I'm busy implementing a Jenkins build server for Delphi 2007 projects, with DUnit for test applications. The previous solution was built in a very old version of Hudson, with extensive test code and a large scale of production applications. The build scripts are therefore established and I've managed to get the builds going.
However, I'm having some problems with the test applications. These normally work fine from a cmd line execution, which calls TestApp.exe UseTestRunner:Text. However, when running GUI tests, the windows do not popup and the test results are inconsistent.
I suspect it has something to do with the Jenkins service account permissions, but I'm not sure how to proceed. The service currently uses the logged in user account, for various permissions and access to the Delphi environment options that's required for builds. Thus the option to use the Local System account with access to the desktop is tricky and I'm not sure if that will fix the problem.
I'm new to the Jenkins environment and would appreciate any help!
Related
What does it mean by deploying code from dev to prod environments using Jenkins. Can anyone please help. I currently have the source code in my gitlab. I need to deploy this code from dev env to prod env
Thanks in advance.
Source code present in GitLab is just the files that is needed to create a WAR/EAR/JAR to run the application.
It's the environment files if present which makes the application behave slightly different on each environment i.e. DEV/PROD the data that you see on DEV will not be the same that you see on PROD(application is live), as developers tend to test/modify code/data to ensure that the application works as excepted. This is fine on DEV but is a big no-no on PROD as it will impact business.
Deploying code from dev to prod environments just means building the application with the right environment files e.g DEV points to xyz DB but prod points to abc DB.
All this can be achieved with jenkins and if your project uses maven/gradle then with a single line command you can achieve the above.(A bit of googling will help you here)
If your project doesn't involve Maven/Gradle then you will have to replace the environment file each time a build happens based on a parameter which can be passed from jenkins.
This whole process is part of DevOps culture. In simple terms it looks like this:
Developer pushes changes to source control (i.e. gitlab).
Build server (i.e. Jenkins) automatically downloads latest changes and builds an application (i.e. creates setup files or just the binaries). Usually you run tests (unit, integration, automation tests etc.). If something fails then developers get notified about it. This whole process is called continuous integration.
If everything went right then you can deploy your application to production. This part of the process is called continuous deployment.
It's a common strategy for web apps. For larger projects QA team tests the software and the software gets deployed once QA team approves it.
Issue:
I am trying to automate the build and installation of DNN modules on a build server. We are currently using DNN 5.5 and TFS for source control and build automation. The TFS build works as expected (getting, compiling, building/copying DNN packages) but when executing the Install.aspx?mode=InstallResources URL we get the "Site is under construction". The event log for DNN does not reveal any information. If I log in to the build server using my Id or the build server id and run the this script, everything works as expected. It’s when the script is started from the scheduler that the DNN InstallResouces URL has issues. The build id used is an administrator on the build server. I have search the web for others doing the same but only found one that stated they wrote an exe utility that submits a HTTP request and parses the response for the success or fail of the resources. Is this the only option? Any other ideas?
I would recommend that you nit work with Instances of your software from build. It is a bad practice and you need many workarounds to get things going. I would recommend that you install Release Management which is specifically designed to do what you are asking. It just has better tooling and configuration options for this.
http://nakedalm.com/building-release-pipeline-release-management-visual-studio-2013/
I created a post on this not to long ago and you can get more info in Professional ALM with Visual Studio 2013 on building and configuring a release pipeline. This way you are deploying tested binaries and not creating untested new ones for future deployments.
Resolution: The issue was resolved by setting the correct permissions for the TFS build user to execute the DNN install resources. The script being executed needed to load the Windows user profile when the script was being executed.
I am using Vagrant to provide a 'synchronised' and standardised development/test/uat/staging and production environments.
I am now looking at how to standardise my CI build process. I like the look of Jenkins but I am confused as to what the best way to deploy it is. Should I have it deployed in a stand-alone CI box or install it on all the various environments?
I guess I am a little confused here. Any help much appreciated, Thanks
The standard approach is a stand-alone CI server shared by the development team. This common server (at a well known URL) provides the development dashboard for a team and the only authorized way to publish into the release repository (Developers not allowed to publish directly)
You could go for extra credit and also setup an instance of Sonar which in my opinion is much better suited as a development dashboard, providing a richer set of metrics and also serves as a historicial record for development.
Finally Jenkins is so simple to setup, there is nothing stopping developers from running their own instances. I find that with Sonar it matters less and less where a build is actually run, once the release credentials are properly controlled. In fact this attitude is important as it prevents the build server from turning into a delicate snowflake :-)
Update
There's a vagrant plugin for Jenkins which might prove useful in running your current processes.
You're likely better off running Jenkins as a shared stand-alone server.
