What is the JavaTest Harness Agent?

An agent is a separate program that works in conjunction with the JavaTest harness to run tests on a system other than the one that is running the JavaTest harness.

You can use custom agents or the JavaTest harness agent to run tests. The topics in this guide describe how to configure and run the agent provided with the JavaTest harness. If you are using a custom agent, refer to your test suite documentation for a description of how to configure and run it.

JavaTest Harness Agent Features

Depending on your test suite, agents are typically used to run tests on small devices that do not support online help.

The following table describes the features of the JavaTest harness agent.

Feature Description
Multiple User Interfaces

The JavaTest harness agent can be run from any one of the following supported user interfaces:

  • Agent GUI
  • Command-Line Interface
  • Applets
Configurable Modes The JavaTest harness agent can be run in active, passive, or serial modes.
Monitoring The JavaTest harness agent and the tests that it is running can be monitored in the Agent GUI.

Installation and Runtime Security Guidelines

It is extremely important to note that the JavaTest installation and runtime system is fundamentally a developer system that is not specifically designed to guard against any malicious attacks from outside intruders. If sample code or tests you author make a network call, you can expose the JavaTest operating environment during execution. For this reason, it is critically important to observe the precautions outlined in the following security guidelines when installing and running JavaTest.

The harness itself is self-contained in javatest.jar. The only external dependency is jh.jar, which should be placed either on the classpath or in the same directory as javatest.jar. If desired, the following optional parts of the binary distribution can be deleted:

To maintain optimum network security, JavaTest can be installed and run in a "closed" network operating environment, meaning JavaTest is not connected directly to the Internet, or to a company Intranet environment that could introduce unwanted exposure to malicious intrusion. This is the ideal secure operating environment when it is possible.

JavaTest does not require an "Intranet" connection that supports network connections to systems outside the JavaTest architecture to intra-company resources, but, for example, some Java ME applications in a test suite might use an HTTP connection. If JavaTest or applications launched from JavaTest are open to any network access you must observe the following precautions to protect valuable resources from malicious intrusion: