AutomaticTestingRevamp.html@ 101505

Last change on this file since 101505 was 98107, checked in by vboxsync, 2 years ago
Manual (C) year updates.
Property svn:eol-style set to `native` Property svn:keywords set to `Author Date Id Revision` Property svn:mime-type set to `text/html`
File size: 53.5 KB

Line
1	<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
2	<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
3	<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
4	<head>
5	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
6	<meta name="generator" content="Docutils 0.19: https://docutils.sourceforge.io/" />
7	<title>AutomaticTestingRevamp.txt</title>
8	<style type="text/css">
9
10	/*
11	:Author: David Goodger ([email protected])
12	:Id: $Id: AutomaticTestingRevamp.html 98107 2023-01-17 22:56:50Z vboxsync $
13	:Copyright: This stylesheet has been placed in the public domain.
14
15	Default cascading style sheet for the HTML output of Docutils.
16
17	See https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/howto/html-stylesheets.html for how to
18	customize this style sheet.
19	*/
20
21	/* used to remove borders from tables and images */
22	.borderless, table.borderless td, table.borderless th {
23	border: 0 }
24
25	table.borderless td, table.borderless th {
26	/* Override padding for "table.docutils td" with "! important".
27	The right padding separates the table cells. */
28	padding: 0 0.5em 0 0 ! important }
29
30	.first {
31	/* Override more specific margin styles with "! important". */
32	margin-top: 0 ! important }
33
34	.last, .with-subtitle {
35	margin-bottom: 0 ! important }
36
37	.hidden {
38	display: none }
39
40	.subscript {
41	vertical-align: sub;
42	font-size: smaller }
43
44	.superscript {
45	vertical-align: super;
46	font-size: smaller }
47
48	a.toc-backref {
49	text-decoration: none ;
50	color: black }
51
52	blockquote.epigraph {
53	margin: 2em 5em ; }
54
55	dl.docutils dd {
56	margin-bottom: 0.5em }
57
58	object[type="image/svg+xml"], object[type="application/x-shockwave-flash"] {
59	overflow: hidden;
60	}
61
62	/* Uncomment (and remove this text!) to get bold-faced definition list terms
63	dl.docutils dt {
64	font-weight: bold }
65	*/
66
67	div.abstract {
68	margin: 2em 5em }
69
70	div.abstract p.topic-title {
71	font-weight: bold ;
72	text-align: center }
73
74	div.admonition, div.attention, div.caution, div.danger, div.error,
75	div.hint, div.important, div.note, div.tip, div.warning {
76	margin: 2em ;
77	border: medium outset ;
78	padding: 1em }
79
80	div.admonition p.admonition-title, div.hint p.admonition-title,
81	div.important p.admonition-title, div.note p.admonition-title,
82	div.tip p.admonition-title {
83	font-weight: bold ;
84	font-family: sans-serif }
85
86	div.attention p.admonition-title, div.caution p.admonition-title,
87	div.danger p.admonition-title, div.error p.admonition-title,
88	div.warning p.admonition-title, .code .error {
89	color: red ;
90	font-weight: bold ;
91	font-family: sans-serif }
92
93	/* Uncomment (and remove this text!) to get reduced vertical space in
94	compound paragraphs.
95	div.compound .compound-first, div.compound .compound-middle {
96	margin-bottom: 0.5em }
97
98	div.compound .compound-last, div.compound .compound-middle {
99	margin-top: 0.5em }
100	*/
101
102	div.dedication {
103	margin: 2em 5em ;
104	text-align: center ;
105	font-style: italic }
106
107	div.dedication p.topic-title {
108	font-weight: bold ;
109	font-style: normal }
110
111	div.figure {
112	margin-left: 2em ;
113	margin-right: 2em }
114
115	div.footer, div.header {
116	clear: both;
117	font-size: smaller }
118
119	div.line-block {
120	display: block ;
121	margin-top: 1em ;
122	margin-bottom: 1em }
123
124	div.line-block div.line-block {
125	margin-top: 0 ;
126	margin-bottom: 0 ;
127	margin-left: 1.5em }
128
129	div.sidebar {
130	margin: 0 0 0.5em 1em ;
131	border: medium outset ;
132	padding: 1em ;
133	background-color: #ffffee ;
134	width: 40% ;
135	float: right ;
136	clear: right }
137
138	div.sidebar p.rubric {
139	font-family: sans-serif ;
140	font-size: medium }
141
142	div.system-messages {
143	margin: 5em }
144
145	div.system-messages h1 {
146	color: red }
147
148	div.system-message {
149	border: medium outset ;
150	padding: 1em }
151
152	div.system-message p.system-message-title {
153	color: red ;
154	font-weight: bold }
155
156	div.topic {
157	margin: 2em }
158
159	h1.section-subtitle, h2.section-subtitle, h3.section-subtitle,
160	h4.section-subtitle, h5.section-subtitle, h6.section-subtitle {
161	margin-top: 0.4em }
162
163	h1.title {
164	text-align: center }
165
166	h2.subtitle {
167	text-align: center }
168
169	hr.docutils {
170	width: 75% }
171
172	img.align-left, .figure.align-left, object.align-left, table.align-left {
173	clear: left ;
174	float: left ;
175	margin-right: 1em }
176
177	img.align-right, .figure.align-right, object.align-right, table.align-right {
178	clear: right ;
179	float: right ;
180	margin-left: 1em }
181
182	img.align-center, .figure.align-center, object.align-center {
183	display: block;
184	margin-left: auto;
185	margin-right: auto;
186	}
187
188	table.align-center {
189	margin-left: auto;
190	margin-right: auto;
191	}
192
193	.align-left {
194	text-align: left }
195
196	.align-center {
197	clear: both ;
198	text-align: center }
199
200	.align-right {
201	text-align: right }
202
203	/* reset inner alignment in figures */
204	div.align-right {
205	text-align: inherit }
206
207	/* div.align-center * { */
208	/* text-align: left } */
209
210	.align-top {
211	vertical-align: top }
212
213	.align-middle {
214	vertical-align: middle }
215
216	.align-bottom {
217	vertical-align: bottom }
218
219	ol.simple, ul.simple {
220	margin-bottom: 1em }
221
222	ol.arabic {
223	list-style: decimal }
224
225	ol.loweralpha {
226	list-style: lower-alpha }
227
228	ol.upperalpha {
229	list-style: upper-alpha }
230
231	ol.lowerroman {
232	list-style: lower-roman }
233
234	ol.upperroman {
235	list-style: upper-roman }
236
237	p.attribution {
238	text-align: right ;
239	margin-left: 50% }
240
241	p.caption {
242	font-style: italic }
243
244	p.credits {
245	font-style: italic ;
246	font-size: smaller }
247
248	p.label {
249	white-space: nowrap }
250
251	p.rubric {
252	font-weight: bold ;
253	font-size: larger ;
254	color: maroon ;
255	text-align: center }
256
257	p.sidebar-title {
258	font-family: sans-serif ;
259	font-weight: bold ;
260	font-size: larger }
261
262	p.sidebar-subtitle {
263	font-family: sans-serif ;
264	font-weight: bold }
265
266	p.topic-title {
267	font-weight: bold }
268
269	pre.address {
270	margin-bottom: 0 ;
271	margin-top: 0 ;
272	font: inherit }
273
274	pre.literal-block, pre.doctest-block, pre.math, pre.code {
275	margin-left: 2em ;
276	margin-right: 2em }
277
278	pre.code .ln { color: grey; } /* line numbers */
279	pre.code, code { background-color: #eeeeee }
280	pre.code .comment, code .comment { color: #5C6576 }
281	pre.code .keyword, code .keyword { color: #3B0D06; font-weight: bold }
282	pre.code .literal.string, code .literal.string { color: #0C5404 }
283	pre.code .name.builtin, code .name.builtin { color: #352B84 }
284	pre.code .deleted, code .deleted { background-color: #DEB0A1}
285	pre.code .inserted, code .inserted { background-color: #A3D289}
286
287	span.classifier {
288	font-family: sans-serif ;
289	font-style: oblique }
290
291	span.classifier-delimiter {
292	font-family: sans-serif ;
293	font-weight: bold }
294
295	span.interpreted {
296	font-family: sans-serif }
297
298	span.option {
299	white-space: nowrap }
300
301	span.pre {
302	white-space: pre }
303
304	span.problematic {
305	color: red }
306
307	span.section-subtitle {
308	/* font-size relative to parent (h1..h6 element) */
309	font-size: 80% }
310
311	table.citation {
312	border-left: solid 1px gray;
313	margin-left: 1px }
314
315	table.docinfo {
316	margin: 2em 4em }
317
318	table.docutils {
319	margin-top: 0.5em ;
320	margin-bottom: 0.5em }
321
322	table.footnote {
323	border-left: solid 1px black;
324	margin-left: 1px }
325
326	table.docutils td, table.docutils th,
327	table.docinfo td, table.docinfo th {
328	padding-left: 0.5em ;
329	padding-right: 0.5em ;
