Test Environment Management

<default_to_action> When managing test environments:

• DEFINE environment types (local, CI, staging, prod)

• CONTAINERIZE with Docker for consistency

• ENSURE parity with production (same versions, configs)

• MOCK external services (service virtualization)

• OPTIMIZE costs (auto-shutdown, spot instances)

Quick Environment Checklist:

• Same OS/versions as production

• Same database type and version

• Same configuration structure

• Containers for reproducibility

• Auto-shutdown after hours

Critical Success Factors:

• "Works on my machine" = environment inconsistency

• Infrastructure as Code = repeatable environments

• Service virtualization = test without external dependencies </default_to_action>

Quick Reference Card

When to Use

• Setting up test infrastructure

• Debugging environment-specific failures

• Reducing test infrastructure costs

• Ensuring dev/prod parity

Environment Types

Type Purpose Lifetime

Local Fast feedback Developer session

CI Automated tests Per build (ephemeral)

Staging Pre-prod validation Persistent

Production Canary/synthetic Continuous

Dev/Prod Parity Checklist

Item Must Match

OS Same version

Database Same type + version

Dependencies Same versions

Config Same structure

Env vars Same names

Docker for Test Environments

docker-compose.test.yml

version: '3.8'

services: app: build: . ports: - "3000:3000" environment: NODE_ENV: test DATABASE_URL: postgres://postgres:password@db:5432/test depends_on: - db - redis

db: image: postgres:15 environment: POSTGRES_DB: test POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password

redis: image: redis:7

Run tests in container:

docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml exec app npm test docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml down

Infrastructure as Code

test-environment.tf

resource "aws_instance" "test_server" { ami = "ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0" instance_type = "t3.medium"

tags = { Name = "test-environment" Environment = "test" AutoShutdown = "20:00" # Cost optimization } }

resource "aws_rds_instance" "test_db" { engine = "postgres" engine_version = "15" instance_class = "db.t3.micro" backup_retention_period = 0 # No backups needed for test skip_final_snapshot = true }

Service Virtualization

// Mock external services with WireMock import { WireMock } from 'wiremock-captain';

const wiremock = new WireMock('http://localhost:8080');

// Mock payment gateway await wiremock.register({ request: { method: 'POST', url: '/charge' }, response: { status: 200, jsonBody: { transactionId: '12345', status: 'approved' } } });

// Tests use mock instead of real gateway

Cost Optimization

Auto-shutdown test environments after hours

0 20 * * * aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids $(aws ec2 describe-instances
--filters "Name=tag:Environment,Values=test"
--query "Reservations[].Instances[].InstanceId" --output text)

Start before work hours

0 7 * * 1-5 aws ec2 start-instances --instance-ids $(aws ec2 describe-instances
--filters "Name=tag:Environment,Values=test"
--query "Reservations[].Instances[].InstanceId" --output text)

Use spot instances (70% savings):

resource "aws_instance" "test_runner" { instance_type = "c5.2xlarge" instance_market_options { market_type = "spot" spot_options { max_price = "0.10" } } }

Agent-Driven Environment Management

// Provision test environment await Task("Environment Provisioning", { type: 'integration-testing', services: ['app', 'db', 'redis', 'mocks'], parity: 'production', lifetime: '2h' }, "qe-test-executor");

// Chaos testing in isolated environment await Task("Chaos Test Environment", { baseline: 'staging', isolate: true, injectFaults: ['network-delay', 'pod-failure'] }, "qe-chaos-engineer");

Agent Coordination Hints

Memory Namespace

aqe/environment-management/ ├── configs/* - Environment configurations ├── parity-checks/* - Dev/prod parity results ├── cost-reports/* - Infrastructure costs └── service-mocks/* - Service virtualization configs

Fleet Coordination

const envFleet = await FleetManager.coordinate({ strategy: 'environment-management', agents: [ 'qe-test-executor', // Provision environments 'qe-performance-tester', // Environment performance 'qe-chaos-engineer' // Resilience testing ], topology: 'sequential' });

Related Skills

• test-data-management - Data for environments

• continuous-testing-shift-left - CI/CD environments

• chaos-engineering-resilience - Environment resilience

Remember

Environment inconsistency = flaky tests. "Works on my machine" problems come from: different OS/versions, missing dependencies, configuration differences, data differences.

Infrastructure as Code ensures repeatability. Version control your environment configurations. Spin up identical environments on demand.

With Agents: Agents automatically provision test environments matching production, ensure parity, mock external services, and optimize costs with auto-scaling and auto-shutdown.