Enable headless execution

HOST Engine 3.0 offers headless execution. This means that you don't have to install the emulator on your client machine to run your mainframe tests.

Headless execution for the HOST Engine 3.0 is in technical preview state and it is provided to you for evaluation, beta or release candidate purposes. Therefore, Tricentis doesn't guarantee full functionality of headless execution in the current Tosca version; it's provided “AS IS” without indemnification, support, or warranty of any kind, express or implied, unless otherwise required by law.

Headless execution for the HOST Engine 3.0 shall terminate immediately upon notice in our sole discretion. By accessing, browsing, clicking on an Accept button, installing, copying or otherwise using headless execution, you accept this pre-release testing Agreement.

The concept of headless execution of the HOST Engine 3.0 tests

Advantages of headless execution

Headless execution has the following advantages:

  • You can perform mainframe testing even if the HOST Engine 3.0 doesn't support your emulator.

  • You don't need a virtual environment to run mainframe tests.

  • You don't have to maintain licenses for multiple emulators.

  • You can run your HOST Engine 3.0 tests even if you are using a web-to-host emulator.

Limitations

Headless execution only supports TN3270 protocol with session mode IBM-3278-2-E (80x24).

Additionally, headless execution doesn't support the following functionality:

If you encounter errors, run a recovery scenario to log off from the current session.

Prerequisites

To enable and run headless execution, you must first create HOST Modules and TestCases.

Enable headless execution

To enable and configure headless execution for your HOST Engine 3.0 tests, specify the following test configuration parameters (TCPs):

TCP

Description

Mandatory

HostEnableHeadlessExecution

Set this TCP to True to enable headless execution.

Yes

HostName

IP address of your HOST.

Yes

HostPort

Port of your HOST.

If you don't set this parameter, the default value is 23.

Yes

HostTimeout

Sets the maximum time allowed for any communication between HOST Engine 3.0 and HOST server to happen.

If you don't set this parameter, the default value is 40000 milliseconds.

No

In this example, you configure your TestCase for headless execution. To do so, you add the mandatory TCPs HostEnableHeadlessExecution, HostName, and HostPort.

Additionally, you increase the timeout to 2 minutes. To do so, you add the HostTimeout TCP and set its value to 120000.

TCPs for headless execution