, see Chapter 5, External Storage Certification.
USB, storage, storage performance, CD/DVD, CPU/Memory, audio, tape drive, video, and Storage FMA testing that requires only the SUT.
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