330	vertical-align: top }
331
332	table.docutils th.field-name, table.docinfo th.docinfo-name {
333	font-weight: bold ;
334	text-align: left ;
335	white-space: nowrap ;
336	padding-left: 0 }
337
338	/* "booktabs" style (no vertical lines) */
339	table.docutils.booktabs {
340	border: 0px;
341	border-top: 2px solid;
342	border-bottom: 2px solid;
343	border-collapse: collapse;
344	}
345	table.docutils.booktabs * {
346	border: 0px;
347	}
348	table.docutils.booktabs th {
349	border-bottom: thin solid;
350	text-align: left;
351	}
352
353	h1 tt.docutils, h2 tt.docutils, h3 tt.docutils,
354	h4 tt.docutils, h5 tt.docutils, h6 tt.docutils {
355	font-size: 100% }
356
357	ul.auto-toc {
358	list-style-type: none }
359
360	</style>
361	</head>
362	<body>
363	<div class="document">
364
365
366	<div class="section" id="revamp-of-automatic-virtualbox-testing">
367	<h1>Revamp of Automatic VirtualBox Testing</h1>
368	<div class="section" id="introduction">
369	<h2>Introduction</h2>
370	<p>This is the design document for a revamped automatic testing framework.
371	The revamp aims at replacing the current tinderbox based testing by a new
372	system that is written from scratch.</p>
373	<p>The old system is not easy to work with and was never meant to be used for
374	managing tests, after all it just a simple a build manager tailored for
375	contiguous building. Modifying the existing tinderbox system to do what
376	we want would require fundamental changes that would render it useless as
377	a build manager, it would therefore end up as a fork. The amount of work
378	required would probably be about the same as writing a new system from
379	scratch. Other considerations, such as the license of the tinderbox
380	system (MPL) and language it is realized in (Perl), are also in favor of
381	doing it from scratch.</p>
382	<p>The language envisioned for the new automatic testing framework is Python. This
383	is for several reasons:</p>
384	<blockquote>
385	<ul class="simple">
386	<li>The VirtualBox API has Python bindings.</li>
387	<li>Python is used quite a bit inside Sun (dunno about Oracle).</li>
388	<li>Works relatively well with Apache for the server side bits.</li>
389	<li>It is more difficult to produce write-only code in Python (alias the
390	we-don't-like-perl argument).</li>
391	<li>You don't need to compile stuff.</li>
392	</ul>
393	</blockquote>
394	<p>Note that the author of this document has no special training as a test
395	engineer and may therefore be using the wrong terms here and there. The
396	primary focus is to express what we need to do in order to improve
397	testing.</p>
398	<p>This document is written in reStructuredText (rst) which just happens to
399	be used by Python, the primary language for this revamp. For more
400	information on reStructuredText: <a class="reference external" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html</a></p>
401	</div>
402	</div>
403	<div class="section" id="definitions-glossary">
404	<h1>Definitions / Glossary</h1>
405	<dl class="docutils">
406	<dt>sub-test driver</dt>
407	<dd>A set of test cases that can be used by more than one test driver. Could
408	also be called a test unit, in the pascal sense of unit, if it wasn't so
409	easily confused with 'unit test'.</dd>
410	<dt>test</dt>
411	<dd>This is somewhat ambiguous and this document try avoid using it where
412	possible. When used it normally refers to doing testing by executing one or
413	more testcases.</dd>
414	<dt>test case</dt>
415	<dd>A set of inputs, test programs and expected results. It validates system
416	requirements and generates a pass or failed status. A basic unit of testing.
417	Note that we use the term in a rather broad sense.</dd>
418	<dt>test driver</dt>
419	<dd>A program/script used to execute a test. Also known as a test harness.
420	Generally abbreviated 'td'. It can have sub-test drivers.</dd>
421	<dt>test manager</dt>
422	<dd>Software managing the automatic testing. This is a web application that runs
423	on a dedicated server (tindertux).</dd>
424	<dt>test set</dt>
425	<dd>The output of testing activity. Logs, results, ++. Our usage of this should
426	probably be renamed to 'test run'.</dd>
427	<dt>test group</dt>
428	<dd>A collection of related test cases.</dd>
429	<dt>testbox</dt>
430	<dd>A computer that does testing.</dd>
431	<dt>testbox script</dt>
432	<dd>Script executing orders from the test manager on a testbox. Started
433	automatically upon bootup.</dd>
434	<dt>testing</dt>
435	<dd>todo</dd>
436	<dt>TODO: Check that we've got all this right and make them more exact</dt>
437	<dd>where possible.</dd>
438	</dl>
439	<p>See also <a class="reference external" href="http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/testing%20types">http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/testing%20types</a>
440	and <a class="reference external" href="http://www.aptest.com/glossary.html">http://www.aptest.com/glossary.html</a> .</p>
441	</div>
442	<div class="section" id="objectives">
443	<h1>Objectives</h1>
444	<blockquote>
445	<ul class="simple">
446	<li>A scalable test manager (>200 testboxes).</li>
447	<li>Optimize the web user interface (WUI) for typical workflows and analysis.</li>
448	<li>Efficient and flexibile test configuration.</li>
449	<li>Import test result from other test systems (logo testing, VDI, ++).</li>
450	<li>Easy to add lots of new testscripts.</li>
451	<li>Run tests locally without a manager.</li>
452	<li>Revamp a bit at the time.</li>
453	</ul>
454	</blockquote>
455	</div>
456	<div class="section" id="the-testbox-side">
457	<h1>The Testbox Side</h1>
458	<p>Each testbox has a unique name corresponding to its DNS zone entry. When booted
459	a testbox script is started automatically. This script will query the test
460	manager for orders and execute them. The core order downloads and executes a
461	test driver with parameters (configuration) from the server. The test driver
462	does all the necessary work for executing the test. In a typical VirtualBox
463	test this means picking a build, installing it, configuring VMs, running the
464	test VMs, collecting the results, submitting them to the server, and finally
465	cleaning up afterwards.</p>
466	<p>The testbox environment which the test drivers are executed in will have a
467	number of environment variables for determining location of the source images
468	and other test data, scratch space, test set id, server URL, and so on and so
469	forth.</p>
470	<p>On startup, the testbox script will look for crash dumps and similar on
471	systems where this is possible. If any sign of a crash is found, it will
472	put any dumps and reports in the upload directory and inform the test
473	manager before reporting for duty. In order to generate the proper file
474	names and report the crash in the right test set as well as prevent
475	reporting crashes unrelated to automatic testing, the testbox script will
476	keep information (test set id, ++) in a separate scratch directory
477	(${TESTBOX_PATH_SCRATCH}/../testbox) and make sure it is synced to the
478	disk (both files and directories).</p>
479	<p>After checking for crashes, the testbox script will clean up any previous test
480	which might be around. This involves first invoking the test script in cleanup
481	mode and the wiping the scratch space.</p>
482	<p>When reporting for duty the script will submit information about the host: OS
483	name, OS version, OS bitness, CPU vendor, total number of cores, VT-x support,
484	AMD-V support, amount of memory, amount of scratch space, and anything else that
485	can be found useful for scheduling tests or filtering test configurations.</p>
486	<div class="section" id="testbox-script-orders">
487	<h2>Testbox Script Orders</h2>
488	<p>The orders are kept in a queue on the server and the testbox script will fetch
489	them one by one. Orders that cannot be executed at the moment will be masked in
490	the query from the testbox.</p>
491	<dl class="docutils">
492	<dt>Execute Test Driver</dt>
493	<dd>Downloads and executes the a specified test driver with the given
494	configuration (arguments). Only one test driver can be executed at a time.
