QA

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# QE tools - Team description

"The easiest way to provide complete quality for your software"

We provide the most complete free-software system-level testing solution to ensure high quality of operating systems, complete software stacks and multi-machine services for software distribution builders, system integration engineers and release teams. We continuously develop, maintain and release our software to be readily used by anyone while we offer a friendly community to support you in your needs. We maintain the main public and SUSE internal openQA server as well as supporting tools in the surrounding ecosystem.

## Team responsibilities

* Develop and maintain upstream [openQA](https://github.com/os-autoinst/openQA) including the backend [os-autoinst](https://github.com/os-autoinst/os-autoinst)

* Administration of [openqa.suse.de (osd)](https://openqa.suse.de) and workers

* Helps administrating and maintaining [openqa.opensuse.org (o3)](https://openqa.opensuse.org), including coordination of efforts aiming at solving problems affecting o3

* Develop and maintain SUSE maintenance QA tools, e.g. [qem-bot](https://github.com/openSUSE/qem-bot/), [osc-plugin-qam](https://github.com/openSUSE/osc-plugin-qam), ([template generator aka. "teregen"](https://gitlab.suse.de/qa-maintenance/teregen/), [MTUI](https://gitlab.suse.de/qa-maintenance/mtui), etc., e.g. from https://confluence.suse.com/display/maintenanceqa/Toolchain+for+maintenance+quality+engineering)

* Help with the investigation of specific issues, especially when they are likely related to generic, hardware or backend problems

* Support colleagues, team members and open source community

## Out of scope

* Maintenance and *recurring* review of individual tests (besides openQA-in-openQA tests)

* Maintenance of special worker addendums needed for tests, e.g. external hypervisor hosts for s390x, powerVM, xen, hyperv, IPMI, VMWare (Clarification: We maintain the code for all backends but we are no experts in specific domains. So we always try to help but it's a case by case decision based on what we realistically can provide based on our competence. We can't be expected to be experts in everything and also we are limited in what we can actually test.)

* Maintenance of most openSUSE related triggering solutions, e.g. for Tumbleweed or Leap maintenance that use https://github.com/openSUSE/opensuse-release-tools on https://botmaster.suse.de. Contact "SUSE Security Solutions", e.g. Marcus Meissner, for this.

* Ticket triaging of http://progress.opensuse.org/projects/openqatests/

* Setup of configuration for individual products to test, e.g. new job groups in openQA

* Feature development within the backend for single teams (commonly provided by teams themselves)

## Our common userbase

Known users of our products: Most SUSE QA engineers, SUSE SLE release managers and release engineers, every SLE developer submitting "submit requests" in OBS/IBS where product changes are tested as part of the "staging" process before changes are accepted in either SLE or openSUSE (staging tests must be green before packages are accepted), same for all openSUSE contributors submitting to either openSUSE:Factory (for Tumbleweed, SLE, future Leap versions) or Leap, other GNU/Linux distributions like Fedora https://openqa.fedoraproject.org/ , AlmaLinux http://openqa.almalinux.org/, Debian https://openqa.debian.net/ , https://openqa.qubes-os.org/ , https://openqa.endlessm.com/ , the GNOME project https://openqa.gnome.org, https://www.codethink.co.uk/articles/2021/automated-linux-kernel-testing/, https://en.euro-linux.com/blog/openqa-or-how-we-test-eurolinux/, openSUSE KDE contributors (with their own workflows, https://openqa.opensuse.org/group_overview/23 ), openSUSE GNOME contributors (https://openqa.opensuse.org/group_overview/35 ), OBS developers (https://openqa.opensuse.org/parent_group_overview/7#grouped_by_build) , wicked developers (https://gitlab.suse.de/wicked-maintainers/wicked-ci#openqa), and of course our team itself for "openQA-in-openQA Tests" :) https://openqa.opensuse.org/group_overview/24 . Also see https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:OpenQA/Partners .

Keep in mind: "Users of openQA" and talking about "openSUSE release managers and engineers" means SUSE employees but also employees of other companies, also development partners of SUSE.

In summary our products, for example openQA, are a critical part of many development processes hence outages and regressions are disruptive and costly. Hence we need to ensure a high quality in production hence we practice DevOps with a slight tendency to a conservative approach for introducing changes while still ensuring a high development velocity.

## How we work

The QE Tools team is following the DevOps approach working using a lightweight Agile approach also inspired by [Extreme Programming](https://extremeprogramming.org/) and [Kanban](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_(development)) and of course the original http://agilemanifesto.org/. We structure our team and roles following [Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell](https://youtu.be/502ILHjX9EE). We plan and track our works using tickets on https://progress.opensuse.org . We pick tickets based on priority and planning decisions. We use weekly meetings as checkpoints for progress and also track cycle and lead times to crosscheck progress against expectations.

* [tools team - backlog](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=230): The complete backlog of the team

* [tools team - backlog, high-level view](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=526): A high-level view of the backlog, all epics and higher (an "epic" includes multiple stories)

* [tools team - backlog, top-level view](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=524): A top-level view of the backlog, only sagas and higher (a "saga" is bigger than an epic and can include multiple epics, i.e.  "epic of epics")

* [tools team - what members of the team are working on](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=400): To check progress and know what the team is currently occupied with

* [tools team - closed within last 60 days](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=541): What was recently resolved

* [tools team - next](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=794): The staging ground for next tasks considered to be picked into the backlog

*Be aware:* Custom queries in the right-hand sidebar of individual projects, e.g. https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/openqav3/issues , show queries with the same name but are limited to the scope of the specific projects so can show only a subset of all relevant tickets.

*devops/infra split - 2022-12*: As a temporary experiment we decided to try out working with sub-teams for better focus. For this we have split the backlog in two parts:

* [tools team - backlog w/o infra](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=754): The backlog of the team without infrastructure tasks

* [tools team - infrastructure backlog](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=757): The infrastructure backlog of the team

### What we expect from team members

* Actively show visible contributions to our products every workday *(pull requests, code review, ticket updates in descending priority, i.e. if you are very active in pull requests + code review ticket updates are much less important)*

* Be responsive over usual communication platforms and channels *(user questions, team discussions)*

* Stick to our rules *(this wiki, SLOs, alert handling)*

### Common tasks for team members

This is a list of common tasks that we follow, e.g. reviewing daily based on individual steps in the DevOps Process ![DevOps Process](devops-process_25p.png)

* **Plan**:

 * State daily learning and planned tasks in internal chat room

 * Review backlog for time-critical, triage new tickets, pick tickets from backlog; see https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/qa/wiki#How-we-work-on-our-backlog

 * Coordinate on the agile board https://progress.opensuse.org/agile/board?query_id=711

* **Code**:

 * See project specific contribution instructions

 * Provide peer-review of projects around openQA, in particular:

     * https://github.com/os-autoinst/openQA

     * https://github.com/os-autoinst/os-autoinst

     * https://github.com/os-autoinst/scripts

     * https://github.com/os-autoinst/os-autoinst-distri-openQA

     * https://github.com/os-autoinst/openqa-trigger-from-obs

     * https://github.com/os-autoinst/openqa_review

     * https://github.com/os-autoinst/openqa_bugfetcher

     * https://github.com/openSUSE/Mojo-IOLoop-ReadWriteProcess

     * https://github.com/openSUSE/mtui

     * https://github.com/openSUSE/qem-bot

     * https://github.com/openSUSE/backlogger

     * https://github.com/openSUSE/qem-dashboard

     * https://github.com/openSUSE/openSUSE-release-tools/tree/master/factory-package-news

* **Build**:

 * See project specific contribution instructions

* **Test**:

 * Monitor failures on https://app.circleci.com/pipelines/github/os-autoinst/openQA?branch=master relying on https://build.opensuse.org/project/show/devel:openQA:ci for openQA (email notifications)

* **Release**:

 * By default we use the rolling-release model for all projects unless specified otherwise

 * Monitor [devel:openQA on OBS](https://build.opensuse.org/project/show/devel:openQA) (all packages and all subprojects) for failures, ensure packages are published on http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/openQA/, ensure to be added as a Maintainer for that project (members need to be added individually, you can ask existing team members, e.g. the SM)

 * React on alerts from https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/scripts-ci

 * Monitor http://jenkins.qe.nue2.suse.org for the openQA-in-openQA Tests and automatic submissions of os-autoinst and openQA to openSUSE:Factory through https://build.opensuse.org/project/show/devel:openQA:tested

* **Deploy**:

 * o3 is automatically deployed (daily), see https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/openqav3/wiki/Wiki#Automatic-update-of-o3

 * osd is automatically deployed (multiple times per week), monitor https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/osd-deployment/pipelines and watch for notification email to openqa@suse.de

* **Operate**:

 * Apply infrastructure changes from https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/salt-states-openqa (osd) or manually over sshd (o3)

 * Maintain the network infrastructure of QE hardware: https://wiki.suse.net/index.php/SUSE-Quality_Assurance/Labs

 * Monitor for backup, see https://gitlab.suse.de/qa-sle/backup-server-salt

config changes in salt (osd), backups, job group configuration changes

 * Ensure old unused/non-matching needles are cleaned up (osd+o3), see #73387

 * Maintain https://gitlab.suse.de/qa-maintenance/qamops and https://confluence.suse.com/display/maintenanceqa/qam.suse.de and https://gitlab.suse.de/qa-sle/qa-jump-configs/

 * Maintain the [QA&QAM&QE LSG networks](https://racktables.nue.suse.com/index.php?andor=and&cfe=%7BQA%7D+or+%7BQAM%7D+or+%7BQE+LSG%7D&page=ipv4space&tab=default&submit.x=11&submit.y=19)

* **Monitor**:

 * React on alerts from [monitor.qa.suse.de](https://monitor.qa.suse.de/alerting/list?state=not_ok) (emails on [osd-admins@suse.de](http://mailman.suse.de/mailman/listinfo/osd-admins) and login via LDAP credentials, you must be an *editor* to edit panels and hooks via the web UI)

 * For openqa.opensuse.org react on alerts from [zabbix.suse.de](https://zabbix.suse.de) (emails on [o3-admins@suse.de](http://mailman.suse.de/mailman/listinfo/o3-admins)

 * Look for incomplete jobs or scheduled not being worked on o3 and osd (API or webUI) - see also #81058 for *power*

 * React on alerts from https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/auto-review/, https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/openqa-review/, https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/monitor-o3 (subscribe to projects for notifications)

 * Be responsive on #opensuse-factory (irc://irc.libera.chat/opensuse-factory, formerly irc://chat.freenode.net/opensuse-factory) for help, support and collaboration (Unless you have a better solution it is suggested to use [Element.io](https://matrix.to/#/!ilXMcHXPOjTZeauZcg:libera.chat) for a sustainable presence; you also need a [registered IRC account](https://libera.chat/guides/registration), formerly [freenode](https://freenode.net/kb/answer/registration)) **note** *don't use matrix features on irc!*

 * Be responsive on [#team-qa-tools in chat](https://app.slack.com/client/T02863RC2AC/C02AJ1E568M/thread/C02CANHLANP-1658480276.547769) for internal coordination and alarm handling, fallback to #suse-qe-tools:opensuse.org (matrix) as backup if other channels are temporarily down, alternatively public channels on matrix/ IRC if the topics are not confidential

 * Be responsive on [#eng-testing](https://app.slack.com/client/T02863RC2AC/C02CANHLANP/thread/C02CANHLANP-1658480276.547769) for help, support and collaboration

 * Be responsive on mailing lists opensuse-factory@opensuse.org and openqa@suse.de (see https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Mailing_lists_subscription)

 * Be responsive in https://matrix.to/#/#openqa:opensuse.org or the bridged room [#openqa](https://discord.com/channels/366985425371398146/817367056956653621) on https://discord.gg/opensuse if you have a discord account

### Best practices for major changes

When proposing non-trivial changes with the potential of breaking existing tests consider the follow best practice patterns:

  - Make the problematic change opt-in via a test variable like MY_NEW_FEATURE_ENABLED to enable the new behavior, and otherwise log a warning only

  - Include a reference to a relevant GitHub PR and progress ticket

  - If a **BARK** test is to be conducted to assess the full impact of the change an autoreview regex matching the most relevant error message should be prepared so that affected jobs can be restarted trivially without disrupting daily operation too much - it's called a *BARK* test from how the bark of a tree is scratched to confirm if it's green and alive or brown and not healthy anymore.

  - Inform all stakeholders in relevant Slack channels, Matrix and mailing lists

  - Include an explicit mention in the release notes

### Guideline for communication in tickets

* Clarify action items and steps (to be) taken, for example

  * I will implement ... from the suggestions

  * I will monitor ... and evaluate results

  * Confirm if other experts will provide reproducers

  * Document mitigations with references to MRs, PRs or manual file changes and keep the description updated

  * Confirm if adjustments made by others are still in place

* Explicitly include examples of what won't be done

  * I won't look into the test code itself here

* Make use of the [scientific method template with hypotheses, experiments and observations]( https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/openqav3/wiki/#Further-decision-steps-working-on-test-issues)

### How we work on our backlog

* "due dates" are only used as exception or reminders. Commonly the due-date is set [automatically](https://github.com/os-autoinst/scripts/blob/master/backlog-set-due-date) to 14 days in the future as soon as a non-low ticket is picked up. That period is roughly the median cycle time which we want to stay well below. And on top, to prevent redmine sending a reminder and the backlog status to flag issues the ticket should be resolved before the due-date, at least a day but possibly a reminder is sent out even on the last day before so better resolve on the second to last day. Of course, even better to always try to finish as soon as possible, well before the due date.

* every team member can pick up tickets themselves

* everybody can set priority, PO can help to resolve conflicts

* consider the [ready, not assigned/blocked/low](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=490) query as preferred. It is suggested to pick up tickets based on priority. "Workable" tickets are often convenient and hence preferred.

* ask questions in tickets, even potentially "stupid" questions, oftentimes descriptions are unclear and should be improved

* There are "low-level infrastructure tasks" only conducted by some team members, the "DevOps" aspect does not include that but focusses on the joint development and operation of our main products

* Consider tickets with the subject keyword or tag "learning" as good learning opportunities for people new to a certain area. Experts in the specific area should prefer helping others but not work on the ticket

* For tickets which are out of the scope of the team remove from backlog, delegate to corresponding teams or persons but be nice and supportive, e.g. [SUSE-IT](https://sd.suse.com/), [EngInfra](https://sd.suse.com/servicedesk/customer/portal/1) especially see [our IT ticket handling process](https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/qa/wiki/Tools#SUSE-IT-ticket-handling) and [SLA](https://confluence.suse.com/display/qasle/Service+Level+Agreements), [test maintainer](https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/openqatests/), QE-LSG PrjMgr/mgmt

* Whenever we apply changes to the infrastructure we should have a ticket

* Refactoring and general improvements are conducted while we work on features or regression fixes

* For every regression or bigger issue that we encounter try to come up with at least two improvements, e.g. the actual issue is fixed and similar cases are prevented in the future with better tests and optionally also monitoring is improved

