How to unit test conditions that cannot be simulated

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1

Let me give a specific example. We use Foreman for patching so hosts need to be registered with Foreman before they can receive patches. Registration is done by installing the CA file locally and then running cloud-init on the activation key.

I can come up with a way to unit test only if I am on the network and can reach the Foreman server and install the CA.

But if I want to test on my laptop disconnected from the network its not possible. Yes, I can verify that subscription-manager is installed. And I can verify that the CA rpm is installed. But I would be unable to see which repos in Foreman I am subscribed to. Nor could I verify that the Activation Key is correctly processed.

Or am I taking the concept of unit testing way to far???

2

Or not far enough, that is closer to an integration test since you are relying on and using the actual outside resource.

To make it independent the test would have to put up a faux foreman service to call, there are many examples of this for AWS and other services … but it can get out of hand depending on how fluid the API is for those services.

What you should really evaluate is if your test is ‘good enough’, that depends a lot on your context, required reliability, target audience and how often and under which circumstances does the expected environment change in production.

3

ok. Then it sounds like I really should learn about how to do integration testing.