495	The server can specify more than one ZIP file to be downloaded and unpacked
496	before executing the test driver. The testbox script may cache these zip
497	files using http time stamping.</dd>
498	<dt>Abort Test Driver</dt>
499	<dd>Aborts the current test driver. This will drop a hint to the driver and give
500	it 60 seconds to shut down the normal way. If that fails, the testbox script
501	will kill the driver processes (SIGKILL or equivalent), invoke the
502	testdriver in cleanup mode, and finally wipe the scratch area. Should either
503	of the last two steps fail in some way, the testbox will be rebooted.</dd>
504	<dt>Idle</dt>
505	<dd>Ask again in X seconds, where X is specified by the server.</dd>
506	<dt>Reboot</dt>
507	<dd>Reboot the testbox. If a test driver is current running, an attempt at
508	aborting it (Abort Test Driver) will be made first.</dd>
509	<dt>Update</dt>
510	<dd>Updates the testbox script. The order includes a server relative path to the
511	new testbox script. This can only be executed when no test driver is
512	currently being executed.</dd>
513	</dl>
514	</div>
515	<div class="section" id="testbox-environment-variables">
516	<h2>Testbox Environment: Variables</h2>
517	<dl class="docutils">
518	<dt>COMSPEC</dt>
519	<dd>This will be set to C:WindowsSystem32cmd.exe on Windows.</dd>
520	<dt>PATH</dt>
521	<dd>This will contain the kBuild binary directory for the host platform.</dd>
522	<dt>SHELL</dt>
523	<dd>This will be set to point to kmk_ash(.exe) on all platforms.</dd>
524	<dt>TESTBOX_NAME</dt>
525	<dd>The testbox name.
526	This is not required by the local reporter.</dd>
527	<dt>TESTBOX_PATH_BUILDS</dt>
528	<dd>The absolute path to where the build repository can be found. This should be
529	a read only mount when possible.</dd>
530	<dt>TESTBOX_PATH_RESOURCES</dt>
531	<dd>The absolute path to where static test resources like ISOs and VDIs can be
532	found. The test drivers knows the layout of this. This should be a read only
533	mount when possible.</dd>
534	<dt>TESTBOX_PATH_SCRATCH</dt>
535	<dd>The absolute path to the scratch space. This is the current directory when
536	starting the test driver. It will be wiped automatically after executing the
537	test.
538	(Envisioned as ${TESTBOX_PATH_SCRIPTS}/../scratch and that
539	${TESTBOX_PATH_SCRATCH}/ will be automatically wiped by the testbox script.)</dd>
540	<dt>TESTBOX_PATH_SCRIPTS</dt>
541	<dd>The absolute path to the test driver and the other files that was unzipped
542	together with it. This is also where the test-driver-abort file will be put.
543	(Envisioned as ${TESTBOX_PATH_SCRATCH}/../driver, see above.)</dd>
544	<dt>TESTBOX_PATH_UPLOAD</dt>
545	<dd>The absolute path to the upload directory for the testbox. This is for
546	putting VOBs, PNGs, core dumps, crash dumps, and such on. The files should be
547	bzipped or zipped if they aren't compress already. The names should contain
548	the testbox and test set ID.</dd>
549	<dt>TESTBOX_REPORTER</dt>
550	<dd>The name of the test reporter back end. If not present, it will default to
551	the local reporter.</dd>
552	<dt>TESTBOX_TEST_SET_ID</dt>
553	<dd>The test set ID if we're running.
554	This is not required by the local reporter.</dd>
555	<dt>TESTBOX_MANAGER_URL</dt>
556	<dd>The URL to the test manager.
557	This is not required by the local reporter.</dd>
558	<dt>TESTBOX_XYZ</dt>
559	<dd>There will probably be some more of these.</dd>
560	</dl>
561	</div>
562	<div class="section" id="testbox-environment-core-utilities">
563	<h2>Testbox Environment: Core Utilities</h2>
564	<p>The testbox will not provide the typical unix /bin and /usr/bin utilities. In
565	other words, cygwin will not be used on Windows!</p>
566	<p>The testbox will provide the unixy utilities that ships with kBuild and possibly
567	some additional ones from tools/<em>.</em>/bin in the VirtualBox tree (wget, unzip,
568	zip, and so on). The test drivers will avoid invoking any of these utilities
569	directly and instead rely on generic utility methods in the test driver
570	framework. That way we can more easily reimplement the functionality of the
571	core utilities and drop the dependency on them. It also allows us to quickly
572	work around platform specific oddities and bugs.</p>
573	</div>
574	<div class="section" id="test-drivers">
575	<h2>Test Drivers</h2>
576	<p>The test drivers are programs that will do the actual testing. In addition to
577	run under the testbox script, they can be executed in the VirtualBox development
578	environment. This is important for bug analysis and for simplifying local
579	testing by the developers before committing changes. It also means the test
580	drivers can be developed locally in the VirtualBox development environment.</p>
581	<p>The main difference between executing a driver under the testbox script and
582	running it manually is that there is no test manager in the latter case. The
583	test result reporter will not talk to the server, but report things to a local
584	log file and/or standard out/err. When invoked manually, all the necessary
585	arguments will need to be specified by hand of course - it should be possible
586	to extract them from a test set as well.</p>
587	<p>For the early implementation stages, an implementation of the reporter interface
588	that talks to the tinderbox base test manager will be needed. This will be
589	dropped later on when a new test manager is ready.</p>
590	<p>As hinted at in other sections, there will be a common framework
591	(libraries/packages/classes) for taking care of the tedious bits that every
592	test driver needs to do. Sharing code is essential to easing test driver
593	development as well as reducing their complexity. The framework will contain:</p>
594	<blockquote>
595	<ul class="simple">
596	<li>A generic way of submitting output. This will be a generic interface with
597	multiple implementation, the TESTBOX_REPORTER environment variable
598	will decide which of them to use. The interface will have very specific
599	methods to allow the reporter to do a best possible job in reporting the
600	results to the test manager.</li>
601	<li><dl class="first docutils">
602	<dt>Helpers for typical tasks, like:</dt>
603	<dd><ul class="first last">
604	<li>Copying files.</li>
605	<li>Deleting files, directory trees and scratch space.</li>
606	<li>Unzipping files.</li>
607	<li>Creating ISOs</li>
608	<li>And such things.</li>
609	</ul>
610	</dd>
611	</dl>
612	</li>
613	<li>Helpers for installing and uninstalling VirtualBox.</li>
614	<li>Helpers for defining VMs. (The VBox API where available.)</li>
615	<li>Helpers for controlling VMs. (The VBox API where available.)</li>
616	</ul>
617	</blockquote>
618	<p>The VirtualBox bits will be separate from the more generic ones, simply because
619	this is cleaner it will allow us to reuse the system for testing other products.</p>
620	<p>The framework will be packaged in a zip file other than the test driver so we
621	don't waste time and space downloading the same common code.</p>
622	<p>The test driver will poll for the file
623	${TESTBOX_PATH_SCRIPTS}/test-driver-abort and abort all testing when it sees it.</p>
624	<p>The test driver can be invoked in three modes: execute, help and cleanup. The
625	default is execute mode, the help shows an configuration summary and the cleanup
626	is for cleaning up after a reboot or aborted run. The latter is done by the
627	testbox script on startup and after abort - the driver is expected to clean up
628	by itself after a normal run.</p>
629	</div>
630	</div>
631	<div class="section" id="the-server-side">
632	<h1>The Server Side</h1>
633	<p>The server side will be implemented using a webserver (apache), a database
634	(postgres) and cgi scripts (Python). In addition a cron job (Python) running
635	once a minute will generate static html for frequently used pages and maybe
636	execute some other tasks for driving the testing forwards. The order queries
637	from the testbox script is the primary driving force in the system. The total
638	makes up the test manager.</p>
639	<p>The test manager can be split up into three rough parts:</p>
640	<blockquote>
641	<ul class="simple">
642	<li>Configuration (of tests, testgroups and testboxes).</li>
643	<li>Execution (of tests, collecting and organizing the output).</li>
