Consistency Verification After Storage Virtual Machine Failover: Development and Evaluation of a Reproducible Test Framework
Abstract
Post-failover checks are frequently implemented as ad hoc scripts, making it difficult to demonstrate that a storage virtual machine has recovered consistently across data, configuration, identity, and network layers. We developed a reproducible verification framework containing 37 automated assertions covering volume availability, export or share configuration, name resolution, authentication, replication state, snapshot consistency, and application read/write tests. The framework was evaluated in 120 planned and fault-induced failover events across four storage configurations. It detected 94 of 101 deliberately introduced inconsistencies, yielding a sensitivity of 93.1%, while 6 false alerts were generated during transient service stabilisation. Median verification time was 6.4 minutes compared with 22.7 minutes for the existing manual checklist. Repeated execution produced identical classifications in 98% of events. Most missed defects involved application-level semantics not visible to infrastructure checks. The results show that post-failover validation can be standardised and substantially accelerated through a layered assertion framework. Automated verification should complement, rather than replace, application-specific acceptance tests when business consistency depends on domain-level transactions.
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