Test Manager for Mainframe Rehosting Automation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mainframe application rehosting to open systems or cloud environments is complex and time-consuming due to incomplete documentation, limited knowledge of application behavior, and the need for extensive testing, which hinders organizations' ability to reduce costs and increase agility.
Innovation Solution
A test manager system that captures a baseline from a mainframe platform, replays it on a rehosting platform, and compares results to identify differences, facilitating automated testing and ensuring proper operation of migrated applications by generating test plans, discovering asset-based and risk-based test units, and executing batch jobs across both environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If manual testing methods are used for mainframe application rehosting, then testing can be performed with existing tools, but the testing process becomes extremely time-consuming and complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates virtual copies of mainframe applications and their execution environments on the target platform. By capturing the runtime behavior and data flows of the original mainframe application and replicating them in a virtualized environment, the system enables automated testing without requiring physical mainframe hardware, thereby reducing both time and complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary layer that captures and translates mainframe application data flows into formats suitable for the target platform. This intermediary component acts as a bridge between the source and target systems, enabling automated comparison and validation without requiring direct access to the mainframe environment, thus simplifying the testing process
2Reliability
If comprehensive testing is performed to ensure application functionality, then migration reliability improves, but project costs and time requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary testing actions by capturing the runtime behavior and data flows of the mainframe application before migration. This advance preparation creates a reference model that can be used for automated validation during and after migration, ensuring reliability without requiring extensive manual testing at each stage
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements automated feedback mechanisms that continuously compare the behavior of the migrated application against the captured mainframe runtime model. This real-time feedback enables immediate detection of functional deviations, allowing for rapid correction and validation, thereby ensuring migration reliability while reducing overall testing time
3Measurement precision
If detailed knowledge of mainframe application behavior is required for testing, then testing accuracy improves, but the difficulty of implementation increases due to incomplete documentation
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service testing by automatically capturing and analyzing the runtime behavior of mainframe applications during normal execution. Instead of requiring testers to have detailed prior knowledge of application behavior, the system autonomously observes and records data flows, transactions, and processing patterns, then uses this captured information for automated validation, thereby achieving high testing accuracy without increasing implementation difficulty
Data Source
AI summary
In accordance with an embodiment, described herein is a system and method for providing a test manager for use with a mainframe rehosting platform. The test manager can run in a web server and is accessed through a web browser to run testing on multiple test machines. The test manager can be configured to automatically discover test units from a deployed migrated application and its artifacts, and organize the discovered test units into various test plans. The test manager can be used to capture a baseline from an online execution against a mainframe platform at the network data stream layer, and to drive both execution against the rehosting platform and automated comparison of the results. The test manager can further be configured to execute batch jobs against both the mainframe platform and the rehosting platform and compare the results from both platforms, to determine if the batch jobs results match.