644	<li>Analysis (of test output, mostly about presentation).</li>
645	</ul>
646	</blockquote>
647	</div>
648	<div class="section" id="test-manager-requirements">
649	<h1>Test Manager: Requirements</h1>
650	<p>List of requirements:</p>
651	<blockquote>
652	<ul class="simple">
653	<li>Two level testing - L1 quick smoke tests and L2 longer tests performed on
654	builds passing L1. (Klaus (IIRC) meant this could be realized using
655	test dependency.)</li>
656	<li>Black listing builds (by revision or similar) known to be bad.</li>
657	<li>Distinguish between build types so we can do a portion of the testing with
658	strict builds.</li>
659	<li>Easy to re-configure build source for testing different branch or for
660	testing a release candidate. (Directory based is fine.)</li>
661	<li>Useful to be able to partition testboxes (run specific builds on some
662	boxes, let an engineer have a few boxes for a while).</li>
663	<li>Interaction with ILOM/...: reset systems.</li>
664	<li>Be able to suspend testing on selected testboxes when doing maintenance
665	(where automatically resuming testing on reboot is undesired) or similar
666	activity.</li>
667	<li>Abort testing on selected testboxes.</li>
668	<li>Scheduling of tests requiring more than one testbox.</li>
669	<li>Scheduling of tests that cannot be executing concurrently on several
670	machines because of some global resource like an iSCSI target.</li>
671	<li>Jump the scheduling queue. Scheduling of specified test the next time a
672	testbox is available (optionally specifying which testbox to schedule it
673	on).</li>
674	<li><dl class="first docutils">
675	<dt>Configure tests with variable configuration to get better coverage. Two modes:</dt>
676	<dd><ul class="first last">
677	<li>TM generates the permutations based on one or more sets of test script arguments.</li>
678	<li>Each configuration permutation is specified manually.</li>
679	</ul>
680	</dd>
681	</dl>
682	</li>
683	<li>Test specification needs to be flexible (select tests, disable test, test
684	scheduling (run certain tests nightly), ... ).</li>
685	<li>Test scheduling by hour+weekday and by priority.</li>
686	<li>Test dependencies (test A depends on test B being successful).</li>
687	<li>Historize all configuration data, in particular test configs (permutations
688	included) and testboxes.</li>
689	<li>Test sets has at a minimum a build reference, a testbox reference and a
690	primary log associated with it.</li>
691	<li><dl class="first docutils">
692	<dt>Test sets stores further result as a recursive collection of:</dt>
693	<dd><ul class="first last">
694	<li>hierarchical subtest name (slash sep)</li>
695	<li>test parameters / config</li>
696	<li>bool fail/succ</li>
697	<li>attributes (typed?)</li>
698	<li>test time</li>
699	<li>e.g. throughput</li>
700	<li>subresults</li>
701	<li>log</li>
702	<li>screenshots, video,...</li>
703	</ul>
704	</dd>
705	</dl>
706	</li>
707	<li>The test sets database structure needs to designed such that data mining
708	can be done in an efficient manner.</li>
709	<li>Presentation/analysis: graphs!, categorize bugs, columns reorganizing
710	grouped by test (hierarchical), overviews, result for last day.</li>
711	</ul>
712	</blockquote>
713	</div>
714	<div class="section" id="test-manager-configuration">
715	<h1>Test Manager: Configuration</h1>
716	<div class="section" id="testboxes">
717	<h2>Testboxes</h2>
718	<p>Configuration of testboxes doesn't involve much work normally. A testbox
719	is added manually to the test manager by entering the DNS entry and/or IP
720	address (the test manager resolves the missing one when necessary) as well as
721	the system UUID (when obtainable - should be displayed by the testbox script
722	installer). Queries from unregistered testboxes will be declined as a kind of
723	security measure, the incident should be logged in the webserver log if
724	possible. In later dealings with the client the System UUID will be the key
725	identifier. It's permittable for the IP address to change when the testbox
726	isn't online, but not while testing (just imagine live migration tests and
727	network tests). Ideally, the testboxes should not change IP address.</p>
728	<p>The testbox edit function must allow changing the name and system UUID.</p>
729	<p>One further idea for the testbox configuration is indicating what they are
730	capable of to filter out tests and test configurations that won't work on that
731	testbox. To examplify this take the ACP2 installation test. If the test
732	manager does not make sure the testbox have VT-x or AMD-v capabilities, the test
733	is surely going to fail. Other testbox capabilities would be total number of
734	CPU cores, memory size, scratch space. These testbox capabilities should be
735	collected automatically on bootup by the testbox script together with OS name,
736	OS version and OS bitness.</p>
737	<p>A final thought, instead of outright declining all requests from new testboxes,
738	we could record the unregistered testboxes with ip, UUID, name, os info and
739	capabilities but mark them as inactive. The test operator can then activate
740	them on an activation page or edit the testbox or something.</p>
741	</div>
742	<div class="section" id="testcases">
743	<h2>Testcases</h2>
744	<p>We use the term testcase for a test.</p>
745	</div>
746	<div class="section" id="testgroups">
747	<h2>Testgroups</h2>
748	<p>Testcases are organized into groups. A testcase can be member of more than one
749	group. The testcase gets a priority assigned to it in connection with the
750	group membership.</p>
751	<p>Testgroups are picked up by a testbox partition (aka scheduling group) and a
752	prioirty, scheduling time restriction and dependencies on other test groups are
753	associated with the assignment. A testgroup can be used by several testbox
754	partitions.</p>
755	<p>(This used to be called 'testsuites' but was renamed to avoid confusion with
756	the VBox Test Suite.)</p>
757	</div>
758	<div class="section" id="scheduling">
759	<h2>Scheduling</h2>
760	<p>The initial scheduler will be modelled after what we're doing already on in the
761	tinderbox driven testing. It's best described as a best effort continuous
762	integration scheduler. Meaning, it will always use the latest build suitable
763	for a testcase. It will schedule on a testcase level, using the combined
764	priority of the testcase in the test group and the test group with the testbox
765	partition, trying to spread the test case argument variation out accordingly
766	over the whole scheduilng queue. Which argument variation to start with, is
767	not undefined (random would be best).</p>
768	<p>Later, we may add other schedulers as needed.</p>
769	</div>
770	</div>
771	<div class="section" id="the-test-manager-database">
772	<h1>The Test Manager Database</h1>
773	<p>First a general warning:</p>
774	<blockquote>
775	The guys working on this design are not database experts, web
776	programming experts or similar, rather we are low level guys
777	who's main job is x86 & AMD64 virtualization. So, please don't
778	be too hard on us. :-)</blockquote>
779	<p>A logical table layout can be found in TestManagerDatabaseMap.png (created by
780	Oracle SQL Data Modeler, stored in TestManagerDatabase.dmd). The physical
781	database layout can be found in TestManagerDatabaseInit.pgsql postgreSQL
782	script. The script is commented.</p>
783	<div class="section" id="data-history">
784	<h2>Data History</h2>
785	<p>We need to somehow track configuration changes over time. We also need to
786	be able to query the exact configuration a test set was run with so we can
787	understand and make better use of the results.</p>
788	<p>There are different techniques for archiving this, one is tuple-versioning
789	( <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuple-versioning">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuple-versioning</a> ), another is log trigger
790	( <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_trigger">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_trigger</a> ). We use tuple-versioning in
791	this database, with 'effective' as start date field name and 'expire' as
792	the end (exclusive).</p>
793	<p>Tuple-versioning has a shortcoming wrt to keys, both primary and foreign.
