Network Protocol Testing Using Robot Framework

ROBOT FRAMEWORK
Test Automation the Smart Way!

Test Automation the Smart Way!
ROBOT FRAMEWORK

Introduction
Robot Framework is a Pythonbased, extensible keyworddriven
test automation framework for endtoend acceptance testing and
acceptancetestdriven development (ATDD).
It can be used for testing distributed, heterogeneous applications,
where verification requires touching several technologies and
interfaces.
Robot Framework is operating system and application
independent.
It empowers testers to automate and manage complex workflow
scripts efficiently.
Robot Framework is open source software released under
Apache License 2.0.
Implemented with Python
– Runs also on Jython (JVM) and IronPython (.NET)
– Can be extended natively using Python or Java
– Other languages supported via a remote interface

Why Robot?
 Ease of use
    Logging and Failure Analysis
&  Flexibility
    Robot is keyword driven
    Robot is highly extensible
    Robot integrates with development tools
    Robot has robust reporting
    Multiple Operating Systems support
    Reusable/custom keywords
    Maintainability is easy
    Extensive set of standard, external  libraries

High Level Architecture
Robot Framework has a modular
architecture that can be extended with
bundled and selfmade test libraries.
When test execution is started, the
framework first parses the test data. It
then utilizes keywords provided by the
test libraries to interact with the
system under test. Libraries can
communicate with the system either
directly or using other test tools as
drivers.
Test execution is started from the
command line. As a result you get
report and log in HTML format as well
as an XML output. These provide
extensive look into what your system
does.
Test data Syntax
Test Library API
Application Interface
TEST DATA
ROBOT FRAMEWORK
TEST LIBRARIES
SYSTEM UNDER TEST
TEST TOOLS

Test libraries provide the actual testing
capabilities to Robot Framework by
providing keywords.
There are several standard libraries that
are bundled in with the framework, and
galore of separately developed external
libraries that can be installed based on your
needs
Standard Libraries
 Builtin
 Operating System
 Process
 Telnet
 Remote
 Screenshot
External Libraries
 Selenium2Library
 HTTP
 FTP
 Rammbock
 SSH
 Django
 Android
 IOS
Test Libraries

Important libraries for automating router
implementation
Rammbock
Rammbock is unique library which help developing automation test cases to a Networking
domain based application. Rammbock is a simple python based library that will help to
automate the generation of simple TCP/IP or UDP based packets.
SSH
With the SSH library an automation script can connect to a remote UNIX or a LINUX machine
and execute any commands remotely.
Telnet
Makes it possible to connect to Telnet servers and
execute commands on the opened connections.
Operating System
The operating systems library provides the
flexibility execute any OS command in the
environment or the machine the script is being
executed

Protocol testing using Robot Framework (BGP)
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a standardized exterior gateway protocol designed to exchange
routing and reachability information among autonomous systems (AS) on the Internet.BGP is the
routing protocol of the global Internet, as well as for Service Provider private networks.Thus checking
whether BGP is working as per respective standard is of prime importance.
Automated protocol testing is the best bet to boost the efficiency and broaden the scope of testing.
What can be the best, other than ROBOT FRAMEWORK ????
Robot Framework can be used to automate test cases in a quick and proficient fashion.Its powerful
features such as Ease of use, Flexibility, Extensive Libraries, and Robust reporting, make it a wonderful
tool in hands of a network manager entrusted a task to test the network.
Thus we have developed test suite with tests for configuring BGP and testing it.
We use a Network Emulation tool called GNS3
GNS3 provides a realtime network simulation for predeployment testing without
the need for network hardware.
Let’s you create dynamic network maps for troubleshooting and proof of concept
(POC) testing

Design Requirements
CPU Speed : 2.1Ghz
RAM : 4GB
OS : Ubuntu
Other Softwares Required:
Network Emulator GNS3 1.5.2
with Cisco router IOS image :c7200p-adventerprisek9_sna-mz
Python 2.7.12
Robot Framework 3.0

