As of version 2.15, ApTest Manager supports the use of an optional SQL-based relational database management system (RDBMS) to capture information related to your Requirements, Test Cases, and Test execution. This optional functionality can be added to any Test Suite at any time. This section describes the supported RDBMS and methods for installing the necessary "drivers" to give your ApTest Manager server to access them.

This section assumes that your ApTest Manager environment AND your RDBMS environment are already configured and working. See the RDBMS documentation for details on installing and operating it. ApTest does not provide support in any way, shape or form for installation or operation of relational database management systems.

Once you have successfully executed the necessary steps in this section, you should see Chapter 4 of the Admin Guide for information on using the driver to connect ApTest Manager to your RDBMS.

Note that installation of RDBMS drivers is an advanced topic, and requires substantial knowledge of both the server on which ApTest Manager is installed and of the RDBMS to which you are connecting. The information in this section is as complete as we can make it, given that every environment is different.

Finally, note that if your favorite SQL RDBMS is not mentioned here, it may be possible for us to support it. Please contact atm-sales@aptest.com for more information and a price quote.

Table of Contents

1 System Requirements

In order to configure your ApTest Manager system for access to a SQL RDBMS, you will need to install some Perl driver modules. Some platforms have pre-built versions of these modules available. If yours does, you should use these pre-built modules. If not, you will need to go through the process of building and installing the modules. To do this, your system will need the following installed:

  1. A C Language Compilation system. Linux platforms use gcc for this. Solaris has "Sun Studio", which includes a C compiler. You need to use the same C compiler as was used to build the version of Perl on your platform.
  2. The RDBMS that you are planning to connect to, or at least the "client" components for that RDBMS.

Do not attempt to go past this point until these pre-requisites are in place.

2 MySQL

ApTest Manager has been tested and verified to work with MySQL version 3.23. This version (or a later one) must be installed. We strongly suggest that a separate database be created just for ApTest Manager, and that a separate user be defined to access and maintain this database. Your MySQL Database Administrator will know how to do this.

In order to configure ApTest Manager to talk to MySQL you will need to install the Perl module DBD::mysql (version 3.0002 or later). Your server installation may have this Perl module pre-built. If so, we recommend you use the pre-built version to simplify the installation. Your system administrator will know how to use your specific package management tools to perform such an installation. (e.g., yum install perl-DBD-MySQL)

If that option is not available to you, the following (generic) steps should work in your environment. You must be familiar with using the perl CPAN environment to build and install modules. You must also have a C Compilation system and MySQL (at least the client and development libraries) installed on your system.

Note that you may have to customize these instructions to your specific platform - if you run into trouble, read the messages the system is giving you carefully; there is usually good guidance in them for correcting the problems.

Perform the following steps to install DBD::mysql:

[root@example /]# perl -MCPAN -e shell

(... lots of output ...)

cpan> install DBD::mysql

(... lots of output ...)

   /usr/bin/make install  -- OK

cpan> quit
[root@example /]# 

It is VERY LIKELY that CPAN will not report "OK" and will not have completed the installation. This is because the DBD::mysql driver has some very silly defaults for performing its tests, and they almost certainly will not work in your environment (e.g., username, password, and database to which to connect). You have two options:

  1. If you are working on a relatively stable and popular platform (e.g., Redhat Enterprise Linux) you can re-run the above, replacing "install" with "force install". This will ignore the test errors and install it anyway. You should only do this if you have reviewed the output generated above and are convinced that the compilation phase succeeded.
  2. Find where the downloaded DBD::mysql sources are unpacked on your disk (the default is ~/.cpan/build/DBD-mysql-n.nnn) and examine the output of perl Makefile.PL --help and perldoc INSTALL for guidance on changing the default configuration so that it will talk to your MySQL RDBMS. Then follow the instructions therein to build, test, and install the module.

Finally, follow the instructions in Chapter 4 of the Admin Guide to configure access to your MySQL RDBMS database using the "MySQL" Database type. You will need to provide the hostname, port number, the username, and the password.

3 Oracle

ApTest Manager has been tested and verified to work with Oracle version 10g. This version (or a later one) must be installed. We strongly suggest that a separate database be created just for ApTest Manager, and that a separate user be defined to access and maintain this database. Your Oracle Database Administrator will know how to do this.

In order to configure ApTest Manager to talk to Oracle you will need to install the Perl module DBD::Oracle (version 1.17 or later). Your environment may have this Perl module pre-built. If so, we recommend you use the pre-built version to simplify the installation. Your system administrator will know how to use your specific package management tools to perform such an installation. (e.g., yum install perl-DBD-Oracle)

If that option is not available to you, the following (generic) steps should work in your environment. You must be familiar with using the perl CPAN environment to build and install modules. You must also have a C Compilation system and Oracle (at least the client and development libraries) installed on your system.

Note that you may have to customize these instructions to your specific platform - if you run into trouble, read the messages the system is giving you carefully; there is usually good guidance in them for correcting the problems.

Perform the following steps to install DBD::Oracle. Note that you MUST have your ORACLE_HOME environment variable set to point to your Oracle installation in order for the driver to find its libraries. Also, in order for the tests to run, you need to set ORACLE_USERID to the username and password your Oracle Database System Administrator has assigned for ApTest Manager (e.g., export ORACLE_USERID=myUser/myPassword.) You must also set ORACLE_DSN to indicate the host and SID you are connecting to (e.g., export ORACLE_DSN=dbi:Oracle:host=localhost;port=1521;sid=XE.) Finally, be certain that you have included $ORACLE_HOME/lib in your LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable OR in your systems shared library configuration.

[root@example /]# export ORACLE_HOME=/path/to/oracle
[root@example /]# export ORACLE_USERID=myUser/myPassword
[root@example /]# export ORACLE_DSN="dbi:Oracle:host=localhost;port=1521;sid=XE"
[root@example /]# export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib
[root@example /]# perl -MCPAN -e shell

(... lots of output ...)

cpan> install DBD::Oracle

(... lots of output ...)

   /usr/bin/make install  -- OK

cpan> quit
[root@example /]# 

If CPAN does not report "OK" at this point, you need to carefully examine the output above to determine where the tests or compilation failed. Correct any errors reported and try the installation again.

Finally, follow the instructions in Chapter 4 of the Admin Guide to configure access to your Oracle RDBMS using the "Oracle" Database type. You will need to provide the hostname, the port, the system identifier, the username, and the password.

4 PostgreSQL

ApTest Manager has been tested and verified to work with PostgreSQL version 7.4.13. This version (or a later one) must be installed. We strongly suggest that a separate database be created just for ApTest Manager, and that a separate user be defined to access and maintain this database. Your PostgreSQL Database Administrator will know how to do this.

In order to configure ApTest Manager to talk to PostgreSQL you will need to install the Perl module DBD::Pg (version 1.49 or later). Your environment may have this Perl module pre-built. If so, we recommend you use the pre-built version to simplify the installation. Your system administrator will know how to use your specific package management tools to perform such an installation. (e.g., yum install perl-DBD-Pg)

If that option is not available to you, the following (generic) steps should work in your environment. You must be familiar with using the perl CPAN environment to build and install modules. You must also have a C Compilation system and PostgreSQL (at least the client and development packages) installed on your system.

Note that you may have to customize these instructions to your specific platform - if you run into trouble, read the messages the system is giving you carefully; there is usually good guidance in them for correcting the problems.

Perform the following steps to install DBD::Pg. Note that it is possible you will need to do this twice if, during testing, the test program needs to create a .gnupg configuration file.

[root@example /]# perl -MCPAN -e shell

(... lots of output ...)

cpan> install DBD::Pg

(... lots of output ...)

   /usr/bin/make install  -- OK

cpan> quit
[root@example /]# 

If CPAN does not report "OK" at this point, you need to carefully examine the output above to determine where the tests or compilation failed. Correct any errors reported and try the installation again.

Finally, follow the instructions in Chapter 4 of the Admin Guide to configure access to your PostgreSQL RDBMS using the "PostgreSQL" Database type. You will need to provide the database name, the hostname, the port, the username, and the password.

Copyright © 2000-2011 Applied Testing and Technology, Inc. All rights reserved.