794	The primary key of a table employing tuple-versioning is really
795	'id' + 'valid_period', where the latter is expressed using two fields
796	([effective...expire-1]). Only, how do you tell the database engine that
797	it should not allow overlapping valid_periods? Useful suggestions are
798	welcomed. :-)</p>
799	<p>Foreign key references to a table using tuple-versioning is running into
800	trouble because of the time axis and that to our knowledge foreign keys
801	must reference exactly one row in the other table. When time is involved
802	what we wish to tell the database is that at any given time, there actually
803	is exactly one row we want to match in the other table, only we've no idea
804	how to express this. So, many foreign keys are not expressed in SQL of this
805	database.</p>
806	<p>In some cases, we extend the tuple-versioning with a generation ID so that
807	normal foreign key referencing can be used. We only use this for recording
808	(references in testset) and scheduling (schedqueue), as using it more widely
809	would force updates (gen_id changes) to propagate into all related tables.</p>
810	<dl class="docutils">
811	<dt>See also:</dt>
812	<dd><ul class="first last simple">
813	<li><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowly_changing_dimension">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowly_changing_dimension</a></li>
814	<li><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_data_capture">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_data_capture</a></li>
815	<li><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_database">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_database</a></li>
816	</ul>
817	</dd>
818	</dl>
819	</div>
820	</div>
821	<div class="section" id="test-manager-execution">
822	<h1>Test Manager: Execution</h1>
823	</div>
824	<div class="section" id="test-manager-scenarios">
825	<h1>Test Manager: Scenarios</h1>
826	<div class="section" id="testbox-signs-on-at-bootup">
827	<h2>#1 - Testbox Signs On (At Bootup)</h2>
828	<dl class="docutils">
829	<dt>The testbox supplies a number of inputs when reporting for duty:</dt>
830	<dd><ul class="first last simple">
831	<li>IP address.</li>
832	<li>System UUID.</li>
833	<li>OS name.</li>
834	<li>OS version.</li>
835	<li>CPU architecture.</li>
836	<li>CPU count (= threads).</li>
837	<li>CPU VT-x/AMD-V capability.</li>
838	<li>CPU nested paging capability.</li>
839	<li>Chipset I/O MMU capability.</li>
840	<li>Memory size.</li>
841	<li>Scratch size space (for testing).</li>
842	<li>Testbox Script revision.</li>
843	</ul>
844	</dd>
845	<dt>Results:</dt>
846	<dd><ul class="first last simple">
847	<li>ACK or NACK.</li>
848	<li>Testbox ID and name on ACK.</li>
849	</ul>
850	</dd>
851	</dl>
852	<p>After receiving a ACK the testbox will ask for work to do, i.e. continue with
853	scenario #2. In the NACK case, it will sleep for 60 seconds and try again.</p>
854	<p>Actions:</p>
855	<ol class="arabic">
856	<li><p class="first">Validate the testbox by looking the UUID up in the TestBoxes table.
857	If not found, NACK the request. SQL:</p>
858	<pre class="literal-block">
859	SELECT idTestBox, sName
860	FROM TestBoxes
861	WHERE uuidSystem = :sUuid
862	AND tsExpire = 'infinity'::timestamp;
863	</pre>
864	</li>
865	<li><p class="first">Check if any of the information by testbox script has changed. The two
866	sizes are normalized first, memory size rounded to nearest 4 MB and scratch
867	space is rounded down to nearest 64 MB. If anything changed, insert a new
868	row in the testbox table and historize the current one, i.e. set
869	OLD.tsExpire to NEW.tsEffective and get a new value for NEW.idGenTestBox.</p>
870	</li>
871	<li><dl class="first docutils">
872	<dt>Check with TestBoxStatuses:</dt>
873	<dd><ol class="first last loweralpha simple">
874	<li>If there is an row for the testbox in it already clean up change it
875	to 'idle' state and deal with any open testset like described in
876	scenario #9.</li>
877	<li>If there is no row, add one with 'idle' state.</li>
878	</ol>
879	</dd>
880	</dl>
881	</li>
882	<li><p class="first">ACK the request and pass back the idTestBox.</p>
883	</li>
884	</ol>
885	<dl class="docutils">
886	<dt>Note! Testbox.enabled is not checked here, that is only relevant when it asks</dt>
887	<dd>for a new task (scenario #2 and #5).</dd>
888	<dt>Note! Should the testbox script detect changes in any of the inputs, it should</dt>
889	<dd>redo the sign in.</dd>
890	<dt>Note! In scenario #8, the box will not sign on until it has done the reboot and</dt>
891	<dd>cleanup reporting!</dd>
892	</dl>
893	</div>
894	<div class="section" id="testbox-asks-for-work-to-do">
895	<h2>#2 - Testbox Asks For Work To Do</h2>
896	<dl class="docutils">
897	<dt>Inputs:</dt>
898	<dd><ul class="first last simple">
899	<li>The testbox is supplying its IP indirectly.</li>
900	<li>The testbox should supply its UUID and ID directly.</li>
901	</ul>
902	</dd>
903	<dt>Results:</dt>
904	<dd><ul class="first last simple">
905	<li>IDLE, WAIT, EXEC, REBOOT, UPGRADE, UPGRADE-AND-REBOOT, SPECIAL or DEAD.</li>
906	</ul>
907	</dd>
908	</dl>
909	<p>Actions:</p>
910	<ol class="arabic">
911	<li><p class="first">Validate the ID and IP by selecting the currently valid testbox row:</p>
912	<pre class="literal-block">
913	SELECT idGenTestBox, fEnabled, idSchedGroup, enmPendingCmd
914	FROM TestBoxes
915	WHERE id = :id
916	AND uuidSystem = :sUuid
917	AND ip = :ip
918	AND tsExpire = 'infinity'::timestamp;
919	</pre>
920	<p>If NOT found return DEAD to the testbox client (it will go back to sign on
921	mode and retry every 60 seconds or so - see scenario #1).</p>
922	<dl class="docutils">
923	<dt>Note! The WUI will do all necessary clean-ups when deleting a testbox, so</dt>
924	<dd><p class="first last">contrary to the initial plans, we don't need to do anything more for
925	the DEAD status.</p>
926	</dd>
927	</dl>
928	</li>
929	<li><p class="first">Check with TestBoxStatuses (maybe joined with query from 1).</p>
930	<p>If enmState is 'gang-gathering': Goto scenario #6 on timeout or pending
931	'abort' or 'reboot' command. Otherwise, tell the testbox to WAIT [done].</p>
