Configuration management tools for testing

BY : Toni Kraja. Three preconditions are defined by the syllabus to achieve the introduced purpose. This preconditions can be summarized into traceability in between test items, testware items and referred documentation in a given configuration.

To fulfill them, configuration management has to be a determined subject within the test planning phase and proper tooling or infrastructure have to be identified and considered. Nevertheless, configuration management for software testing often stays unmentioned or insufficiently covered. When software testing is automated or semi-automated, configuration management is implicitly covered in standard framework architecture — but often to an unknown or unaware degree level.

This is caused by the given requirement to configure the automation software and the software under test and knowledge about software configurations result in configurations for various test items or testware items.

The traceability regarding certain configuration naturally decreases in manual testing environments when configuration management is not considered in test planning. In manual testing, software under test configuration might be documented but not managed well. Nevertheless, if automated or not: configuration management has to be considered more consequently in software testing projects from the start.

As mentioned, software under test configuration is certainly to be managed. In most testing projects, not only one software version has to be covered. This implies the requirement to manage various test environments and to keep track of corresponding test data, test scripts, test automation frameworks, reporting tools, defect tracking and more. If configurations are not managed well, a necessary update of a test script or test data for a newer software version could create an incapability to cover previous software versions in software testing — e.

Therefore it is important to consider the software deployment cycle in the test plan not only regarding software test cycles but also regarding software test configurations. Test items and testware have to be preserved as long as a certain software version is available. Usually, one ore more reference and release test environments are being provided to maintain a basic capability.

Nevertheless, configurations of the same are not being guaranteed to provide the correct comprehensive configuration to maintain a required level of representation and reliability. Test planning should consider the mismatches in configurations that might apply in the different test environments and describe actions to compensate them, if they are inevitable in terms of adjusting configurations itself.

When mentioning configuration management, typically there is thought of settings, run parameters or software versions. In experience, test data could sometimes be left out in consideration. Most common is the insufficient coverage of the third precondition, mentioned above as traceability of test items and testware items towards referred documentation. Therefore, there is an important requirement to focus on the same. An easy way of referring documentation which does not have to be a comprehensive specification document are for example tags, comments and links.

It is important to not maintain too many configurations at the same time, so a test configuration plan will be needed which clusters test items and testware items and documentation.

For Conclusion, it is very important to study and select the best tool for your company based on requirements as there is many configuration management SCM software. I hope you will find this article helpful. This is a guide to Software Configuration Management Tools. Here we discuss Introduction to Software Configuration Management Tools along with its different features.

You can also go through our other suggested articles to learn more —. Submit Next Question. By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Forgot Password? This website or its third-party tools use cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the cookie policy.

By closing this banner, scrolling this page, clicking a link or continuing to browse otherwise, you agree to our Privacy Policy. Configuration management is a key part of a DevOps lifecycle.

DevOps configuration is the evolution and automation of the systems administration role, bringing automation to infrastructure management and deployment. DevOps configuration also brings system administration responsibility under the umbrella of software engineering. Enterprises today utilize it to empower software engineers to request and provision needed resources on demand.

This removes a potential organizational dependency bottleneck of a software development team waiting for resources from a separate system administration team. This same flow can be applied to configuration changes. A perfect example of this process is a GitOps workflow. Configuration management enables agile teams to clearly triage and prioritize configuration work.

Examples of configuration work are chores and tasks like:. Once a configuration management platform is in place, teams have visibility into the work required for configuration tasks. Configuration management work can be identified as dependencies for other work and properly addressed as part of agile sprints.

Git is the industry-leading version control system to track code changes. Adding configuration management data alongside code in a Git repository provides a holistic version control view of an entire project. Git is a foundational tool in higher-level configuration management.

The following list of other configuration management tools is designed to be stored in a Git repository and leverage Git version control tracking. Docker introduced containerization that is an advanced form of configuration management -- like a configuration lockdown.

