Automated testing of chef automation scripts

Abstract

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a novel approach for deployment of middleware and applications. IaC typically builds on automation scripts to put the system into a specific state. The series of steps in an automation should be idempotent to guarantee repeatability and convergence. These are key factors if automations are run periodically to override out-of-band changes and prevent drifts from the desired state. Rigorous testing must ensure that the system reliably converges from arbitrary initial/intermediate states to a desired state. We tackle this issue and demonstrate our tool for automated testing of automation scripts. Our tool is tailored to Opscode's Chef, one of the most popular IaC frameworks to date. Various testing parameters can be configured, and the Web-based user interface allows to inspect the system state changes during execution. Detailed test reports are created at the end of a test suite, which facilitate tracking down the root cause of failures and issues of non-idempotence. © 2013 ACM.