3.9 KiB
qTest Primer
I emailed this to Modesto (and CC'd Steve) in January 2024 after interst in upgrading qTest was renewed once again.
Tricentis is maddeningly vague about what qTest does, opting instead to suggest you sign up for a demo.
This is their product page: https://www.tricentis.com/products/unified-test-management-qtest
qTest predates my arrival at OverDrive.
This is the product page we maintain in Confluence: Qtest - Architecture and Support https://confluence.hq.overdrive.com/display/ITENG/Qtest+-+Architecture+and+Support
Shortly after I started (2019), qTest was reporting security issues and the security team was up in arms about how to address them.
The version of qTest we were using at that time was docker-based, and it was determined that there were old software packages in the docker containers that qTest used.
Tricentis acknowledged the old packages, but had no roadmap for resolving the issues. The suggestion was made to switch to their "Single Server, On-Premesis" offering.
Basically, install everything manually.
Converting to a non-docker installation and with no real qTest SME on the IT team, the initial upgrade and each subsequent upgrade has consisted of spinning up a fresh new VM and installing the latest version of qTest, then exporting the data from the old version and importing it into the new version. While not ideal, this provides us the ability to run parallel instances during testing in case there are any significant or breaking changes between versions.
I created this document and update it with new findings after each upgrade: qTest Fresh Install and Migration https://confluence.hq.overdrive.com/display/ITENG/qTest+Fresh+Install+and+Migration
2023 Upgrade
It seems that after any significant problem with the product, our QA team suggests that I upgrade to the latest version of qTest. This happened last year (qTest Insights license expired and upgrades https://jira.hq.overdrive.com/browse/IT-33140)
As it turned out the solution to their problem did not require a full upgrade to the newest version, but it was agreed that we should plan to upgrade anyway. (qTest server upgrade https://jira.hq.overdrive.com/browse/ITSD-15364)
I kept my notes on the upgrade here: 2023 qTest Upgrade https://confluence.hq.overdrive.com/display/~chawley/2023+qTest+Upgrade
Because we always have problems coordinating with the QA team for testing the new version (and the fact that version look almost exactly the same, except for the URL) I sent this text to the qTest channel last year: qTest Pre-upgrade Messaging https://confluence.hq.overdrive.com/display/~chawley/qTest+Pre-upgrade+Messaging
Since then there has been no further communication or interest in testing or moving to the new version, so it never happened. We still have a qtest4 (PROD) VM and a qtest5 (DEV) VM out there. At this point, even the qtest5 is running software several months out of date.
On Tuesday, January 23, 2024, I got this message from Todd:
Todd Rosenthal Hi Chuck. Looks like we need to bounce the qTest server. Search is not working and when I click on the re-index button, it throws an error that elastic search service is unavailable. We also really need to do an upgrade as we are falling so far behind we may run into trouble trying to upgrade. We are over 20 updates behind. . Chuck Hawley OK, first thing... Elasticsearch had died. I restarted the Elasticsearch service. Try your searches again. As for the upgrade, ping Steve so I can get that back on my schedule. But let me know if the search issue resolves. It may have just needed elasticsearch to be bounced. . Todd Rosenthal yep that seems to have fixed it! I'll send Steve a slack about the updates. I hope it isn't a nightmare at this point to do it. Fingers crossed.
So, again, a non-related problem made them think about upgrading.
This brings us to the conversation you had with Steve the other day.