* For critical issues and very big problems especially when we were informed by users about outages collect "lessons learned", e.g. in notes in the ticket or a meeting with minutes in the ticket, consider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_whys and answer at least the following questions: "User impact, outwards-facing communication and mitigation, upstream improvement ideas, Why did the issue appear, can we reduce our detection time, can we prevent similar issues in the future, what can we improve technically, what can we improve in our processes". Also see https://youtu.be/_Dv4M39Arec

* okurz proposes to use "#NoEstimates". Though that topic is controversial and often misunderstood. https://ronjeffries.com/xprog/articles/the-noestimates-movement/ describes it nicely :) Hence tickets should be evenly sized and no estimation numbers should be provided on tickets

* If you really want you can look at the [burndown chart](https://progress.opensuse.org/agile/charts?utf8=%E2%9C%93&set_filter=1&f%5B%5D=chart_period&op%5Bchart_period%5D=%3E%3Ct-&v%5Bchart_period%5D%5B%5D=90&f%5B%5D=fixed_version_id&op%5Bfixed_version_id%5D=%3D&v%5Bfixed_version_id%5D%5B%5D=418&f%5B%5D=&chart=burndown_chart&chart_unit=issues&interval_size=day) (some people wish to have this) but we consider it unnecessary due to the continuous development, not a project with defined end. Also an [agile board](https://progress.opensuse.org/agile/board?utf8=%E2%9C%93&set_filter=1&f%5B%5D=fixed_version_id&op%5Bfixed_version_id%5D=%3D&v%5Bfixed_version_id%5D%5B%5D=418&f%5B%5D=status_id&op%5Bstatus_id%5D=%3D&f_status%5B%5D=1&f_status%5B%5D=12&f_status%5B%5D=2&f_status%5B%5D=15&f_status%5B%5D=4&c%5B%5D=tracker&c%5B%5D=assigned_to&c%5B%5D=cf_16) is available but likely due to problems within the redmine installation ordering cards is not reliable.

* Write to qa-team@suse.de as well for critical changes as well as chat channels

* Everyone should propose reverts of features if we find problems that can not be immediately fixed or worked around in production

#### Definition of DONE

Also see https://web.archive.org/web/20110308065330/http://www.allaboutagile.com/definition-of-done-10-point-checklist/ and https://web.archive.org/web/20170214020537/https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2008/september/what-is-definition-of-done-(dod)

* Code changes are made available via a pull request on a version control repository, e.g. github for openQA

* [Guidelines for git commits](http://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/) have been followed

* Code has been reviewed (e.g. in the github PR)

* Depending on criticality/complexity/size/feature: A local verification test has been run, e.g. post link to a local openQA machine or screenshot or logfile (especially also for hardware-related changes, e.g. in os-autoinst backend)

* For regressions: A regression fix is provided, flaws in the design, monitoring, process have been considered

* Potentially impacted package builds have been considered, e.g. openSUSE Tumbleweed and Leap, Fedora, etc.

* Code has been merged (either by reviewer or "mergify" bot or reviewee after 'LGTM' from others)

* Code has been deployed to osd and o3 (monitor automatic deployment, apply necessary config or infrastructure changes)

#### Definition of READY for new features

The following points should be considered before a new feature ticket is READY to be implemented:

* Follow the ticket template from https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/openqav3/wiki/#Feature-requests

* A clear motivation or user expressing a wish is available

* Acceptance criteria are stated (see ticket template) or use `[timeboxed:<nr>h]` with `<nr>` hours for tasks that should be limited in time, e.g. a research task with `[timeboxed:20h] research …`

* add tasks as a hint where to start

#### WIP-limits (reference "Kanban development")

* global limit of 10 tickets, and 3 tickets per person respectively [In Progress](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=505)

* global limit of 10 tickets in [Feedback, not-low](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=520)

#### Target numbers or "guideline", "should be", in priorities

1. *New, untriaged QA (openQA, etc.):* [0 (daily)](https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/qa/issues?query_id=576) . Every ticket should have a target version, e.g. "Ready" for QE tools team, "future" if unplanned, others for other teams

1. *Untriaged "tools" tagged:* [0 (daily)](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=481) . Every ticket should have a target version, e.g. "Ready" for QE tools team, "future" if unplanned, others for other teams

1. *Workable (properly defined):* [10-40](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=478) . Enough tickets to reflect a proper plan but not too many to limit unfinished data (see "waste")

1. *Overall backlog length:* [ideally less than 100](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=230) . Similar as for "Workable". Enough tickets to reflect a proper roadmap as well as give enough flexibility for all unfinished work but limited to a feasible number that can still be overlooked by the team without loosing overview. One more reason for a maximum of 100 are that pagination in redmine UI allows to show only up to 100 issues on one page at a time, same for redmine API access.

1. *Within due-date:* [0 (daily/weekly)](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=514) . We should take due-dates serious, finish tickets fast and at the very least update tickets with an explanation why the due-date could not be hold and update to a reasonable time in the future based on usual cycle time expectations

#### SLAs (service level agreements)

* for at least picking up tickets, better providing reasonable updates based on priority, first goal is "urgency removal":

 * **immediate**: [<1 day](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=542)

 * **urgent**: [<1 week](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=543)

 * **high**: [<1 month](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=544)

 * **normal**: [<1 year](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=545)

 * **low**: undefined

* "reasonable updates": Provide fixes, workarounds or at least state of progress or when the task is blocked

* to ensure timely updates immediate/urgent tickets must never be in status "Blocked" or "Feedback"

* aim for cycle time of individual tickets (not epics or sagas): 1h-2w

#### SLOs (service level objectives, internal)

* For providing reasonable updates on tickets in our backlog based on priority, first goal is "urgency removal":

 * **immediate**: multiple times within the day

 * **urgent**: [<1 day](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=824)

 * **high**: [<1 week](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=827)

 * **normal**: [<1 month](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=830)

 * **low**: <1 year

* Frequent updates do not necessarily need to happen in tickets but visible in written form, e.g. just internal chat. Especially in ticket updates every comment should give a clear answer: Who plans to do what until when, in particular the ticket assignee.

* Reference for SLOs and related topics: https://sre.google/sre-book/table-of-contents/

#### Status overview

Dynamic dashboard showing target numbers and SLOs: https://os-autoinst.github.io/qa-tools-backlog-assistant/

#### Backlog prioritization

When we prioritize tickets we assess:

1. What the main use cases of openQA are among all users, be it SUSE QA engineers, other SUSE employees, openSUSE contributors as well as any other outside user of openQA

2. We try to understand how many persons and products are affected by feature requests as well as regressions (or "concrete bugs" as the ticket category is called within the openQA Project) and prioritize issues affecting more persons and products and use cases over limited issues. See #120540 for details in particular about the various os-autoinst backends

3. We prioritize regressions higher than work on (new) feature requests

4. If a workaround or alternative exists then this lowers priority. We prioritize tasks that need deep understanding of the architecture and an efficient low-level implementation over convenience additions that other contributors are more likely to be able to implement themselves.

#### Periodic backlog refinement

These queries can be used to help organize our work efficiently

1. [QE tools team - backlog - sorted by update time](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=654) ensure all tickets are reasonably up-to-date and don't keep hanging around

2. [QE tools team - due date forecast](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=651) prevent running into due-dates proactively

3. [QE tools team - next - sorted by update time](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=797) ensure all *next* tickets are reasonably up-to-date and considered for the backlog

4. [QE tools team - backlog, non-reactive, needs parent](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=729) ensure all our (non-reactive) work is linked to higher-level planning as motivation

It's good practice to keep an eye on the queries to anticipate blockers. All team members are encouraged to utilize them and they are useful as part of the Scrum Master's daily routine as well as [[Tools#Weekly-moderation-duty|moderation duty]].

