Autotest Docs

How to run FAFT (Fully Automated Firmware Test)

Self-link: go/faft-running

FAFT Overview

FAFT (Fully Automated Firmware Tests) is a collection of tests and related infrastructure that exercise and verify capabilities of ChromeOS. The features tested by FAFT are implemented through low-level software (firmware/BIOS) and hardware. FAFT evolved from SAFT (Semi-Automated Firmware Tests) and you can locate tests in the FAFT suite.

The founding principles of FAFT are:

  • Fully automated, no human intervention required
  • Real test of physical hardware, like USB plug-in, Ctrl-D key press
  • High test coverage of complicated verified boot flows
  • Easy to integrate with existing test infrastructure (e.g. test lab, continuous testing, etc).

To access some of these low-level capabilities, the tests require a servod instance running and executing controls with the help of physical servo board (servo v4 with servo micro or servo v4 Type-C)

The servo board is connected directly to the DUT (Device Under Test) to enable access to low-level hardware interfaces, as well as staging areas for backup software (on a USB drive).

The FAFT framework runs the tests with a tool called test that and it is based on a client-server architecture, where the client runs on the DUT and the server runs on the host machine.

The tests may corrupt various states in the EC, firmware, and kernel to verify recovery processes. In these cases you can almost always use FAFT to restore the system to its original state. The FAFT suite of tests can be invoked locally or remotely. This document describes how to set up the local configuration only.

The ChromeOS firmware controls, among other things, the initial setup of the system hardware during the boot process. They are necessarily complicated, providing reliability against various corruption scenarios and security to ensure trusted software is controlling the system. Currently, the purpose of FAFT is to exercise EC firmware and BIOS firmware functionality and performance.

Hardware Setup

General requirements

The firmware running on the system needs to be able to deal with the signatures on the disks, so when testing your own local ChromeOS build signed with dev keys, install dev signed firmware as well.

The setup requires a USB drive: Pick the fastest option that you can reasonably employ but even more than that, ensure that it‘s reliable! If the drive is quirky in manual use, FAFT will definitely be confused because it won’t be able to deal with extraordinary circumstances.

The OS image installed on the USB drive MUST NOT be a recovery image. FAFT switches pretty often between normal and dev mode, and the transition into dev mode is done by going through the recovery screen. With a recovery image present, it will do a recovery instead of going through the dev mode transition flow.

The OS on the USB drive and on the disk must be a test image. If not, it will lack important tooling for running the tests: If you see messages that rsync can‘t be found you’re not using a test image and while this step will work (albeit slowly because the fallback is to scp files individually), running the DUT's side of the tests will fail because non-test ChromeOS lacks a suitable python interpreter.

ServoV4 Type-A with Micro

The hardware configuration for running FAFT on a servo v4 Type-A with servo micro includes:

  • A test controller (your host workstation with a working chroot environment)
  • The test device (a device / DUT that can boot ChromeOS)
  • A servo board
  • Related cables and components
    • servo-micro cable
    • USB type-A to USB micro cable for DUT connection (~ 2' in length)
    • USB type-A to USB micro cable for test controller connection (~ 4' - 6' in length)
    • Ethernet cable
    • USB drive (flashed with the appropriate OS image)

Figure 1 shows a diagram of how to connect the latest debug boards, servoV4 Type-A and servo micro, to the test controller, DUT, and network. It is important to ensure the DUT is powered off before plugging in cables and components to the servo.

Figure1

Figure 1.Diagram of hardware configuration for a ServoV4 Type-A with servo micro.

Details of servoV4 Type-A with micro connections:

  1. Connect one end (micro USB) of the servo micro to servoV4 using a micro USB to USB cable.
  2. Connect the servo micro to the debug header on the chrome device.
  3. Connect the USB type A cable of the servoV4 to the DUT.
  4. Prepare a USB flash drive with valid ChromeOS image and plug into the USB port of the servo as shown in the diagram.
  5. Connect the micro USB port of the servo to the host machine (typically your workstation).
  6. Connect an Ethernet cable to the Ethernet jack of the servo that goes to the a network reachable from the network that your host machine is on.

ServoV4 Type-C

The hardware configuration for running FAFT with a servo v4 type-C includes:

  • A test controller (your host workstation with a working chroot environment)
  • The test device (a device / DUT that can boot ChromeOS)
  • A servo board
  • Related cables and components
    • USB type-A to USB micro cable for test controller connection (~ 4' - 6' in length)
    • Ethernet cable
    • USB drive (flashed with the appropriate OS image)
    • USB-C Power supply

Figure 2 shows a diagram of how to connect a servoV4 Type-C, to the test controller, DUT, and network. It is important to ensure the DUT is powered off before plugging in cables and components to the servo and DUT.

For this configuration, FAFT won't be able to enable testlab mode automatically for you, so you will want to open CCD and set testlab mode.

Figure2

Figure 2.Diagram of hardware configuration for a ServoV4 Type-C.

Details of servoV4 Type-C connections in Figure 2:

  1. Connect the USB Type-C cable of the servoV4 to the DUT.
  2. Prepare a USB flash drive with valid ChromeOS image and plug into the top USB port of the servo as shown in the diagram.
  3. Connect the micro USB (servo_v4) or USB-C (servo_v4_p1) port (labelled host) of the servo to the host machine (typically your workstation).
  4. Connect an Ethernet cable to the Ethernet jack of the servo that goes to the a network reachable from the network that your host machine is on.
  5. Connect a USB-C charger to the connector under the DUT Power text.

ServoV4 Type-C with servo micro

Make sure to use the following servo type and configuration for running the faft_pd suite or the faft_cr50 suite (note: the cr50 suite requires special images so is not runnable outside of Google). This setup requires servod to be in “DUAL_V4” mode. You should generally only use this setup for faft_pd and faft_cr50, faft_ec and faft_bios do not expect servod to be in DUAL_V4 mode.

Figure3

Figure 3.Diagram of hardware configuration for a ServoV4 Type-C with servo micro.

Details about FAFT PD's ServoV4 Type-C + servo micro setup (Figure 3):

  • The suite should only be run on devices released in 2019 and forward.
  • The charger connected to the servo must have support for 5V, 12V, and 20V.
  • The servo v4 and servo micro cable must be updated to their latest FW:
    • Servo_v4: servo_v4_v2.3.30-b35860984
    • servo micro: servo_micro_v2.3.30-b35960984

To check or upgrade the FW on the servo v4 and servo micro, respectively, before kicking off the FAFT PD suite:

  • Have the servo v4 connected to your workstation/labstation along with the servo micro connected to the servo.
  • Run the following commands on chroot one after the other:
    • sudo servo_updater -b servo_v4 (or server_v4p1 if you have a v4p1 servo)
    • sudo servo_updater -b servo_micro

If you forget, servod will remind you when it starts, if you look carefully through its output.

Installing Test Image onto USB Stick

After the hardware components are correctly connected, prepare and install a test Chromium OS image:

  1. Build the binary (chromiumos_test_image.bin) with build_image test, or fetch the file from a buildbot.
  2. Load the test image onto a USB drive (use cros flash).
  3. Insert the USB drive into the servo board, as shown in the photo.
  4. Install the test image onto the internal disk by booting from the USB drive and running chromeos-install.

Running Tests

FAFT tests are written in two different frameworks: Autotest and Tast.

Autotest tests are run using the test_that command, described below. Tast tests are run using the tast run command, which is documented at go/tast-running.

Get tast private repo

This step is not needed if you did repo init with the internal manifest.

There is at least one test that needs a secret key to get access to the ChromeOS login screen, and that key will not be there if you only have the public manifest checked out in your chroot. To get the missing key create the file ~/chromiumos/.repo/local_manifests/tast-tests-private.xml with the contents:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest>
  <remote name="cros-internal"
          fetch="https://chrome-internal.googlesource.com"
          review="https://chrome-internal-review.googlesource.com">
    <annotation name="public" value="false" />
  </remote>
  <remote name="chrome"
          alias="cros-internal"
          fetch="https://chrome-internal.googlesource.com">
    <annotation name="public" value="false" />
  </remote>
  <project path="src/platform/tast-tests-private"
           remote="cros-internal"
           name="chromeos/platform/tast-tests-private" />
</manifest>

and then run repo sync. If you cannot complete this step, you will have at least one test fail with the error runtime variable ui.signinProfileTestExtensionManifestKey is missing. In that case you should ask someone at Google to run that one failing test for you if you need that result.

