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Unit Testing with Puppet and RSpec

The Puppet Development Kit doesn't just set us up to create well-written modules—it also lets us write unit tests for our modules and ensure the changes we expect are being made when we run our Puppet code. This is done through the use of RSpec, a Ruby-based testing framework, and the `rspec-puppet` and `rspec-puppet-facts` plugins. RSpec uses behavior-driven development concepts to check the end state of our code. These tests are written in a human-readable language based on Ruby. By writing unit tests for our modules, we can ensure we're putting forth the highest-quality modules and prevent any unexpected production issues. Unit tests essentially work as another layer of protection against poor code, typos, and all the other gremlins that can end up in our modules.

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Path Info

Level

Intermediate

Duration

30m

Published

Jun 07, 2019

Challenge

Test That the Required Classes Are Contained

Change to the spec directory of the nginx module:

cd /etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/production/modules/nginx/spec/

Open the classes/nginx_spec.rb file:
```
sudo vim classes/nginx_spec.rb
```
Review the existing test. Currently, it is set up to check if the module will compile.

Add unit tests to ensure the desired classes are contained:

describe 'nginx' do
  on_supported_os.each do |os, os_facts|
    context "on #{os}" do
      let(:facts) { os_facts }

      it { is_expected.to contain_class('nginx::install') }
      it { is_expected.to contain_class('nginx::config') }
      it { is_expected.to contain_class('nginx::service') }
      it { is_expected.to compile }
    end
  end
end

Challenge

Test That the `nginx` Package Is Installed
Add the package-based unit test:
```
it { is_expected.to contain_package('nginx') }
```
Challenge

Test That the `nginx` service Is Started, Enabled, and Able to Be Restarted
1. Add the basic service test:
```
it { is_expected.to contain_service('nginx') }
```
2. Refine the test by adding the required parameter information:
```
it { is_expected.to contain_service('nginx').with(ensure: 'running', enable: true, hasrestart: true) }
```

Challenge

Test the Contents of the Static Configuration File

Create a case statement for both distros within the context block:
```
case os_facts[:osfamily]
when 'Debian'
when 'RedHat'
end
```

Check that the file exists:

case os_facts[:osfamily]
when 'Debian'
  it { is_expected.to contain_file('/etc/nginx/nginx.conf').with_source('puppet:///modules/nginx/Debian.conf') }
when 'RedHat'
  it { is_expected.to contain_file('/etc/nginx/nginx.conf').with_source('puppet:///modules/nginx/RedHat.conf') }
end

Save and exit.

Run the unit test:
```
sudo pdk test unit
```

Author

A Cloud Guru

The Cloud Content team comprises subject matter experts hyper focused on services offered by the leading cloud vendors (AWS, GCP, and Azure), as well as cloud-related technologies such as Linux and DevOps. The team is thrilled to share their knowledge to help you build modern tech solutions from the ground up, secure and optimize your environments, and so much more!

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