Image creation and publishing for kernel SRU testing
Currently all certification testing of kernel SRUs is performed in the Certification labs on systems connected to the labs 'satellite' servers. This allows systems to be configured to netboot and then be setup to perform SRU testing via preseed commands. This is a very efficient and flexible configuration for the Hardware Certification team to perform its duties and allows well over a hundred systems to be tested in the space of a few days.
The major drawback with this method is that because the infrastructure is so complicated (not just software but servers and network equipment are required) it is next to impossible for just anyone to perform SRU testing in the same way that the Hardware Certification team does. There is also the sometimes encountered problem of systems that do not like to PxE boot (an essential part of the current process) thus stopping them from being SRU tested, even by the Hardware Certification team.
The solution to these problems and the goal of this blueprint, is to have built automatically a CD image which contains all of the elements necessary to test each SRU for each release. This will obviously include the -proposed packages, but also the tools and settings normally used by the Hardware Certification team to do the testing. Creation of this image will have several benefits, the most obvious ones being that other parties can perform the testing as and when they wish and that systems which cannot PxE boot can be tested instead using the custom image. The other benefit is that the update phase of testing doesn't need to be done for each machine on demand as it is at the moment, but can be done just once when the SRU becomes available. The Offspring (https:/
Offspring is able to schedule builds of these images on a regular basis, control access to them with Launchpad login and groups, and archive images when they are no longer needed so is an ideal tool for the use cases envisaged by the Hardware Certification team.
Blueprint information
- Status:
- Not started
- Approver:
- Ara Pulido
- Priority:
- High
- Drafter:
- Brendan Donegan
- Direction:
- Needs approval
- Assignee:
- Brendan Donegan
- Definition:
- Approved
- Series goal:
- None
- Implementation:
-
Deferred
- Milestone target:
- None
- Started by
- Completed by
Whiteboard
== Open Questions ==
• Should the images only contain the vanilla packages upgraded to the content of proposed or should they also contain all the checkbox-
• How easy to build server images?
• Do we need our own instance?
• Do we care that using custom images would not test the upgrade process?
== Definition of done ==
• CD images are created automatically for each SRU which contains everything necessary to run the SRU test suite. The only steps necessary should be to boot the system and provide it with its Secure ID (either manually when prompted or set by a preseed as in the satellite system).
• Access to the image is controlled by launchpad login, where the HW certification team is able to schedule and modify builds and other customers are only able to access the images.
• These images are used by the hardware certification team in their labs in order to improve speed and efficiency of testing the SRU
