1 | © by Xantaro

ROBOT FRAMEWORK FOR NETWORK TEST AUTOMATION

SEBASTIAN GRAF

2 | © by Xantaro

Quote from RFC 1925

RFC 1925 – The Twelve Networking Truths

“It is more complicated than you think.”

3 | © by Xantaro

NETWORK TESTING Typical Software Qualification in Networking

PLAN BUILD Here be Dragons

4 | © by Xantaro

INTRODUCING THE ROBOT FRAMEWORK

§  Robot Framework §  is a generic test automation framework

§  uses keywords to describe human readable test scenarios, which translate to actions performed during the test

§  allows to perform a repeatable test scenario

§  provides a set on included test libraries and integrated reporting functions

§  can be extended with own libraries written in python or java

§  Originally developed at Nokia Networks, nowadays sponsored by the Robot Framework Foundation §  hosted on github

§  written in python, supporting Jython (JVM) and IronPython

5 | © by Xantaro

GENERIC EXAMPLE FOR TEST CASES

§  Example from Robot Documentation:

http://robotframework.org/robotframework/latest/RobotFrameworkUserGuide.html

name of testcase

keywords

variables

6 | © by Xantaro

NETWORK TEST CASE EXAMPLE

§  Example for a testcase written with Xantaro Robot Library

§  This tests runs on the DUT gelsenkirchen and checks the status of BFD sessions

7 | © by Xantaro

STRUCTURING TEST CASES

§  Directories can be used in robot to create high level test structures

§  Global settings may be inherited to subtests

§  Robot framework may be started against an individual test file or against a directory §  In the later case, all robot test

cases in this directory and any subdirectory are executed

8 | © by Xantaro

NETWORK TEST CASE RESULT OVERVIEW

§  The integrated reporting functionality of robot provides an easy overview of the testing results

9 | © by Xantaro

NETWORK TEST CASE RESULT DETAILS

§  Details about failed result can be seen when diving into the details §  this allows to quickly identify failed test cases

§  All results for passed and failed tests are logged and can later on be checked when the test finished

10 | © by Xantaro

TESTING COMPLEX SCENARIOS

§  Testing often involved generating packets at high scale

§  Different methods exists from open source to commercial tools §  open source tools typically good for generating packets up to certain scale §  in many cases, more intelligence is needed

►  https://www.xantaro.net/en/tech-blogs/scalability-testing-with-ixias-ixnetwork/

§  Testing of complex scenarios is often difficult due to lack of hardware §  special testing tools can help to simulate this

11 | © by Xantaro

WHAT IS XANTARO AIMING FOR?

§  We have seen that software upgrades require intensive testing before they can be rolled out

§  So far we used automation only for our lab infrastructure

§  The testing on the DUT was more or less manual

§  By using the robot framework we want to §  create reusable network setups that mimic the topologies and functionalities used in our customer networks

§  support our customers with automatic tests of new software releases in our XT3Lab

►  automatic turnup of testing devices

►  automatic installation of target software release

►  automatic execution of robot test plan, e.g. during the night to increase lab device productivity

12 | © by Xantaro

Robot Example Demo

13 | © by Xantaro

14 | © by Xantaro

ANY QUESTIONS?