Integration tests

Topics

• Integration tests
  • Quick Start
  • Configuration
    • ansible-test command
    • integration_config.yml
  • Prerequisites
  • Non-destructive Tests
  • Destructive Tests
  • Windows Tests
  • Tests in Docker containers
    • Running Integration Tests
    • Container Images
      • Python 2
      • Python 3
  • Legacy Cloud Tests
  • Other configuration for Cloud Tests
  • IAM policies for AWS
    • testing-policies
    • Other Definitions required
  • Network Tests
    • Writing network integration tests
    • Running network integration tests locally
  • Where to find out more

The Ansible integration Test system.

Tests for playbooks, by playbooks.

Some tests may require credentials. Credentials may be specified with credentials.yml.

Some tests may require root.

Quick Start

It is highly recommended that you install and activate the argcomplete python package. It provides tab completion in bash for the ansible-test test runner.

Configuration

ansible-test command

The example below assumes bin/ is in your $PATH. An easy way to achieve that is to initialize your environment with the env-setup command:

source hacking/env-setup
ansible-test --help

You can also call ansible-test with the full path:

bin/ansible-test --help

integration_config.yml

Making your own version of integration_config.yml can allow for setting some tunable parameters to help run the tests better in your environment. Some tests (e.g. cloud) will only run when access credentials are provided. For more information about supported credentials, refer to the various cloud-config-*.template files in the test/integration/ directory.

Prerequisites

Some tests assume things like hg, svn, and git are installed, and in path. Some tests (such as those for Amazon Web Services) need separate definitions, which will be covered later in this document.

(Complete list pending)

Non-destructive Tests

These tests will modify files in subdirectories, but will not do things that install or remove packages or things outside of those test subdirectories. They will also not reconfigure or bounce system services.

Note

Running integration tests within Docker

To protect your system from any potential changes caused by integration tests, and to ensure a sensible set of dependencies are available we recommend that you always run integration tests with the --docker option. See the list of supported docker images for options.

Note

Avoiding pulling new Docker images

Use the --docker-no-pull option to avoid pulling the latest container image. This is required when using custom local images that are not available for download.

Run as follows for all POSIX platform tests executed by our CI system:

ansible-test integration --docker fedora29 -v shippable/

You can target a specific tests as well, such as for individual modules:

ansible-test integration -v ping

Use the following command to list all the available targets:

ansible-test integration --list-targets

Note

Bash users

If you use bash with argcomplete, obtain a full list by doing: ansible-test integration <tab><tab>

Destructive Tests

These tests are allowed to install and remove some trivial packages. You will likely want to devote these to a virtual environment, such as Docker. They won’t reformat your filesystem:

ansible-test integration --docker fedora29 -v destructive/

Windows Tests

These tests exercise the winrm connection plugin and Windows modules. You’ll need to define an inventory with a remote Windows 2008 or 2012 Server to use for testing, and enable PowerShell Remoting to continue.

Running these tests may result in changes to your Windows host, so don’t run them against a production/critical Windows environment.

Enable PowerShell Remoting (run on the Windows host via Remote Desktop):

Enable-PSRemoting -Force

Define Windows inventory:

cp inventory.winrm.template inventory.winrm
${EDITOR:-vi} inventory.winrm

Run the Windows tests executed by our CI system:

ansible-test windows-integration -v shippable/

Tests in Docker containers

If you have a Linux system with Docker installed, running integration tests using the same Docker containers used by the Ansible continuous integration (CI) system is recommended.

Note

Docker on non-Linux

Using Docker Engine to run Docker on a non-Linux host (such as macOS) is not recommended. Some tests may fail, depending on the image used for testing. Using the --docker-privileged option when running integration (not network-integration or windows-integration) may resolve the issue.

