Running tests that require special setup

Jenkins spec

The jenkins_build_status_spec spins up a Jenkins instance in a Docker container with the Jenkins GitLab plugin pre-installed. Due to a license restriction we are unable to distribute this image. To build a QA compatible image, please visit the third party images project, where third party Dockerfiles can be found. The project also has instructions for forking and building the images automatically in CI.

Some extra environment variables for the location of the forked repository are also needed.

  • QA_THIRD_PARTY_DOCKER_REGISTRY (the container registry where the repository/images are hosted, for example registry.gitlab.com)
  • QA_THIRD_PARTY_DOCKER_REPOSITORY (the base repository path where the images are hosted, for example registry.gitlab.com/<project path>)
  • QA_THIRD_PARTY_DOCKER_USER (a username that has access to the container registry for this repository)
  • QA_THIRD_PARTY_DOCKER_PASSWORD (a password/token for the username to authenticate with)

The test configures the GitLab plugin in Jenkins with a URL of the GitLab instance that are used to run the tests. Bi-directional networking is needed between a GitLab instance and Jenkins, so GitLab can also be started in a Docker container.

To start a Docker container for GitLab based on the nightly image:

docker run \
  --publish 80:80 \
  --name gitlab \
  --hostname localhost \
  --network test
  gitlab/gitlab-ee:nightly

To run the tests from the /qa directory:

export QA_THIRD_PARTY_DOCKER_REGISTRY=<registry>
export QA_THIRD_PARTY_DOCKER_REPOSITORY=<repository>
export QA_THIRD_PARTY_DOCKER_USER=<user with registry access>
export QA_THIRD_PARTY_DOCKER_PASSWORD=<password for user>
export WEBDRIVER_HEADLESS=0
bin/qa Test::Instance::All http://localhost -- qa/specs/features/ee/browser_ui/3_create/jenkins/jenkins_build_status_spec.rb

The test automatically spins up a Docker container for Jenkins and tear down once the test completes.

If you need to run Jenkins manually outside of the tests, please refer to the README for the third party images project

Troubleshooting

If Jenkins Docker container exits without providing any information in the logs, try increasing the memory used by the Docker Engine.

Gitaly Cluster tests

The tests tagged :gitaly_ha are orchestrated tests that can only be run against a set of Docker containers as configured and started by the Test::Integration::GitalyCluster GitLab QA scenario.

As described in the documentation about the scenario noted above, the following command runs the tests:

gitlab-qa Test::Integration::GitalyCluster EE

However, that removes the containers after it finishes running the tests. If you would like to do further testing, for example, if you would like to run a single test via a debugger, you can use the --no-tests option to make gitlab-qa skip running the tests, and to leave the containers running so that you can continue to use them.

gitlab-qa Test::Integration::GitalyCluster EE --no-tests

When all the containers are running, the output of the docker ps command shows which ports the GitLab container can be accessed on. For example:

CONTAINER ID   ...     PORTS                                    NAMES
d15d3386a0a8   ...     22/tcp, 443/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32772->80/tcp   gitlab-gitaly-cluster

That shows that the GitLab instance running in the gitlab-gitaly-cluster container can be reached via http://localhost:32772. However, Git operations like cloning and pushing are performed against the URL revealed via the UI as the clone URL. It uses the hostname configured for the GitLab instance, which in this case matches the Docker container name and network, gitlab-gitaly-cluster.test. Before you can run the tests you need to configure your computer to access the container via that address. One option is to use Caddy server as described for running tests against GDK.

Another option is to use NGINX.

