how to trigger a script located on a machine in one domain from a machine on another domain

Question

Hi, I am basically from QA. What we testers do each day is 1. Open a web browser. Type in http://11.12.13.27.8080/cruisecontrol (since we are in a particular network, only we can access this) 2. Check if the latest nightly build has been successful. If it is successful, deploy it on a test environment by clicking on 'Deploy this build' link.

This deploying takes around 1-1.5 hours. During this time we cannot use our machines to work on anything else. Only after this deploying can we begin to test.

Now, i wanted to know if its possible to do the below. When at home in the morning, i use something which will trigger a script (which will be on my machine at workplace). This script will inturn automatically deploy the build. I already have such a similar script. What i want to know is how is it possible to trigger this script from my home machine? Is it even possible? For e.g the external trigger will say "Deploy xxx branch on yyy test environment". So the script on my workplace machine will be invoked and it will automatically deploy it before i actually come to my desk.

Please help. I am from QA and have no idea about all this.

Answer 1

The most general way to do this (or anything else that involves running scripts by authorized users) is to install a remove shell service, such as SSH or Telnet, on a bastion host, and log in from home.

Answer 2

Tunneling and deploying the build from home may be against your IT's wishes. The best idea would be to hook into the nightly build scripts and have that script launch deployment on all your QA machines if the build is successful. If you truly can't modify the scripts or the scripts can't see into your IP sub-domain, you can write a script which polls the nightly build and launches the deployment.

Answer 3

Wouldn't it be simpler to just install a script on your workstation that does a check at a specified time every day?

Answer 4

I'd second mikerobi's proposal.

Put up a script on your work system that goes to the url (BeautifulSoup could help parsing the html), determines if the build is successful and then starts the deploy, maybe mailing you in the meantime or at least keeping a log.

But of course that should be the work of your IT dep, or at least should not be prohibited by internal policy. Go ask who's in charge for that :)