A W I P R O W H I T E PA P E R GREENING TEST LABS: By Kathleen Goolsby
Introduction Virtualization and green IT initiatives are a fundamental change in the way companies do business. As they enable using IT resources more strategically and cost-effectively, more companies increasingly incorporate virtualization and greening strategies into their IT operations, including in test labs. However, companies must overcome certain challenges in order to deploy these strategies effectively. For example, multiple challenges arise in managing a test lab environment such as how to: Optimize the test lab Improve utilization of hardware Ensure availability of appropriate tools and people with multiple skills Set up hardware and software configurations Reduce costs Because a test lab can contain both virtual and physical servers, the Wipro solution, WTAS TM, cuts across both virtual and physical environments using a common framework. Other companies only use tools for the virtual environment or the physical environment. Virtualization is an effective strategy for overcoming many of these challenges, but some pieces of the test environment cannot be virtualized due to the technology limitations or the inapplicability of the technology in certain areas. For example, testing at a firmware level (the micro-code that exists statically on hardware, below an operating system) cannot be virtualized, as virtualization technologies require testing at a higher level. To date, companies options for managing the complexities of a heterogeneous environment were based on using tools for the virtual environment and other tools for the non-virtual/physical environment. There was no solution that cut across both environments until now. Wipro has developed the Wipro Test Automation Services Framework (WTAS TM ), a new solution for cutting across both environments. This paper discusses WTAS TM, how it addresses the challenges of managing a test lab environment, its benefits, and how it aligns with a virtualization/green IT strategy. 2
Challenges in Managing a Test Lab Environment As illustrated in Figure 1, the challenges in managing a test lab environment lie in three areas: Test lab optimization Test set-up management Lab resource management Figure 1: Test Environment Challenges Test Lab Optimization Hardware consolidation Quick reuse of hardware for different tests Test Set-up Lab Resource Bare metal installation Driver configuration Patch management Application provisioning Resource scheduling Resource allocation & withdrawal Utilization tracking Lab reports Wipro Technologies 2009 (www.wipro.com/testing/index.htm). All Rights Reserved. A company needs to guarantee availability of service tools to handle the administration of virtual and physical resources. It also may need to execute a test case in a certain configuration but switch quickly to a different configuration for the next test case execution. This requires the flexibility of providing different environments in the lab. Such a heterogeneous environment also requires testers who understand and have been trained on the various tools. For example, a lab may have a Solaris box from Sun Microsystems, an IBM mainframe box, and an HP server. The lab administrator and test engineers in this kind of environment need to (a) know virtual resource management tools, VQSM from Surgient Technologies, Lab manager from VMWare, etc., (b) know Tivoli to manage the IBM environment, (c) understand Sun s tool, and (d) know the HP tools to manage and report on the service. Obviously, this creates complexities in test lab management. 3
Cost drivers. The complexities involved in managing a test lab lead to high costs. Four primary factors create areas where costs rise. These include: A heterogeneous environment regarding hardware and software in the lab; companies need to ensure availability of necessary tools, and tools configured and integrated to a particular hardware resource may not be available The need for human resources with multiple skills Managing a heterogeneous environment requires a person who understands the necessary tools and resources; therefore, the lab administrators must be trained on each tool The required set-up requires flexibility to provide configuration; requirements can change from one test to another; in addition, set-up also takes take lot of time Complex activities that take a lot of time WTAS TM How it Works Several modules and components comprise the Wipro Test Automation Services Framework. Figure 2 illustrates the WTAS TM solution. Figure 2: Modules and components comprising the Wipro Test Automation Services Framework Lab users space Lab Admin space Smoke Test Module Test Preparation Module Test Setup Automation module Resource Module Common Resource Pool Smoke Tests Virtual Resources Physical Resources System images Lab MIS Data Wipro Technologies 2009 (www.wipro.com/testing/index.htm). All Rights Reserved. 4
The solution s primary components include: 1. The Test Set-up Automation Module can understand any test management tools from any technology vendor. This helps the lab administrator to manage resources even without understanding the individual tools. 2. The Resource Module guarantees availability of resources and eases the administration of a resource. 3. The Test Preparation Module facilitates test configuration set-up in a heterogeneous environment and helps in automatically executing test cases. The WTAS TM framework includes: Test interfaces support Common Line, API or GUI (GUI can be Web, Java, Windows) A range of tools to support various activities VQMS, QTP, Selenium, QC, provisioning tools, functional tools such as protocol analyzers and Avalanche, etc. Often, companies using test labs to execute the test cases deploy a team for the test set-up activities and another team to execute the test cases. Configuring the test lab for a particular test case takes time and increases costs. Because the Wipro framework automates this task, it saves time and money. In addition, because it requires fewer skills for tech support, it also lowers the cost of human resources. Test execution and test management activities. Companies use different tools to conduct these activities. The Wipro framework s set-up module automates these activities, thus decreasing the complexities in setting up test execution and test management. WTAS TM is a single framework that adapts and extends to all testing activities and test lab management tasks. Benefits of Using WTAS TM Lower TCO. First and foremost among the benefits of this solution is the lower total cost of ownership (TCO). The Wipro framework eliminates complexities in the user environment. Productivity. The WTAS TM solution optimizes productivity in five primary areas, as follows: Test and lab management Test process management Test set-up Test execution Result verification 5
Automation. The user-friendly automated framework eliminates the need to learn any proprietary language to use particular tools. It is independent of product, platform, test interface, and tools. The framework provides the following services: Integrates various tools Supports a variety of scripting languages Supports multiple operating system platforms Supports arranging different service calls in a logical order Controls the test workflow as required Extendability creates greater ROI. An important benefit of the framework is its ability to talk to any currently existing tool set (e.g., VQMS, Tivoli); and it can also adapt and talk to any new tools arriving on the market. Figure 3: Wipro s Green Test Lab Offering The adaptable, single orchestration framework extends to all the activities in a test lab, including: Virtual and non-virtual test labs Entire test life cycle Flexibly adapting to most of the test environments Heterogeneous system, tools, and platform support Green benefits. WTAS TM optimizes test cycles, thus producing green benefits through hardware optimization and human resources optimization. Figure 3 illustrates Wipro s green test lab offering, as discussed throughout this paper. TESTING TEAM TEST TEST MANAGEMENT ENGINEERS TEAM TESTERS Test Process Test lab Test Setup Test Case Creation Configuration Activity Test Execution Test Results Analysis WTAS TM Tools Middleware Operating System Tools Middleware Operating System Virtual Systems Virtual Test Environment Test Artifacts GREEN TEST LAB Physical Systems Physical Test Environment Wipro Technologies 2009 (www.wipro.com/testing/index.htm). All Rights Reserved. 6
Summary: Greening the Test Lab Greening IT processes, governance, and infrastructure is a fundamental change in the way that companies are doing business now. The top reason for pursuing green IT (and top benefit companies expect to receive) is reducing energy-related spending. 1 However, saving money and energy through green initiatives requires maximizing IT resources and human resources. WTAS TM achieves this by: Testing the entire life cycle Alliance partnerships with virtualization ecosystem players, e.g., VMWare, Microsoft (virtualization infrastructure providers), and Surgient (virtualization automation) Wipro s WTAS TM framework helps companies manage their lab test environments in a much more effective and green way, while addressing all the challenges of managing such environments. It is the only solution available that cuts across both the virtual and non-virtual environments. 1 Response of two-thirds of companies surveyed by Forrester and reported by Forrester in a Wipro Webinar, Green Test Labs: Using Virtualization. 7