File Structure & Testcase Style
The hierarchical structure for arranging test cases is built as follows:
Test cases are created in test case files.
A test case file automatically creates a test suite containing the test cases in that file.
In addition to this, there are:
Test libraries containing the lowestlevel keywords.
Resource files with variables and higherlevel user keywords.
Variable files to provide more flexible ways to create variables than resource files.
Test suites uses a  Simple Keyword Driven Approach testcase style of Robot Framework
Keywords are composable, meaning you can define new keywords that use preexisting keywords. This
way, you can abstract details of testing to something that makes immediate sense; for example, we don't
need to know what exactly a particular  step  does, unless we want to. Test cases are therefore clear and
readable, with just the right level of abstraction to convey the intent of the test, rather than the nuts
and bolts.
All keywords in Robot Framework come from some library. What if existing libraries do not have what
you need? Easy! Just make a library of your own!
TestCase File
Suite Setup,Teardown & Resource File
   Test Libraries(Python Libraries)
   Topology File

Network Topology Under Test
Where,
R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 : Routers(Devices under test)
AS1, AS2, AS3 :Autonomous systems
f0/0, f0/1 :FastEthernet interfaces

*** Settings ***
Metadata Version 1.0
... More Info For more information about Robot Framework see http://robotframework.org
... Author Payal Jain
... Date 19 Dec 2016
... Executed At ${HOST}
... Test Framework Robot Framework Python
Documentation A test suite with tests for configuring BGP.
... Topology:-
... _________________________
| R1 AS2 |
... | / |
... | / |
... | R2 R3 |
... | | | |
|________| ______ |_________|
________| |_________
... | AS1 | | AS3 |
| | | |
... | R4 | | R5 |
... |_______ | |________ |
Testplan Goals:-
... 1. Configure IP addresses as per the topology.
... 2. Each Router should have a loopback0 interface.
... 3. Configure OSPF within AS2 to advertise the loopback0 interfaces.
... Don't advertise or run OSPF on the links interconnecting AS1 and AS3.
... 4. Configure IBGP between R2 and R3. Source the BGP updates from the loopback0 interfaces.
... 5. Enable BGP synchronisation.
... 6. Configure EBGP between R2 and R4.
... 7. Configure EBGP between R3 and R5.
... 8. Advertise the loopback0 interfaces on R4 and R5.
... 9. Ensure AS1 and AS3 can communicate with each other without removing the BGP synchronisation command.
Resource Resource.robot
Suite Setup Setup Actions
Suite Teardown Teardown Actions
Sample Test_Case File
Robot Framework test cases are created using test case tables in test case files. Such a file automatically creates a test suite from all the test cases it
contains.
The following settings in the Setting table can be used to customize the test suite:
Documentation
Used for specifying a test suite documentation
Metadata
Used for setting free test suite metadata as namevalue pairs.
Suite Setup, Suite Teardown
Specify suite setup and teardown.

*** Test Cases ***
Bring_up Phase
Configure IP addresses as per the topology
Configure ip address
Set loopback interface
Configure OSPF within AS2 to advertise the connected networks
Enable OSPF in devices present in AS2 and set the ospf neighbors
Configure IBGP and source the BGP updates from the loopback0 interfaces
Enable BGP and advertise the updates from the loopback interface
Enable BGP Synchronisation
Enable synchronisation between border routers
Configure EBGP and source the BGP updates from the loopback0 interfaces
Enable BGP and advertise networks connected outside the autonomous system
Advertise loopback interface on AS1 and AS3
Operational Phase
Check if ip addresses is set and interface is up
Ensure that different autonomous systems can communicate with each other
Check if OSPF neighbors are established
Redistribute in order to make routes available in IBGP table
Check if all routes are learnt by devices
                  Establish route between R2 and R3
Redistribute routes from OSPF into BGP
.......Sample Test_Case File
This  includes the testcases to implement testplan goals.The testsuite contains two main  critical tests:
Bring_Up Phase : Tests to configure the device under test(DUT) as per the testplan
Operational Phase  : Tests to check the operability of a DUT as per the configuration done in bringup phase

