Chef - Testing Cookbook with Test Kitchen

Test kitchen is Chef’s integration testing framework. It enables writing tests, which run after VM is instantiated and converged using the cookbook. The tests run on VM and can verify that everything works as expected.

This is node contract to ChefSpec, which only simulates a Chef run. Test Kitchen boots up a real node and runs Chef on it.

Setting Up

In order to do this, we need to have Vagrant installed on the machine which helps in managing a virtual machine. Then we need to have bookshelf installed and hooked with Vagrant in order to manage cookbook dependencies.

Step 1 − Edit default recipe in the cookbook.

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo $ subl cookbooks/<Cookbook Name>/recipes/default.rb 
file "/tmp/greeting.txt" do 
   content node[ my_cookbook ][ greeting ] 
end

Step 2 − Edit cookbook attributes.

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo $ subl cookbooks/<Cookbook Name>/attributes/default.rb 
default[ my_cookbook ][ greeting ] = "Ohai, Chefs!"

Step 3 − Edit gem file to install the necessary Ruby gems.

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo $ subl Gemfile 
gem  test-kitchen ,  ~> 2.0.0.alpha.7  
gem  kitchen-vagrant  

Step 4 − Install the necessary Ruby gem.

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo $ bundle install 
...TRUNCATED OUTPUT... 
Instalpng test-kitchen (1.0.0.alpha.7) 
Instalpng kitchen-vagrant (0.10.0) ...TRUNCATED OUTPUT... 

Step 5 − Create .kitchen.yml file in the cookbook.

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo/cookbooks/my_cookbook $ subl .kitchen.yml 
--- 
driver_plugin: vagrant 
driver_config: 
   require_chef_omnibus: true  
platforms: 
   - name: ubuntu-12.04 
  driver_config: 
      box: opscode-ubuntu-12.04 
      box_url: 
         https://opscode-vm.s3.amazonaws.com/vagrant/
            opscode_ubuntu12.04_provisionerless.box  
suites: 
   - name: default 
   run_pst: 
      - recipe[minitest-handler] 
      - recipe[my_cookbook_test] 
attributes: { my_cookbook: { greeting:  Ohai, Minitest! } } 

Step 6 − Create a test directory inside the cookbook.

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo/cookbooks/<Cookbook Name>$ mkdir test 

Step 7 − Create a test cookbook for integration testing.

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo/cookbooks/<Cookbook Name>/test $ knife 
cookbook create my_cookbook_test 
** Creating cookbook my_cookbook_test 
** Creating README for cookbook: my_cookbook_test 
** Creating CHANGELOG for cookbook: my_cookbook_test 
** Creating metadata for cookbook: my_cookbook_test 

Step 8 − Edit test cookbooks default recipe.

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo/cookbooks/my_cookbook $ subl 
test/cookbooks/my_cookbook_test/recipes/default.rb 
include_recipe  my_cookbook::default 

Step 9 − Create Minitest Spec inside the cookbook.

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo/cookbooks/my_cookbook $ mkdir -p 
   test/cookbooks/my_cookbook_test/files/default/tests/minitest  

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo/cookbooks/my_cookbook $ subl 
   test/cookbooks/my_cookbook_test/files/default/tests/minitest/default_test.rb  

require  minitest/spec   
describe_recipe  my_cookbook::default  do 
   describe "greeting file" do 
      it "creates the greeting file" do 
         file("/tmp/greeting.txt").must_exist 
      end 
       
      it "contains what s stored in the  greeting  node 
         attribute" do 
         file( /tmp/greeting.txt ).must_include  Ohai, Minitest!  
      end 
end

Step 10 − Edit your main cookbook s Berksfile.

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo/cookbooks/my_cookbook $ subl Berksfile 
site :opscode 
metadata 
cookbook "apt" 
cookbook "minitest-handler" 
cookbook "my_cookbook_test", path: 
"./test/cookbooks/my_cookbook_test" 

Testing the Setup

vipin@laptop:~/chef-repo/cookbooks/my_cookbook $ kitchen test 
-----> Starting Kitchen (v1.0.0.alpha.7) 
...TRUNCATED OUTPUT... 
-----> Converging <default-ubuntu-1204> 
-----> Instalpng Chef Omnibus (true) 
...TRUNCATED OUTPUT... 
Starting Chef Cpent, version 11.4.4 
[2013-06-29T18:33:57+00:00] INFO: *** Chef 11.4.4 *** 
[2013-06-29T18:33:58+00:00] INFO: Setting the run_pst to 
["recipe[minitest-handler]", "recipe[my_cookbook_test]"] 
from JSON 
...TRUNCATED OUTPUT... 
# Running tests: 
recipe::my_cookbook::default::greeting 
file#test_0001_creates the greeting file = 0.00 s = . 
recipe::my_cookbook::default::greeting 
file#test_0002_contains what s stored in the  greeting  
node attribute = 0.00 s = . 
Finished tests in 0.011190s, 178.7277 tests/s, 178.7277 
assertions/s. 
2 tests, 2 assertions, 0 failures, 0 errors, 0 skips 
...TRUNCATED OUTPUT...  
-----> Kitchen is finished. (2m5.69s)