LAVA Hacking Sessions

A LAVA hacking session is a lava-test-shell test that provides remote ssh access to a LAVA device.

Assumptions

  • The user has TCP/IP access to the device

Parameters

  • GATEWAY - The gateway for the network the target device is on (check with your LAVA admins)
  • PUB_KEY - A plain-text string containing the ssh public key(s) you wish to use to connect to the device over ssh
  • testdef - The test definition (distrbution specific)
  • hacking-session-debian.yaml - run the hacking session on a Debian or Ubuntu filesystem, openssh-server will be installed using the package manager if not already installed. The test image must raise a network interface automatically.
  • hacking-session-oe.yaml - run the hacking session on an Open Embedded filesystem. openssh-server must be installed in the test image
  • hacking-session-android.yaml - run the hacking session on an Android filesystem openssh-server must be installed in the test image. (The YAML for this session is still in review).

Starting a Hacking Session

  • Create a LAVA job file with your desired target and image
  • Add a lava-test-shell action to your LAVA json job file where you want hacking access
{
    "command": "lava_test_shell",
    "parameters": {
        "testdef_repos": [
            {
                "git-repo": "http://git.linaro.org/lava-team/hacking-session.git",
                "testdef": "hacking-session-debian.yaml",
                "parameters": {
                    "GATEWAY": "10.0.0.1",
                    "PUB_KEY": "PASTE_PUBKEY(S) HERE"
                }
            }
        ],
        "timeout": 3600
    }
}

Note

The session will not end simply because you log out. Always use the commands for Stopping a Hacking Session so that the device is returned to the pool for other users to use as soon as you have finished with your hacking session.

Connecting to a Hacking Session

The hacking session test definition will report the commands to ssh within the LAVA log file. To access the log file, you can use a web browser; navigate to your hacking session and scroll to the end of the job to see instructions

  • This hack session was executed on Linaro’s LAVA system, job ID: 116632

SSH tunneling

If your target device is located on a remote server, as is the case when accessing the Linaro LAVA lab, you’ll want to tunnel onto the Linaro network to the device under test

  1. verify your SSH key is setup and configured to connect:

    ~# ssh -T username@example.com
    
  2. Modify your SSH config to allow agent forwarding:

    Host example.com
       ForwardAgent yes
    

lava-test-shell helper functions in a hack session

lava-test-shell helper functions can be found within target in the directory /lava/bin

Record text to the LAVA log

During a hacking session, LAVA is listening to /dev/ttyS0 for the duration of the hacking session. From within the target any text you echo to /dev/ttyS0 will be recorded within LAVA.

Stopping a Hacking Session

During a hacking session, the target your are connected to can’t be used for other tasks, to complete your session

  • Cancel the job in the LAVA using the link in the job detail or job log pages.
  • Use the helper function stop_hacking from the command-line within the hacking session