US 11,144,439 B2Granted

Emulation-based testing of a microservices architecture

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsJohn A. Reeve, Mark Peter Frost, Paul S. M. Thorpe

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Abstract

A method for integration-testing a microservices-based application is performed by an automated software-testing system by using mock software entities. The mock entities emulate the behavior of other microservices or external software applications that would normally interact with the tested microservices in a production environment. The mock entities are managed by a mock server that communicates with the test system through a messaging system. The mock server determines how the mock entities should respond to the tested application's service requests by referring to test guidelines stored in a behavior store. During testing, the test system dynamically updates the behavior store in response to the tested application's service requests and to other indicators of the current state of the tested application. If the tested application interacts with the mock entities during the test as expected, the test system deems the application to have passed the integration test.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for emulation-based automated integration testing of a microservices-architecture application, the method comprising:

launching, by an integration-testing system, a mock software entity,
where the application comprises a pluarality of microservices that are each capable of operating as a standalone process and that are each capable of being tested independently,
where the plurality of microservices comprises multiple pairs of microservices,
where each pair of microservices, selected from the plurality of microservices, is capable of communicating with each other only through a predefined channel that is specific to that pair of microservices,
where the mock software entity comprises an interface mechanism of a production software entity that exchanges data in a production environment with a first microservice of the set of microservices;
forwarding to the first microservice, by the system, a first response to a first service request,
where the first service request, after being sent by the first microservice to the production software entity, is intercepted by the system and redirected to the mock software entity, and
where the first response is received by the system from the mock software entity in response to receiving the first service request;
detecting, by the system, whether the first microservice produces a desired output after receiving the first response;
repeating the launching, forwarding, and detecting for all microservices of the plurality of microservices, that have not yet been subject to the launching forwarding, and detecting, and for all production software entities known to exchange data in the production environment with any microservice of the set of microservices;
determining, by the system, whether all microservices of the plurality of microservices produced desired output during all of the forwarding and detecting steps;
and
reporting, by the system, that the application has passed the automated integration testing if all microservices of the plurality of microservices produced desired output during all of the forwarding and detecting steps.

10 more elements

An integration-testing system comprising a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a computer-readable hardware storage device coupled to the processor, the storage device containing program code configured to be run by the processor via the memory to implement a method for emulation-based automated integration testing of a microservices architecture, the method comprising:

launching a mock software entity,
where a microservices-architecture application comprises a plurality of microservices that are each capable of operating as a standalone process and that are each capable of being tested independently,
where the plurality of microservices comprises multiple pairs of microservices,
where each pair of microservices, selected from the plurality of microservices, is capable of communicating with each other only through a predefined channel that is specific to that pair of microservices,
where the mock software entity comprises an interface mechanism of a production software entity that exchanges data in a production environment with a first microservice of the plurality of microservices;
forwarding to the first microservice, by the system, a first response to a first service request,
where the first service request, after being sent by the first microservice to the production software entity, had been intercepted by the system and redirected to the mock software entity, and
where the first response was received by the system from the mock software entity in response to receiving the first service request;
detecting, by the system, whether the first microservice produces a desired output after receiving the first response;
repeating the launching, forwarding, and detecting for all microservices of the plurality of microservices, that have not yet been subject to the launching forwarding, and detecting, and for all production software entities known to exchange data in the production environment with any microservice of the plurality of microservices;
determining, by the system, whether all microservices of the plurality of microservices produced desired output during all of the forwarding and detecting steps;
and
reporting, by the system, that the application has passed the automated integration testing if all microservices of the set of microservices produced desired output during all of the forwarding and detecting steps.

10 more elements

A computer program product, comprising a computer-readable hardware storage device having a computer-readable program code stored therein, the program code configured to be executed by an integration-testing system comprising a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a computer-readable hardware storage device coupled to the processor, the storage device containing program code configured to be run by the processor via the memory to implement a method for emulation-based integration testing of a microservices-architecture application, the method comprising:

launching a mock software entity,
where the microservices-architecture application comprises a plurality of microservices that are each capable of operating as a standalone process and that are each capable of being tested independently,
where the plurality of microservices comprises multiple pairs of microservices,
where each pair of microservices, selected from the plurality of microservices, is capable of communicating with each other only through a predefined channel that is specific to that pair of microservices,
where the mock software entity comprises an interface mechanism of a production software entity that exchanges data in a production environment with a first microservice of the plurality of microservices;
forwarding to the first microservice, by the system, a first response to a first service request,
where the first service request, after being sent by the first microservice to the production software entity, is intercepted by the system and redirected to the mock software entity, and
where the first response was received by the system from the mock software entity in response to receiving the first service request;
detecting, by the system, whether the first microservice produces a desired output after receiving the first response;
repeating the launching, forwarding, and detecting for all microservices of the plurality of microservices, that have not yet been subject to the launching forwarding, and detecting, and for all production software entities known to exchange data in the production environment with any microservice of the plurality of microservices;
determining, by the system, whether all microservices of the plurality of microservices produced desired output during the forwarding, and detecting interactions;
and
reporting, by the system, that the microservices-architecture application has passed the automated integration testing if all microservices of the plurality of microservices produced desired output during the forwarding and detecting interactions.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/781,592Filed 4 Feb 2020 · continuation
Priority: 20 Nov 2017
Published: US 2020/0174915 A14 Jun 2020
Granted: 12 Oct 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

G06F 11/3696
Testing of software: methods or tools to render software testable
G06F 11/3684
Test management: for test design, e.g. generating new test cases
G06F 11/3688
Test management: for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites
G06F 11/3692
Test management: for test results analysis

Family

Application15/817,364Parent of this continuation · filed 20 Nov 2017
Application15/841,428Parent of this continuation · filed 14 Dec 2017
US 2020/0174915 A1Pre-grant publication · published 4 Jun 2020
US 10,592,403 B2Parent of this continuation
US 10,592,402 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2019/0155721 A1Published application
US 2019/0156199 A1Published application
US 11,144,439 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.