Distributed Testing - Requirements

System Requirements

Required Plug-Ins

Test Project Requirements

Each computer participating in a distributed test must meet the following requirements:

• TestComplete 9 Enterprise or TestExecute9 must be installed on the computer.

• TestComplete 9 Service must be running on the computer (by default, the service is launched automatically at system startup).

• If firewall or antivirus software is installed on the computer, then --

  • TestComplete 9 (TestExecute 9) and TestComplete 9 Service must be added to the list of trusted applications. For instructions on allowing TestComplete through the built-in Windows Firewall, see TestComplete and Windows Firewall.

  • Make sure that your firewall allows traffic through the ports used by TestComplete and TestComplete Service. By default, these ports are 6090-6092. You can specify other ports in the Network Suite Options dialog. Note that all the computers that participate in distributed testing must use the same port range.

• The Remote Desktop Connection version should be 6.0 or later. Windows Vista and later versions of the operating system already have the required version. The Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client) component on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP should be updated as described here:

  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925876

• The version of TestComplete or TestExecute installed on remote computers must be the same as the version of TestComplete installed on the master computer.

• On remote computers where tests will be run, remote user connections must be allowed. In addition, the user accounts that will be used to connect to the remote computers must be members of the Remote Desktop Users group on the appropriate computers.

  To enable remote connections on a slave computer, follow the steps below.

  • Open the Control Panel | System applet.

  • On Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and later operating systems:

    • On the left of the System window, click Remote settings.

    • Under the Remote Desktop group, select the Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure) check box (or similar).

      

    On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003:

    • In the System Properties dialog, switch to the Remote page.

    • Under the Remote Desktop group, select the Allow users to connect remotely to this computer check box (or similar).

      

  • Click Select Users. The Remote Desktop Users dialog opens.

  • Specify the user accounts that will be allowed to access the computer, and then click OK.

  • Click OK to close the System properties and save the changes.

• If a remote computer is running Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 or later operating systems, consider whether TestComplete (TestExecute) should be launched with administrator privileges on that computer:

  • If TestComplete (TestExecute) does not require administrator privileges to perform operations included in the slave project, the level of administrator privileges must not be specified in the properties of the TestComplete (TestExecute) executable file. To ensure this, follow these steps:

    • On the remote computer, open Windows Explorer or any other file manager and locate the executable file of TestComplete (TestExecute). The file name is <TestComplete 9>\Bin\TestComplete.exe for TestComplete and <TestExecute 9>\Bin\TestExecute.exe for TestExecute.

    • Right-click the TestComplete (TestExecute) file and select Properties from the context menu. The file properties dialog opens.

    • In the dialog, switch to the Compatibility tabbed page.

    • Uncheck the Run this program as an administrator option.

    • Click OK to save the changes and close the dialog.

  • If TestComplete (TestExecute) requires administrator privileges in order to execute the slave project, User Account Control (UAC) must be disabled. For instructions on how to disable UAC, see Testing Applications With TestComplete Under Windows Vista and Later Operating Systems.

    Disabling UAC reduces the overall security of the operating system.

• If a remote computer is running a server edition of the Windows operating system, the following requirements must be met:

  • The Restrict each user to one session option of the Terminal Services Configuration must be enabled and no remote sessions must be opened for the user account you want to use.

    To enable the Restrict each user to one session option, follow the steps below:

    • Log on to the remote computer.

    • Click Start | Administrative Tools | Terminal Services Configuration. The Terminal Services Configuration window is invoked.

    • In the left pane of the Terminal Services Configuration window, click the Server Settings node. The right pane of the window lists the server settings you can modify.

    • Double-click Restrict each user to one session in the settings list.

    • In the ensuing dialog, enable the Restrict each user to one session option and click OK.

  • If a remote computer is running in the Remote Administrative Server mode and there are user sessions opened on it, you need to close unnecessary sessions. To do this, follow the steps below:

    • Log on to the remote computer locally.

    • Click Start | Administrative Tools | Terminal Services Manager. The Terminal Services Manager window is invoked.

    • Select the server in the left pane of the Terminal Services Manager window. In the right pane of the window, switch to the Users tabbed page.

    • If there are several remote sessions, select one of the users with the Remote Desktop Protocol session, right-click it and select Log Off in the context menu.

The following plug-ins are needed to perform distributed testing using TestComplete’s network suites.

Note that the Network Suite plug-in must be installed and enabled in TestComplete (TestExecute) on both master and remote computers. The other plug-ins must be installed and enabled on the master computer. They are optional for remote computers.

For detailed information on plug-ins, see the table below.

These plug-ins are installed and enabled by default (they are installed if the Network Suite features is enabled during the TestComplete installation.) To check whether the plug-ins are installed and enabled, open the File | Install Extensions dialog.

• For each slave computer specified in the master project’s Hosts collection, you must specify the user account (that is, the Domain, User name and Password properties) to be used when logging in to the computer.

  Alternatively, you can specify a common user account to use with multiple hosts in the network suite properties of the master project.

  Note:

  The password you want to use to log in cannot be blank.

• The master project’s NetworkSuite project item must contain a Jobs collection that holds a list of jobs to be executed. Each job must contain at least one task.
• For each task specified in the master project you must specify a host on which the task will be run (the Host property) and the test that will be executed (the Project file name and the Test properties).
• Remote computers must have access to the projects they will run. That can be achieved in the following ways:

  • The projects can be placed in the specified folders on the remote computers where they will be run.

    If the tests belong to your master project or to other projects residing on the master computer, you can configure the master project to copy them to the appropriate remote computers automatically or you can copy them manually. See Copying Slave Projects to Remote Computers.

    Note:

    If you use the Network Suite wizard to create distributed tests, your master project is configured to copy the corresponding tests from the master project to the remote computers automatically.

  • The projects can be located in a shared network folder. In this case, the user accounts used to log in to the remote computers must have read and write permissions for this shared folder.

    If the projects are developed and reside on the master computer, you can instruct TestComplete to automatically share the master computer’s folder containing these slave projects. To do that, specify the folder path in the Shared path property of the master project.