System overview

Background

Using the local:docker runner of Testground enables you to test distributed/p2p systems on your local machine with precisely the same build artifacts as the cluster:k8s runner. The use of Docker images as a build target ensures plans are built the same way with the same build environment even when built on a different machine or a different OS.

The overall performance of the local:docker runner depends highly on the machine running the tests, though we are frequently able to run tests with 100+ instances without issue using commonly-available laptops or desktop computers.

Dependencies

Aside from the sidecar, which is built separately, any auxiliary Docker images are downloaded if needed. This is what you need to get started:

• A laptop or desktop with reasonable hardware specs. To be able run simulations of a reasonable size, we recommend at least the following:

  • 8GB memory

  • 50GB available storage

• The following software setup is required:

  • Docker daemon

  • a non-root account with write access to the Docker socket.

  • Sidecar container installation. See installation instructions in Getting Started

Testground-supplied containers

When Testground runs its first plan, several additional containers will be downloaded and started. Here is an overview of everything Testground adds to your system

• Docker networks:

  • testground-build

    • This network is used only during the build phase.

    • Test plan containers are not attached to this network.

  • testground-control

    • This network is used by test plan containers to communicate with the sync service and the host.

    • Though this is a public-facing network, plan containers cannot access the internet through this network because routes are removed.

  • testground-data

    • Plan containers communicate with each other over this network.

    • This is the network used for testing.

    • The sidecar modifies the link quality and performance to simulate real-world conditions.

• Docker containers:

  • goproxy

    • This container is attached to the build network.

    • It speeds up Go builds.

    • It is optional.

  • redis

    • This is the backend database of the Testground sync service.

  • grafana

    • Visualisation software that Testground uses for its dashboards.

  • influxdb

    • Time-series database that Testground uses for various diagnostics and events.