932	<p>If enmState is 'gang-testing': The gang has been gathered and execution
933	has been triggered. Goto 5.</p>
934	<p>If enmState is not 'idle', change it to 'idle'.</p>
935	<p>If idTestSet is not NULL, CALL scenario #9 to it up.</p>
936	<p>If there is a pending abort command, remove it.</p>
937	<p>If there is a pending command and the old state doesn't indicate that it was
938	being executed, GOTO scenario #3.</p>
939	<dl class="docutils">
940	<dt>Note! There should be a TestBoxStatuses row after executing scenario #1,</dt>
941	<dd><p class="first last">however should none be found for some funky reason, returning DEAD
942	will fix the problem (see above)</p>
943	</dd>
944	</dl>
945	</li>
946	<li><p class="first">If the testbox was marked as disabled, respond with an IDLE command to the
947	testbox [done]. (Note! Must do this after TestBoxStatuses maintenance from
948	point 2, or abandoned tests won't be cleaned up after a testbox is disabled.)</p>
949	</li>
950	<li><p class="first">Consider testcases in the scheduling queue, pick the first one which the
951	testbox can execute. There is a concurrency issue here, so we put and
952	exclusive lock on the SchedQueues table while considering its content.</p>
953	<p>The cursor we open looks something like this:</p>
954	<pre class="literal-block">
955	SELECT idItem, idGenTestCaseArgs,
956	idTestSetGangLeader, cMissingGangMembers
957	FROM SchedQueues
958	WHERE idSchedGroup = :idSchedGroup
959	AND ( bmHourlySchedule is NULL
960	OR get_bit(bmHourlySchedule, :iHourOfWeek) = 1 ) --< does this work?
961	ORDER BY ASC idItem;
962	</pre>
963	</li>
964	</ol>
965	<blockquote>
966	<p>If there no rows are returned (this can happen because no testgroups are
967	associated with this scheduling group, the scheduling group is disabled,
968	or because the queue is being regenerated), we will tell the testbox to
969	IDLE [done].</p>
970	<dl class="docutils">
971	<dt>For each returned row we will:</dt>
972	<dd><ol class="first last loweralpha">
973	<li><p class="first">Check testcase/group dependencies.</p>
974	</li>
975	<li><p class="first">Select a build (and default testsuite) satisfying the dependencies.</p>
976	</li>
977	<li><p class="first">Check the testcase requirements with that build in mind.</p>
978	</li>
979	<li><p class="first">If idTestSetGangLeader is NULL, try allocate the necessary resources.</p>
980	</li>
981	<li><p class="first">If it didn't check out, fetch the next row and redo from (a).</p>
982	</li>
983	<li><p class="first">Tentatively create a new test set row.</p>
984	</li>
985	<li><dl class="first docutils">
986	<dt>If not gang scheduling:</dt>
987	<dd><ul class="first last simple">
988	<li>Next state: 'testing'</li>
989	</ul>
990	</dd>
991	<dt>ElIf we're the last gang participant:</dt>
992	<dd><ul class="first last simple">
993	<li>Set idTestSetGangLeader to NULL.</li>
994	<li>Set cMissingGangMembers to 0.</li>
995	<li>Next state: 'gang-testing'</li>
996	</ul>
997	</dd>
998	<dt>ElIf we're the first gang member:</dt>
999	<dd><ul class="first last simple">
1000	<li>Set cMissingGangMembers to TestCaseArgs.cGangMembers - 1.</li>
1001	<li>Set idTestSetGangLeader to our idTestSet.</li>
1002	<li>Next state: 'gang-gathering'</li>
1003	</ul>
1004	</dd>
1005	<dt>Else:</dt>
1006	<dd><ul class="first last simple">
1007	<li>Decrement cMissingGangMembers.</li>
1008	<li>Next state: 'gang-gathering'</li>
1009	</ul>
1010	</dd>
1011	<dt>If we're not gang scheduling OR cMissingGangMembers is 0:</dt>
1012	<dd><p class="first last">Move the scheduler queue entry to the end of the queue.</p>
1013	</dd>
1014	</dl>
1015	<p>Update our TestBoxStatuses row with the new state and test set.
1016	COMMIT;</p>
1017	</li>
1018	</ol>
1019	</dd>
1020	</dl>
1021	</blockquote>
1022	<ol class="arabic" start="5">
1023	<li><dl class="first docutils">
1024	<dt>If state is 'testing' or 'gang-testing':</dt>
1025	<dd><p class="first">EXEC reponse.</p>
1026	<p class="last">The EXEC response for a gang scheduled testcase includes a number of
1027	extra arguments so that the script knows the position of the testbox
1028	it is running on and of the other members. This means the that the
1029	TestSet.iGangMemberNo is passed using --gang-member-no and the IP
1030	addresses of the all gang members using --gang-ipv4-<memb-no> <ip>.</p>
1031	</dd>
1032	<dt>Else (state is 'gang-gathering'):</dt>
1033	<dd><p class="first last">WAIT</p>
1034	</dd>
1035	</dl>
1036	</li>
1037	</ol>
1038	</div>
1039	<div class="section" id="pending-command-when-testbox-asks-for-work">
1040	<h2>#3 - Pending Command When Testbox Asks For Work</h2>
1041	<p>This is a subfunction of scenario #2 and #5.</p>
1042	<p>As seen in scenario #2, the testbox will send 'abort' commands to /dev/null
1043	when it finds one when not executing a test. This includes when it reports
1044	that the test has completed (no need to abort a completed test, wasting lot
1045	of effort when standing at the finish line).</p>
1046	<p>The other commands, though, are passed back to the testbox. The testbox
1047	script will respond with an ACK or NACK as it sees fit. If NACKed, the
1048	pending command will be removed (pending_cmd set to none) and that's it.
1049	If ACKed, the state of the testbox will change to that appropriate for the
1050	command and the pending_cmd set to none. Should the testbox script fail to
1051	respond, the command will be repeated the next time it asks for work.</p>
1052	</div>
1053	<div class="section" id="testbox-uploads-results-during-test">
1054	<h2>#4 - Testbox Uploads Results During Test</h2>
1055	<p>TODO</p>
1056	</div>
1057	<div class="section" id="testbox-completes-test-and-asks-for-work">
1058	<h2>#5 - Testbox Completes Test and Asks For Work</h2>
1059	<p>This is very similar to scenario #2</p>
1060	<p>TODO</p>
1061	</div>
1062	<div class="section" id="gang-gathering-timeout">
1063	<h2>#6 - Gang Gathering Timeout</h2>
1064	<p>This is a subfunction of scenario #2.</p>
1065	<p>When gathering a gang of testboxes for a testcase, we do not want to wait
1066	forever and have testboxes doing nothing for hours while waiting for partners.
