Business & Integration IT Consultant
Continuous integration, continuous delivery and CI CD pipeline in testing
In this article, we discuss continuous integration and continuous delivery from a testing perspective. We will talk about what is CI CD pipeline, CI CD testing, how to automate it and what are the best tools to do it.
CICD definition (Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery)
CICD stands for Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery, which is a widely used concept in the case of delivering software in an environment that is characterized by continuous evolution. To better understand it, continuous integration is a method where developers have to push code changes to the main branch continuously instead of pushing many changes at once as was customary in the waterfall model. In an agile environment, where requirements and timelines can change rapidly based on client needs and changing market norms, continuous integration proves to be very useful. Read more in our article on Agile Methodology in Testing. With continuous integration (CI), automated tests are run after each integration, and so feedback on the quality of the application can be obtained in a short time. The faster the feedback, the faster the delivery and it allows us more time to adapt to changes. Continuous Delivery (CD) allows software development teams to plan and organize their release cycles efficiently. By adopting CD practices, teams can streamline the process of automating the infrastructure and then deploying the software into the production environment.
What is CI CD testing?
Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI CD) encompasses the principles, techniques, practices, and technologies that enable a DevOps team to develop and test software in an automated way. CI CD testing is one phase of this process that takes care of quality assurance and rapid delivery of software with zero defects. The goal of CI CD testing is to support an update or release version only when it passes functional requirements testing, remains stable and bug-free. It is usually an automated process that is fully integrated with the CICD pipeline.
What is CICD pipeline?
The CI/CD pipeline is an automated process used by software development teams to streamline the creation, testing and deployment of applications. “CI” represents continuous integration, in which developers often merge code changes into a central code repository, allowing early detection of integration issues. “CD” refers to continuous deployment or continuous delivery, which automates the release of an application to a designated environment, ensuring that it is readily available to users. This practice is essential for teams that aim to improve software quality and accelerate delivery through regular and reliable updates.
What is continuous testing?
In continuous integration, each version release of the application undergoes automated tests to determine the stability of the system. This process is called continuous testing. Therefore, continuous testing not only helps in creating a better product and getting feedback from customers. Automated testing (read our article on automation testing tools) can play an important role when it comes to continuous testing. Using a tool for this process and running automation code can help us identify failures and blockages that appear immediately after deploying an updated code change.
What should you keep in mind in order to perform continuous testing?
- Use the tool to generate and execute automation tests.
- Create and maintain an effective framework for automated tests.
- Separate development and testing environment.
- Use real data/production data where possible.
- Integrate the automation tool into CICD for faster feedback.
- Parallel testing helps to identify performance errors.
Where does CI CD automation testing fit in the CICD process?
It is much easier to troubleshoot and fix a problem shortly after it is introduced into the code. Early detection prevents further code from being built on shaky foundations, which ultimately saves time and effort. Automated release testing tools integrate seamlessly with CI/CD tools, allowing you to insert test data into the pipeline and execute testing in incremental phases. At each step, you’ll get results that inform your next steps. Depending on the CI tool you choose, you can decide whether to move the release to the next phase based on the results of previous tests.
Atypical course of CI CD process:
- Development of the required feature within the sprint or within the deadline set by the customer.
- Moving and merging code into an existing code base.
- Initial source code quality analysis by unit test.
- Building and executing integrated code through automated test cases.
- Generate deployable version of code in lower environments.
- Status reporting in lower environments and error correction.
- Moving code to higher environments and getting customer feedback.
- Production software release.
CI CD automation testing
There are many reasons why CI CD testing should be automated. Here are the most common ones:
1. Adapting to frequent changes
The CICD process allows us to make ongoing changes to the system. Test automation allows us to verify the stability of the system after each change and enables continuous delivery.
2. Faster implementation and feedback
When it comes to automated tests, there is no doubt that they are faster to execute than manual tests, and thus the feedback on the stability of the deployed code after each check is faster.
3. Reduction of time and effort
Automating tedious tasks allows testers to spend more time on complex functionality. This allows testers to perform thorough exploratory testing, delving deeper into aspects of performance, accessibility, and localization.