*** Settings ***
Documentation Resource file containing all the PYTHON API implementations.
Library setup_actions.py
Library Devices.py
Library OSPF.py
Library IBGP.py
Library operational_ph.py
Library String
Variables variable.py
*** Variables ***
@{Devices} = R1 R2 R3 R4 R5
${ELEMENT}
*** Keywords ***
Setup Actions
Log To Console Setup Actions done here
Log To Console Connecting to all devices and enabling password and hostname
Run Keyword and Continue On Failure connect_all enable
Teardown Actions
Log To Console Teardown Actions done here
Log To Console Unconfiguring IP_Address
Run Keyword and Continue On Failure set_IP R1 ${Links_of_R1} unconfigure
Log To Console IP_Address unconfigured in R1
Log To Console Disabling password and unsetting hostname
Run Keyword and Continue On Failure connect_all disable
The higherlevel structure of resource files is the same as that of test case files
User keywords and variables in test case files and test suite initialization files can only be used in files where they are created, but resource files provide a
mechanism for sharing them.
Sample Resource file

import pexpect
import getdata
import time
import execute
import Device
class OSPF_Configuration:
def Configure_ospf(self,Device,process_id,Networks_connected,Area,Action):
with open('pr2.json') as data_file:
device_data = json.load(data_file)
hostname = device_data['Device_Details'][Device]['Hostname']
child = Device.connect(Device)
if (child):
Device.flushBuffer(10,child)
child.sendcontrol('m')
flag = child.expect([hostname+'>',hostname+'#','Router>','Router#',pexpect.EOF,pexpect.TIMEOUT],timeout=50)
print 'flag =%d' % flag
if flag==0 or flag==2:
self.Login(Device,child)
if Action == 'enable':
if (isinstance(Networks_connected,list)):
for NID in Networks_connected:
print NID
configs = """
configure terminal
router ospf %s
network %s area %s
end
""" % (process_id,NID,Area)
commands = configs.split('n')
execute.execute(child,command)
child.sendcontrol('m')
child.sendline('exit')
Child.sendcontrol('m')
Sample Python Library
This defines the implementation of user keywords.

Test Execution

Execute Test_cases using simple command on the terminal
robot <filename>.robot

Topology File(.json)
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. The following json file acts as a input
to the test cases, specifying the basic configuration details of devices under test.

Test resultsTest Report
Report details clearly viewable statistics including Pass/Fail ratios and elapsed times. This gives you great overview on the test
execution.

Test Execution Log (log.html)
Log details statistics from each step of the test execution, from keyword to keyword. It enables you to drill down on the specifics of
the test in case of failure or otherwise.

Test_SetupInitial configuration in devices
A test setup is something that is executed before a test case.
Example: Set up the initial configurations of device under test(DUT) such as establishing Telnet connection & setting up the password and
hostname.

Bring_up Phase

The following is the snapshot of Bring_up phase in the log file.This includes tests to configure the device under test(DUT)
as per the testplan.
Example: Configuring of IP_address,protocols etc.

Example :Bring_up Phase(Configuring IBGP)


The following snapshot illustrates the onfiguration of IBGP Protocol in Device

Operational Phase


The following is the snapshot of Operational phase in the log file. This includes tests to check the operability of a DUT as
per the configuration done in bringup phase.
Example:Check if IP Address is set and inteface is up

Teardown – Disabling the initial configuration


A test teardown is something that is executed after a test case.
Example:Disable the initial configurations of device under test, such as unset the password and hostname.

References
http://robotframework.org/robotframework/latest/RobotFrameworkUserGuide.html#
https://gns3.com
https://docs.gns3.com/
All project related documents are available at github(Python Libraries)
https://github.com/cqtbo/robot_automation

Network Protocol Testing Using Robot Framework

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