Skia Swarming Bots

Overview

Skia's Swarming bots are hosted in three places:

• Google Compute Engine. This is the preferred location for bots which don‘t need to run on physical hardware, ie. anything that doesn’t require a GPU or a specific hardware configuration. Most of our compile bots live here, along with some non-GPU test bots on Linux and Windows. We get surprisingly stable performance numbers from GCE, despite very few guarantees about the physical hardware.
• Chrome Golo. This is the preferred location for bots which require specific hardware or OS configurations that are not supported by GCE. We have several Mac, Linux, and Windows bots in the Golo.
• The Skolo (local Skia lab in Chapel Hill). Anything we can't get in GCE or the Golo lives here. This includes a wider variety of GPUs and all Android, ChromeOS, iOS, and other devices.

go/skbl lists all Skia Swarming bots.

Connecting to Swarming Bots

• Machine name like “skia-gce-NNN”, “skia-ct-gce-NNN”, “skia-i-gce-NNN”, “ct-gce-NNN”, “ct-xxx-builder-NNN” -> GCE

  • First determine the project for the bot:
    • skia-gce-NNN, skia-ct-gce-NNN: skia-swarming-bots
    • skia-i-gce-NNN: google.com:skia-buildbots
    • ct-gce-NNN, ct-xxx-builder-NNN: ct-swarming-bots
  • To log in to a Linux bot in GCE, use gcloud compute ssh --project <project> default@<machine name>. Choose the zone listed on the VM's detail page (see links above). You may also specify the zone using the --zone command-line flag.
  • To log in to a Windows bot in GCE, on the VM‘s detail page, first click the “Set Windows password” button, then click the “RDP” button. (If it hasn’t been installed, you will be instructed to install the Chrome RDP Extension for GCP.)

• Machine name ends with “a9”, “m3”, “m5” -> Chrome Golo/Labs

  • To log in to Golo bots, see go/chrome-infra-build-access.

• Machine name starts with “skia-e-”, “skia-i-” (other than “skia-i-gce-NNN”), “skia-rpi-” -> Chapel Hill lab (aka Skolo)
  To log in to Skolo bots, see the Skolo maintenance doc remote access section. See the following for OS specific instructions:
  

  • Remotely debug an Android device in Skolo
  • VNC to Skolo Windows bots
  • ChromeOS Debugging

Debugging

If you need to run code on a specific machine/device to debug an issue, the simplest option is to run tryjobs (after adding debugging output to the relevant code). In some cases you may also need to create or modify tryjobs.

For Googlers: If you need more control (e.g. to run GDB) and need run to directly on a swarming bot then you can use leasing.skia.org.
If that does not work then the current trooper can help you bring the device back to your desk and connect it to GoogleGuest Wifi or the Google Test Network.

If you need to make changes on a Skolo device, please check with an Infra team member. Most can be flashed/imaged back to a clean state, but others can not.

If a permanent change needs to be made on the machine (such as an OS or driver update), please file a bug and assign to jcgregorio for reassignment.

Maintenance Tasks

See the Skolo maintenance doc.