How can I avoid conflicts running Selenium tests in parallel, when they must exercise an underlying REST API?

Question

I have a web application which needs to be tested in multiple browsers in multiple environments (i.e. Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer in both Windows and Linux* (*with the obvious exception of Internet Explorer)).

Tests have been written in Java using JBehave, Selenium, and SerenityBDD (Thucydides)). These tests exercise an underlying REST API, testing if objects may be successfully created and deleted using the UI.

I am using Selenium Grid, and would like to run the tests on parallel nodes; however, the concern is that as the tests exercise an underlying REST API, there could be conflicts.

Is it possible to pass in parameters to the tests as a parameter within the Jenkins job configuration which runs the tests, so that there is a slight difference in the tests dependent on the node in which they are executing? (e.g. An object named 'MYOBJECT-CHROME' is created on Chrome, versus an object named 'MYOBJECT-FIREFOX' on Firefox, meaning any REST API conflicts can be avoided?)

Answer 1

If the software under test(SUT) allows multithread REST API requests there is no need for you worry about

meaning any conflicts can be avoided?

The tests concurrent requests should be set up as fixtures, meaning every atomic test should set/tear down the required for it test data or return the software under test's(SUT) state. A good candidate here is a Prebuilt fixture. It'll allow you to add it as a step in Jenkins and can reduce the overhead of creating all those test objects.

If you still need to parameterize the build, you can use your suite @tags from the BDD to define which set of tests will be executed.