Note that due dates should provide a hint as to when a ticket will be resolved but they need to be realistic. Availability, reviews and deployment need to be factored in as well since typically a ticket will be in *Feedback* before it can be resolved. If in doubt the Due date should be extended with an accompanying message like "Outstanding branches still need to be reviewed" or simply "Bumping the due date because of availability".

### Team meetings

* **Daily:** Use (internal) chat actively, e.g. formulate your findings or achievements and plans for the day, "think out loud" while working on individual problems. Optionally join [meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools](https://meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools) every weekday 1030-1045 CET/CEST. At the latest at 1100 CET/CEST everyone working on that day must have checked in, at least with a text message in chat.

  * *Goal:* Emergency responses, clarify next steps or blockers on current work items, asking and answering questions on tickets that would be ignored otherwise, ticket estimations (after the regular daily) (compare to [Daily Scrum](https://www.scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#events-daily))

  * *Conduction:* Answer the following questions: 1. Backlog checks green? 2. Time critical issues needing handling? 3. What was achieved since the last time? 4. Who needs help? 5. Plans until next time?

* **Ticket Estimations:** Every Thursday 1100-1150 CET/CEST in [meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools](https://meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools) including a 5 minute break

  * *Goal:* Estimate [t-shirt sizes for our non-estimated tickets](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=717).

  * *Goal:* Ensure tickets are workable. Refine and split tickets for larger estimates.

* **Infra Daily:** Every weekday 1300-1315 CET/CEST

  * *Goal:* State your on-going tasks and plans for the day. Estimate and unblock **infra** tickets as needed.

* **Midweekly Unblock:** Every Wednesday 1100-1150 CET/CEST in [meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools](https://meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools) including a 5 minute break

  * *Goal:* Discuss tasks in progress in more detail, unblock currently assigned tasks and tasks avoided for longer (see [[Tools#Periodic-backlog-refinement|Periodic backlog refinement]]), apply the **pull principle** based on [tickets in progress](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=505) firstly and [tickets updated by priority](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=771) secondarily - the *mob session* can be used to dedicate more time to tickets in need of attention.

* **Collaborative Session:** Every Thursday 1330-1630 CET/CEST in [meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools](https://meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools). Optional, topic to be picked at the latest in the **Unblock**. Pick from [previous suggestions](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=833) or bring up your own topic

  * *Goal:* Follow-up on tasks too difficult to solve alone, or where someone looks to be stuck using pair programming and other means

* **Fortnightly Coordination:** Friday 1100-1150 CET/CEST every even week in [meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools](https://meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools) including a 5 minute break. Community members and guests are particularly welcome to join this meeting.

  * *Goal:* Demo of features, Team backlog coordination and design decisions of bigger topics (compare to [Sprint Planning](https://www.scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#events-planning)).

  * *Conduction:* Demo recently finished feature work depending on [last closed](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?query_id=572), crosscheck status of team, discuss blocked tasks and upcoming work

* **Fortnightly Retrospective:** Friday 1100-1150 CET/CEST every odd week in [meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools](https://meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools) including a 5 minute break.

  * *Goal:* Inspect and adapt, learn and improve (compare to [Sprint Retrospective](https://www.scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#events-retro))

  * *Announcements:* Create a new *discussion* with all team members in Slack and a new [retrospected game](http://retrospected.core.qa.suse.de:8080) - the new board is made available after the previous retro. Specific actions will be recorded as tickets.

* **Virtual coffee:** Weekly every Monday 1330-1345 CET/CEST in [meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools](https://meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools).

  * *Goal:* Connect and bond as a team, understand each other (compare to [Informal Communication in an all-remote environment](https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/informal-communication))

* **Workshop:** Friday 0900-0950 CET/CEST every week in [meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools](https://meet.jit.si/suse_qa_tools) especially for community members and users! We will run this every week with the plan to move to a fortnightly cadence every even week.

  * *Goal:* Demonstrate new and important features, explain already existing, but less well-known features, and discuss questions from the user community. All your questions are welcome!

  * *Announcements:* Drop a reminder with a teaser in [#eng-testing](https://app.slack.com/client/T02863RC2AC/C02CANHLANP/thread/C02CANHLANP-1658480276.547769).

  * *Recordings:* Consider recording, e.g. using OBS, and upload to youtube, link on topics link. SUSE internal topics can be published on http://streaming.nue.suse.com/i/QE-Tools-Workshops/ by ssh-uploading to ftp@streaming.nue.suse.com:~/i/QE-Tools-Workshops/ (get your SSH key added by existing team members, e.g. okurz)

  * *Content:* See [topics](https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/qa/wiki/Tools#Workshop-Topics)!

**NOTICE:** We're are using meet.jit.si due to problems on meet.opensuse.org, see [poo#116959](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues/116959).

#### Weekly moderation duty

**We do not CURRENTLY assign this task to team members in rotation, see [poo#132446](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues/132446)**

We see mandatory daily video calls as an effective measure but we don't want to enforce the team to do this unless we have to. To ensure that we have daily updates next to the [[Tools#Weekly-alert-duty|Alert duty]] we have the rotating role of "moderation duty". The person doing alert duty in the next week has "moderation duty". The duty consists of ensuring [[Tools#How-we-work|How we work on tickets]], in particular:

* On a daily base ensure that we have an update from every team member that is expected to be present this day. If a person actively contributes to the daily meeting in video call or provided an update related to backlog tasks in chat then this is already ensured.

* Hand over to the next person during the weekly, going by the order of team members in the wiki

* Asks for standin on unavailabilities

We expect that this of course is an additional task with the corresponding time investment. The expected time invested per day is in the range of 3-15m, not more, so accounting for 15m-1h15m during duty week. Even in the worst case of a 30h part time worker investing said 15m every day that accounts for only 5% of weekly work time so no significant impact on contributions is expected.

#### Best practices for meetings

* Meetings concerning the whole team are moderated by the scrum master by default, who should join the call early and verify that the meeting itself and any tools used are working or e.g. advise the use of the fallback option.

* We would prefer UTC for meeting times to be globally fair but as many other SUSE meetings are bound to European time we need to stick to that as well.

* It is recommended to use the Jitsi Audio-feedback feature, blue/green circles depending on microphone volume. Everybody should ensure that at least "two green balls" show up

* Hand signals over video can be used, e.g. "waving/circling hands": "I am lost, please bring me into discussion again"; "T-Sign": "I need a break"; "Raised hand": "I would like to speak"

* Discuss topics relevant for all within the common meetings, continue discussions pro-actively over asynchronous communication, e.g. tickets, as well as conduct topic centered follow-up meetings with only relevant attendees

* Reminders in Slack correct for summer/winter time automatically but if you make changes on them the time might be shifted by one hour e.g. if you scheduled a reminder on 10:30 am CEST, it will become 9:30 CET after the switch

* Use https://etherpad.opensuse.org/p/suse_qe_tools for collaborative editing and put the content back into tickets or wikis

#### Workshop Topics

* *SUSE QE Tools roadmap*: Recent achievements, mid-term plan and future outlook. Every first Friday every month (Idea based on discussion between okurz and vpelcak 2021-02-09)

* Find older workshop topics and recordings on our [[ToolsWorkshopArchive|SUSE QE Tools Workshop Archive]]

* **2023-01-13:** *DONE* [How the development team within SUSE QE Tools works](https://youtu.be/I-_55UYBDPE) (@mkittler)

* **2023-01-20:** *DONE* [How the Product Owner within SUSE QE Tools works](https://youtu.be/tacy9Keetc8) (@okurz)

* **2023-01-27:** *skipped due to SUSE event at Nuremberg office*

* **2023-02-03:** *skipped due to SUSE HackWeek, see https://hackweek.opensuse.org/*

* **2023-02-10:** *DONE* proposal by pdostal: gh, glab - the CLI tools for GitLab and GitHub (@pdostal)

* **2023-02-17:** *DONE* [work estimation process within the SUSE QE Tools team](https://youtu.be/otjvQni2WPU) (@tinita)

* **2023-02-24:** *DONE* [Overview of backends and general remarks followed by a dive into the general hardware backend to test on Raspberry Pi](https://youtu.be/r2_Ru3FSjaA) (@mkittler)

* **2023-03-03:** *DONE* [SUSE QE Tools roadmap - 2023-03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekbTe7dmfwI) (@okurz)

* **2023-03-10:** *skipped due to SUSE internal event*

* **2023-03-17:** *DONE* [Introduction to SELinux focused on QE and ALP by jsegitz](https://youtu.be/91pxilczl2I) (@okurz)

* **2023-03-24:** *DONE* [Experiences with the generalhw backend with laptops/desktops](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvOG_lm3JII) (@marmarek)

* **2023-03-31:** *DONE* [Backend code walkthrough: qemu](https://youtu.be/aIwC50X-rwE) (@mkittler)

* **2023-04-07:** *skipped due to public holiday*

* **2023-04-14:** *DONE* [Best practices for os-autoinst self-test development](https://youtu.be/sBXXRByuWZ8) (@mkittler)

* **2023-04-21:** *DONE* [Test Automation OBS->openQA with os-autoinst/openqa-trigger-from-obs](https://youtu.be/vgFcA9QNfEA) (@anikitin, @jlausuch)

* **2023-04-28:** *DONE* [Backend code walkthrough: ipmi](https://youtu.be/Je7q95F6H8w) (@okurz)

* **2023-05-05:** *DONE* [SUSE QE Tools roadmap - 2023-05](https://youtu.be/CzLM4Wd6PLU) (@okurz)

* **2023-05-12:** *DONE* [Backend code walkthrough: svirt](https://youtu.be/MYpeoe-3ZME) (@okurz)

* **2023-05-19:** *skipped due to public holiday bridge day*

* **2023-05-26:** *skipped due to openSUSE conference*

* **2023-06-02:** *skipped due to misplanning on side of okurz ;)*

* **2023-06-09:** *DONE* [os-autoinst/openqa-trigger-from-obs - real-life examples sharing, make it fail tests to understand what it is doing, fix problems you have](https://youtu.be/603UO-B6PGM) (@okurz, @anikitin)

* **2023-06-16:** *DONE* [More efficient video encoder used on o3 - how to work with videos #77842](https://youtu.be/K8Qhgl9MfAQ) (@okurz)

* **2023-06-23:** *DONE* [openQA test issue management best practices: How to file new test tickets properly assigned to appropriate teams, triage issues, etc.* Very suitable for newcomers!](https://youtu.be/HU-ig3NHrTk) (@okurz)

* **2023-06-30:** *skipped due to SUSE internal event*

* **2023-07-07:** *DONE* [SUSE QE Tools roadmap - 2023-07](https://youtu.be/AgpzYY8pThY) (@okurz)

* **2023-07-14:** *DONE* [How to run openQA in 5 minutes - all-in-one container](https://youtu.be/PZASQ4BFcpo) (@okurz)

* **2023-07-21:** *DONE* open conversation

* **2023-07-28:** *DONE* [O3 migration state - https://progress.opensuse.org/issues/132143 - sharing what was done, what's still to be done, asking for what it is still not working](https://youtu.be/ZVenqVOrwd8) (@okurz, @nicksinger)

* **2023-08-04:** *DONE* [SUSE QE Tools roadmap - 2023-08](https://youtu.be/diirvCdhWjk) (@okurz)

* **2023-08-11:** *DONE* [Salt managed OSD infrastructure using github.com/os-autoinst/salt-states-openqa](https://youtu.be/t6cKiY-abzg) (@mkittler, @okurz)

* **2023-08-18:** **

* **2023-08-25:** *DONE* Automatically identify product issues with openQA (#109920) (@tinita)

* **2023-09-01:** *DONE* [SUSE QE Tools roadmap - 2023-09](https://youtu.be/mk0e-nKSWMo) (@okurz)

* **2023-09-08:** *DONE* [Making new-lines in script_run fatal](https://streaming.nue.suse.com/i/QE-Tools-Workshops/2023-09-08%2009-01-23.mkv) (#134723) (@livdywan)

* **2023-09-15:** *DONE* [openQA in containers - how to deploy, how to use, limitations and differences to package-based deployments, relation to ALP (idea from jstehlik)](https://youtu.be/rTRsIsgywrY) (@okurz)

* **2023-09-22:** *DONE* [openQA job stability and resiliency](https://youtu.be/HmOT7cywq2k?si=ACK8cUkVIesjgACA) slight relation to #110683 (internal) (@okurz)

* **2023-09-29:** *DONE* [General search functionality in openQA](https://youtu.be/ioKEnGteLhQ) (@livdywan)

* **2023-10-06:** *DONE* [SUSE QE Tools roadmap - 2023-10](https://youtu.be/Q3NSjSnzB5k) (@okurz)

* **2023-10-13:** *DONE* [Statistics - Basics, how to apply for sporadic issues and test instabilities, statistical investigation, mean+std, rule of three](https://youtu.be/lNA6a5oSOl8) (@okurz)

* **2023-10-20:** *DONE* [Refactoring session for qem-bot](https://youtu.be/e2Zy8vp91ts) (@okurz)

* **2023-10-27:** *DONE* [Work methods, processes, best practices in QE. What changed in 2 years and ideas for the future](https://youtu.be/1dxfVe8hUsM) (mgrifalconi: recap a presentation done a couple of years ago, about best practices, infra as code, ownership, structure etc. to see what changed so far, benefit we got, what we could still improve and of course what new problems we got with these changes.

From there, we can start various discussions more in depth in progress tickets, like bot/dashboard architecture, handling stuff in gitlab/github etc!) (@mgrifalconi, @okurz)

* **2023-11-03:** *DONE* [SUSE QE Tools roadmap - 2023-11](https://youtu.be/sqkI6QXlJPg) (@okurz)

* **2023-11-10:** *skipped due to SUSE HackWeek, see https://hackweek.opensuse.org/*

* **2023-11-17:** *DONE* [Results from SUSE HackWeek lightning talk session](https://youtu.be/ZdUxPWjthBk) - present your own topics, 5 mins top for each! Put your topic proposal on https://etherpad.opensuse.org/p/suse_qa_tools_workshop_lightning_talks

* **2023-11-24:** *DONE* open conversation

* **2023-12-01:** *skipped due to sickness*

* **2023-12-08:** *DONE* [AI mob session with foursixnine](https://youtu.be/pPo-4wBtajE) (@okurz)

* **2023-12-15:** *DONE* [openQA soft-fails (what are they, how to use, when to use, limitations) 2023 edition](https://youtu.be/82LVXZEHxdM) (@okurz)

* **2023-12-22:** *DONE* [openQA test development in github codespaces](https://youtu.be/-KhJT5jVZj4); similar to https://hackweek.opensuse.org/20/projects/automated-test-for-game-plus-only-web-based-dev-plus-python-openqa (@mpagot, @okurz)

* **2023-12-29:** *skipped due to common vacation period*

* **2024-01-05:** *skipped due to common vacation period*

* **2024-01-12:** *SUSE QE Tools roadmap - 2024-01* (@okurz)

* **2024-01-19:** *Filter openQA todo-jobs on /tests belonging to groups, review teams, etc. #134933 (@kraih, @okurz)

---

* *periodic proposal by okurz: How to report tickets, investigate issues, etc. (#104805)*

* *general proposal: if there are no further topics make it an "open conversation", at least from time to time :)*

* *proposal by okurz: Generic agile project management trainings and tutorials*

* feedback from yearly workshop review: run it every second week but maybe longer, more interactive, more technical sessions, about backends and more openQA internals, from jlausuch: maybe understanding how svirt backend boots VMs in s390x, VMWare, etc? Highlight the differences between how qemu backend spawns VMs and how others do

**Note:** Everybody should feel welcome to add topic proposals here or approach us with ideas or requests.

#### Announcements

- For every meeting, regular or one-off, desired attendants should be invited to make sure a slot blocked in their calendar and reminders with the correct local time will show up when it's time to join the meeting

  - Create a new event, for example in Thunderbird via the *Calendar* tab or `New > Event` via the menu.

  - Select individual attendants via their respective email addresses .g. *Invite attendees* in Thunderbird

  - Specify the time of the meeting

  - Set a schedule to repeat the event if applicable.

  - Add a location, e.g. https://meet.opensuse.org/suse_qa_tools

  - Don't worry if any of the details might change - you can update the invitation later and participants will be notified.

  - Prefer new events if the time and date change

- See the respective meeting for regular actions such as communication via chat

### Team

The team is comprised of engineers from different teams, some only partially available:

1. Liv Dywan (Scrum Master - Ensure that we build it fast) @livdywan / [@kalikiana](https://github.com/kalikiana)

1. Oliver Kurz (Product Owner - Ensure that we build the right thing) @okurz / [@okurz](https://github.com/okurz)

1. Nick Singer (only OPS) @nicksinger / [@nicksinger](https://github.com/nicksinger)

1. Tina Müller (Part time (35h)) @tinita / [@perlpunk](https://github.com/perlpunk)

1. Jan Baier (part time, QEM-dedicated work areas) @jbaier_cz / [@baierjan](https://github.com/baierjan)

1. Sebastian Riedel (mostly working on other projects currently, only bug fixing and feature development) @kraih / [@kraih](https://github.com/kraih)

1. Dominik Heidler @dheidler / [@dheidler](https://github.com/asdil12)

1. Marius Kittler @mkittler / [@Martchus](https://github.com/Martchus)

1. Ondřej Súkup @osukup / [@mimi1vx](https://github.com/mimi1vx)

1. Yannis Bonatakis (2024-01-02 - 2024-03-29) [@b10n1k](https://github.com/b10n1k)

### Onboarding for new joiners

* Make sure you followed what is there for SUSE in general on https://geekos.io/onboarding and for LSG QE on https://wiki.suse.net/index.php/SUSE/Quality_Assurance/QA_Employee_Handbook

* For mentors: https://plan.io/blog/hire-remote-developers/

* Request to get added to the [tools team on GitHub](https://github.com/orgs/os-autoinst/teams/tools-team) and subscribe to notifications for projects within that organization

* Subscribe to notifications of the [Mojo-IOLoop-ReadWriteProcess project on GitHub](https://github.com/openSUSE/Mojo-IOLoop-ReadWriteProcess) as it is also closely related to openQA development

* Login at [monitor.qa.suse.de](https://monitor.qa.suse.de/alerting/list) with NIS/LDAP credentials and ask to be given the *admin* role

* Watch this wiki page (click "Watch" button on top of this page)

* Subscribe to [o3-admins@suse.de](http://mailman.suse.de/mailman/listinfo/o3-admins), [osd-admins@suse.de](http://mailman.suse.de/mailman/listinfo/osd-admins), [openqa@suse.de](http://mailman.suse.de/mailman/listinfo/openqa) and [opensuse-factory@opensuse.org](https://lists.opensuse.org/archives/list/factory@lists.opensuse.org)

* Learn about https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/password/ to have access to administer services, mailing lists, etc.

* Ask to be invited to our private team channel [team-qa-tools on Slack](https://suse.slack.com/archives/C02AJ1E568M), or if #suse-qe-tools:opensuse.org on Matrix if that doesn't work

* Request to join [devel:openQA on OBS](https://build.opensuse.org/project/show/devel:openQA) and check that you have `Request created`, `New comment for request created`, `New comment for package created` enabled for `Maintainer of the target` in your [OBS notification settings](https://build.opensuse.org/my/subscriptions) (staging bot writes reminder comments on open reviews)

* Add [devel:openQA on OBS](https://build.opensuse.org/project/show/devel:openQA) to your watchlist

* Connect to `#opensuse-factory` on *libera.chat*, see [[Tools#Common-tasks-for-team-members|Common tasks/ Monitoring]]

* Request admin access on [osd](http://openqa.suse.de/) and [o3](http://openqa.opensuse.org/)

* Request to get added to the [QA project in Progress](https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/qa/settings/members) and *enable notifications for the "QA" project* in [your account settings](https://progress.opensuse.org/my/account)

* Request to get added to the [openqa team in GitLab](https://gitlab.suse.de/groups/openqa/-/group_members)

* Add your ssh key to https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/salt-pillars-openqa/-/blob/master/sshd/users.sls with a merge request

* Add your ssh key to https://gitlab.suse.de/qa-maintenance/qamops/-/blob/master/ansible/books/vars/main.yml with a merge request

* Add your ssh key to https://gitlab.suse.de/OPS-Service/salt/-/blob/production/pillar/common/groups/qa-tools.yaml with a merge request

* Ask an existing admin, e.g. other members of the team, to add your username and ssh key to o3, see [[openqav3:wiki#SSH-configuration|SSH configuration]]

* Ensure you are subscribed to all projects referenced in [[Tools#Common-tasks-for-team-members|Common tasks for team members]]

* ~~Ensure you have access to https://gitlab.suse.de/OPS-Service/monitoring (create EngInfra ticket otherwise) and add yourself in https://gitlab.suse.de/OPS-Service/monitoring/-/tree/master/icinga/shared/contacts to receive monitoring information~~ EngInfra does not grant access to additional people currently. That might change again in the future.

* *Watch* https://gitlab.suse.de/qa-sle/qa-jump-configs/

* Ask for access to the vacations calendar (on demand, via invitation)

* *Watch* [qa-tools-backlog-assistant](https://github.com/os-autoinst/qa-tools-backlog-assistant) and choose *All Activity*

* ~~Ensure you can access thruk.suse.de via NIS/LDAP credentials (replaced by zabbix.suse.de)~~

* Create [a service request on sd.suse.com](https://sd.suse.com/servicedesk/customer/portal/1/create/1) to be added to the Jira SD group **OSD Admins**, the Slack group **@qa-tools** as well as the zabbix.suse.de group **Owners/O3**.

