Keyword Concepts

Keywords typically describe your execution environment requirements, for example platform, operating system, and pre-installed applications. There are different uses for keywords, depending on whether the execution plan is executed automatically or manually.

Automated execution plans: When an automated execution plan is executed, Silk Central compares the execution plan's keywords with the keywords of all available execution servers. The execution is then run on the first-identified execution server that has a matching keyword list.
Manual execution plans: For manual execution plans, the manual tester can reflect the test environment by using keywords.

If you require an automated execution plan to be run on multiple execution servers, create a copy of the execution plan and assign additional keywords to the execution plan that match other execution servers.

Reserved Keywords

If you do not require hardware provisioning to execute automated execution plans, you can use the reserved keywords that are created automatically for each execution server. In such cases, it is not necessary that you manually assign keywords to your execution servers. Instead, you can configure a one-to-one static execution server assignment for each execution plan.

A reserved keyword is assigned automatically to each newly created execution server. Reserved keywords are structured in the following form: #<execution server name>@<location name>.

Reserved keywords are only available when assigning keywords to execution plans.

In addition to the reserved keywords that are set up automatically for each defined execution server, reserved keywords are also set up for each execution server type:

#PHYSICAL: Limits execution server provisioning to physical execution servers.
#VIRTUAL: Limits execution server provisioning to virtual execution servers.

Keywords and Virtual Execution Servers

Keywords are assigned to virtual execution servers in the same way that they are assigned to physical execution servers. When you configure at least one virtual execution server, the #VIRTUAL keyword is dynamically created and made available for assignment to all execution plans. If you prefer that an execution plan is executed on a virtual machine, select the #VIRTUAL keyword for the execution plan. When an execution plan has neither the #VIRTUAL nor #PHYSICAL keywords, the execution may occur on either a virtual or a physical execution server, assuming the settings of the execution environments are the same. When a test's keywords match multiple virtual execution servers, the first matching virtual execution server that is identified is selected.

Folder Execution

The execution plans can be combined into execution folders, where a folder can include execution subfolders and execution plans. The options for an execution plan execution are also available for an execution folder execution.

When executing a folder, the contained subfolders and execution plans are treated as follows:

Keywords of Executed Folder	Keywords of Contained Execution Plan/Subfolder	Execution of Contained Execution Plan/Subfolder
Has no keywords	Has no keywords	An execution plan without keywords obtain status NOT EXECUTED after execution
Has no keywords	Has keywords	Execution servers are assigned based on the execution plan/subfolder keywords
Has keywords	Has no keywords	Execution servers are assigned based on the folder keywords
Has keywords	Has keywords	Execution servers are assigned based on the folder keywords

Note: When a folder is executed manually and there are no keywords assigned, or no execution server exists for the assigned keywords, these execution plans are marked as Not Executed.