[Hwcert-announce-list] Red Hat Certification 4.4, Test Suite Updates, and Updated Certification Workflow Site Available

[Engineering Partner Management]

Greetings Red Hat Partners,

We are pleased to announce the general availability (GA) of updated
Red Hat Certification 4.4 and associated test suite package updates
(listed below). This Red Hat Certification package update *is* an
official release and should be used for all new Red Hat certification
submissions. Successful results from the previous certification test
suites (redhat-certification-4.2-20161116.1 and
redhat-certification-4.3-20161220) will be accepted for a period of 90
days.

redhat-certification-4.4-20170206.el7
redhat-certification-backend-4.4-20170206.el7
redhat-certification-hardware-4.4-20170128.1.el7
redhat-certification-hardware-preview-4.4-20170128.1.el7
redhat-certification-backend-4.4-20170206.el6
redhat-certification-hardware-4.4-20170128.1.el6
redhat-certification-hardware-preview-4.4-20170117.1.el6


The updated Red Hat Certification packages are available on the Red
Hat Customer Portal at the following location:

https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/282/

A description of selected updates delivered in these packages can be
found below.

Removal of CI Sandboxes and Backend-Validation
* CI processes no longer need to submit results to Red Hat for
validation, as most testing is now performed on the vendors' premises
by the CCSP and RHOSP test suites.
* CI Sandboxes no longer appear in the RHCERT WUI. Local
Certifications are now called Sandboxes in the WUI. Sandboxes provide
a web interface for reviewing test results from CI or other
non-certification testing.
* Sandboxes are also used for CI remote testing - when the vendors' CI
scripting is run on the rhcert LTS. The use of the --remote <SUT host>
option now requires --program and --id options.

Web UI Changes
* The "Local Certifications" section has been renamed to "Sandboxes".
These are certification runs that are not associated with an official
certification request on the Hardware Catalog.
* In response to user feedback, the GUI now shows a live progress
display while tests are being run.

CLI Reorganization
The command line interface for rhcert has been reorganized to clarify
the roles and operations of the command line tools. This is the first
change in a series of changes intended to improve and expand the
functionality of the command line tools.
* The rhcert-backend command was replaced with the rhcert-cli,
rhcert-util, and rhcertd commands
  * rhcert-cli is the CLI for client testing
  * rhcert-util provides utilities for results file updating and
attachment extraction
  * rhcertd is the SUT client daemon and LTS test services (network,
nfs for kdump) command

Further information on each command can be found by running them with
the --help option and the online documentation is being updated to use
the new commands.

NOTE: The command change from "rhcert-backend" to "rhcertd" will cause
existing LTS systems to stop providing certification services until
they are started with the new command. You will need to run the
command "chkconfig rhcertd on" and then reboot the system to remove
all traces of the previous tool from memory and configure the new tool
to start on boot.

Improved Client Registration via LAN broadcast
The rhcert-cli register command invoked from the SUT listens for LTS
broadcast messages on the subnet and offers to connect. This removes
the need to supply IP addresses, and also provides connectivity
feedback.


If you encounter any problems, please file bugs against the "Red Hat
Certification Program" product in Red Hat Bugzilla
(https://bugzilla.redhat.com). Note that this may be a change from
some users who are used to using the old "Red Hat Hardware
Certification Program" product.

We value your ongoing participation in Red Hat certification, software
development, and testing efforts. Thank you for your continued
partnership. If you have any questions or comments, please do not
hesitate to contact your Partner Manager or Engineering Account
Manager.

Regards,


The Red Hat Certification Team