Software Testing for Sysadmin Programs

Half Day Afternoon
(1:30 pm-5:00 pm)

Thurgood Marshall North

LISA15: SRE/SWE
S7
Adam Moskowitz, MathWorks
Description: 

This tutorial will focus on how to incorporate testing into the software that sysadmins develop. Programs typically written by sysadmins tend to be less amenable to testing for a variety of reasons: choice of language, lack of "OO-ness," and heavy interaction with "system programs" (things like "mount" and "df"). This class will address these issues and show ways to incorporate testing into existing programs without having to rewrite them; it will also demonstrate how to use testing when developing new programs when "going OO" isn't an option. The session will consist of lecture, discussion, and hands-on exercises.

Who should attend: 

System administrators of any level with at least some experience writing programs in pretty much any scripting language language (Python, Ruby, Perl, Bash, or Groovy).

Take back to work: 
  • An understanding of software testing and test-driven development, and how to incorporate these concepts into system administration
  • Suggestions for making future programs more testable
  • Exposure to a testing framework (Maven plus Spock)
  • Experience developing basic unit tests
  • Some exposure to simple "mocking" techniques
Topics include: 

Motivation and benefits

  • Why use testing
  • Why testing is needed
  • How it can help
  • Why it's not as difficult as people think

Basic testing

  • Intro to Maven (the test "runner")
  • Intro to Spock (the test framework)
  • Intro to Groovy (the testing language)

    • "Mocks" (or "Mocking")

  • How to simulate interaction with other programs
    • Presentation Type: 
    Training