Lipki's Phoromatic Now Supports WoL / System Power Controls

More exciting code continues to be pushed into the Phoronix Test Suite 5.4-Lipki Git repository ahead of its planned stable debut next week.

The latest addition to the open-source Phoromatic Server built into the Phoronix Test Suite 5.4 code-base is the ability for the centralized Phoromatic Server to turn on/off systems on the network when needed for testing. Previously only available within an old, enterprise Phoromatic code-base, the new Phoromatic Server now allows powering off systems automatically when all tests are completed. On the opposite side, it supports automatically powering up test systems via Ethernet Wake-on-Lan (WoL) when there is a test pending to be done against that system. Assuming the basic OS packages/settings are in place, the Phoromatic Server seamlessly manages the rest once opting into the settings via the web UI.

For those out of the look, Phoromatic is the centralized management and test orchestration component to the Phoronix Test Suite for being able to control multiple Phoronix Test System systems -- and their results -- all from one centralized location on the web. More information via the documentation or on GitHub.

This is important for energy savings if dedicating multiple systems exclusively to be used for benchmarking. Of course, you'll want to be using the phoromatic-client Upstart or systemd service for being able to launch the Phoronix Test Suite automatically at boot time, etc.

This has been a very important feature for me personally on the Phoronix.com side as well for being able to roll out a large public test farm that's coming soon -- due to running all the servers out of my home with standard residential wiring and now being able to stagger the start time of the tests and to power off systems when tests are complete -- until either the next scheduled run-time or trigger happens like a Git commit to Mesa or LLVM. The first public data out of this new and exciting test farm should be made public next month.

If you haven't been keeping up with the Phoronix Test Suite 5.4 "Lipki" development, there's been tons of work especially around the new Phoromatic code for making it enterprise production ready. Its official release should come next week.