However, I highly recommend that you set up your builds in such a way that they can be run on each developer's machine locally as well. This is particularly key with unit-tests.
In our setup, we have a shared Jenkins server that executes all of our builds using NAnt. Each developer also has NAnt installed and can run the build and unit-test portions of the build freely. Ideally integration tests could also be run, but we're not quite there yet and having them execute on the CI server still gives us that proper feedback even if it takes a little longer to get.
Another few TFS questions if anyone can help even remotely :-)
We currently have TFS 2012 installed. We have 2 servers (both VMs running Windows Server 2008 R2 x64). One server is TFS with the application layer and database (running SQL Server 2008 R2) installed. The other server is our BUILD server with the build controller and build agent installed on it.
We can connect to TFS 2012 OK from our local developer PCs using Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate.
We then have various complex build definitions that compiles our code, runs unit tests, generates real-time sandcastle documentation and installs to our multi tiered, multi server TEST or LIVE environments using InstallShield (takes SSL and performs pre-install conditions etc)
We are using the UpgradeTemplate.xaml build process definition along with TFSBuild.proj file. FYI it was originally developed in TFS 2008 and has served us well hence why we don't WANT to upgrade to a modified defaulttemplate.xaml
We now want to include "post deployment tests" (aka smoking testing or system testing or end-to-end testing I believe) in the form of Coded UI tests.
We can record these tests locally, add asserts etc and check them into TFS etc but my problem is how to invoke them from TFS Build at the end of our build sequence without upgrading to a defaulttemplate.xaml? We use the true build property to invoke our unit tests but this is run prior to deployment. What other property(s) do i need to set? is this at all possible?
I have googled/MSDN'd an believie we may need a third server with a test controller and test agent on it (that isnt locked with a screen saver, build service account has permissions and the build service is configured to run as an internative process and not a service). Is this correct?
If we want to video record the tests as they are run have people found this useful? Does it function/configure as easy as articles seem to imply?
Can visual studio 2012 Ultimate do everything that Microsoft Test Manager 2012 does? and vice-versus? I haven't used this and wonder if this a testers tool only really?
1.
We can record these tests locally, add asserts etc and check them into TFS etc but my problem is how to invoke them from TFS Build at the end of our build sequence without upgrading to a defaulttemplate.xaml? We use the true build property to invoke our unit tests but this is run prior to deployment. What other property(s) do i need to set? is this at all possible?
If the coded ui test is used as a stand alone unittest in the unittest dll, mstest should pick up the coded ui tests. If the coded ui test is however an automation of a test case, an alternative is to use the TCM command line tooling to kick of the test case and thereby executing the coded ui test.
2.
I have googled/MSDN'd an believie we may need a third server with a test controller and test agent on it (that isnt locked with a screen saver, build service account has permissions and the build service is configured to run as an interactive process and not a service). Is this correct?
Yes: You would need an interactive build agent.
No: the current build agent could also be set to interactive.
3.
If we want to video record the tests as they are run have people found this useful? Does it function/configure as easy as articles seem to imply?
Yes: It works as the articles imply
No: The intellitrace collectors and logs are usually more useful than a video recording. The articles also forget to mention that your TFS server might grow out of proportions if not handled with care. http://geekswithblogs.net/terje/archive/2011/11/15/guide-to-reduce-tfs-database-growth-using-the-test-attachment.aspx
4.
Can visual studio 2012 Ultimate do everything that Microsoft Test Manager 2012 does? and vice-versus? I haven't used this and wonder if this a testers tool only really?
No, there not the same and don't try to pretend that (like blend). The focus of the tools are different; MTM is focused on testing by a tester (functional, manual, exploratory), testing in visual studio is focused on testing as a developer (unittest, webtesting, automating tests). Visual Studio ultimate therefore can't edit and create test cases and suites. MTM can't create develop (coded) unittest tests. Installing visual studio ultimate also installs MTM, so you can use both if needed.
How would you implement an automated build and deploy system for Windows services. Things to keep in mind:
The service will have to be stopped on the target machine.
The service entry in the Windows registry might need to be created/updated.
Some, but not all, of the services might need to be automatically started.
I am willing to use TFS for this, but it isn't a requirement. The target machines will always be development machines, we won't be doing this for production servers.
The automated build part can be done in multiple ways - TFS, TeamCity (what we use), CruiseControl.NET, etc. That in turn could call a build script in NAnt (again, what we use), MSBuild, etc.
As for stopping and installing a service remotely, see How to create a Windows service by using Sc.exe. Note that you could shell/exec out to this from your build script if there isn't a built-in task. (I haven't tried this recently, so do a quick spike first to make sure it works in your environment.)
Alternately, it's probably possible (and likely elegant) in Windows PowerShell 2.0.