Publish chain results to ALM Octane

You can integrate a PulseUno chain with an ALM Octane pipeline and send chain run results to ALM Octane.

Tip: A chain that publishes results to ALM Octane can also integrate with an ALM Octane release process. When you define actions for your release process in ALM Octane, add a CI server auto action that will run the chain. For details about releases and CI server auto actions, see the ALM Octane help.

Pipeline integration steps

In a working integration, you can run a PulseUno chain that publishes its results to ALM Octane, and you can view the results as an ALM Octane pipeline. The chain acts as a root job to start the ALM Octane pipeline.

To integrate a PulseUno chain with an ALM Octane pipeline, complete the following steps.

Step 1 In PulseUno: Connect to an ALM Octane instance. See Connect to ALM Octane.
Step 2 In PulseUno: Enable the relevant product or Git repository to use the ALM Octane connection. See Enable ALM Octane connection.
Step 3 In PulseUno: Set up a chain to publish chain run results to ALM Octane. See Create a chain to publish to ALM Octane.
Step 4 In ALM Octane: Add a PulseUno CI server.
Step 5 In ALM Octane: Create a pipeline that runs on the PulseUno CI server and uses the chain you configured for ALM Octane.

For details on how to complete the tasks in ALM Octane, see the ALM Octane help.

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Enable ALM Octane connection

Note: If PulseUno is already configured to use ALM Octane for requests, the ALM Octane connection is enabled automatically. For details, see Enable ALM Octane requests.

After you connect an ALM Octane instance, enable your product or Git repository to use this connection for the pipeline integration.

Note: Administrator or owner permissions required.

To enable the ALM Octane connection:

  1. In PulseUno, on the top navigation bar, select the relevant space from the spaces list.

  2. On the Products page, open the product or Git repository from which to publish to ALM Octane.

  3. On the sidebar, select Settings > Integrations.

  4. On the Integrations page, in the ALM Octane section, select the ALM Octane connection and enter the ID of the relevant ALM Octane workspace.

    Note: If you have enabled an ALM Octane instance as a request provider, PulseUno automatically uses the same connection for the pipeline. For details, see Enable ALM Octane requests.

  5. Click Save.

After enabling the connection, set up a chain to publish results to ALM Octane.

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Create a chain to publish to ALM Octane

After you create and enable an ALM Octane connection, set up a chain to send results to ALM Octane.

You can also pass custom output properties to ALM Octane. For example, if a chain produces measurements, you can publish them to ALM Octane as output properties.

Note: Administrator, owner, or maintainer permissions required.

To configure a chain to publish to ALM Octane:

  1. In PulseUno, on the top navigation bar, select the relevant space from the spaces list.

  2. On the Products page, open the product or Git repository from which to publish to ALM Octane.

  3. On the sidebar, select Chains.

  4. Open the chain you want to use for the integration, and click Edit.

    Or create a new chain, as described in Create chains.

    Tip: To create a test runner chain that pushes unit test results to ALM Octane and enables you to run a tests pipeline from ALM Octane, use the Maven, Gradle, or UFT One plugins. For details on how to integrate UFT One testing between PulseUno and ALM Octane, see Run UFT One tests from ALM Octane.

  5. In the Steps tab, click Add step to chain .

  6. From the Add Step list, add the Publish results to ALM Octane plugin as the last step on the chain.

  7. Click the step and enter the following configuration details:

    Field Description
    Title Enter a name for the chain step, or use the default name.

    Comment on work items associated with the chain run

    By default, if the chain run was successful or unstable, PulseUno publishes the link to the chain run as a comment on all related ALM Octane work items.

    This way, after running a build to merge a certain feature to the main branch, you can check the associated work items in ALM Octane and instantly know which build delivered the feature.

    If you do not want to publish the comment, clear the option Publish a link to last completed chain run.

    To publish the comment even if the chain run fails, clear the option Add the comment only for success and unstable chain states.
    Logs

    By default, PulseUno publishes build logs to an ALM Octane pipeline only when the chain step fails.

    To send build logs on every run, clear the option Only send log when chain step fails.

    The default log size limit is 150 MB. If the log size is larger, PulseUno truncates the log file, removing the earliest entries.

    Note: As an administrator, you can change the log size limit by editing the octane.pipeline.log.limit.size.mb property in Administration > System Properties.

    To view the log in ALM Octane, open the Logs tab of the associated pipeline job.
    Metrics to publish as output properties

    To publish custom output properties, specify key=value pairs, where value is a metric or built-in variable.

    Enter each pair on a new line using the following syntax:

    KEY={{metric.<measurement name>}}
    KEY={{pulse.<variable name>}}

    For example:

    BUILD_DISPLAY_NAME={{pulse.chain_full_name}}
    BUILD_URL={{pulse.chain_run_url}}
    BUILD_TAG={{pulse.changeset_id}}

    For details about available built-in variables, see Use variables in chains.

    To publish the state of the chain run, use the {{chain.status}} variable.

    You can pass metrics from other chain steps. If multiple steps produce the same measurement, specify the step name (copy the name from the Title field):

    {{metric.<step name>.<measurement name>}}

    For example, to publish the finding count from the Script 01 step, enter:

    FINDING_COUNT={{metric.script 01.finding count}}
    or
    FINDING_COUNT={{metric.script_01.finding_count}}

    Step and measurement names are not case-sensitive. Spaces are automatically converted to underscores.

    If multiple chain steps produce the same measurement, and the step name is not specified, PulseUno uses the value from the step that runs last. For example, if the same metric is defined in steps 1, 2, and 3, the metric from step 3 is converted to an output property.
    Control options

    (Optional) Define the control options for the plugin step:

    • Enable step. By default, the step is enabled to run. Clear this option if you need to deactivate the step.

      Disabled steps are skipped when the chain runs.

    • Fail the step. Specify the conditions for failing the step, such as unit test failures, findings criteria, and/or console log entries.

    • Mark step as unstable. Specify the conditions for making the step unstable, such as unit test failures, findings criteria, and/or console log entries.
    Output variables (Optional) Specify the output variables to be passed to other steps down the chain. For details, see Publish output variables.

  8. Test runner chains only: If you use this chain to run unit tests and push test results to ALM Octane, add the TestsToRun variable on the chain. Leave the value empty.

    You must set the testsToRun variable so that ALM Octane can send a list of tests to run in PulseUno. For details on how to define variables, see Add chain variables.

  9. To specify the schedule or the conditions for running the chain, select the Triggers tab and set the Run chain option. For details, see Schedule chain runs.

  10. Click Save & Continue.

You can run the chain after you finish configuring the integration with ALM Octane.

When the chain is run, PulseUno automatically creates a CI server and pipeline for the chain in ALM Octane, if the API key used for the connection is associated with the required permissions in ALM Octane.

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See also: