ServerSpec

ServerSpec gives you RSpec tests for your infrastructure. Test Kitchen’s legacy busser verifier runs them through the busser-serverspec plugin.

Busser installs ServerSpec on the machine under test the first time a suite runs, then executes the suite’s serverspec directory against it. Because the tests run on the machine itself, they use ServerSpec’s exec backend rather than SSH.

Requirements

Ruby 3.2 or newer, and busser 0.9.0 or newer.

Installation

Select the Busser verifier in your kitchen.yml:

verifier:
  name: busser

Busser installs the plugin for you when the suite runs. To install it by hand:

busser plugin install busser-serverspec

Directory layout

Put your specs in a subdirectory of the suite’s serverspec directory:

test
`-- integration
    `-- default              # suite name
        `-- serverspec
            |-- Gemfile          # optional
            |-- spec_helper.rb
            `-- localhost
                `-- httpd_spec.rb

Specs are collected recursively as **/*_spec.rb, so any depth works; the localhost/ directory is convention, not a requirement. The suite directory is added to the load path and set as RSpec’s default path, so require "spec_helper" works without a relative path.

Writing a test

require "spec_helper"

describe package('httpd') do
  it { should be_installed }
end

describe command("echo hello") do
  its(:exit_status) { should eq 0 }
  its(:stdout) { should eq "hello\n" }
end

Backend

The tests run on the machine under test, after Test Kitchen has logged in, so the exec backend is the right one:

require "serverspec"
set :backend, :exec

Pinning the ServerSpec version

A Gemfile in the suite directory is bundle installed before the run:

source "https://rubygems.org"

gem "serverspec", "~> 2.43"

Without one, the plugin installs ServerSpec 2.43 or newer.

When nothing runs

If the suite files do not match what this plugin looks for, the run prints one line and exits 0 — no tests ran, and nothing said so:

-----> Running serverspec test suite

This is the most common problem with this verifier, and because it exits zero, CI reports success. Work through these in order:

1. Is the directory named serverspec? That name alone selects this plugin. serverspecs/, tests/, or anything else is not picked up.
2. Do the filenames match? Only *_spec.rb is run, searched recursively. Note the underscore — default-spec.rb is not picked up.
3. Is the plugin installed? busser plugin list shows what is available.
4. Is BUSSER_ROOT what you think? busser suite path prints where suites are actually being looked for.