How To Set Up Selenium Grid

Selenium Grid is one of the four components of Selenium, an open-source automation testing framework. The Selenium Grid makes it a lot more convenient to run parallel tests on various machines, which is why it is quite popular. When running tests with the help of a grid, one would route various commands to a remote hub. With the hub, different web browsers happen to act centrally for parallel testing rather than conducting the tests separately for each web browser. And the grid makes the servers act as the hub.

The test commands are then routed to various nodes of the grid by the hub. And this is exactly why Selenium Grid is a preferred option for cross-browser testing, which also makes the analysis and comparison of the results way more convenient. If you plan to set up Selenium Grid to run tests, these are five things that need to be followed.

• Install

The installation step for Selenium Grid starts with downloading the Selenium server standalone package. The package has a combination of WebDriver, Hub, and legacy remote control, and these components are required for running the Selenium Grid. Also, ensure that you have installed Java before using Selenium Grid. Once you have all that you need, you just have to set up the rest of the background variables.

• Initiate Hub

Hub is a Selenium Grid component that you need in order to route client test commands to different nodes. This happens through a mechanism wherein the Hub routes the test requests to specific nodes as it receives these requests. You need to open command prompts and find the directory that contains the Selenium server jar file. Once you’re there, you need to type this command— java -jar selenium-server-standalone-<version>.jar -role hub and then mention the host name. You can however skip this step unless you use a VPN.

• Begin Nodes

When you start the nodes, there’s a condition that you have to remember. In case you use new functionality of the WebDriver or a Selenium 1 remote control functionality, you will need to use the same jar file of the Selenium server for starting the nodes. The same rule applies when you plan to run both the WebDriver and the Selenium 1 RC simultaneously. Go to the jar file location after opening the command prompt, and type this command— java -jar selenium-server-standalone-<version>.jar -role node -hub https://localhost:4444/grid/register. And make sure that you define the role as a node when the role option provided has not been specified, and when it is also not a hub. In this case, the port has 5555 by default.

• Configuration of Nodes

Upon starting nodes, 11 of the browsers are allowed by default. And similarly, the node allows you to use 5 tests parallely at maximum at the same time by default. However, while this is how it is by default, you can also change this, along with various other settings through the configuration  of the nodes. And to do that, you have to pass the parameter to every -browser switch, and there represent the nodes. When you do this, the parameters as stated in the command are used, and the default parameters or the browser settings are ignored.

• Run Tests with Selenium Grid

The above-mentioned steps help set up the Selenium Grid. Once you follow those steps, you can use the grid for running tests. And you can use the Default Selenium object when you use Selenium 1 remote control nodes. To pass it in the hub that you’re using, you can use this command— Selenium selenium = new DefaultSelenium (“localhost”, 4444, “*firefox”, https://www.browserstack.com”)

The test is assigned to a matching node by the hub after this is done when the capabilities that are requested meet. You can also request a certain capability on the grid by specifying them. And with this step, the process of setting up, configuring, and performing tests on Selenium Grid is complete.

Selenium has made it extremely easy to run automated tests on countless web browsers, machines, operating systems, and working with different programming languages. And when your preferred means of testing various web browsers is through parallel testing, you need Selenium Grid. The above-mentioned steps are key to setting up the grid so that it is ready to run parallel tests. Whether iOS or Android device, you can easily test the web applications and make sure that they deliver a consistent and good end-user experience. And with this, your web application is bound to run smoothly.