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E2E Testing Guide

This guide explains how to run and understand the End-to-End (E2E) tests for the Torrust Tracker Deployer project.

🧪 What are E2E Tests?

The E2E tests validate the complete deployment process using two independent test suites:

  1. E2E Provision Tests - Test infrastructure provisioning using LXD VMs
  2. E2E Configuration Tests - Test software installation and configuration using Docker containers

This split approach ensures reliable testing in CI environments while maintaining comprehensive coverage.

🚀 Running E2E Tests

Independent Test Suites

Provision Tests

Test infrastructure provisioning only (VM creation and cloud-init):

cargo run --bin e2e-provision-tests

Configuration Tests

Test software installation and configuration (Ansible playbooks):

cargo run --bin e2e-config-tests

Full Local Testing

For local development, you can run the complete end-to-end test:

cargo run --bin e2e-tests-full

⚠️ Note: The e2e-tests-full binary cannot run on GitHub Actions due to network connectivity issues, but is useful for local validation.

Command Line Options

All test binaries support these options:

  • --keep - Keep the test environment after completion (useful for debugging)
  • --templates-dir - Specify custom templates directory path
  • --help - Show help information

Examples

# Run provision tests only
cargo run --bin e2e-provision-tests

# Run configuration tests with debugging
cargo run --bin e2e-config-tests -- --keep

# Run full local tests with custom templates
cargo run --bin e2e-tests-full -- --templates-dir ./custom/templates

📋 Test Sequences

E2E Provision Tests (e2e-provision-tests)

Tests infrastructure provisioning using LXD VMs:

  1. Infrastructure Provisioning

    • Uses OpenTofu configuration from templates/tofu/lxd/
    • Creates LXD container with Ubuntu and cloud-init configuration

  2. Cloud-init Completion

    • Waits for cloud-init to finish system initialization
    • Validates user accounts and SSH key setup
    • Verifies basic network interface setup

Validation:

  • ✅ VM is created and running
  • ✅ Cloud-init status is "done"
  • ✅ Boot completion marker file exists (/var/lib/cloud/instance/boot-finished)

E2E Configuration Tests (e2e-config-tests)

Tests software installation and configuration using Docker containers:

  1. Container Setup

    • Creates Docker container from docker/provisioned-instance/
    • Configures SSH connectivity for Ansible

  2. Software Installation (install-docker.yml)

    • Installs Docker Community Edition
    • Configures Docker service
    • Validates Docker daemon is running

  3. Docker Compose Installation (install-docker-compose.yml)

    • Installs Docker Compose binary
    • Validates installation with test configuration

Validation:

  • ✅ Container is accessible via SSH
  • ✅ Docker version command works
  • ✅ Docker daemon service is active
  • ✅ Docker Compose version command works
  • ✅ Can parse and validate a test docker-compose.yml file

Full Local Tests (e2e-tests-full)

Combines both provision and configuration phases in a single LXD VM for comprehensive local testing.

🛠️ Prerequisites

For E2E Provision Tests

  1. LXD installed and configured

    sudo snap install lxd
sudo lxd init  # Follow the setup prompts

  2. OpenTofu installed

    # Installation instructions in docs/tech-stack/opentofu.md

For E2E Configuration Tests

  1. Docker installed

    # Docker is available on most systems or in CI environments
docker --version

  2. Ansible installed

    # Installation instructions in docs/tech-stack/ansible.md

For Full Local Tests (e2e-tests-full)

Requires all of the above: LXD, OpenTofu, Docker, and Ansible.

🐛 Troubleshooting

Test Environment Cleanup

Provision Tests Cleanup

If provision tests fail and leave LXD resources behind:

# Check running containers
lxc list

# Stop and delete the test container
lxc stop torrust-tracker-vm
lxc delete torrust-tracker-vm

# Or use OpenTofu to clean up
cd build/tofu/lxd
tofu destroy -auto-approve

Configuration Tests Cleanup

If configuration tests fail and leave Docker resources behind:

# Check running containers
docker ps -a

# Stop and remove test containers
docker stop $(docker ps -q --filter "ancestor=torrust-provisioned-instance")
docker rm $(docker ps -aq --filter "ancestor=torrust-provisioned-instance")

# Remove test images if needed
docker rmi torrust-provisioned-instance

Common Issues by Test Suite

Provision Tests Issues

  • LXD daemon not running: sudo systemctl start lxd
  • Insufficient privileges: Ensure your user is in the lxd group
  • OpenTofu state corruption: Delete build/tofu/lxd/terraform.tfstate and retry
  • Cloud-init timeout: VM may need more time; check lxc exec torrust-tracker-vm -- cloud-init status

Configuration Tests Issues

  • Docker daemon not running: sudo systemctl start docker
  • Container build failures: Check Docker image build logs
  • SSH connectivity to container: Verify container networking and SSH service
  • Ansible connection errors: Check container SSH configuration and key permissions

