Using iTest to test a CLI on a device that supports Telnet or SSH is pretty simple, especially when it comes to setting up a session profile or testbed. iTest has built in support for Telnet and SSH and the main difficulty may lie in the sometimes strange behavior of terminal servers or devices that have complex prompts.
However, there is a class of devices that support a command line interface on a raw TCP socket. This may be a very simple diagnostics port on a device that is not generally exposed to the end user, but may be of interest as a testing interface.
In this case using the Telnet protocol to test this interface may simply not work, as the CLI may not recognize Telnet control characters and may not properly echo characters typed. This HOWTO will detail one way to setup a session profile so that connections to such an interface may be successfully made and used to test the device.
1. The first step is to create a new session profile.
2. Select Telnet as the Session Type
3. It is desirable to make this profile be a reference profile that other session profiles or testbeds may extend.
4. Switch to the Misc tab and select “This is a reference session profile.”
5. Now switch back to the “Start” tab.
6. Fill in the correct port to connect to, but you may leave the IP address blank.
7. Click on the “More >>” button.
8. Under “Connect” uncheck “Negotiate telnet options”.
9. Under “Terminal” check “Local echo” if your device does not echo characters back as they are received.
10. Save this.
11. Now create a new testbed and add a device that inherits from the session profile above.
12. Fill in the correct IP address.
13. Now right-click on the device and select “Start”.
14. The session should open and connect.
15. Begin interacting with the device.
16. Close the session and allow the wizard to detect the prompts that are needed. These should be saved to the base session profile.
This session profile should be usable now for any instance of this device.
