SANBlaze Technology Storage Solutions

Initiator Emulation

The SANBlaze SANBlazter Initiator Emulator for Fibre Channel and SAS provides simulation of a single to hundreds of Initiator ports. The Initiator product operates on existing SANBlaze VirtuaLUN and GargantuLUN systems, making it easy to integrate into existing SANBlaze environments. The software runs standalone or in conjunction with SANBlaze Target Emulation software for an end-to-end solution.

The SANBlazter Initiator Emulator provides unparalleled advantages over the real thing: smaller footprint, lower power consumption, centralized management and control and lower cost of ownership.

Features such as read/write/compare testing, error injection and a custom command builder provide the ideal environment in which to simulate Initiator test cases via script or an easy to use web interface. The patent pending “Blazter Mode” allows for all ports to run at full line rate.

Capabilities

Multiple Disk Configurations
SANBlaze target emulator solutions provide the ability to configure from 1 to 500 disks or “LUNS” per port, allowing a 24 port system the ability to simulate up to 12000 drives or tapes. These configurations can be saved and retrieved via a web based interface or script.

Error Injection and Bad Drive Testing
DVT and Test Labs are often tasked with testing the error recovery capability of their product in the face of errors that previously have been difficult to create in a predictable manner. SANBlaze target emulation systems can emulate exact conditions, on command, and remain in the error state for a number of I/Os or indefinitely, allowing qualification engineering to characterize the ability of their product to deal with specific error cases.

The software can also be scripted to simulate any error condition, including queue-full, lost I/Os, long latencies (seconds to minutes), read and write overruns and underruns, and check conditions with any SenseKey/ASQ/ASC combination, for example.

Performance Testing
SANBlaze target emulation systems perform target reads and writes at full line speed. For example, a 4 port Fibre Channel system will allow for four 4G Fibre Channel ports to do reads and writes at full line rates each. This full line rate throughput allows for testing to be done against a fast, predictable target with near zero latency.

Director Class Switch Testing
The SANBlazter solution running in a SANBlaze GargantuLUN system provides 24 Initiator ports in a 3U chassis. Multiple 24 port systems can be combined to provide a very high density solution in a compact form factor, enabling you to replace racks upon racks of 1U PCs needed to provide the same test functionality. Coordinated events such as simulating hundreds of simultaneous logins via script or a single mouse click provide a level of automation unavailable in existing solutions