Docker is based on configuration files called Dockerfiles, which contain a list of commands that are evaluated to reconstruct the expected snapshot of operating system state. Docker creates containers from these Dockerfiles that are snapshots of a preconfigured application.

Dockerfiles are committed to a Git repository for version tracking and need additional configuration management to deploy them to infrastructure. Terraform is an open source configuration management platform by HasiCorp. Terraform uses IaC to provision and manage clusters, cloud infrastructure, or services. Each cloud platform has its own representation and interface for common infrastructure components like servers, databases, and queues.

Terraform built an abstraction layer of configuration tools for cloud platforms that enable teams to write files that are reproducible definitions of their infrastructure. These frameworks automate many traditional system administrators' processes. The configuration data files specify a sequence of actions to take to configure a system. The actions are then run by the executable.

This workflow is similar to running ad-hoc shell scripts but offers a more structured and refined experience through the respective platforms ecosystems.

The first action towards configuration management is information gathering. Configuration data should be aggregated and compiled from different application environments, development, staging, and production for all the components and services in use. Defects are rectified and verified by review team leader d. All of the above Show Answer Answer : All of the above 41 Which of the following criteria serve as basis for taking decision to stop testing : a.

Stop testing when all test cases execute without producing any error b. Stop testing when the specified test coverage is completed without finding errors c. Stop testing when it becomes unproductive d. All of the above Show Answer Answer : All of the above 42 Which of the following defect type classification is used for document Reviews? Performance b.

Functionality c. Error Handling d. Review c. Release Review d. All of the above Show Answer Answer : All of the above 44 Which of the following review types is used for building code or documents by discussing with the members of the development team and improving the work item. Table Review b. Peer Review c. Inspection d.

Walk throughs Show Answer Answer : Walk throughs 45 Which of the following reviews have well defined roles a. Table review b. Walkthrough c. Peer review d. All of the above Show Answer Answer : Table review 46 Which of the following rules apply for real-time system testing : a. Use tests to simulate hardware faults b. Use hardware simulation to add stress to the software design c. Design ways to simulate modules missing in the development system d.

The potential of testing to improve quality is unlimited. Testing cannot remove all defects which are undetected in earlier stages d.

All of the above Show Answer Answer : The potential of testing to improve quality is unlimited. Defect Prevention Report c. Release Review Summary d. All of the above Show Answer Answer : All of the above 49 Why is multiple rounds of system testing recommended? Accommodate bug fixes and eliminate maximum defects b. Shortage of resources to complete testing in one round c.

Set of test cases can be executed in each round. System b. Integration c. User d. Component Show Answer Answer : Integration. Also Read : How to remove viruses from an Android phone. Reviews and Testing b. Reviews c. Validation d. Condition coverage b. Condition operand coverage c. Condition operator coverage d. Decision coverage b. Mutation Testing b. Browser Testing c. Compatibility Testing d.

Integration testing c. Unit or Component testing d. McCabe b. Halstead c. Combination d. Unit b. Build c. Review Meeting d. DOE and Pugh Matrix b. QFD and Orthogonal array c. DOE and Orthogonal array d. Verification b. Verification and Validation d. None of the above Show Answer Answer : Verification and Validation 63 During System Testing of an application, you would want to test the peak volumes of information that can be handled by the application.

What kind of testing would you do? Stress b. Volume c. Performance d. To ensure that the product is usable b. Early identification of errors that helps in prevention of a breakdown at a later stage. Software Validation b. Software Testing c. Software Verification d. Verification tools b. Validation tools c. Testing tools d. User interface b. Orthogonal Array c.

Functionality d. Defect Log b. Rework Task list c. Review meeting minutes d. All of the above Show Answer Answer : All of the above 69 Which of the following are different types of reviews? Walkthrough b.

Inspections c. None of the above Show Answer Answer : Both a and b 70 Which of the following are the highlights of unit testing? Involves testing of basic building blocks of the system b.