* For access to the VM host `openqa-service.qe.suse.de` create a MR *like* https://gitlab.suse.de/OPS-Service/salt/-/merge_requests/3411

* If you need access to [Netbox](https://netbox.suse.de) 1) login using the **opensuse** SSO provider using *IDP credentials* 2) ask an existing admin (@okurz, @nicksinger, @mgriessmeier, @hreinecke) to unlock the account (padlocks will literally be removed from the UX; for the admins: https://netbox.suse.de/admin ask user to login once, so they appear in the list "Authentication and Authorization" -> "Users".. There you need to add them individually to the group "netbox-users")

### Offboarding

When someone leaves the team the following steps should be taken

* Conduct a team-internal exit-interview (Learn about what was good, what can be improved, what to learn)

* Remove from https://github.com/orgs/os-autoinst/teams/tools-team . Optionally add the people still as contributors with additional priviledges to individual projects

* Remove from team calendars

### Alert handling

#### Best practices

* "if it hurts, do it more often": https://www.martinfowler.com/bliki/FrequencyReducesDifficulty.html

* Reduce [Mean-time-to-Detect (MTTD)](https://searchitoperations.techtarget.com/definition/mean-time-to-detect-MTTD) and [Mean-time-to-Recovery](https://raygun.com/blog/what-is-mttr/)

#### Process

* React on any alert or report of an outage

* If users report outages of components of our infrastructure

  * Consider forming a task force and work together

  * Inform the affected users about the impact, mitigation/workarounds and ETA for resolution

* For each failing alert, e.g. Grafana

 * Create a ticket for the issue (with a tag "alert"; create ticket unless the alert is trivial to resolve and needs no improvement; if an alert is unhandled for at least 4h then a ticket must be created; even create a ticket if alerts turn to "ok" to prevent these issues in the future and to improve the alert)

 * Link the corresponding ... in the ticket

   * **Grafana panel** as reference in the alert email

   * Details of the failing job in case of an **Unreviewed issue** alert

   * Pipeline name and link in case of GitLab

 * Copy relevant metadata from the email, especially date and time, mentioned hostname(s) and the subject of the email

 * Respond to the notification email with a link to the ticket or forward the email to a corresponding mailing list, e.g. o3-admins@suse.de or osd-admins@suse.de (Caveat: gitlab@suse.de as sender seems to be able to receive emails and swallow them without any useful response or error message)

 * Optional: Inform in chat

 * Optional: Add "annotation" in corresponding Grafana panel with a link to the corresponding ticket

 * Silence/pause the alert to mitigate urgency and reduce the priority of the ticket

   * For grafana just follow the "silence" button in alert emails or use https://monitor.qa.suse.de/alerting/silences

   * In [Zabbix a problem can be suppressed](https://www.zabbix.com/documentation/current/en/manual/acknowledgment#updating-problems)

   * When observing an *Unknown issue*, file a ticket and add it in a comment on the job

   * To address [openqa logwarn issues](https://github.com/os-autoinst/openqa-logwarn), add the message to the list of known messages (and potentially look into changing the message or log level later)

   * See [[Tools#Munin|Munin]]

   * See [[Tools#Gitlab-Pipeline-Notifications|gitlab pipeline notifications]]

* If you consider an alert non-actionable then change it accordingly

* If you do not know how to handle an alert ask the team for help

* We must always strive for an accepted hypothesis when we want to change alerts or call an issue resolved

* After resolving the issue add explanation in ticket, unpause alert and verify it going to "ok" again, resolve ticket

#### References

* https://nl.devoteam.com/en/blog-post/monitoring-reduce-mean-time-recovery-mttr/

#### Grafana

##### Pausing alerts

* [Silence the alert in Grafana](https://stats.openqa-monitor.qa.suse.de/alerting/silences)

* It is most useful to match by the `rule_uid` label or by the `alertname` label, e.g. `alertname=~openqa-piworker:.*` or `rule_uid=~host_up_alert_openqaworker-arm-\d+`. Note that the regex matching requires you to use `.*` at the start or end as `^` and `$` are implied.

* Fill in the comment field, e.g. with a ticket URL.

#### Gitlab Pipeline Notifications

Currently, the following projects are configured to write an email to osd-admins@suse.de if a pipeline fails:

* [openqa/auto-review](https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/auto-review/-/settings/integrations/pipelines_email/edit) id: 4877

* [openqa/grafana-webhook-actions](https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/grafana-webhook-actions/-/settings/integrations/pipelines_email/edit) id: 4652

* [openqa/monitor-o3](https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/monitor-o3/-/settings/integrations/pipelines_email/edit) id: 5544

* [openqa/openqa-review](https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/openqa-review/-/settings/integrations/pipelines_email/edit) id: 4884

* [openqa/osd-deployment](https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/osd-deployment/-/settings/integrations/pipelines_email/edit) id: 3731

* [openqa/salt-states-openqa](https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/salt-states-openqa/-/settings/integrations/pipelines_email/edit) id: 743

* [openqa/salt-pillars-openqa](https://gitlab.suse.de/openqa/salt-pillars-openqa/-/settings/integrations/pipelines_email/edit) id: 746

* [qa-maintenance/bot-ng](https://gitlab.suse.de/qa-maintenance/bot-ng/-/settings/integrations/pipelines_email/edit) id: 6096

* [qa-maintenance/openQABot](https://gitlab.suse.de/qa-maintenance/openQABot/-/settings/integrations/pipelines_email/edit) id: 3530

###### Note:

- The configuration can be found by going to **Settings** > **Integrations** > **Pipeline Status Emails** (for any new projects the plugin will need to be enabled first)

- There's no way to subscribe as a user - instead an email address must be added

###### API usage for handling email notification

- For disabling all CI fails notifications run:

~~~

export GITLAB_TOKEN=OAUTH2_USER_TOKEN_FROM_GITLAB

for i in 6096 4877 5544 3731 743 746 4652 3530 4884;do

    curl -X DELETE --header "Authorization: Bearer ${GITLAB_TOKEN}" "https://gitlab.suse.de/api/v4/projects/${i}/integrations/pipelines-email"

done

~~~

- For enabling all notifications:

~~~

export GITLAB_TOKEN=OAUTH2_USER_TOKEN_FROM_GITLAB

for i in 6096 4877 5544 3731 743 746 4652 3530 4884;do

    curl -X PUT --data 'recipients=osd-admins@suse.de&notify_only_broken_pipelines=true' --header "Authorization: Bearer ${GITLAB_TOKEN}" "https://gitlab.suse.de/api/v4/projects/${i}/integrations/pipelines-email"

done

~~~

* **OAUTH2_USER_TOKEN_FROM_GITLAB** must be valid user generated token with privileges to read/write api and user must have corresponding privileges in these repositories

#### Munin

* To completely disable alert emails from munin: in `/etc/munin/munin.conf`, comment out the line `contact.o3admins.command`.

* For individual plugins it is necessary to read the plugin docs, e.g. in `/etc/munin/plugins/df` you can see how to adjust the values for warning and critical. You then put this in `/etc/munin/plugin-conf.d/munin-node` and then `systemctl restart munin-node`, e.g.

```

[df]

env.exclude none unknown rootfs iso9660 squashfs udf romfs ramfs debugfs cgroup_root devtmpfs

env.warning 92

env.critical 98

```

#### Weekly alert duty

We all should react on alert but additionally we can have one person on "alert duty" for one week each to ensure quicker reaction times when other team members are focussed on development work. For this the person on duty should do the following:

* React quickly (e.g. within two hours) on any unhandled alerts

* Hand over to the next person after the weekly, going by the order of team members in the wiki

* Asks for standin on unavailabilities

### Collaboration best practices

Sometimes there are pull requests that are based on other pull requests. Person X reviews PR 1 and Person Y reviews PR 2, but they share the same commit. As a result we have more work for all. For a best practice it is recommended to

* Include keywords in the PR subject line, e.g. "Part 2: … - based on #<previous_pr>". Example: https://github.com/os-autoinst/openQA/pull/4473

* Include the list of base pull request(s) in the PR description. Keep in mind that pull request links in github only seem to be properly rendered as preview links when included in a Markdown list, e.g.

```

Based on

* #1234

```

* Mark the dependant pull request as draft until the base pull request is approved or merged

See #105244 for the motivation for these best practices

#### SUSE-IT ticket handling

As we are relying on Eng-Infra a lot and need to coordinate our work we should follow a consistent process with best practices.

