___________ _____________  ___         .____    .___  _________   _____   
\_   _____//   _____/\   \/  /         |    |   |   |/   _____/  /  _  \  
 |    __)_ \_____  \  \     /   ______ |    |   |   |\_____  \  /  /_\  \ 
 |        \/        \ /     \  /_____/ |    |___|   |/        \/    |    \
/_______  /_______  //___/\  \         |_______ \___/_______  /\____|__  /
        \/        \/       \_/                 \/           \/         \/ 

Overview

ESX-LISA is an automation testing framework based on github.com/LIS/lis-test project. In order to support ESX, ESX-LISA uses PowerCLI to automate all aspects of vSphere management, including network, storage, VM, guest OS and more. This framework automates the tasks required to test the Redhat Enterprise Linux Server on WMware ESX Server.

Documentation

The basics behavior of the automation is:

1. Start a VM
2. Push files to a VM
3. Start a script executing on a VM
4. Collect files from a VM
5. Shutdown a VM

Other required powershell scripts includes:

stateEngine.ps1

Provides the functions that drive the VMs through various states that result in a test case being run on a VM.

utilFunctions.ps1

Provides utility functions used by the automation.

OSAbstractions.ps1

Functions that return a OS specific command line.

Command sample

A test run is driven by an XML file. A sample command might look like the following:

.\lisa.ps1 run xml\debug_demo.xml -dbgLevel 5

Configuration file

The XML file has a number of key sections as follows: Global The global section defines settings used to specify where the log files are to be written, who to send email to, which email server to use, etc.

TestSuites
    This section defines a test suite and lists all the test
    cases the test suite will run.

TestCases
    This section defines every test case that a test suite
    might call.  Test case definitions include the following:
        Name of the test case
        The test script to run on the VM
        The file to push to the VM
        Test case timeout value (in seconds)
        What to do on error (stop testing or move on to next test case)
        Test parameters
            Test parameters are placed in a file named constants.sh
            and then copied to the VM.  The test case script can
            source constants.sh to gain accesws to the test parameters.

VMs
    The VMs section lists the VMs that will run tests.  There will be a
    VM definition for each VM that will run a test.  Each VM can run
    a separate test suite.

A very simple XML file would look something like the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<config>
    <global>
        <logfileRootDir>TestResults</logfileRootDir>
        <defaultSnapshot>ICABase</defaultSnapshot>
        <email>
            <recipients>
                <to>[email protected]</to>
                <to>[email protected]</to>
            </recipients>
            <sender>[email protected]</sender>
            <subject>ESX demo Test</subject>
            <smtpServer>mysmtphost.mycompany.com</smtpServer>
        </email>
    </global>

    <testSuites>
        <suite>
            <suiteName>debug_demo_suite</suiteName>
            <suiteTests>
                <suiteTest>debug_demo_case</suiteTest>
            </suiteTests>
        </suite>
    </testSuites>

    <testCases>
        <test>
            <testName>debug_demo_case</testName>
            <testID>ESX-DEMO-001</testID>
            <testScript>testscripts\debug_demo.ps1</testScript>
            <RevertDefaultSnapshot>True</RevertDefaultSnapshot>
            <timeout>120</timeout>
            <onError>Continue</onError>
            <noReboot>False</noReboot>
        </test>
    </testCases>

    <VMs>
        <vm>
            <hvServer>ESXI_HOST_IPADDRESS</hvServer>
            <vmName>VM_NAME</vmName>
            <os>Linux</os>
            <ipv4></ipv4>
            <sshKey>id_rsa.ppk</sshKey>
            <suite>debug_demo_suite</suite>
        </vm>
    </VMs>

</config>

VM provision

The automation scripts make some assumptions about the VMs used to run the tests. This requires test VMs be provisioned prior to running tests. The following settings need to be provisioned.

1. Disable Linux firewall.
2. Add your public key into ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.
3. The following packages must be installed.
   • development-tools
   • at
   • dos2unix
   • dosfstools
   • wget
   • bc
   • ntpdate
4. The yum repo must be configured.

SSH key

SSH keys are used to pass commands to Linux VMs, so the public ssh Key must to copied to the VM before the test is started.

dos2unix

The dos2unix must be installed. It is used to ensure the file has the correct end of line character.

Putty with private key

The automation scripts currently use Putty as the SSH client. You will need to copy the Putty executables to the ./bin directory. You will also need to convert the private key into a Putty Private Key (.ppk).

How to configure a case development environment?

1. Choose a Windows machine which has Powershell installed and have connection with VCenter server

2. Download and install Git client for Windows, like Git-2.8.1-64bit.exe

3. Download and install a code editor, such as Atom or Visual Studio Code.

4. Add four system environment variables from Control Pannel -> System -> Advanced system settings -> Environment Variables... -> System variables -> New...

   Name	Description
   $ENVVISIPADDR	vSphere Center Server IP address
   $ENVVISUSERNAME	vSphere Center Server login username
   $ENVVISPASSWORD	vSphere Center Server login password
   $ENVVISPROTOCOL	Connection protocol with vSphere Center Server, such as HTTPS.

5. Edit xml\debug_demo.xml, replace ESXI_HOST_IPADDRESS and VM_NAME with your settings.

6. Run demo case with one of the following cmdlets:

.\lisa.ps1 run .\xml\debug_demo.xml -dbgLevel 10

.\lisa.ps1 run .\xml\debug_demo.xml -vmName VM_NAME -hvServer ESXI_HOST_IPADDRESS -sshKey demo_id_rsa.ppk -suite debug_demo_suite -os Linux -dbgLevel 10