CAST Test Environment & Configuration Management Flashcards

What is environment 'smoke testing' in the context of test environment readiness?

Answer: A quick check to verify the test environment is operational before full test execution

Environment smoke testing verifies that the test environment is properly set up and ready before committing to a full test run.

What does 'test data management' involve?

Answer: Creating, maintaining, and controlling data used in test execution

Test data management covers the creation, storage, masking, and governance of data used across test environments.

Why is data masking used in test environments?

Answer: To protect sensitive production data by replacing it with realistic but fictitious values

Data masking replaces sensitive personal or business data with anonymized values to comply with privacy regulations while preserving data structure.

Which of the following best describes a 'sandbox' environment in software testing?

Answer: An isolated environment used for exploratory or experimental testing without impacting other environments

A sandbox is an isolated, self-contained environment used for experimentation, development, or exploratory testing.

Version control in test environment management helps by:

Answer: Tracking changes to environment configurations, enabling rollback to known-good states

Version control tracks environment configuration changes, making it possible to identify when changes broke something and restore previous states.

What is a baseline in configuration management?

Answer: A formally agreed-upon snapshot of a configuration item used as a reference point

A configuration baseline is an approved snapshot of a system's state used as a fixed reference for future changes and comparisons.