1. By default use [Incident](https://sd.suse.com/servicedesk/customer/portal/1/create/18) as it includes fields for "Impact" and "Urgency", avoid "Service Request". In some cases [Service Request with Approval](https://sd.suse.com/servicedesk/customer/portal/1/create/38) should be used, e.g. when trying to give access to some systems for new team members

2. Ensure there's a corresponding ticket for it in [openQA Infrastructure](https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/openqa-infrastructure/issues)

3. Use `Eng-Infra` under **Select a system**

4. Use `[openqa] …` in the subject if applicable

5. Use the below template for the **Description**

6. Select a sensible **Impact** and **Urgency** and make sure the severity and impact of the issue is explicitly mentioned in the EngInfra ticket, e.g. what business related workflows are impacted

7. Share the ticket with "OSD Admins" (or after the ticket was created then **Share** with `OSD Admins`; the icon with two figures, not a single gray avatar)

8. Use the tracker ticket for internal notes

9. React quickly to questions and ticket updates but also keep in mind limited capacity of EngInfra (as of 2022-02)

We have a ticket template to be used for SUSE SD Eng-Infra to improve our communication, to communicate impact, steps to reproduce, acceptance criteria. Use the following template and replace all instances of `<…>`:

```

h2. Observation

<To be replaced: Observation of the problem>

h2. Steps to reproduce

<To be replaced: Steps to reproduce>

h2. Expected result

<To be replaced: Expected result details>

h2. Impact

<To be replaced: What and who is impacted>

h2. Further details

Internal tracking issue: <To be replaced: ticket link on progress.opensuse.org>

Feel welcome to comment in the progress ticket which can be shared with more people by default and helps to communicate and we can edit texts and know who is assigned.

```

### Things to try

* Everybody can be "Product Owner" or "Scrum Master" or "Admin" or "Developer" for some time to get the different perspective

* From time to time ask stakeholders for their list of priorities regarding our tasks

* Seelect mob-programming tasks in unblock meetings to deep-dive in dedicated meeting

### Literature references

* https://xahteiwi.eu/resources/presentations/no-we-wont-have-a-video-call-for-that/

### Historical

Previously the former QA tools team used target versions "Ready" (to be planned into individual milestone periods or sprints), "Current Sprint" and "Done". However the team never really did use proper time-limited sprints so the distinction was rather vague. After having tickets "Resolved" after some time the PO or someone else would also update the target version to "Done" to signal that the result has been reviewed. This was causing a lot of ticket update noise for not much value considering that the [Definition-of-Done](https://progress.opensuse.org/projects/openqav3/wiki/#ticket-workflow) when properly followed already has rather strict requirements on when something can be considered really "Resolved" hence the team eventually decided to not use the "Done" target version anymore. Since about 2019-05 (and since okurz is doing more backlog management) the team uses priorities more as well as the status "Workable" together with an explicit team member list for "What the team is working on" to better visualize what is making team members busy regardless of what was "officially" planned to be part of the team's work. So we closed the target version. On 2020-07-03 okurz subsequently closed "Current Sprint" as also this one was in most cases equivalent to just picking an assignee for a ticket or setting to "In Progress". We can just distinguish between "(no version)" meaning untriaged, "Ready" meaning tools team should consider picking up these issues and "future" meaning that there is no plan for this to be picked up. Everything else is defined by status and priority.

In 2020-10-27 we discussed together to find out the history of the team. We clarified that the team started out as a not well defined "Dev+Ops" team. "team responsibilities" have been mainly unchanged since at least beginning of 2019. We agreed that learning from users and production about our "Dev" contributions is good, so this part of "Ops" is responsibility of everyone.

Also see #73060 for more details about how the responsibilities were setup.

### Team-internal Hack Week (or Hackweek)

#### Rules of the game

- Regular meetings with the exception of the Weekly are cancelled

- Look into future tickets or other projects that relate to our usual work

- Backlog priorities are not enforced, short of emergency responses

- The challenge has to be solved the previous week, weekly to weekly

#### Extra-ordinary "hack-week" 2020-W51

SUSE QE Tools plans to have an internal "hack-week": Condition: We close 30 tickets from our backlog within the time frame 2020-12-03 until 2020-12-11 start of weekly meeting. No cheating! :) See [this query](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&set_filter=1&sort=priority%3Adesc%2Cid%3Adesc&f%5B%5D=status_id&op%5Bstatus_id%5D=c&f%5B%5D=fixed_version_id&op%5Bfixed_version_id%5D=%3D&v%5Bfixed_version_id%5D%5B%5D=418&f%5B%5D=closed_on&op%5Bclosed_on%5D=%3E%3C&v%5Bclosed_on%5D%5B%5D=2020-12-03&v%5Bclosed_on%5D%5B%5D=2020-12-11&f%5B%5D=&c%5B%5D=subject&c%5B%5D=project&c%5B%5D=status&c%5B%5D=assigned_to&c%5B%5D=relations&c%5B%5D=priority&c%5B%5D=category&c%5B%5D=cf_16&group_by=status&t%5B%5D=). During week 2020-W51 everyone is allowed to work on any hack-week project, it should just have a reasonable, "explainable" connection to our normal work. okurz volunteers to take over ops-duty for the week.

Result during meeting 2020-12-11: We missed the goal (by a slight amount) but we are motivated to try again in the next year :) Everybody, put some easy tickets aside for the next time!

#### Extra-ordinary "hack-week" 2021-W8

Similar as our attempt for 2020-W51 with same rules, except condition: We close 30 tickets from our backlog within the time frame 2021-02-05 until 2021-02-19 start of weekly meeting. No cheating! See [this query](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&set_filter=1&sort=priority%3Adesc%2Cid%3Adesc&f%5B%5D=status_id&op%5Bstatus_id%5D=c&f%5B%5D=fixed_version_id&op%5Bfixed_version_id%5D=%3D&v%5Bfixed_version_id%5D%5B%5D=418&f%5B%5D=closed_on&op%5Bclosed_on%5D=%3E%3C&v%5Bclosed_on%5D%5B%5D=2021-02-05&v%5Bclosed_on%5D%5B%5D=2021-02-19&f%5B%5D=&c%5B%5D=subject&c%5B%5D=project&c%5B%5D=status&c%5B%5D=assigned_to&c%5B%5D=relations&c%5B%5D=priority&c%5B%5D=category&c%5B%5D=cf_16&group_by=status&t%5B%5D=).

Result during meeting 2021-02-19: We missed the goal (25/30 tickets resolved) but again we are open to try again, maybe after next SUSE hack week.

#### Extra-ordinary "hack-week" 2022-W9

Same as in before, similar condition: We close 30 tickets from our backlog within the time frame 2022-02-18 until 2022-02-25 start of weekly meeting. No cheating! See [this query](https://progress.opensuse.org/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&set_filter=1&sort=priority%3Adesc%2Cid%3Adesc&f%5B%5D=status_id&op%5Bstatus_id%5D=c&f%5B%5D=fixed_version_id&op%5Bfixed_version_id%5D=%3D&v%5Bfixed_version_id%5D%5B%5D=418&f%5B%5D=closed_on&op%5Bclosed_on%5D=%3E%3C&v%5Bclosed_on%5D%5B%5D=2022-02-18&v%5Bclosed_on%5D%5B%5D=2022-02-25&f%5B%5D=&c%5B%5D=subject&c%5B%5D=project&c%5B%5D=status&c%5B%5D=assigned_to&c%5B%5D=relations&c%5B%5D=priority&c%5B%5D=category&c%5B%5D=cf_16&group_by=status&t%5B%5D=).

## Change announcements

For new, cool features or disruptive changes consider providing according notifications to our common userbase as well as potential future users, for example create post on opensuse-factory@opensuse.org , link to post on openqa@suse.de , invite for workshop, #opensuse-factory (IRC) (irc://irc.libera.chat/opensuse-factory), [#testing (Slack)](https://app.slack.com/client/T02863RC2AC/C02CANHLANP)