In both cases you must configure your machine to translate gitlab-gitaly-cluster.test into an appropriate IP address:

echo '127.0.0.1 gitlab-gitaly-cluster.test' | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

Then install NGINX:

# on macOS
brew install nginx

# on Debian/Ubuntu
apt install nginx

# on Fedora
yum install nginx

Finally, configure NGINX to pass requests for gitlab-gitaly-cluster.test to the GitLab instance:

# On Debian/Ubuntu, in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/gitlab-cluster
# On macOS, in /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf

server {
  server_name gitlab-gitaly-cluster.test;
  client_max_body_size 500m;

  location / {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:32772;
    proxy_set_header Host gitlab-gitaly-cluster.test;
  }
}

Restart NGINX for the configuration to take effect. For example:

# On Debian/Ubuntu
sudo systemctl restart nginx

# on macOS
sudo nginx -s reload

You could then run the tests from the /qa directory:

WEBDRIVER_HEADLESS=false bin/qa Test::Instance::All http://gitlab-gitaly-cluster.test -- --tag gitaly_cluster

Once you have finished testing you can stop and remove the Docker containers:

docker stop gitlab-gitaly-cluster praefect postgres gitaly3 gitaly2 gitaly1
docker rm gitlab-gitaly-cluster praefect postgres gitaly3 gitaly2 gitaly1

Tests that require a runner

To execute tests that use a runner without errors, while creating the GitLab Docker instance the --hostname parameter in the Docker run command should be given a specific interface IP address or a non-loopback hostname accessible from the runner container. Having localhost (or 127.0.0.1) as the GitLab hostname won’t work (unless the GitLab Runner is created with the Docker network as host)

Examples of tests which require a runner:

  • qa/qa/specs/features/ee/browser_ui/13_secure/create_merge_request_with_secure_spec.rb
  • qa/qa/specs/features/browser_ui/4_verify/runner/register_runner_spec.rb

Example:

docker run \
  --detach \
  --hostname interface_ip_address \
  --publish 80:80 \
  --name gitlab \
  --restart always \
  --volume ~/ee_volume/config:/etc/gitlab \
  --volume ~/ee_volume/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
  --volume ~/ee_volume/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
  --shm-size 256m \
  gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest

Where interface_ip_address is your local network’s interface IP, which you can find with the ifconfig command. The same would apply to GDK running with the instance address as localhost too.

Geo tests

Geo end-to-end tests can run locally against a Geo GDK setup or on Geo spun up in Docker containers.

Using Geo GDK

Run from the qa/ directory with both GDK Geo primary and Geo secondary instances running:

WEBDRIVER_HEADLESS=false bundle exec bin/qa QA::EE::Scenario::Test::Geo --primary-address http://localhost:3001 --secondary-address http://localhost:3002 --without-setup

Using Geo in Docker

You can use GitLab-QA Orchestrator to orchestrate two GitLab containers and configure them as a Geo setup.

Geo requires an EE license. To visit the Geo sites in your browser, you need a reverse proxy server (for example, NGINX).

  1. Export your EE license

    export EE_LICENSE=$(cat <path/to/your/gitlab_license>)

  2. Optional. Pull the GitLab image

    This step is optional because pulling the Docker image is part of the Test::Integration::Geo orchestrated scenario. However, it’s easier to monitor the download progress if you pull the image first, and the scenario skips this step after checking that the image is up to date.

    # For the most recent nightly image
docker pull gitlab/gitlab-ee:nightly

# For a specific release
docker pull gitlab/gitlab-ee:13.0.10-ee.0

# For a specific image
docker pull registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror/gitlab-ee:examplesha123456789

  3. Run the Test::Integration::Geo orchestrated scenario with the --no-teardown option to build the GitLab containers, configure the Geo setup, and run Geo end-to-end tests. Running the tests after the Geo setup is complete is optional; the containers keep running after you stop the tests.

    # Using the most recent nightly image
gitlab-qa Test::Integration::Geo EE --no-teardown

# Using a specific GitLab release
gitlab-qa Test::Integration::Geo EE:13.0.10-ee.0 --no-teardown

# Using a full image address
GITLAB_QA_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-token-here gitlab-qa Test::Integration::Geo registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror/gitlab-ee:examplesha123456789 --no-teardown

    You can use the --no-tests option to build the containers only, and then run the EE::Scenario::Test::Geo scenario from your GDK to complete setup and run tests. However, there might be configuration issues if your GDK and the containers are based on different GitLab versions. With the --no-teardown option, GitLab-QA uses the same GitLab version for the GitLab containers and the GitLab QA container used to configure the Geo setup.

  4. To visit the Geo sites in your browser, proxy requests to the hostnames used inside the containers. NGINX is used as the reverse proxy server for this example.

