GET ON THE CLOUD

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Pattern Summary

Instead of using local machines put the project on one or more virtual machines

Category

Management

Context

Use this pattern if you have a distributed team or if you are supposed to run the same test cases in different environments

Description

Instead of using local machines put the project on one or more virtual machines. With virtual machines you can also set-up as many test environments as you need

Implementation

The virtual machines can be in your intranet or at some provider. Be sure that all team members have the necessary authorizations and that all the necessary tools or environments are installed

Potential problems

Virtual machines do have a cost, so it needs to be worth it to use them.

Issues addressed by this pattern

HARD-TO-AUTOMATE
INADEQUATE COMMUNICATION
INADEQUATE TECHNICAL RESOURCES

Experiences

Example from Seretta Gamba:
The company I worked for is based in Hamburg, Germany, but many colleagues live in other cities (like Berlin or Cologne) and all work from home regularly. We put our automation on the cloud and in this way it makes no difference where you work. Another advantage is that two persons can connect to the same virtual machine and can in this way PAIR UP even if they are located in different cities. Being on the cloud is also cheaper so one can have an extra machine for every operating system or database. In this way it’s also easier to have DEDICATED RESOURCES.

If you have used this pattern, please add your name and a brief story of how you used this pattern: your context, what you did, and how well it worked - or how it didn't work!

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