1067	So, the gathering has a reasonable timeout (imagine something like 20-30 mins).</p>
1068	<p>Also, we need some way of dealing with 'abort' and 'reboot' commands being
1069	issued while waiting. The easy way out is pretend it's a time out.</p>
1070	<p>When changing the status to 'gang-timeout' we have to be careful. First of all,
1071	we need to exclusively lock the SchedQueues and TestBoxStatuses (in that order)
1072	and re-query our status. If it changed redo the checks in scenario #2 point 2.</p>
1073	<p>If we still want to timeout/abort, change the state from 'gang-gathering' to
1074	'gang-gathering-timedout' on all the gang members that has gathered so far.
1075	Then reset the scheduling queue record and move it to the end of the queue.</p>
1076	<p>When acting on 'gang-timeout' the TM will fail the testset in a manner similar
1077	to scenario #9. No need to repeat that.</p>
1078	</div>
1079	<div class="section" id="gang-cleanup">
1080	<h2>#7 - Gang Cleanup</h2>
1081	<p>When a testbox completes a gang scheduled test, we will have to serialize
1082	resource cleanup (both globally and on testboxes) as they stop. More details
1083	can be found in the documentation of 'gang-cleanup'.</p>
1084	<p>So, the transition from 'gang-testing' is always to 'gang-cleanup'. When we
1085	can safely leave 'gang-cleanup' is decided by the query:</p>
1086	<pre class="literal-block">
1087	SELECT COUNT(*)
1088	FROM TestBoxStatuses,
1089	TestSets
1090	WHERE TestSets.idTestSetGangLeader = :idTestSetGangLeader
1091	AND TestSets.idTestBox = TestBoxStatuses.idTestBox
1092	AND TestBoxStatuses.enmState = 'gang-running'::TestBoxState_T;
1093	</pre>
1094	<p>As long as there are testboxes still running, we stay in the 'gang-cleanup'
1095	state. Once there are none, we continue closing the testset and such.</p>
1096	</div>
1097	<div class="section" id="testbox-reports-a-crash-during-test-execution">
1098	<h2>#8 - Testbox Reports A Crash During Test Execution</h2>
1099	<p>TODO</p>
1100	</div>
1101	<div class="section" id="cleaning-up-abandoned-testcase">
1102	<h2>#9 - Cleaning Up Abandoned Testcase</h2>
1103	<p>This is a subfunction of scenario #1 and #2. The actions taken are the same in
1104	both situations. The precondition for taking this path is that the row in the
1105	testboxstatus table is referring to a testset (i.e. testset_id is not NULL).</p>
1106	<p>Actions:</p>
1107	<ol class="arabic simple">
1108	<li><dl class="first docutils">
1109	<dt>If the testset is incomplete, we need to completed:</dt>
1110	<dd><ol class="first last loweralpha">
1111	<li>Add a message to the root TestResults row, creating one if necessary,
1112	that explains that the test was abandoned. This is done
1113	by inserting/finding the string into/in TestResultStrTab and adding
1114	a row to TestResultMsgs with idStrMsg set to that string id and
1115	enmLevel set to 'failure'.</li>
1116	<li>Mark the testset as failed.</li>
1117	</ol>
1118	</dd>
1119	</dl>
1120	</li>
1121	<li>Free any global resources referenced by the test set. This is done by
1122	deleting all rows in GlobalResourceStatuses matching the testbox id.</li>
1123	<li>Set the idTestSet to NULL in the TestBoxStatuses row.</li>
1124	</ol>
1125	</div>
1126	<div class="section" id="cleaning-up-a-disabled-dead-testbox">
1127	<h2>#10 - Cleaning Up a Disabled/Dead TestBox</h2>
1128	<p>The UI needs to be able to clean up the remains of a testbox which for some
1129	reason is out of action. Normal cleaning up of abandoned testcases requires
1130	that the testbox signs on or asks for work, but if the testbox is dead or
1131	in some way indisposed, it won't be doing any of that. So, the testbox
1132	sheriff needs to have a way of cleaning up after it.</p>
1133	<p>It's basically a manual scenario #9 but with some safe guards, like checking
1134	that the box hasn't been active for the last 1-2 mins (max idle/wait time * 2).</p>
1135	<dl class="docutils">
1136	<dt>Note! When disabling a box that still executing the testbox script, this</dt>
1137	<dd>cleanup isn't necessary as it will happen automatically. Also, it's
1138	probably desirable that the testbox finishes what ever it is doing first
1139	before going dormant.</dd>
1140	</dl>
1141	</div>
1142	</div>
1143	<div class="section" id="test-manager-analysis">
1144	<h1>Test Manager: Analysis</h1>
1145	<p>One of the testbox sheriff's tasks is to try figure out the reason why something
1146	failed. The test manager will provide facilities for doing so from very early
1147	in it's implementation.</p>
1148	<p>We need to work out some useful status reports for the early implementation.
1149	Later there will be more advanced analysis tools, where for instance we can
1150	create graphs from selected test result values or test execution times.</p>
1151	</div>
1152	<div class="section" id="implementation-plan">
1153	<h1>Implementation Plan</h1>
1154	<p>This has changed for various reasons. The current plan is to implement the
1155	infrastructure (TM & testbox script) first and do a small deployment with the
1156	2-5 test drivers in the Testsuite as basis. Once the bugs are worked out, we
1157	will convert the rest of the tests and start adding new ones.</p>
1158	<p>We just need to finally get this done, no point in doing it piecemeal by now!</p>
1159	<div class="section" id="test-manager-implementation-sub-tasks">
1160	<h2>Test Manager Implementation Sub-Tasks</h2>
1161	<p>The implementation of the test manager and adjusting/completing of the testbox
1162	script and the test drivers are tasks which can be done by more than one
1163	person. Splitting up the TM implementation into smaller tasks should allow
1164	parallel development of different tasks and get us working code sooner.</p>
1165	</div>
1166	<div class="section" id="milestone-1">
1167	<h2>Milestone #1</h2>
1168	<p>The goal is to getting the fundamental testmanager engine implemented, debugged
1169	and working. With the exception of testboxes, the configuration will be done
1170	via SQL inserts.</p>
1171	<p>Tasks in somewhat prioritized order:</p>
1172	<blockquote>
1173	<ul class="simple">
1174	<li>Kick off test manager. It will live in testmanager/. Salvage as much as
1175	possible from att/testserv. Create basic source and file layout.</li>
1176	<li>Adjust the testbox script, part one. There currently is a testbox script
1177	in att/testbox, this shall be moved up into testboxscript/. The script
1178	needs to be adjusted according to the specification layed down earlier
1179	in this document. Installers or installation scripts for all relevant
1180	host OSes are required. Left for part two is result reporting beyond the
1181	primary log. This task must be 100% feature complete, on all host OSes,
1182	there is no room for FIXME, XXX or @todo here.</li>
1183	<li>Implement the schedule queue generator.</li>
1184	<li>Implement the testbox dispatcher in TM. Support all the testbox script
1185	responses implemented above, including upgrading the testbox script.</li>
1186	<li>Implement simple testbox management page.</li>
1187	<li>Implement some basic activity and result reports so that we can see
1188	what's going on.</li>
1189	<li>Create a testmanager / testbox test setup. This lives in selftest/.<ol class="arabic">
1190	<li>Set up something that runs, no fiddly bits. Debug till it works.</li>
1191	<li>Create a setup that tests testgroup dependencies, i.e. real tests
1192	depending on smoke tests.</li>
1193	<li>Create a setup that exercises testcase dependency.</li>
1194	<li>Create a setup that exercises global resource allocation.</li>
1195	<li>Create a setup that exercises gang scheduling.</li>
1196	</ol>
1197	</li>
1198	<li>Check that all features work.</li>
1199	</ul>
1200	</blockquote>
1201	</div>
1202	<div class="section" id="milestone-2">
1203	<h2>Milestone #2</h2>
1204	<p>The goal is getting to VBox testing.</p>
1205	<p>Tasks in somewhat prioritized order:</p>
1206	<blockquote>
1207	<ul class="simple">
1208	<li>Implement full result reporting in the testbox script and testbox driver.
