How to Use Selenium Grid

Intro

If you're looking to run your tests on different browser and operating system combinations, but you're unable to justify using a third-party solution like Sauce Labs then what do you do?

A Solution

With Selenium Grid you can stand up a simple infrastructure of various browsers on different operating systems to not only distribute test load, but also give you a diversity of browsers to work with.

A brief primer of Selenium GridSelenium Grid is part of the Selenium project. It lets you distribute test execution across several machines. You can connect to it with a remote WebDriver by specifying the browser, browser version, and operating system you want. You specify these values through Selenium Capabilities.There are two main elements to Selenium Grid -- a Hub, and Nodes. First you need to stand up a Hub. Then you can connect (or "register") Nodes to that Hub. Nodes are where your tests will run, and the Hub is responsible for making sure your tests end up on the right one (e.g., the machine with the operating system and browser you specified in your test).

Let's continue with an example.

About The Author

Dave Haeffner is the original writer of Elemental Selenium -- a free, once weekly Selenium tip newsletter that's read by thousands of testing professionals. He also created and maintains the-internet (an open-source web app that's perfect for writing automated tests against).

Dave has helped numerous companies successfully implement automated acceptance testing; including The Motley Fool, ManTech International, Sittercity, and Animoto. He is also an active member of the Selenium project and has spoken at numerous conferences and meetups around the world about automated acceptance testing.