    Map the hostnames to the local IP in /etc/hosts file on your machine:

    127.0.0.1 gitlab-primary.geo gitlab-secondary.geo

    Note the assigned ports:

    $ docker port gitlab-primary

80/tcp -> 0.0.0.0:32768

$ docker port gitlab-secondary

80/tcp -> 0.0.0.0:32769

    Configure the reverse proxy server with the assigned ports in nginx.conf file (usually found in /usr/local/etc/nginx on a Mac):

    server {
  server_name gitlab-primary.geo;
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:32768; # Change port to your assigned port
    proxy_set_header Host gitlab-primary.geo;
  }
}

server {
  server_name gitlab-secondary.geo;
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:32769; # Change port to your assigned port
    proxy_set_header Host gitlab-secondary.geo;
  }
}

    Start or reload the reverse proxy server:

    sudo nginx
# or
sudo nginx -s reload

  5. To run end-to-end tests from your local GDK, run the EE::Scenario::Test::Geo scenario from the gitlab/qa/ directory. Include --without-setup to skip the Geo configuration steps.

    QA_LOG_LEVEL=debug GITLAB_QA_ACCESS_TOKEN=[add token here] GITLAB_QA_ADMIN_ACCESS_TOKEN=[add token here] bundle exec bin/qa QA::EE::Scenario::Test::Geo \
--primary-address http://gitlab-primary.geo \
--secondary-address http://gitlab-secondary.geo \
--without-setup

    If the containers need to be configured first (for example, if you used the --no-tests option in the previous step), run the QA::EE::Scenario::Test::Geo scenario as shown below to first do the Geo configuration steps, and then run Geo end-to-end tests. Make sure that EE_LICENSE is (still) defined in your shell session.

    QA_LOG_LEVEL=debug bundle exec bin/qa QA::EE::Scenario::Test::Geo \
--primary-address http://gitlab-primary.geo \
--primary-name gitlab-primary \
--secondary-address http://gitlab-secondary.geo \
--secondary-name gitlab-secondary

  6. Stop and remove containers

    docker stop gitlab-primary gitlab-secondary
docker rm gitlab-primary gitlab-secondary

Notes

  • You can find the full image address from a pipeline by following these instructions. You might be prompted to set the GITLAB_QA_ACCESS_TOKEN variable if you specify the full image address.
  • You can increase the wait time for replication by setting GEO_MAX_FILE_REPLICATION_TIME and GEO_MAX_DB_REPLICATION_TIME. The default is 120 seconds.
  • To save time during tests, create a Personal Access Token with API access on the Geo primary node, and pass that value in as GITLAB_QA_ACCESS_TOKEN and GITLAB_QA_ADMIN_ACCESS_TOKEN.

LDAP Tests

Tests that are tagged with :ldap_tls and :ldap_no_tls meta are orchestrated tests where the sign-in happens via LDAP.

These tests spin up a Docker container (osixia/openldap) running an instance of OpenLDAP. The container uses fixtures checked into the GitLab-QA repository to create base data such as users and groups including the administrator group. The password for all users including the tanuki user is password.

A GitLab instance is also created in a Docker container based on our LDAP setup documentation.

Tests that are tagged :ldap_tls enable TLS on GitLab using the certificate checked into the GitLab-QA repository.

The certificate was generated with OpenSSL using this command:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout gitlab.test.key -out gitlab.test.crt -days 3650 -nodes -subj "/C=US/ST=CA/L=San Francisco/O=GitLab/OU=Org/CN=gitlab.test"

The OpenLDAP container also uses its auto-generated TLS certificates.

Running LDAP tests with TLS enabled

To run the LDAP tests on your local with TLS enabled, follow these steps:

  1. Include the following entry in your /etc/hosts file:

    127.0.0.1 gitlab.test

    You can then run tests against GitLab in a Docker container on https://gitlab.test. The TLS certificate checked into the GitLab-QA repository is configured for this domain.

  2. Run the OpenLDAP container with TLS enabled. Change the path to gitlab-qa/fixtures/ldap directory to your local checkout path:

    docker network create test && docker run --name ldap-server --net test --hostname ldap-server.test --volume /path/to/gitlab-qa/fixtures/ldap:/container/service/slapd/assets/config/bootstrap/ldif/custom:Z --env LDAP_TLS_CRT_FILENAME="ldap-server.test.crt" --env LDAP_TLS_KEY_FILENAME="ldap-server.test.key" --env LDAP_TLS_ENFORCE="true" --env LDAP_TLS_VERIFY_CLIENT="never" osixia/openldap:latest --copy-service

  3. Run the GitLab container with TLS enabled. Change the path to gitlab-qa/tls_certificates/gitlab directory to your local checkout path:

    sudo docker run \
   --hostname gitlab.test \
   --net test \
   --publish 443:443 --publish 80:80 --publish 22:22 \
   --name gitlab \
   --volume /path/to/gitlab-qa/tls_certificates/gitlab:/etc/gitlab/ssl \
   --env GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG="gitlab_rails['ldap_enabled'] = true; gitlab_rails['ldap_servers'] = {\"main\"=>{\"label\"=>\"LDAP\", \"host\"=>\"ldap-server.test\", \"port\"=>636, \"uid\"=>\"uid\", \"bind_dn\"=>\"cn=admin,dc=example,dc=org\", \"password\"=>\"admin\", \"encryption\"=>\"simple_tls\", \"verify_certificates\"=>false, \"base\"=>\"dc=example,dc=org\", \"user_filter\"=>\"\", \"group_base\"=>\"ou=Global Groups,dc=example,dc=org\", \"admin_group\"=>\"AdminGroup\", \"external_groups\"=>\"\", \"sync_ssh_keys\"=>false}}; letsencrypt['enable'] = false; external_url 'https://gitlab.test'; gitlab_rails['ldap_sync_worker_cron'] = '* * * * *'; gitlab_rails['ldap_group_sync_worker_cron'] = '* * * * *'; " \
   gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest

  4. Run an LDAP test from gitlab/qa directory:

    GITLAB_LDAP_USERNAME="tanuki" GITLAB_LDAP_PASSWORD="password" QA_LOG_LEVEL=debug WEBDRIVER_HEADLESS=false bin/qa Test::Instance::All https://gitlab.test qa/specs/features/browser_ui/1_manage/login/log_into_gitlab_via_ldap_spec.rb

Running LDAP tests with TLS disabled

To run the LDAP tests on your local with TLS disabled, follow these steps:

  1. Run OpenLDAP container with TLS disabled. Change the path to gitlab-qa/fixtures/ldap directory to your local checkout path:

    docker network create test && docker run --net test --publish 389:389 --publish 636:636 --name ldap-server --hostname ldap-server.test --volume /path/to/gitlab-qa/fixtures/ldap:/container/service/slapd/assets/config/bootstrap/ldif/custom:Z --env LDAP_TLS="false" osixia/openldap:latest --copy-service

  2. Run the GitLab container:

    sudo docker run \
  --hostname localhost \
  --net test \
  --publish 443:443 --publish 80:80 --publish 22:22 \
  --name gitlab \
  --env GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG="gitlab_rails['ldap_enabled'] = true; gitlab_rails['ldap_servers'] = {\"main\"=>{\"label\"=>\"LDAP\", \"host\"=>\"ldap-server.test\", \"port\"=>389, \"uid\"=>\"uid\", \"bind_dn\"=>\"cn=admin,dc=example,dc=org\", \"password\"=>\"admin\", \"encryption\"=>\"plain\", \"verify_certificates\"=>false, \"base\"=>\"dc=example,dc=org\", \"user_filter\"=>\"\", \"group_base\"=>\"ou=Global Groups,dc=example,dc=org\", \"admin_group\"=>\"AdminGroup\", \"external_groups\"=>\"\", \"sync_ssh_keys\"=>false}}; gitlab_rails['ldap_sync_worker_cron'] = '* * * * *'; gitlab_rails['ldap_group_sync_worker_cron'] = '* * * * *'; " \
gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest

  3. Run an LDAP test from gitlab/qa directory:

    GITLAB_LDAP_USERNAME="tanuki" GITLAB_LDAP_PASSWORD="password" QA_LOG_LEVEL=debug WEBDRIVER_HEADLESS=false bin/qa Test::Instance::All http://localhost qa/specs/features/browser_ui/1_manage/login/log_into_gitlab_via_ldap_spec.rb

SMTP tests

Tests that are tagged with :smtp meta tag are orchestrated tests that ensure email notifications are received by a user.

These tests require a GitLab instance with SMTP enabled and integrated with an SMTP server, MailHog.

To run these tests locally against the GDK:

  1. Add these settings to your gitlab.yml file:

    smtp:
  enabled: true
  address: "mailhog.test"
  port: 1025

  2. Start MailHog in a Docker container:

    docker network create test && docker run \
  --network test \
  --hostname mailhog.test \
  --name mailhog \
  --publish 1025:1025 \
  --publish 8025:8025 \
  mailhog/mailhog:v1.0.0

  3. Run the test from gitlab/qa directory:

    QA_LOG_LEVEL=debug WEBDRIVER_HEADLESS=false bin/qa Test::Instance::All http://localhost:3000 qa/specs/features/browser_ui/2_plan/email/trigger_email_notification_spec.rb -- --tag orchestrated

For instructions on how to run these tests using the gitlab-qa gem, please refer to the GitLab QA documentation.

Guide to the mobile suite

What are mobile tests

Tests that are tagged with :mobile can be run against specified mobile devices using cloud emulator/simulator services.

How to run mobile tests with Sauce Labs

Running directly against an environment like staging is not recommended because Sauce Labs test logs expose credentials. Therefore, it is best practice and the default to use a tunnel.

For tunnel installation instructions, read Sauce Connect Proxy Installation. To start the tunnel, after following the installation above, copy the run command in Sauce Labs > Tunnels (must be logged in to Sauce Labs with the credentials found in 1Password) and run in terminal.

note
It is highly recommended to use GITLAB_QA_ACCESS_TOKEN to speed up tests and reduce flakiness.

QA_REMOTE_MOBILE_DEVICE_NAME can be any device name listed in Supported browsers and devices under Emulators/simulators and the latest versions of Android or iOS. QA_BROWSER must be set to safari for iOS devices and chrome for Android devices.

  1. To test against a local instance with a tunnel running, in gitlab/qa run:
$ QA_BROWSER="safari" \
  QA_REMOTE_MOBILE_DEVICE_NAME="iPhone 12 Simulator" \
  QA_REMOTE_GRID="ondemand.saucelabs.com:80" \
  QA_REMOTE_GRID_USERNAME="gitlab-sl" \
  QA_REMOTE_GRID_ACCESS_KEY="<found in Sauce Lab account>" \
  GITLAB_QA_ACCESS_TOKEN="<token>" \
  bundle exec bin/qa Test::Instance::All http://<local_ip>:3000 -- <relative_spec_path>

Results can be watched in real time while logged into Sauce Labs under AUTOMATED > Test Results.

How to add an existing test to the mobile suite

The main reason a test might fail when adding the :mobile tag is navigation differences in desktop vs mobile layouts, therefore the test needs to be updated to use mobile navigation when running mobile tests.

If an existing method needs to be changed or a new one created, a new mobile page object should be created in qa/qa/mobile/page/ and it should be prepended in the original page object by adding:

prepend Mobile::Page::NewPageObject if Runtime::Env.mobile_layout?

For example to change an existing method when running mobile tests:

New mobile page object:

module QA
  module Mobile
    module Page
      module Project
        module Show
          extend QA::Page::PageConcern

          def self.prepended(base)
            super

            base.class_eval do
              prepend QA::Mobile::Page::Main::Menu

              view 'app/assets/javascripts/nav/components/top_nav_new_dropdown.vue' do
                element :new_issue_mobile_button
              end
            end
          end

          def go_to_new_issue
            open_mobile_new_dropdown

            click_element(:new_issue_mobile_button)
          end
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

Original page object prepending the new mobile if there’s a mobile layout:

module QA
  module Page
    module Project
      class Show < Page::Base
        prepend Mobile::Page::Project::Show if Runtime::Env.mobile_layout?

        view 'app/views/layouts/header/_new_dropdown.html.haml' do
          element :new_menu_toggle
        end

        view 'app/helpers/nav/new_dropdown_helper.rb' do
          element :new_issue_link
        end

        def go_to_new_issue
          click_element(:new_menu_toggle)
          click_element(:new_issue_link)
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

When running mobile tests for phone layouts, both remote_mobile_device_name and mobile_layout are true but when using a tablet layout, only remote_mobile_device_name is true. This is because phone layouts have more menus closed by default such as how both tablets and phones have the left nav closed but unlike phone layouts, tablets have the regular top navigation bar, not the mobile one. So in the case where the navigation being edited needs to be used in tablet layouts as well, use remote_mobile_device_name instead of mobile_layout? when prepending so it will use it if it’s a tablet layout as well.

Targeting canary vs non-canary components in live environments

Use the QA_COOKIES ENV variable to have the entire test target a canary (staging-canary or canary) or non-canary (staging or production) environment.

Locally, that would mean prepending the ENV variable to your call to bin/qa. To target the canary version of that environment:

QA_COOKIES="gitlab_canary=true" WEBDRIVER_HEADLESS=false bin/qa Test::Instance::Staging <YOUR SPECIFIC TAGS OR TESTS>

Alternatively, you may set the cookie to false to ensure the non-canary version is targeted.

You can also export the cookie for your current session to avoid prepending it each time:

export QA_COOKIES="gitlab_canary=true"

Within a specific test, you can target either the canary or non-canary nodes within live environments, such as staging and production.

For example, to switch back and forth between the two environments, you could utilize the target_canary method:

it 'tests toggling between canary and non-canary nodes' do
  Runtime::Browser.visit(:gitlab, Page::Main::Login)

  # After starting the browser session, use the target_canary method ...

  Runtime::Browser::Session.target_canary(true)
  Flow::Login.sign_in

  verify_session_on_canary(true)

  Runtime::Browser::Session.target_canary(false)

  # Refresh the page ...

  verify_session_on_canary(false)

  # Log out and clean up ...
end

def verify_session_on_canary(enable_canary)
  Page::Main::Menu.perform do |menu|
    aggregate_failures 'testing session log in' do
      expect(menu.canary?).to be(enable_canary)
    end
  end
end

You can verify whether GitLab is appropriately redirecting your session to the canary or non-canary nodes with the menu.canary? method.

The above spec is verbose, written specifically this way to ensure the idea behind the implementation is clear. We recommend following the practices detailed within our Beginner’s guide to writing end-to-end tests.

Tests for GitLab as OpenID Connect (OIDC) and OAuth provider

To run the login_via_oauth_and_oidc_with_gitlab_as_idp_spec on your local machine:

  1. Make sure your GDK is set to run on a non-localhost address such as gdk.test:3000.
  2. Configure a loopback interface to 172.16.123.1.
  3. Make sure Docker Desktop or Rancher Desktop is running.
  4. Add an entry to your /etc/hosts file for gitlab-oidc-consumer.bridge and gitlab-oauth-consumer.bridge pointing to 127.0.0.1.

  5. From the qa directory, run the following command. To set the GitLab image you want to use, update the RELEASE variable. For example, to use the latest EE image, set RELEASE to gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest:

    bundle install

RELEASE_REGISTRY_URL='registry.gitlab.com' RELEASE_REGISTRY_USERNAME='<your_gitlab_username>' RELEASE_REGISTRY_PASSWORD='<your_gitlab_personal_access_token>' RELEASE='registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/omnibus-gitlab-mirror/gitlab-ee:c0ae46db6b31ea231b2de88961cd687acf634179' GITLAB_QA_ADMIN_ACCESS_TOKEN="<your_gdk_admin_personal_access_token>" QA_DEBUG=true CHROME_HEADLESS=false bundle exec bin/qa Test::Instance::All http://gdk.test:3000 qa/specs/features/browser_ui/1_manage/login/login_via_oauth_and_oidc_with_gitlab_as_idp_spec.rb