The next release of Rational Quality Manager is coming soon. And by now you have seen the latest Beta and milestones posted for download, the updated release plans, a lot of progress on work items, and even the updated documentation. However, you probably haven’t seen much information about Rational Test Lab Manager (RTLM) being included in the next release.

Q: So, where did Rational Test Lab manager go?

A: The answer is simple: In the next release all capabilities are still planned to be available, but provided in different ways.

Rational Test Lab Manager is an automation framework for delivery of test systems during the quality lifecycle. It does this via providing a Rational Build Forge automation engine. Additionally, RTLM includes a set of API’s that allows interfaces to solutions like Tivoli Provisioning Manager for deployment of physical environments and solutions from Business Partners (Surgient and VMWare) for utilization of virtual environments. In summary, there are two main capabilities that Rational Test Lab Manager provides beyond what is provided in Rational Quality Manager:

• APIs for lab automation extension
• Repackaging of Build Forge for Automation component

With the upcoming release of Rational Quality Manager, the Rational Test Lab Manager API’s are consumed in Rational Quality Manager. And instead of buying Rational Test Lab Manager, a customer would acquire Rational Build Forge. Again, the key point is that the capabilities of Rational Test Lab Manager are not going away; the way the capabilities are provided is changing. We plan no regression of end user capability.

Here is an easy summary and visualization:

• Current RTLM includes:
  • API’s for lab automation extension
  • Repackaging of Rational Build Forge for Automation component
• Planned for the next release of RQM:
  • A separate RTLM package no longer provided
  • Lab Automation API’s included with RQM
  • Rational Build Forge used for automation
  • No regression in capabilities
• Migration Path:
  • Existing RQM 2.x only customers are NOT entitled to Rational Build Forge
  • Existing RTLM 2.x customers are entitled to Rational Build Forge

Kourken Aroyan,
Development Manager, Rational Quality Manager