XPRESSO

Test Harnesses

About Test Harnesses

In XPRESSO, a test harness defines the automated test framework properties for the Python script execution environment that is associated with your pyATS instance or Tcl-ATS tree.

The test harness is used in conjunction with the test execution engine and the test script repository to allow Job Run Requests to be executed and orchestrated by XPRESSO.

Registering a Test Harness Instance

You need to register your Test Harness Instance in XPRESSO; the test harness in turn is associated with a Job which defines your Job runtime environment.

To Register a Test Harness Instance:

  1. From the Main Navigation Bar, choose Main Menu→ENVIRONMENT→Test Harnesses to open the Registered Harness Instances page.

  2. Click the Add Harness Instance button located on the top-right of the page. The Add a New Test Harness Instance form appears.

  3. Configure the following required parameters:

  • Name: Provide a unique identifier for the Test Harness Name.

  • Path to Environment: Enter the absolute path to the virtual test environment (either to the pyATS instance or Tcl-ATS tree), for example: /pyATS.

  • Test Harness Type: Select one of the following supported Test Harness types from the pull-down menu.

    • pyATS Instance: A pyATS instance is housed in a Python virtual environment. Defining a pyATS instance maps the absolute path of the virtual environment directory to a name.

    • Tcl-ATS Tree: Tcl-ATS is the legacy test framework based on TCL-language used during the pre-pyATS era of Cisco. XPRESSO continues to support Tcl-ATS in a backwards compatible fashion.

    NOTE:
    For Tcl-ATS Tree Test Harnesses, the directory (absolute) path to the virtual test environment should point to the folder that holds the env.sh and env.csh files of Tcl-ATS tree.

  • Site: Select the geo-location of the Harness Instance from the pull-down window.

Post-registration Test Harness Operations

Depending on your Membership role, you can perform the following operations on a registered Test Harness Instance.

To Perform Post-registration Operations on a Test Harness Instance:

  1. From the Main Navigation Bar, choose Main Menu→ENVIRONMENT→Test Harnesses to open the Registered Harness Instance page.

  2. Locate and highlight the Registered Harness Instance that you want to perform the operation on and click the appropriate floating action button located to the right of the selected Instance: Edit | Delete | Enable | Disable | Maintenance.

If you click the Edit button, you can only edit the following Harness Instance details: Path to Environment| Configuration State | Enable or Disable LiveView (applies to pyATS instances only) | Site. For any other changes you want to make, you must delete the Harness Instance and recreate it.

  1. Click the Save button.

Refer to the following topics for other related Test Harness information:

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