Software Testing on Non-functional areas

Software testing is an approach to ensure software is made with the highest reliability possible. Non-functional testing is testing of the software not related to the system itself. It is done after Functional testing have taken place.

Its common to use automation tools to perform these test in areas to improve the performance of the software, ensure high-security levels, make the software more user-friendly, usability and help the software compliance with customer needs. Sometimes, its compatibility with other systems and previous versions are also measured.

Examples of test

Load testing, Stress testing, Accessibility testing

Metrics are created for non-functional in order to be successful, example response time, speed of the software itself, and load time. It depends on the investment on the software, where the amount and categories of testing will be determined. It would be good to have testing in all categories, but resources, cost and time always limits its implementation.

Broad category of testing

• Stress Test
• Volume Test
• Maintainability Test
• Security Test
• Scalability Test
• Failover Test
• Usability Test
• Configuration Test
• Load Test

Continuous integration (CI) is an approach where developers regularly merge their code changes into a central repository, after which automated builds and tests are run. It is common to use containers to perform such test.

Common tools for non-functional testing (Affordable ones)

• Apache JMeter,
• Selenium
• Nessus Essentials
• New Relic
• SonarQube

Let me know if mentioned any wrongly. :)

RabbitMQ implementation in Laravel and Linux Centos 8

The use of multiple servers with dedicated functionality can communicate with each other through API and notifications. 

Overview

Example where a backend server that performs a task followed by notification to user via Email, while to another server through PUSH notification.

The push allows communication between 2 computer systems through an agreed protocol. RabbitMQ is a message-queueing software also known as a message broker or queue manager, that provides such a service, implementing protocols AMQP 1.0 and MQTT 5. It is can be used under the Apache License 2.0 and Mozilla Public License 2.

In a simple description on its usage;

1. A producer: Sends a message to RabbitMQ with a specified exchange (direct, topic, or fanout) and queue(s) name.
2. RabbitMQ: Places the message to the queue(s).
3. A consumer: Configured to retrieve message from a queue.
4. A consumer: Check and retrieve message from the queue.
5. RabbitMQ: Remove message from the queue

Communication with RabbitMQ can be simplified through the library amqplib that implements the machinery needed to make clients for AMQP 0-9-1.

Steps

1. Install RabbitMQ
2. Configure RabbitMQ
3. Add RabbitMQ package in a Laravel project
4. Create a service of Laravel jobs or other automated function
5. Create Laravel controller to publish and consume messages
6. Tinker to test Producer
7. Tinker to test Consumer

Install RabbitMQ

Lets imagine following environment;

1. RabbitMQ server: IP 10.1.1.101
2. Producer server: IP 10.1.1.102
3. Consumer server: IP 10.1.1.103

On RabbitMQ, ensure PHP is installed, including the package socket. On this example, SELINUX is enabled.

On RabbitMQ, install the server application. 

curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-server/script.rpm.sh | sudo bash

curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/rabbitmq/erlang/script.rpm.sh | sudo bash

sudo yum makecache -y --disablerepo='*' --enablerepo='rabbitmq_rabbitmq-server'

sudo yum -y --disablerepo='*' --enablerepo='rabbitmq_rabbitmq-server' --enablerepo='rabbitmq_erlang'  install rabbitmq-server

rpm -qi rabbitmq-server

Name        : rabbitmq-server
Version     : 3.13.0
Release     : 1.el8
Architecture: noarch

Configure the server

By default, RabbitMQ uses port 5672, and for the web administration port 15672. Update the server hosts file with its domain name and enable the web based management

echo "127.0.0.1 rabbitmq.demo" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

sudo systemctl enable --now rabbitmq-server.service

sudo rabbitmqctl status 

sudo rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management

ss -tunelp | grep 15672

sudo firewall-cmd --add-port={5672,15672}/tcp --permanent

sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Verify access: Open URL http://rabbitmq.demo:15672 on a web browser. Then ensure tall feature flags are viewable.

rabbitmqctl list_feature_flags

rabbitmqctl enable_feature_flag all

Create users

Create the initial administrator user as admin and a password.

sudo rabbitmqctl add_user admin SECRETPASSWORD

sudo rabbitmqctl set_user_tags admin administrator

sudo yum -y  --disablerepo='pgdg*'  install mlocate 

sudo updatedb

Create user to access from Producer and Consumer.

sudo rabbitmqctl add_user user1 SECRETPASSWORD

sudo rabbitmqctl set_user_tags user1 management,monitoring

Create a virtual host, then click on username user1 and set permissions as required. Example, add to Topic permission with read/write regexp value as .*

Laravel support for rabbitmq

Create or use an existing laravel project.

composer require php-amqplib/php-amqplib

composer update

sudo semanage port -a -t http_port_t -p tcp 5672

Edit Laravel's .env file:

RABBITMQ_HOST=mem.hqcloak

RABBITMQ_IP=10.1.1.101

RABBITMQ_PORT=5672

RABBITMQ_VHOST="/"

RABBITMQ_LOGIN=user1

RABBITMQ_PASSWORD=SECRETPASSWORD

RABBITMQ_QUEUE="queue1"

Laravel rabbitmq service 

Create the file in app\Services\RabbitMQService.php . No examples is provided for usage of this service.