Setup Confirmation

To run Autotest tests, use the test_that tool, which does not automatically start a servod process for communicating with the servo board. Running FAFT is easiest with servod and test_that running in separate terminals inside the SDK, using either multiple SDK instances (cros_sdk --enter --no-ns-pid) or a tool such as screen inside an SDK instance.

Set the DUT_IP environment variable to the IP address of your DUT. Since it is connected to the network via the servo board, it should obtain an IP address when it starts up. To find it, click on the system tray, and then click on Network or Ethernet, then click on Ethernet, and it will show you the IP address. You can also find it on using ifconfig on the DUT command line (E.g. Ctrl-Alt-F3). Do not use a WiFi address.

   DUT_IP=100.107.108.230       (change to the correct value)

Before running any tests, go into the chroot:

  1. Make sure your tools are up to date.
    1. Run repo sync -j8
  2. Start servod. Be sure to pass the -b and -m flags. If you are using both CCD and servo micro or c2d2, add -- -D full to your start-servod command.
  3. Enter chroot
  4. Try to ssh to your board (`ssh $DUT_IP) within the chroot and make sure it works. If it doesn't, figure that out first. Googlers look at SshHelp.
  5. (chroot) There are very few tests left in autotest, and soon will be none, but autotest can still run both TAST and Autotests.
  6. If test_that is in /usr/bin, the syntax is $ /usr/bin/test_that --autotest_dir ~/trunk/src/third_party/autotest/files/ --board=$BOARD $DUT_IP suite:faft_ec

You can omit the --autotest_dir if you have built packages for the board and want to use the build version of the tests, i.e.:

(chroot) $ ./build_packages --board=$BOARD where $BOARD is the code name of the board under test (chroot) $ /usr/bin/test_that --board=$BOARD $DUT_IP suite:faft_ec

Sample Commands

A few sample invocations of launching Autotest tests against a DUT:

Running FAFT test with test case name

  • $ /usr/bin/test_that --autotest_dir ~/trunk/src/third_party/autotest/files/ --board=$BOARD $DUT_IP f:.*DevMode/control

Some tests can be run in either normal mode or dev mode, specify the control file

  • $ /usr/bin/test_that --autotest_dir ~/trunk/src/third_party/autotest/files/ --board=$BOARD $DUT_IP f:.*TryFwB/control.dev

FAFT can install ChromeOS image from the USB when image filename is specified

  • $ /usr/bin/test_that --autotest_dir ~/trunk/src/third_party/autotest/files/ --board=$BOARD $DUT_IP --args "image=$IMAGE_FILE" f:.*RecoveryButton/control.normal

To update the firmware using the shellball in the image, specify the argument firmware_update=1

  • $ /usr/bin/test_that --autotest_dir ~/trunk/src/third_party/autotest/files/ --board=$BOARD $DUT_IP --args "image=$IMAGE_FILE firmware_update=1" f:.*RecoveryButton/control.normal

Run the entire faft_bios suite

  • $ /usr/bin/test_that --autotest_dir ~/trunk/src/third_party/autotest/files/ --board=$BOARD $DUT_IP suite:faft_bios

Run the entire faft_ec suite

  • $ /usr/bin/test_that --autotest_dir ~/trunk/src/third_party/autotest/files/ --board=$BOARD $DUT_IP suite:faft_ec

Run the entire faft_pd suite

  • $ /usr/bin/test_that --autotest_dir ~/trunk/src/third_party/autotest/files/ --board=$BOARD $DUT_IP suite:faft_pd

To run servod in a different host, specify the servo_host and servo_port arguments.

  • $ /usr/bin/test_that --autotest_dir ~/trunk/src/third_party/autotest/files/ --board=$BOARD $DUT_IP --args "servo_host=$SERVO_HOST servo_port=$SERVO_PORT" suite:faft_ec

To run multiple servo boards on the same servo host (labstation), use serial and port number.