Full Local Tests Issues

  • Network connectivity in VMs: Known limitation - use split test suites for reliable testing
  • SSH connectivity failures: Usually means cloud-init is still running or SSH configuration failed
  • Mixed infrastructure issues: Combines all provision and configuration issues above

Test Suite Selection Guide

Use Provision Tests (e2e-provision-tests) when:

  • Testing infrastructure changes (OpenTofu, LXD configuration)
  • Validating VM creation and cloud-init setup
  • Working on provisioning-related features

Use Configuration Tests (e2e-config-tests) when:

  • Testing Ansible playbooks and software installation
  • Validating configuration management changes
  • Working on application deployment features

Use Full Local Tests (e2e-tests-full) when:

  • Comprehensive local validation before CI
  • Integration testing of provision + configuration
  • Debugging end-to-end deployment issues

CI Network Issues

Problem: GitHub Actions runners experience intermittent network connectivity problems within LXD VMs that cause:

  • Docker GPG key downloads to fail (Network is unreachable errors)
  • Package repository access timeouts
  • Generally flaky network behavior

Root Cause: This is a known issue with GitHub-hosted runners:

Solution: We split E2E tests into two suites:

  • Provision Tests: Use LXD VMs for infrastructure testing only (no network-heavy operations inside VM)
  • Configuration Tests: Use Docker containers which have reliable network connectivity on GitHub Actions
  • Full Local Tests: Available for comprehensive local testing where network connectivity works

Implementation: Configuration tests use Docker containers with:

  • Direct internet access for package downloads
  • Reliable networking for Ansible connectivity
  • No nested virtualization issues

Debug Mode

Use the --keep flag to inspect the environment after test completion:

Provision Tests Debugging

cargo run --bin e2e-provision-tests -- --keep

# After test completion, connect to the LXD container:
lxc exec torrust-tracker-vm -- /bin/bash

Configuration Tests Debugging

cargo run --bin e2e-config-tests -- --keep

# After test completion, find and connect to the Docker container:
docker ps
docker exec -it <container-id> /bin/bash

Full Local Tests Debugging

cargo run --bin e2e-tests-full -- --keep

# Connect to the LXD VM as above
lxc exec torrust-tracker-vm -- /bin/bash

🏗️ Architecture

The split E2E testing architecture ensures reliable CI while maintaining comprehensive coverage:

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        E2E Test Suites                            │
└─────┬────────────────┬──────────────────┬─────────────────────────┘
      │                │                  │
      │                │                  │
┌─────▼──────┐   ┌─────▼──────────┐   ┌───▼──────────────────┐
│ Provision  │   │Configuration   │   │    Full Local        │
│   Tests    │   │    Tests       │   │      Tests           │
│            │   │                │   │                      │
│ LXD VMs    │   │   Docker       │   │ LXD VMs + Docker     │
│ (CI Safe)  │   │ Containers     │   │ (Local Only)         │
│            │   │ (CI Safe)      │   │                      │
└─────┬──────┘   └───────┬────────┘   └───┬──────────────────┘
      │                  │                │
┌─────▼────────┐   ┌─────▼────────┐   ┌───▼──────────────────┐
│ OpenTofu/    │   │ Testcontain- │   │ OpenTofu + Ansible   │
│    LXD       │   │     ers      │   │    (Full Stack)      │
│Infrastructure│   │   Docker     │   │                      │
│   Layer      │   │ Management   │   │                      │
└──────────────┘   └──────────────┘   └──────────────────────┘
       │                │                         │
┌──────▼──────┐  ┌──────▼──────────┐    ┌─────────▼─────────┐
│ VM Creation │  │Ansible Playbooks│    │  Complete Stack   │
│ Cloud-init  │  │ Configuration   │    │    Validation     │
│ Validation  │  │   Validation    │    │                   │
└─────────────┘  └─────────────────┘    └───────────────────┘

Test Suite Responsibilities

  • Provision Tests: Infrastructure creation and basic VM setup validation
  • Configuration Tests: Software installation and application deployment
  • Full Local Tests: End-to-end integration validation for comprehensive testing

This architecture provides:

  1. Reliability: Each test suite works independently in CI environments
  2. Speed: Focused testing reduces execution time
  3. Coverage: Combined suites provide complete deployment validation
  4. Debugging: Clear separation makes issue identification easier

� Docker Architecture for E2E Testing

The E2E testing system uses a Docker architecture representing different deployment phases, allowing for efficient testing of the configuration, release, and run phases of the deployment pipeline.

Current Implementation

Provisioned Instance (docker/provisioned-instance/)

Purpose: Represents the state after VM provisioning but before configuration.

Contents:

  • Ubuntu 24.04 LTS base (matches production VMs)
  • SSH server (via supervisor for container-native process management)
  • torrust user with sudo access
  • No application dependencies installed
  • Ready for Ansible configuration

Usage: E2E configuration testing - simulates a freshly provisioned VM ready for software installation.