<?php

namespace App\Services;

use PhpAmqpLib\Connection\AMQPStreamConnection;

use PhpAmqpLib\Connection\AMQPSSLConnection;

use PhpAmqpLib\Message\AMQPMessage;

use PhpAmqpLib\Exchange\AMQPExchangeType;

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log;

class RabbitMQService

{

    protected $connection;

    protected $channel;

    protected $exchange = 'amq.topic';

    protected $queue = null;

    protected $routingKey = 'routing_key';

    protected $status = true;

    public function __construct()

    {

        $this->connection = new AMQPStreamConnection(

            env('RABBITMQ_HOST'),

            env('RABBITMQ_PORT'),

            env('RABBITMQ_LOGIN'),

            env('RABBITMQ_PASSWORD'),

            env('RABBITMQ_VHOST')

        );

        $this->channel = $this->connection->channel();

        /*

            name: $exchange

            type: direct

            passive: false // don't check if an exchange with the same name exists

            durable: false // the exchange will not survive server restarts

            auto_delete: true // the exchange will be deleted once the channel is closed.

        */

        $this->channel->exchange_declare($this->exchange, 'topic', false, true, false);

        /*

            name: $queue    // should be unique in fanout exchange. Let RabbitMQ create

                            // a queue name for us

            passive: false  // don't check if a queue with the same name exists

            durable: false  // the queue will not survive server restarts

            exclusive: true // the queue can not be accessed by other channels

            auto_delete: true // the queue will be deleted once the channel is closed.

        */

        $queue = env('RABBITMQ_QUEUE', 'queue1');

        $this->init($queue, 'routing_key');

    }

    public function init($queue, $routing)

    {

        $this->queue = $queue;

        $this->routingKey = $routing;

        $this->channel->queue_declare($this->queue, false, true, false, false);

        $this->channel->queue_bind($this->queue, $this->exchange, $this->routingKey);

    }

    /**

     * custom message format: code | value | extradata

     */

    public function publish($message)

    {

        if (null == $this->queue) {

            return;

        }

        $msg = new AMQPMessage($message);

        $this->channel->basic_publish($msg, $this->exchange, $this->routingKey);

    }

    public function stop()

    {

        $this->status = false;

    }

    public function consume($callback)

    {

        if (null == $this->queue) {

            return;

        }

        /*

            queue: Queue from where to get the messages

            consumer_tag: Consumer identifier

            no_local: Don't receive messages published by this consumer.

            no_ack: If set to true, automatic acknowledgement mode will be used by this consumer. See https://www.rabbitmq.com/confirms.html for details.

            exclusive: Request exclusive consumer access, meaning only this consumer can access the queue

            nowait: don't wait for a server response. In case of error the server will raise a channel

                    exception

            callback: A PHP Callback

        */

        $this->channel->basic_consume($this->queue, 'test', false, true, false, false, $callback);

        while ($this->channel->is_consuming()) {

            if (false == $this->status) {

                break;

            }

            $this->channel->wait();

        }

    }

    public function __destruct()

    {

        $this->channel->close();

        $this->connection->close();

    }

}

Create Laravel Controller

On the server Producer and Consumer create controller that can publish or consume, with the file app\Http\Controllers\RabbitMQController.php

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Services\RabbitMQService;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log;

class RabbitMQController extends Controller

{

    public function publishMessage(Request $request)

    {

        $message = $request->message;

        $result = $this->publish($message);

        return response('Message published to RabbitMQ');

    }

    public function publish($message)

    {

        $rabbitMQService = new RabbitMQService();

        $rabbitMQService->publish($message);

        return response('Message published to RabbitMQ');

    }

    public function consumeMessage()

    {

        $rabbitMQService = new RabbitMQService();

        $callback = function ($msg) {

            echo "Received message: " . $msg->body . "\n";

        };

        $rabbitMQService->consume($callback);

    }

    public function consume()

    {

        $rabbitMQService = new RabbitMQService();

        $callback = function ($msg) {

            $data = $msg->body;

            echo "Received:".$data;

        };

        $rabbitMQService->consume($callback);

    }

}

Create a tinker to test Producer

On server Producer, create the file ./tinker-producer.php

$controller = app()->make('App\Http\Controllers\API\RabbitMQController');

$results = app()->call([$controller, 'publish'], ['message'=>'1001|ACTION|VALUE'] );

print( "$results");

Run tinker

more tinker-producer.php | php artisan tinker

On RabbitMQ web console, observer creation of the queue and the message.

