Overview of IBM Test Accelerator for Z

IBM® Test Accelerator for Z is a test automation and test generation framework with support for virtual On-Demand Environments.

IBM Test Accelerator for Z consists of four components that can be flexibly consumed based on business needs:
  • Dynamic Test Engine, a feature of the z/OS Debugger used to record test cases and to playback tests without middleware.
  • Early Development Testing, powered by Dynamic Test Engine, enables creation and execution of reusable unit and Component Tests that can run without middleware. In addition, it helps teams accelerate test coverage for alternate or error paths.
  • Functional Testing accelerates the automation of functional tests and leverages Dynamic Test Engine as well as IBM Enterprise Edition for Galasa.
  • On-Demand Environments enables quick provisioning of z/OS instances for development and test from either a stock or a custom image.

Dynamic Test Engine

The Dynamic Test Engine component of IBM Test Accelerator for Z is used by both Early Development Testing and Functional Testing to record test cases, easing test case creation. It is also used to playback unit and Component Tests without middleware.

Because Dynamic Test Engine is a feature of the z/OS Debugger, it seamlessly integrates with enabling easy debugging and code coverage collection during test execution.

For more information, see IBM z/OS Dynamic Test Engine Customization Guide.

Early Development Testing

The Early Development Testing component of IBM Test Accelerator for Z enables developers to run, debug, and collect code coverage for unit tests and Component Tests without middleware.

Unit Tests

Use Early Development Testing to create reusable tests for your individual COBOL modules that can be committed to change management tools and shared across developers. Record and playback unit tests using the Dynamic Test Engine to ensure changes in code do not change the expected behavior of your modules. Collect code coverage on your unit tests to see where additional tests might be added.

Test Data Generation

After reviewing the code coverage of your unit tests, use the test data generation feature to help exercise hard-to-reach paths caused by errors that might not be possible to trigger with test inputs.

Component Tests

Use Component Testing to create reusable tests to ensure that multi-module interaction behaves as you expect. These tests are recorded and virtualized with the Dynamic Test Engine, removing the need for middleware at playback time.

Functional Testing

The Functional Testing component of IBM Test Accelerator for Z accelerates the automation of deployable functional tests. By using Functional Testing, developers and testers can create deployable and reusable Galasa-based functional tests.

Test generation for z/OS applications

Experience an intuitive user interface that is designed for developers and testers alike, facilitating the generation of automated deployable functional tests.

Galasa framework

Galasa is a proven framework for building functional tests. By using a standard framework for building the functional tests, users can quickly build sustainable functional tests with Functional Testing with recording, and create new functional tests or supplement their existing functional tests now.

IBM Enterprise Edition for Galasa enhances Galasa with added capabilities.

On-Demand Environments

The On-Demand Environments component of IBM Test Accelerator for Z enables enterprises to host z/OS using virtualized or emulated IBM Z hardware on Linux® running on x86-64 or s390x machines, supporting mainframe application demonstration, development, testing, and education use cases. The On-Demand Environments tooling provides an API or UI web-based interface to create and manage images and allowing self-service capabilities to provision z/OS instances on Linux target environments.

On-Demand Environments provides the following features:

  • An application development and testing environment that can improve development infrastructure availability and flexibility.
  • Current levels of IBM z/OS software that give access to new runtime capabilities for development and testing for enterprises.
  • Mixed workload support for enterprises, which can help reduce the development costs.
  • An approachable and portable environment for education on Z for enterprises.
  • A web-based interface to extract and manage images as well as self-service provision instances from these images.
  • Creating and managing images from various sources.
  • Provisioning images for developers and testers in a self-service automated way.
  • Monitoring the status and availability of all created assets and target environments.