Running Integration Tests

To run all CI integration test targets for POSIX platforms in a Ubuntu 16.04 container:

ansible-test integration --docker ubuntu1604 -v shippable/

You can also run specific tests or select a different Linux distribution. For example, to run tests for the ping module on a Ubuntu 14.04 container:

ansible-test integration -v ping --docker ubuntu1404

Container Images

Python 2

Most container images are for testing with Python 2:

• centos6
• centos7
• fedora28
• opensuse15py2
• ubuntu1404
• ubuntu1604

Python 3

To test with Python 3 use the following images:

• fedora29
• opensuse15
• ubuntu1604py3
• ubuntu1804

Legacy Cloud Tests

Some of the cloud tests run as normal integration tests, and others run as legacy tests; see the Testing using the Legacy Integration system page for more information.

Other configuration for Cloud Tests

In order to run some tests, you must provide access credentials in a file named cloud-config-aws.yml or cloud-config-cs.ini in the test/integration directory. Corresponding .template files are available for for syntax help. The newer AWS tests now use the file test/integration/cloud-config-aws.yml

IAM policies for AWS

Ansible needs fairly wide ranging powers to run the tests in an AWS account. This rights can be provided to a dedicated user. These need to be configured before running the test.

testing-policies

hacking/aws_config/testing_policies contains a set of policies that are required for all existing AWS module tests. The hacking/aws_config/setup_iam.yml playbook can be used to add all of those policies to an IAM group (using -e iam_group=GROUP_NAME. Once the group is created, you’ll need to create a user and make the user a member of the group. The policies are designed to minimize the rights of that user. Please note that while this policy does limit the user to one region, this does not fully restrict the user (primarily due to the limitations of the Amazon ARN notation). The user will still have wide privileges for viewing account definitions, and will also able to manage some resources that are not related to testing (for example, AWS lambdas with different names). Tests should not be run in a primary production account in any case.

Other Definitions required

Apart from installing the policy and giving it to the user identity running the tests, a lambda role ansible_integration_tests has to be created which has lambda basic execution privileges.

Network Tests

Starting with Ansible 2.4, all network modules MUST include unit tests that cover all functionality. You must add unit tests for each new network module and for each added feature. Please submit the unit tests and the code in a single PR. Integration tests are also strongly encouraged.

Writing network integration tests

For guidance on writing network test see the adding tests for Network modules guide.

Running network integration tests locally

Ansible uses Shippable to run an integration test suite on every PR, including new tests introduced by that PR. To find and fix problems in network modules, run the network integration test locally before you submit a PR.

To run the network integration tests, use a command in the form:

ansible-test network-integration --inventory /path/to/inventory tests_to_run

First, define a network inventory file:

cd test/integration
cp inventory.network.template inventory.networking
${EDITOR:-vi} inventory.networking
# Add in machines for the platform(s) you wish to test

To run all Network tests for a particular platform:

ansible-test network-integration --inventory  /path/to/ansible/test/integration/inventory.networking vyos_.*

This example will run against all vyos modules. Note that vyos_.* is a regex match, not a bash wildcard - include the . if you modify this example.

To run integration tests for a specific module:

ansible-test network-integration --inventory  /path/to/ansible/test/integration/inventory.networking vyos_vlan

To run a single test case on a specific module:

# Only run vyos_vlan/tests/cli/basic.yaml
ansible-test network-integration --inventory  /path/to/ansible/test/integration/inventory.networking vyos_vlan --testcase basic

To run integration tests for a specific transport:

# Only run nxapi test
ansible-test network-integration --inventory  /path/to/ansible/test/integration/inventory.networking  --tags="nxapi" nxos_.*

# Skip any cli tests
ansible-test network-integration --inventory  /path/to/ansible/test/integration/inventory.networking  --skip-tags="cli" nxos_.*

See test/integration/targets/nxos_bgp/tasks/main.yaml for how this is implemented in the tests.

For more options:

ansible-test network-integration --help

If you need additional help or feedback, reach out in #ansible-network on Freenode.

Where to find out more

If you’d like to know more about the plans for improving testing Ansible, join the Testing Working Group.