Create a tinker to test Consumer

On server Consumer, create the file ./tinker-consumer.php

$controller = app()->make('App\Http\Controllers\RabbitMQController');

$results = app()->call([$controller, 'consume'],[] );

print( "$results");

Run tinker

more tinker-consumer.php | php artisan tinker

On RabbitMQ web console, observer queue and message consumed.

Cockpit Login Error on Centos

Cockpit provides a web interface to manage Centos Linux servers. E.g. https://10.1.1.123:9090/ 

However, users have found login error on Centos that mentions 

This web browser is too old to run the Web Console (missing selector(:is():where()))

This is due to updates in the web browser engine. Following is a suggestion to fix;

Step 1: Update cockpit package to current version of above version 280.

    dnf update cockpit

Step 2: Replace the javascript code.

    sed -i 's/is():where()/is(*):where(*)/' /usr/share/cockpit/static/login.js

Reference: 

https://cockpit-project.org/blog/login-issues.html

Handling date and time with carbon

In PHP and Laravel, date and time can be managed using Carbon. Default PHP uses the Date object, which does not have as many flexibility as Carbon object. To start using Carbon on Laravel, add at top, along with other "use" statements. 

use Carbon\Carbon

Here are examples of its usage. Declare current date and time

$currentDateTime = Carbon::now();

The current value can be printed with 

print_r($currentDateTime);

Format to user specific output.

$now = Carbon::now()->format('d-m-Y'); // 1-1-2024

$now->toDateString(); // 2024-01-01

$now->toFormattedDateString(); // Jan 1, 2024

$now->toTimeString(); // 00:00:00

$now->toDateTimeString(); // 2024-01-01 00:00:00

$now->toDayDateTimeString(); // Mon, Jan 1, 2024 12:00 AM

$now->toCookieString(); // Monday, 01-Jan-2024 00:00:00 UTC

$now->toIso8601String(); // 2024-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Other ways of creating a Carbon object

Carbon::parse('2023-03-10'); // Carbon instance for 2023-01-01 00:00:00

Carbon::parse('Monday of this week'); // Monday of this week

Carbon::parse('first day of January 2024'); // first day of January 2024

Carbon::parse('first day of this month'); // first day of this month

Carbon::parse('first day of next month'); // first day of next month

Carbon::parse('first day of last month'); // first day of last month

Carbon::parse('last day of last month'); // last day of last month

Retrieve values of a carbon in various formats;

$now->year; 

$now->month; 

$now->dayOfWeek; 

$now->englishDayOfWeek; 

$now->englishMonth; 

$now->tzName; 

$now->dst;

Subtract one hour

Carbon::now()->subHour();

Subtract more than 1 hour

Carbon::now()->subHours(2);

Add one hour

Carbon::now()->addHour();

Add more than 1 hour

Carbon::now()->addHours(2);

Add one day

Carbon::now()->addDay();

Add more than 1 day

Carbon::now()->addDays(2);

This can also be applied to subWeeks(), addWeeks().

Set to a specific date by altering day or month or year

$currentDateTime = $currentDateTime->setMonth(2);

$currentDateTime = $currentDateTime->setDay(18);

$currentDateTime = $currentDateTime->setYear(2025);

Example that applies a specific day and month.

$currentDateTime = $workDayStart->setDay($calcCreatedDate->format('d'))->setMonth($calcCreatedDate->format('m'))->setYear($calcCreatedDate->format('Y'));

Retrieve the difference between 2 Carbon dates $start and $now.

$start->diff($now); \\ returns DateInterval

$start->diffInMinutes($now); \\ returns difference in minutes

$start->diffInMinutes($now); \\ returns difference in

$start->diffForHumans($now);

Manage services on Centos Linux

On Centos Linux (in this case version 8), the command systemctl allows administration of services on Linux. The version of systemctl in use is displayed with command

systemctl --version

systemd 239 (239-58.el8)

+PAM +AUDIT +SELINUX +IMA -APPARMOR +SMACK +SYSVINIT +UTMP +LIBCRYPTSETUP +GCRYPT +GNUTLS +ACL +XZ +LZ4 +SECCOMP +BLKID +ELFUTILS +KMOD +IDN2 -IDN +PCRE2 default-hierarchy=legacy

Check status of services

systemctl status httpd

systemctl status containerd

systemctl status kubelet

systemctl list-unit-files

Background services is list with

systemctl list-jobs

View service information

systemctl show httpd

systemctl show containerd

Start and stop a service

systemctl start httpd

systemctl stop httpd

On some services, there is the command to restart or reload. Reload, reads the updated configuration for a service without stopping the service.

systemctl start httpd

systemctl reload httpd

Boot target

On linux, the run levels describe what the server should do after a startup. Where runlevel and the numeric equivalent of target. Here is a list of runlevel and in brackets are the systemctl commands for it.

Runlevel 0 - poweroff.target (systemctl isolate poweroff.target)

Runlevel 1 - rescue.target  (systemctl isolate rescue.target)

Runlevel 2 - text based multi-user.target without network  (systemctl isolate runlevel2.target)

Runlevel 3 - text based multi-user.target with network  (systemctl isolate runlevel3.target)

Runlevel 5 - graphical graphical.target  (systemctl isolate graphical.target)

Runlevel 6 - reboot.target (systemctl isolate reboot.target)

Default boot target is set by /etc/systemd/system/default.target and can be easily viewed with the command 'ls'.

Or the command systemctl get-default

multi-user.target

View available targets

systemctl list-units --type target --all

To change a default boot target,

systemctl set-default multi-user.target

Troubleshooting

List dependencies of the service

systemctl list-dependencies httpd

Unit files are list as

systemctl list-unit files

When a service is mask, it cannot be started until it is unmask. This can be done with

systemctl unmask httpd

Configure L5 Swagger and documention for GET and POST

Here, I will describe usage of Swagger, list the L5 Swagger basic configurations, provide templates to document POST and GET API (Application Programming Interface).

What does L5 Swagger provide?

For PHP developers, here in particular those using Laravel framework, L5 Swagger provide the means to document your API and have it presented in the form of a web page for quick browsing of available APIs and testing its results.

Currently here are good to know facts

1. Its is developed as a wrapper on swagger-php and swagger-api specifically for Laravel framework.
2. It supports OpenAPI (formerly known as Swagger), a specification for documentation of RESTful API irrespective of technology, like PHP, Java or .Net.
3. L5-Swagger currently supports OpenAPI version 3.0 and 3.1. Its project page is https://github.com/DarkaOnLine/L5-Swagger
4. It supports at least PHP version 7.2. PHP 8.1 introduces the use of attributes.
5. An online swagger editor is available at swagger.io

My example hinges on PHP 7.4 with darkaonline/l5-swagger version 8.5.1. Will just dump example of code and configurations here. Details will be explained at another time. Good luck.

Quick notes to setup of Swagger in a ready Laravel version 7 or 10 project;

composer require "darkaonline/l5-swagger"

php artisan vendor:publish --provider "L5Swagger\L5SwaggerServiceProvider"

php artisan l5-swagger:generate

Customisation can be done by editing config/swagger.php, which can be continued in future articles.

Security

Security options are;

• None - no security is set to access API
• Basic Auth - Username and password is set for each request
• API Key - A key is set for each request
• OATH - An authorisation scheme for each request

Example 1 - API to login

Request 

Headers:

App-Key: SOmeVeryLongKey

Body form-data:

username: example@some.email.example

password: password

API returns with HTTP code 200

{

    "user_id": 4142,

    "token": "173892|HxOQJBfDgDgDgaqgCpSS1rh7UY7HWdurtanHhq7"

}

API returns with HTTP code 400

{

    "message": "These credentials do not match our records."

}

Example 2 - API to retrieve user profile

Request 

Headers:

App-Key: SOmeVeryLongKey

API returns with HTTP code 200

{

  "status": 0,

  "message": null,

  "data": [

    {

      "id": 385,

      "name": "Bintulu",

      "address1": "no.3 River side, Sarawak",

      "address2": null,

      "introduction": "Software architect and Postgresql architect",

      "phone": "1234512345",

      "email": "bintulu@some.email.example",

      "notes": "Call by phone"

    }

  ],

  "timestamp": "2023-03-17T10:00:09"

}

Swagger documentation

Swagger group for Login

Swagger for login

Added example to submit with multi/form-data (which is not necessary for login)

Swagger for user profile

The Code

Our example api.php and UserController.php

routes/api.php

Route::post('/login', 'API\UserController@login');

Route::get('/user/profile', 'API\UserController@login');