4. Greater consistency
Automation significantly reduces the likelihood of human error and instils confidence in the stability of the system. Automated execution ensures consistency and accuracy, eliminating manual variability.
5. Greater flexibility for enhancements
The CICD pipeline allows for rapid system improvements, prioritizing user experience (UX testing). Developers can make system enhancements effortlessly and with minimal concern about the potential impact on the system.
6. Faster delivery support
The introduction of the CICD process facilitates rapid product delivery, thereby increasing significant business value and customer satisfaction.
CI CD approach to testing
CI/CD testing is performed through a well-defined and automated pipeline that integrates the different phases of testing into the software development and deployment process. It may look like this:
- Code commitment (CI): developers commit code changes to a version control system (e.g. Git). This triggers the CI pipeline to run.
- Automated builds: the CI/CD server automatically downloads the latest code changes and rebuilds the application with the latest changes. This verifies that the code is rebuildable and ready for further testing.
- Unit testing (CI): automated unit tests are performed to verify the functionality of small parts of the code. Any failures at this stage are quickly communicated to the developers.
- Integration testing (CI): after successful unit tests, integration tests are performed to verify how the different parts of the application work together. This verifies that code changes have not introduced integration problems into the code.
- Automated deployment (CD): in continuous delivery, the code under test is deployed into a staging environment that closely resembles a production environment.
- Monitoring and reporting: throughout the CI/CD process, data on application performance and testing results are collected using monitoring tools. Reports and alerts are generated to notify teams of potential problems.
- Deployment to production (CD): if all tests are successful and approved by the stakeholders, the code changes are deployed to the production environment.
- Post-deployment monitoring (CD): after deployment, continuous monitoring ensures that the application performs as expected in the production environment.
Tips for better CI/CD pipeline testing
- Classify the tests by difficulty. It is useful to classify automated tests by difficulty and importance (whether the test is critical to user functionality, etc.) in order to prioritize them.
- Set up execution of multiple parallel tests. Running multiple tests in parallel reduces the execution time of a test suite. This is very important in a CI/CD pipeline because developers need fast feedback.
- Optimize tests for fast execution. Test suites need to be executed quickly in order to be integrated into the CICD pipeline. Tests should take no longer than the compilation process – from five to fifteen minutes.
- Use a production-like environment. Frequent releases are made possible by proper testing in the right environment with the right data.
CI CD testing tools
Several tools are available for CI/CD testing:
- TestSigma: TestSigma is a cloud-based test automation tool that enables end-to-end testing of web and mobile applications. It uses a scriptless approach where tests can be created using a simple and intuitive interface. TestSigma provides built-in CI/CD integrations that enable seamless execution of tests as part of a CI/CD pipeline.
- Selenium: Selenium is a popular open-source automation framework for web applications. It supports multiple programming languages (e.g. Java, C#, Python) and offers a wide range of features for testing web pages. Selenium integrates well with the CI/CD pipeline and can be combined with other tools, such as Selenium Grid, to execute tests in parallel.
- Jenkins: Although Jenkins is primarily known as a CI/CD tool, it also supports test automation. It provides plugins to integrate with various testing frameworks including Selenium, JUnit and TestNG. Jenkins can execute automated tests as part of a CI/CD pipeline and generate reports on test results.
- Cucumber: Cucumber is a widely used tool for behavior driven development (BDD) and test automation. It enables collaboration between developers, testers and stakeholders through code written in simple language called Gherkin. Cucumber supports integration with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, allowing automated tests to be run as part of a pipeline.
- Appium: Appium is an open-source automation framework specifically designed for test automation for mobile applications. It supports both Android and iOS platforms and allows you to write tests using popular programming languages such as Java, Python and Ruby. Appium can be integrated into a CI/CD pipeline to automate mobile app testing on multiple devices and platforms.
Conclusion
Testing as part of the CI/CD process has become an integral part of effective software delivery, taking into account its continuous evolution. This approach enables continuous quality and security control of the software during every step of the development cycle. Implementing Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery testing enables faster defect detection and resolution, ensuring that the delivered software meets customer requirements and is ready to be deployed into the production environment.
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