This section provides an overview of deployment options for your virtual assets. Sections include:
A virtual asset is a collection of entities configured to simulate the behavior, performance, and data on which the application under test (AUT) is dependent. Virtual assets are represented in files with a .pva extension. Parasoft Virtual Asset files contain one or more Responder suites. Responder suites are collections of one or more Message Responders and/or SQL Responder tools.
You can deploy virtual assets to a local or remote Virtualize Server and configure the AUT to use the virtualized services represented in its Responder suites.
The recommended workflow is to first use the Virtualize Desktop GUI to deploy a newly created virtual asset to a "staging" remote server in order to validate that it works as expected and to fine tune its behavior. You can think of this as your dedicated staging server for testing newly created virtual assets.
Then, once the virtual asset is operating properly, you can use the Virtualize Desktop GUI to move it to a "production" Virtualize server for centralized, team-wide access. You can think of this as your dedicated "Production" server where your created virtual assets are actually consumed. This re-deployment can be done by simply dragging the related .pva file from the remote "Staging" server to the remote "Production" server host (in the Virtualize Server view).
Deploying virtual assets to a Virtualize Server makes them available for use within your virtual environment. You can deploy virtual assets to a remote or local server.
You can run Virtualize Server on a dedicated machine and connect to it remotely from your Virtualize desktop or from Continuous Testing Platform. Using a dedicated remote machine enables you to provide continuous access to appropriate team members and project stakeholders. There are several options for deploying remote Virtualize Servers:
You can also run an instance of Virtualize Server on your local machine. As you create virtual assets, you can use the Virtualize Server View in the desktop GUI to manage and configure them. There are several options for deploying local instances of Virtualize Server.
Virtual assets must be deployed in the VirtualAssets project in the Virtualize Server view.
The Virtual Assets (other projects) folder contains assets deployed in other projects. These assets can remain deployed in the current location until you start updating them. When you are ready to modify them, move the virtual assets (and any dependent files) to the VirtualAssets project.
The fastest way to deploy a virtual asset to a local or remote server or to move virtual assets from one server to another is as follows:
You can use this procedure for a variety of purposes, including:
Alternatively, you can deploy virtual assets to the local server by adding the related .pva file to the VirtualAssets project (through drag and drop, copy/paste, or a source control update).
Deploying virtual assets using the wizard provides additional control over the deployment process, such as modifying the default endpoint:
For details on how to customize advanced options for virtual asset deployment, see Configuring Server and Deployment Settings.
Virtual Assets are automatically redeployed when you save changes to the asset. Any time that you open an already deployed .pva on the local server, modify it, then save the editor, it will re-deploy automatically. Automatic redeployment of all virtual assets also takes place when a data source file (Excel spreadsheet or CSV) is modified.
If you want to prompt Virtualize to re-deploy all assets, right-click the appropriate machine node in the Virtualize Server view and choose Re-Deploy All Virtual Assets.
Virtual assets can connect to an MQ manager using a global configuration or a local configuration. Global configurations are defined per Virtualize Server and can be used by virtual assets and proxies deployed to the server (see Connections Tab). Local configurations are defined for individual assets or proxies.
You cannot deploy an asset or proxy connected to a global MQ manager if the MQ manager connection configuration does not exist on the destination Virtualize Server. If you need to move or copy an asset/proxy to another Virtualize Server, you can manually define the MQ manager connection or use the copy function to add the connection settings to the destination server (see Copying an MQ Manager Connection).
For details on starting, stopping, and interacting with remote and local severs, see:
If you want to organize the deployed virtual assets in the VirtualAssets project into logical groupings, you can specify a hierarchical structure. For instance, if you wanted to organize virtual assets into four projects, each which is organized by project components, you might create the following structure:
You can specify a hierarchical structure from the:
Any changes made in one area will be automatically reflected in the others.
From the Virtualize Server view, you can perform the following actions to organize virtual assets: