ServerImageValidationAndQA

Revision 4 as of 2011-05-24 22:54:30

Clear message

Summary

Release Note

For the 11.10 cycle, Ubuntu will support ARM server images for all available platforms.

Rationale

As per server-o-arm-image, we'll be implementing server images on ARM for the 11.10 cycle. As ARM has never been target of a server image before, extensive QA and validation efforts will be required.

User stories

  • Alpha wishes to build a cluster of ARM servers, and wants software that is known to work for all her usecase

  • Beta is migrating from Ubuntu i386 -> armel on new hardware, and wants the same level of functionality they have come to expect on i386

  • Delta is a system manufacturer creating ARM servers, and wishes to ship a well-tested product with their hardware

Assumptions

Design

Automated QA Testing

As part of QA efforts on x86, there is an extensive battery of automated tests that run to make sure basic functionality in the server image is present and accounted for. These tests are based around using a virtualized environment to install the image via preseeding, then running automated tests against said image. The test suite will have to be modified in such a way that we can handle bare-metal installs via netboot images, as well as changing any necessary console input.

Benchmarking

As part of our QA effortds, an ongoing attempt to track speed and performance on ARM servers is required. Specifically, being able to test the result of the hardware itself with a stock Ubuntu load would be extremely useful. The Phoronix Test Suite for i386/amd64 already includes a comprehense set of tests and benchmarking tools to this end, and would be an ideal place to start with on-device benchmarking. Server loadtesting itself is out of scope for this spec and is covered in server-o-load-testing

Implementation

This section should describe a plan of action (the "how") to implement the changes discussed. Could include subsections like:

Code Changes

Code changes should include an overview of what needs to change, and in some cases even the specific details.

Test/Demo Plan

It's important that we are able to test new features, and demonstrate them to users. Use this section to describe a short plan that anybody can follow that demonstrates the feature is working. This can then be used during testing, and to show off after release. Please add an entry to http://testcases.qa.ubuntu.com/Coverage/NewFeatures for tracking test coverage.

This need not be added or completed until the specification is nearing beta.

Unresolved issues

This should highlight any issues that should be addressed in further specifications, and not problems with the specification itself; since any specification with problems cannot be approved.

BoF agenda and discussion

Use this section to take notes during the BoF; if you keep it in the approved spec, use it for summarising what was discussed and note any options that were rejected.

CategorySpec