Test Environment Configuration in a Complex World

摘要

Imagine you need to reproduce a complex test environment configuration that consists of Windows Server and Client machines and requires several Active Directory Domains, DNS and/or DHCP roles installed on some of the server machines. How will you implement this in a way that is robust across all available versions, editions and languages of Windows Server? With the invention of PowerShell, Windows got command line usability and tools for local and remote management of Windows Server that allows tackling these kinds of problems. This paper offers an approach that allows capturing and reproducing a complex test configuration in an Xml file and executing a test scenario configuration using PowerShell scripting and PowerShell remoting. This approach may be used to test applications, networking components, or products which interact or run under Microsoft Windows. In this paper we will examine the problems associated with the current approach, show the new approach, then show how the new approach is more flexible, faster to develop new test scenarios, and more robust.