Future Expansion Architecture

Recommended Approach: Multiple Dockerfiles

The planned architecture uses separate directories for each deployment phase:

docker/
├── provisioned-instance/          # ✅ Current - post-provision
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── supervisord.conf
│   ├── entrypoint.sh
│   └── README.md
├── configured-instance/           # 🔄 Future - post-configure
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── docker-compose.yml         # Example: Docker services
│   └── README.md
├── released-instance/             # 🔄 Future - post-release
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── app-configs/               # Application configurations
│   └── README.md
└── running-instance/              # 🔄 Future - post-run
    ├── Dockerfile
    ├── service-configs/           # Service validation configs
    └── README.md

Benefits of This Architecture

  • Clear Separation: Each phase has its own directory and concerns
  • Independent Evolution: Each Dockerfile can evolve independently
  • Easier Maintenance: Simpler to understand and debug individual phases
  • Flexible Building: Can build any phase independently
  • Better Documentation: Each directory can have phase-specific docs

Usage Example

# Build specific phase containers
docker build -f docker/provisioned-instance/Dockerfile -t torrust-provisioned:latest .
docker build -f docker/configured-instance/Dockerfile -t torrust-configured:latest .
docker build -f docker/released-instance/Dockerfile -t torrust-released:latest .
docker build -f docker/running-instance/Dockerfile -t torrust-running:latest .

Implementation Strategy

Phase 1: ✅ COMPLETED

  • docker/provisioned-instance/ - Base system ready for configuration

Phase 2: Future

  • docker/configured-instance/ - System with Docker, dependencies installed
    • Build FROM torrust-provisioned-instance:latest
    • Add Ansible playbook execution results
    • Verify Docker daemon, Docker Compose installation

Phase 3: Future

  • docker/released-instance/ - System with applications deployed
    • Build FROM torrust-configured-instance:latest
    • Add application artifacts
    • Add service configurations

Phase 4: Future

  • docker/running-instance/ - System with services started and validated
    • Build FROM torrust-released-instance:latest
    • Start all services
    • Run validation checks

Benefits of Docker Phase Architecture

  1. Test Coverage: Complete deployment pipeline testing
  2. Fast Feedback: Test individual phases quickly (~2-3 seconds vs ~17-30 seconds for LXD)
  3. Debugging: Isolate issues to specific deployment phases
  4. Scalability: Easy to add new phases or modify existing ones
  5. Documentation: Each phase self-documents its purpose and setup
  6. Reusability: Containers can be used outside of testing (demos, development)
  7. CI Reliability: Avoids GitHub Actions connectivity issues with nested VMs

Phase-Specific Testing Integration

Each deployment phase has distinct concerns that are tested appropriately:

  • Provisioned Phase: Base system setup, user management, SSH connectivity
  • Configured Phase: Software installation, system configuration, dependency management
  • Released Phase: Application deployment, service configuration, artifact management
  • Running Phase: Service validation, monitoring setup, operational readiness

This architecture enables:

  • Testing Isolation: E2E tests can target specific phases independently
  • Development Workflow: Teams can work on different phases independently
  • Issue Isolation: Phase-specific containers make it easier to isolate problems

The Docker phase architecture complements the split E2E testing strategy by providing fast, reliable containers for configuration testing while maintaining comprehensive coverage of the entire deployment pipeline.

�📝 Contributing to E2E Tests

When adding new features or making changes:

Infrastructure Changes

For OpenTofu, LXD, or cloud-init modifications:

  1. Update provision tests in src/bin/e2e_provision_tests.rs
  2. Add validation methods for new infrastructure components
  3. Test locally: cargo run --bin e2e-provision-tests
  4. Verify CI passes on .github/workflows/test-e2e-provision.yml

Configuration Changes

For Ansible playbooks or software installation modifications:

  1. Update configuration tests in src/bin/e2e_config_tests.rs
  2. Add validation methods for new software components
  3. Update Docker image in docker/provisioned-instance/ if needed
  4. Test locally: cargo run --bin e2e-config-tests
  5. Verify CI passes on .github/workflows/test-e2e-config.yml

End-to-End Integration

For comprehensive changes affecting multiple components:

  1. Test with full local suite: cargo run --bin e2e-tests-full
  2. Verify both provision and configuration suites pass independently
  3. Update this documentation to reflect changes
  4. Consider split approach: Can the change be tested in isolated suites?

Test Design Principles

  • Provision tests: Focus on infrastructure readiness, minimal network dependencies
  • Configuration tests: Focus on software functionality, reliable network access via containers
  • Full local tests: Comprehensive validation for development workflows
  • Independence: Each suite should be runnable independently without conflicts

The split E2E testing approach ensures reliable CI while maintaining comprehensive coverage of the entire deployment pipeline.