dutserver

DUT Server - Proof of Concept

[!IMPORTANT] This application is in an experimental state. It is intended as a technology demonstration and is not yet ready for production use. Cmdline API and functionality may change.

The DUT Server acts as a centralized proxy for multiple Device Under Test (DUT) agents, enabling remote access to devices from any location. This server component is designed to sit between clients (using dutctl) and device agents (running dutagent), creating a unified access layer for device management.

┌─────────┐      ┌───────────┐      ┌─────────┐      ┌────────┐
│ dutctl  │◄────►│ dutserver │◄────►│ dutagent│◄────►│ Device │
│ (client)│      │ (proxy)   │      │         │      │        │
└─────────┘      └───────────┘      └─────────┘      └────────┘

The main goal of the DUT server is to provide a single access point for all registered devices, regardless of their physical location i.e. regardless of the DUT agent devices are connected to.

Implemented Features

• Device Registration: Agents can register their devices with the server.
• Device Discovery: Clients can list all available devices on the server.
• Command Forwarding: Transparently forwards commands from clients to the appropriate device agent.
• Bidirectional Streaming: Supports real-time command execution with bidirectional data streaming.

Current Limitations

As a proof of concept, this implementation has several limitations that would need to be addressed for production use:

• No Persistence: Registered devices are not persisted between server restarts.
• No Agent Health Monitoring: Lacks handshake or keep-alive mechanisms for registered agents.
• Limited Error Handling: Error recovery in network failure scenarios is minimal.
• No Load Balancing: Does not support multiple server instances or load balancing.
• No TLS Configuration: Communication is not secured by default.

Demo

In the project root dir, make sure client, agent and server are built:

go build ./cmds/dutctl
go build ./cmds/dutagent
go build ./cmds/exp/dutserver

Open up four terminal sessions referred to as T1, T2, T3, T4,

Starting the Server

In T1 start the DUT server with default settings:

# Start the DUT Server locally on default port (1024)
./dutserver

Registering Devices

Start a first agent in T3 using a basic example configuration with one device and set the optional -server flag to register with the running DUT server:

# Configure the agent to connect to the server
./dutagent -a localhost:1025 -c ./cmds/exp/contrib/config-1.yaml -server localhost:1024

In T4 start a secound agent with different port and another basic example configuration with another device:

# Configure the agent to connect to the server
./dutagent -a localhost:1026 -c ./cmds/exp/contrib/config-2.yaml -server localhost:1024

Connecting with a Client

Play around with the DUT client in T2

# List available devices using the default address localhost:1024 which is the DUT server
./dutctl list

# List the devices of a dedicated agent only
./dutctl -s localhost:1025 list

# Run a interactive command on a remote device via the DUT server
./dutctl device2 repeat

The complete functionality of the client is available via the DUT server, see ./dutctl -h