  • $ sudo servod --board=$BOARD --port $port_number --serial $servo_serial_number
  • $ /usr/bin/test_that --autotest_dir ~/trunk/src/third_party/autotest/files/ --board=$BOARD $DUT_IP --args "servo_host=localhost servo_port=$port_number faft_iterations=5000" f:.*firmware_ConsecutiveBoot/control

Running Against DUTs With Tunnelled SSH

If you have ssh tunnels setup for your DUT and servo host (for example, via SSH watcher, the syntax (with the assumption that your DUT‘s network interface and your servo host’s network interface is tunnelled to 2203 and servod is listening on port 9901 on your servo host) for running tests is:

  • $ test_that localhost:2222 --args="servo_host=localhost servo_host_ssh_port=2223 servo_port=9901 use_icmp=false" $TESTS
  • $ tast run -build=false -var=servo=127.0.0.1:9901:ssh:2223 127.0.0.1:2222 $TESTS

Note that for tast, you will likely need to manually start servod. Note that the tast invocation is a bit unintuitive, as the servo port in the first port reference is the real servo port on the servo host, not the redirected one, because TAST ssh‘s to the servohost and tunnels it’s own port. If you don't need to run commands on the servo host you can also use servo=localhost:${LOCAL_SERVO_PORT}:nossh

Running FAFT on a new kernel

The lab hosts shown in go/cros-testing-kernelnext provide a static environment for FAFT to be executed continuously and the recommendation is to pursue the sustainable approach of using these DUTs for kernel-next FAFT execution.

Local execution via go/faft-running may be required to debug layers of accumulated problems in boards where end-to-end integration tests lack an effective continuous execution. Install a kernelnext image onto the test USB stick and ensure that a kernelnext image is also installed in the DUT prior to running FAFT. The test_that commands to execute tests on a DUT with a kernelnext OS are the same.

The key point is to ensure that the USB and DUT contain a kernelnext image.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: All of my FAFT tests are failing. What should I do?

  • A1: Check that the servo has all the wired connections and a USB drive with the valid OS plugged in. A missing USB drive is guaranteed to make many tests fail.
  • A2: Make sure CCD is open. Locked CCD guarantees to make most every test fail.
  • A3: Make sure AP FW is dev-signed. MP-signed AP FW guarantees to make all normal mode and recovery mode tests fail with test-image USB.

Q: A few of my FAFT tests failed, but most tests are passing. What should I do?

  • A1: Re-run the failed tests and try to isolate between flaky infrastructure, an actual firmware bug, or non-firmware bugs.
  • A2: See if you were running FAFT without the AC charger connected. The DUT's battery may have completely drained during the middle of the FAFT suite.

Q: I still need help. Who can help me?

Q: I got an error while running FAFT: AutoservRunError: command execution error: sudo -n which flash_ec . What's wrong?

  • A: Run sudo emerge chromeos-ec inside your chroot.

Q: All tests are failing to run, saying that python was not found. What's wrong?

  • A: This happens when the stateful partition that holds Python is wiped by a powerwash.

    It is usually caused by the stateful filesystem becoming corrupted, since ChromeOS performs a powerwash instead of running fsck like a standard Linux distribution would.

Q: What causes filesystem corruption?

  • A1: Most cases of corruption are triggered by a test performing an EC reset, because the current sync logic in Autotest doesn't fully guarantee that all writes have been completed, especially on USB storage devices.

  • A2: If the outer stateful partition (/mnt/stateful_partition) becomes full, the inner loop-mounted DM device (/mnt/stateful_partition/encrypted) will encounter write errors, likely corrupting the filesystem.

    Note: Running out of space only tends to happens when running FAFT tests that leave the DUT running from the USB disk, and only if the image's stateful partition is too small.

Q: Can I compare the results obtained with a Type-C servo to those obtained with a Type-A servo + micro?

  • A: When running tests with a Type-C servo, it is recommended to to rerun a failure using the Type-A setup to do a fast check prior to digging deeper, i.e. before connecting a USB analyzer or probing the signals.

Q: How can I obtain a device for a local FAFT execution?

  • A: The lab is a good source of devices for FAFT per go/cros-testing-kernelnext. If DUTs are not available or cannot be repaired by the lab team, request a DUT for development via go/hwrequest.

Q: My USB stick keeps getting corrupted and I can't get tests that use USB to pass.

  • A: Check that your OS is not auto-mounting USB storage devices. On Ubuntu the command to disable is gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.media-handling automount false