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Chapter 4. Setting up the test environment

To certify your product, you must first set up the environment where you can run the tests. The test environment consists of a host under test (HUT).

4.1. For RHEL hardware certification
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Set up the test environment where you can run the tests.

The test environment consists of at least two systems:

4.1.1. Setting up the host under test
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A system on which the product that needs certification is installed or configured is referred to as the host under test (HUT).

Prerequisites

  • The HUT has RHEL version 8 or later installed. For convenience, Red Hat provides kickstart files to install the HUT’s operating system. Follow the instructions in the file that is appropriate for your system before launching the installation process.
Note

Red Hat Hardware Certification requires using the General Availability (GA) kernel for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux version being certified for hardware certification.

When installing RHEL, please download and use the Binary DVD Offline Install Image, and not the Boot ISO image. The Boot ISO image requires a network connection, and will automatically install the current kernel instead of the required GA kernel.

Do not register the system with Red Hat Subscription Management (RHSM) during the installation process. Only register the system with RHSM after the installation process is completed.

Procedure

  1. Configure the Red Hat Certification repository.

    Use your RHN credentials to register your system using Red Hat Subscription Management: 

    # subscription-manager register
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  2. Display the list of available subscriptions for your system: 

    # subscription-manager list --available*
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  3. Search for the subscription which provides the Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository and make a note of the subscription and its Pool ID.

  4. Attach the subscription to your system. Replace the pool_ID with the Pool ID of the subscription. 

    # subscription-manager attach --pool=<pool_ID>
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    Note

    You don’t have to attach the subscription to your system, if you enable the option Simple content access for Red Hat Subscription Management. For more details, see How do I enable Simple Content Access for Red Hat Subscription Management?

  5. Subscribe to the Red Hat Certification channel: 

    $ subscription-manager repos --enable=cert-1-for-rhel-<VERSION>-<HOSTTYPE>-rpms
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    Replace VERSION with the RHEL version number on the SUT 

    subscription-manager repos --enable=cert-1-for-rhel-9-<HOSTTYPE>-rpms
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    To find out the system architecture, run 

    $ uname -m
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    Replace HOSTTYPE with the system architecture. 

    $ subscription-manager repos --enable=cert-1-for-rhel-<VERSION>-x86_64-rpms
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    1. Install the hardware test suite package:

      Note

      This step is applicable only for RHEL version 9 or later. 

      $ dnf install redhat-certification-hardware
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4.1.2. Setting up the test server
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Some of the tests running on the host under test (HUT) require a second system to pass. This second system is known as the test server.

For example, the test that checks bandwidth, transfers data from one system to another, in order to pass.

Prerequisites

  • The test server has RHEL version 8, 9 or 10 installed.
Note

Red Hat recommends that your test server runs the same major version of RHEL as the HUT.

  • Red Hat provides kickstart files to install the HUT’s operating system, and you can also use them to install the test server. Follow the instructions in the file that is appropriate for your system before launching the installation process.

Procedure

  1. Configure the Red Hat Certification repository.

    Use your RHN credentials to register your system using Red Hat Subscription Management: 

    # subscription-manager register
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Display the list of available subscriptions for your system: 

    # subscription-manager list --available*
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
  3. Search for the subscription which provides the Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository and make a note of the subscription and its Pool ID.

  4. Attach the subscription to your system. Replace the pool_ID with the Pool ID of the subscription. 

    # subscription-manager attach --pool=<pool_ID>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    Note

    You don’t have to attach the subscription to your system, if you enable the option Simple content access for Red Hat Subscription Management. For more details, see How do I enable Simple Content Access for Red Hat Subscription Management?

  5. Subscribe to the Red Hat Certification channel: 

    $ subscription-manager repos --enable=cert-1-for-rhel-<VERSION>-<HOSTTYPE>-rpms
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Replace VERSION with the RHEL version number on the SUT 

    subscription-manager repos --enable=cert-1-for-rhel-9-<HOSTTYPE>-rpms
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    To find out the system architecture, run 

    $ uname -m
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Replace HOSTTYPE with the system architecture. 

    $ subscription-manager repos --enable=cert-1-for-rhel-<VERSION>-x86_64-rpms
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    1. Install the hardware test suite package:

      Note

      This step is applicable only for RHEL version 9 or later. 

      $ dnf install redhat-certification-hardware
      Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Next steps

See Downloading the test plan from Red Hat Certification portal.

4.2. For RHEL AI hardware certification
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Set up the test environment to run the RHEL AI certification tests.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. From your HUT, log in to the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console subscriptions page by using your SSO login credentials to confirm you have an active Red Hat Partner Subscription. If not, contact your company’s organization administrator to request for a partner subscription.
  2. Log in to the Red Hat Insights application and go to the Inventory > System configuration > Activation Keys tab, to generate an activation key for your account. Also, this page displays your Organization ID. Make a note of this ID for future reference.

  3. Register your HUT with the Red Hat Insights application. 

    sudo rhc connect --organization <org_id> --activation-key <your_activation_key>
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  4. Enable your certification repository for downloading the certification test rpms. 

    subscription-manager repos --enable=cert-1-for-rhel-9-x86_64-rpms
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  5. Install the test suite and reboot the HUT. 

    rpm-ostree install redhat-certification-hardware-ai
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  6. Login to the Red Hat Registry by using the skopeo tool. This step enables you to download models during the test run. 

    skopeo login registry.redhat.io
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    It prompts you to enter your login credentials to access the Red Hat registry.

Note

Running RHEL AI certification tests can be time-consuming. To quickly verify if your HUT is suitable for running these tests, go to /etc/rhcert.xml file and update the value of <rhelai training> parameter from full to short as shown below: 

<rhelai training="short" epoch="2" config-update="true">
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This acts as a sanity test allowing you to quickly identify any issues with the AI accelerators before running the certification tests. This test result is not considered for certification.

Verification

To verify if your test environment is set, execute the following command: 

rpm-ostree status
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It confirms the successful installation of redhat-certification-hardware-ai package.

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