Function login in app/Http/Controllers/API/UserController.php

    /**

     * @OA\Post(

     *     path="/api/login",

     *      tags={"Login"},

     *      security={{"appkey":{}}},

     *      @OA\RequestBody( required=true, description="Login",

     *           @OA\MediaType(

     *             mediaType="multipart/form-data",

     *             @OA\Schema(

     *                 required={"username","password"},

     *                 @OA\Property(

     *                     property="username",

     *                     type="string",

     *                     description="user login id of type email"

     *                 ),

     *                 @OA\Property(

     *                     property="password",

     *                     type="password"

     *

     *                ),

     *             ),

     *          ),

     *

     *     ),

     *     @OA\Response(response="200", description="An example endpoint",

     *          @OA\JsonContent(

     *               @OA\Property(property="id", type="number", example="1957"),

     *               @OA\Property(property="token", type="string", example="173892|HxOQJBfDgDgDgaqgCpSS1rh7UY7HWdurtanHhq7"),

     *          ),

     *     ),

     *     @OA\Response(response="400", description="The id or password incorrect.",

     *           @OA\JsonContent(

     *               @OA\Property(property="message", type="string", example="These credentials do not match our records."),

     *           ),

     *     ),

     * )

     */

Function getUserProfile in app/Http/Controllers/API/UserController.php

    /**

     * @OA\Get(

     *     path="/api/user/profile",

     *     tags={"Login"},

     *     summary="Retrieve user profile",

     *     description="Retrieve user profile based on user auth detected. No parameters are required",

     *     operationId="getUserProfile",

     *     security={{"bearer_token":{}}},

     *      @OA\Parameter(

     *         name="App-Key",

     *         in="header",

     *         description="App-Key",

     *         example=L5_SWAGGER_APPKEY

     *      ),

     *

     *     @OA\Response(response=401, description="User not authenticated",

     *           @OA\JsonContent(

     *               @OA\Property(property="status", type="number", example="1"),

     *               @OA\Property(property="message", type="string", example="Not authenticated"),

     *               @OA\Property(property="data", type="string", example=null),

     *               @OA\Property(property="timestamp", type="string", example="2023-03-17T10:00:09"),

     *           ),

     *     ),

     *       @OA\Response(

     *         response=200,

     *         description="Success",

     *         @OA\JsonContent(

     *           @OA\Property(property="status", type="number"),

     *           @OA\Property(property="message", type="string", example=null),

     *           @OA\Property(property="data", type="array",

     *               @OA\Items(

     *                  @OA\Property(property="id", type="number", example=385),

     *                  @OA\Property(property="name", type="string", example="Bintulu"),

     *                  @OA\Property(property="address1", type="string", example="no.3 River side, Sarawak"),

     *                  @OA\Property(property="address2", type="string", example=null),

     *                  @OA\Property(property="introduction", type="string", example="Software architect and Postgresql architect"),

     *                  @OA\Property(property="phone", type="string", example="1234512345"),

     *                  @OA\Property(property="email", type="string", example="bintulu@some.email.example"),

     *                  @OA\Property(property="notes", type="string", example="Call by phone"),

     *              ),

     *           ),

     *           @OA\Property(property="timestamp", type="string", example="2023-03-17T10:00:09"),

     *         ),

     *       ),

     *  ),

     */

Laravel Helper class

Programming is made more systematic with a large number of helper classes in Laravel. Examples are the Arr::last, Arr::add, Arr::get, asset, route, secure_url, url, dd, collect, env)

Lots of documentations are available at Laravel (see Laravel 7). 

Example of usage

Helper url( )

Returns a fully qualified URL

$url = url('user/profile');

Creating your first helper class

The following illustrates a function named "courier" that will be available to all controllers. It typically returns data in a predefined format.

Step 1: Create a helper file in app/Helpers with the name myHelpers.php

/app/Helpers/myHelpers.php

Step 2: Create the function in the file myHelpers.php

<?php

use Carbon\Carbon;

if (! function_exists('courier')) {

function courier($status, $message, $data){

$now = carbon::now();

$status = $status??0;

$package = [

'status'=>$status,

'message'=>$message,

'data'=>$data,

'timestamp'=>$now,

];

return $package;

}

}

Step 3: Edit [autoload] in composer.json

"autoload": {

        "files": [

            "app/Helpers/myHelpers.php",

        ],

Step 4: Reload Laravel

composer dump-autoload

Usage of "courier" helper 

In any of the function in Controller classes, call the helper function. Example

public function getUsers( ){

$users = User::where('status','active')->get();

$status=0; // success

$message=null;

if(count($users)>0){

$status=1; // success but not users available

$message="None";

}

return response(courier($status, $message, $users), 200);

}