1209	A testbox script specific reporter needs to be implemented for the
1210	testdriver framework. The testbox script needs to forward the results to
1211	the test manager, or alternatively the testdriver report can talk
1212	directly to the TM.</li>
1213	<li>Implement the test manager side of the test result reporting.</li>
1214	<li>Extend the selftest with some setup that report all kinds of test
1215	results.</li>
1216	<li>Implement script/whatever feeding builds to the test manager from the
1217	tinderboxes.</li>
1218	<li>The toplevel test driver is a VBox thing that must be derived from the
1219	base TestDriver class or maybe the VBox one. It should move from
1220	toptestdriver to testdriver and be renamed to vboxtltd or smth.</li>
1221	<li>Create a vbox testdriver that boots the t-xppro VM once and that's it.</li>
1222	<li>Create a selftest setup which tests booting t-xppro taking builds from
1223	the tinderbox.</li>
1224	</ul>
1225	</blockquote>
1226	</div>
1227	<div class="section" id="milestone-3">
1228	<h2>Milestone #3</h2>
1229	<p>The goal for this milestone is configuration and converting current testcases,
1230	the result will be the a minimal test deployment (4-5 new testboxes).</p>
1231	<p>Tasks in somewhat prioritized order:</p>
1232	<blockquote>
1233	<ul class="simple">
1234	<li>Implement testcase configuration.</li>
1235	<li>Implement testgroup configuration.</li>
1236	<li>Implement build source configuration.</li>
1237	<li>Implement scheduling group configuration.</li>
1238	<li>Implement global resource configuration.</li>
1239	<li>Re-visit the testbox configuration.</li>
1240	<li>Black listing of builds.</li>
1241	<li>Implement simple failure analysis and reporting.</li>
1242	<li>Implement the initial smoke tests modelled on the current smoke tests.</li>
1243	<li>Implement installation tests for Windows guests.</li>
1244	<li>Implement installation tests for Linux guests.</li>
1245	<li>Implement installation tests for Solaris guest.</li>
1246	<li>Implement installation tests for OS/2 guest.</li>
1247	<li>Set up a small test deployment.</li>
1248	</ul>
1249	</blockquote>
1250	</div>
1251	<div class="section" id="further-work">
1252	<h2>Further work</h2>
1253	<p>After milestone #3 has been reached and issues found by the other team members
1254	have been addressed, we will probably go for full deployment.</p>
1255	<p>Beyond this point we will need to improve reporting and analysis. There may be
1256	configuration aspects needing reporting as well.</p>
1257	<p>Once deployed, a golden rule will be that all new features shall have test
1258	coverage. Preferably, implemented by someone else and prior to the feature
1259	implementation.</p>
1260	</div>
1261	</div>
1262	<div class="section" id="discussion-logs">
1263	<h1>Discussion Logs</h1>
1264	<div class="section" id="various-discussions-with-michal-and-or-klaus">
1265	<h2>2009-07-21,22,23 Various Discussions with Michal and/or Klaus</h2>
1266	<ul class="simple">
1267	<li>Scheduling of tests requiring more than one testbox.</li>
1268	<li>Scheduling of tests that cannot be executing concurrently on several machines
1269	because of some global resource like an iSCSI target.</li>
1270	<li>Manually create the test config permutations instead of having the test
1271	manager create all possible ones and wasting time.</li>
1272	<li>Distinguish between built types so we can run smoke tests on strick builds as
1273	well as release ones.</li>
1274	</ul>
1275	</div>
1276	<div class="section" id="brief-discussion-with-michal">
1277	<h2>2009-07-20 Brief Discussion with Michal</h2>
1278	<ul class="simple">
1279	<li>Installer for the testbox script to make bringing up a new testbox even
1280	smoother.</li>
1281	</ul>
1282	</div>
1283	<div class="section" id="raw-input">
1284	<h2>2009-07-16 Raw Input</h2>
1285	<ul class="simple">
1286	<li><dl class="first docutils">
1287	<dt>test set. recursive collection of:</dt>
1288	<dd><ul class="first last">
1289	<li>hierachical subtest name (slash sep)</li>
1290	<li>test parameters / config</li>
1291	<li>bool fail/succ</li>
1292	<li>attributes (typed?)</li>
1293	<li>test time</li>
1294	<li>e.g. throughput</li>
1295	<li>subresults</li>
1296	<li>log</li>
1297	<li>screenshots,....</li>
1298	</ul>
1299	</dd>
1300	</dl>
1301	</li>
1302	<li>client package (zip) dl from server (maybe client caching)</li>
1303	<li><dl class="first docutils">
1304	<dt>thoughts on bits to do at once.</dt>
1305	<dd><ul class="first last">
1306	<li>We <em>really</em> need the basic bits ASAP.</li>
1307	<li>client -> support for test driver</li>
1308	<li>server -> controls configs</li>
1309	<li>cleanup on both sides</li>
1310	</ul>
1311	</dd>
1312	</dl>
1313	</li>
1314	</ul>
1315	</div>
1316	<div class="section" id="raw-input-1">
1317	<h2>2009-07-15 Raw Input</h2>
1318	<ul class="simple">
1319	<li>testing should start automatically</li>
1320	<li>switching to branch too tedious</li>
1321	<li>useful to be able to partition testboxes (run specific builds on some boxes, let an engineer have a few boxes for a while).</li>
1322	<li>test specification needs to be more flexible (select tests, disable test, test scheduling (run certain tests nightly), ... )</li>
1323	<li>testcase dependencies (blacklisting builds, run smoketests on box A before long tests on box B, ...)</li>
1324	<li>more testing flexibility, more test than just install/moke. For instance unit tests, benchmarks, ...</li>
1325	<li>presentation/analysis: graphs!, categorize bugs, columns reorganizing grouped by test (hierarchical), overviews, result for last day.</li>
1326	<li>testcase specificion, variables (e.g. I/O-APIC, SMP, HWVIRT, SATA...) as sub-tests</li>
1327	<li>interation with ILOM/...: reset systems</li>
1328	<li>Changes needs LDAP authentication</li>
1329	<li>historize all configuration w/ name</li>
1330	<li>ability to run testcase locally (provided the VDI/ISO/whatever extra requirements can be met).</li>
1331	</ul>
1332	<hr class="docutils" />
1333	<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="footnote-1" rules="none">
1334	<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
1335	<tbody valign="top">
1336	<tr><td class="label">[1]</td><td>no such footnote</td></tr>
1337	</tbody>
1338	</table>
1339	<hr class="docutils" />
1340	<table class="docutils field-list" frame="void" rules="none">
1341	<col class="field-name" />
1342	<col class="field-body" />
1343	<tbody valign="top">
1344	<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Status:</th><td class="field-body">$Id: AutomaticTestingRevamp.html 98107 2023-01-17 22:56:50Z vboxsync $</td>
1345	</tr>
1346	<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Copyright:</th><td class="field-body">Copyright (C) 2010-2023 Oracle Corporation.</td>
1347	</tr>
1348	</tbody>
1349	</table>
1350	</div>
1351	</div>
1352	</div>
1353	</body>
1354	</html>

Note: See TracBrowser for help on using the repository browser.

source: vbox/trunk/src/VBox/ValidationKit/docs/AutomaticTestingRevamp.html@ 101505

Download in other formats: