System Tests for AG@ROE

One of the biggest things we have to address if we are to persuade astros that the VO is a serious project is reliability. Currently too many services fall over or don't meet interoperability standards fully.
At Edinburgh we are hosting the full range of VO Services from datasets such as the WFCAM Science Archive to applications such as the Anomaly Detector and STILTS to infrastructure such as MySpace. We have to make sure that we know that systems have fallen over before our customers do.
We are going to need a multilayered solution, from simple-minded pinging of webservices such as that provided by MARS (currently down, awaiting a java upgrade) to the heartBeat service in the VOSupportInterfaces currently being developed by the IVOA GWS group. Going to greater depth, I think we need automated system tests of all of our user-facing components, testing them in the same way as a user would. These system tests would be run (say) once a day, rather than providing the real-time feedback offered by the other techniques. For example, MySpace should be tested by creating folders and files, storing and retrieving data. A dataset should be tested by running a standard conesearch etc.

A convenient way to run these tests is via the Astro Server Runtime developed by Noel Winstanley. This offers an easy API to all the VO services we deploy here at Edinburgh and allows me to write the tests in my language-of-choice. From my previous experience of running the Integration&Release process, I've decided to go with JUnit tests wrapped in a Maven project run by a cron job. This is because JUnit tests are easy to write, and Maven provides easy facilities to publish reports to the web on the success rate of the tests.

Status of the System Tests project:

• Tests for Community and MySpace written
• Tests for conesearches fleshed out
• Code has been put into cvs under: http://www.astrogrid.org/viewcvs/test/AgAtRoe/
  
• Bugs in the Workbench and Astro Server Runtime have been identified that block further development
• Need to restructure build to use the full, un-Proguarded ASR.
  

(Two) Weekly Summary 27/9/06

• One Week at IVOA Moscow (Notes)
  
• Released a draft of the Plastic spec for the IVOA note, which received quite a thorough going over from MT.
• Started work on System tests for AG@ROE
  

Anomaly Detector problem

There seems to be a problem running the Anomaly Detector algorithm at
http://eurovotech.org/twiki/bin/view/VOTech/AnomalyDetection

This algorithm is currently in the ROE Test registry, not in the main AstroGrid registry. Unfortunately the new workbench seems to be disregarding registry settings and using Leicester, regardless. This might be linked to the change over to use the streaming registry client.

Useful page:
Workbench configuration options.

(Problem now fixed in HEAD)

(Two) Weekly Summary 13/9/06

• In Strasbourg at VOTech meeting.
  
• Progress on messages for clustering and spectra
• approval from MT and TB for IVOA note
• Interesting tool from Bruno...might help with SIAP service for SSA
• Information from Guy on secure SIAP - seems that TLS is the way forward, provided we can find a container that can deal with certificates.
• I've asked Pierre Fernique (deputising for Mark Allen) for a slot at the IVOA meeting - it seems they're not inundated with speakers at the apps IG.
• Marked MSc dissertation.
  

Actions Items:
--------------

(68.2) JDT to give an ROE coffee talk with a demo of AstroGrid
- maybe also including access to UKIDSS data.
[open: decided to postpone this until after registration of users]

(69.2) JDT to pass this up to Noel Winstanley and/or Kevin Benson.
[closed: see AG@ROE below]
Follow up: JDT to fix registry entries

(70.4) JDT to contact Guy Rixon to check that their plans for wrapping
STIL(TS) as CEA services are consistent.
[closed: JDT decided that the best thing to do would be to deploy here
a clone of the Cambridge set-up. STILTS can auto-generate the required
application description, so that it is possible to have the description
for the two installations being identical, which would enable JES to
pick on or other of them.]

Followup: JDT has now cloned the STILTS installation at the ROE. This is using STILTS' auto-generated app-description. There are a couple of minor issues: some of the description metadata is html-formatted, and doesn't play nicely with the Workbench, and one of the parameter types has been incorrectly specified. [the constant specifying the STILTS command]. One of the disadvantages of cloning the Cambridge installation is that we in Edinburgh don't get any credit - it's got IoA logos all over it.

(70.5) JDT to contact Phil Nicholson to ask about his plans for
a standard SIAP component.
[closed: see AG@ROE below]

Follow up: see JDT comments above.

AOB
---

IBM hardware
JDT mentioned that there had been an email circulated about the possibility of
some surplus IBM hardware becoming available on site soon.
Any news?