---
id: RAIL-HO-WP-0002
type: workplan
title: "Server Specification and Automated Test Suite"
domain: railiance
repo: railiance-infra
status: completed
owner: railiance
topic_slug: railiance
state_hub_workstream_id: "8fed53c2-4c39-4471-8bb9-61f58771fe0c"
created: "2026-03-09"
updated: "2026-03-09"
completed: "2026-03-09"
---

# Server Specification and Automated Test Suite

## Motivation

`make status` produces raw shell output that requires manual interpretation.
There is no machine-readable specification of what a converged Railiance node
should look like, and therefore no way to assert automatically whether a server
is in the correct state.

This workplan closes that gap by introducing:

1. **A declarative server specification** (`spec/server-baseline.yaml`) — the
   single source of truth for the target state of every managed node.
2. **A Goss test suite** derived from that spec — YAML assertions that map
   one-to-one to spec items and produce a structured pass/fail report.
3. **`make verify`** — runs the test suite against all hosts and exits non-zero
   on failure, suitable for CI.
4. **An ADR** that formally defines the boundary between `railiance-hosts` and
   `railiance-bootstrap`.

## Concept

### Separation of concerns

| Repo | Responsibility |
|------|----------------|
| `railiance-hosts` | **What** a managed node should look like (spec), **how** to get it there (Ansible roles), **how to verify** it got there (Goss tests), inventory, secrets |
| `railiance-bootstrap` | Upstream Kubernetes/app-layer provisioning that builds on an already-converged base node; does NOT own security baseline |

The `railiance-bootstrap` ansible work (harden.yml, bootstrap.yml) is
superseded by `roles/base` and `roles/sops_agent` in this repo. Going forward,
any security or OS-level configuration belongs here. `railiance-bootstrap` may
consume a node that has already been converged by this repo, but must not
re-configure items owned here.

### Test framework: Goss

[Goss](https://github.com/goss-org/goss) is a Go binary that evaluates YAML
test files against the live node. It was chosen because:

- Tests and spec map one-to-one (Goss YAML IS the assertion)
- Single binary, no Python/Ruby runtime on target host
- Fast (runs in-process, no SSH per test)
- Output can be TAP, JSON, or human-readable
- Deployable via Ansible in a single task

### Directory layout

```
spec/
  server-baseline.yaml        ← authoritative target-state spec (already created)

goss/
  baseline.yaml               ← Goss assertions (derived from spec)
  vars/
    baseline-vars.yaml        ← parameterised values (ports, users, etc.)

ansible/
  playbooks/
    verify.yaml               ← deploy Goss + run tests + fetch results
  roles/
    goss/                     ← role: install binary, copy tests, run, report
```

---

## Tasks

### T01 — Resolve duplicate `converge` target and fix SSH check

```task
id: T01
status: done
completed: "2026-03-09"
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "892f8bb8-beff-463a-b47c-ffd9a672d065"
```

- Remove redundant `converge: ansible-bootstrap` alias (caused Makefile warning)
- Fix `sshd -T` command (requires hostkeys) → replaced with
  `grep -iE '^(PermitRootLogin|PasswordAuthentication)' /etc/ssh/sshd_config`

**Done when:** `make status` completes without warnings and SSH section returns
`PermitRootLogin no` / `PasswordAuthentication no`.

---

### T02 — Finalise server baseline spec

```task
id: T02
status: done
completed: "2026-03-09"
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "293d950e-c0b3-4ae2-ac08-dcbf3fe5b114"
```

Created `spec/server-baseline.yaml` covering:
- Firewall rules (UFW, default deny, allowed ports)
- SSH daemon settings
- Required services and packages
- Admin user constraints
- Security settings (fail2ban jails, HISTCONTROL)

**Done when:** spec reviewed and agreed — it becomes the contract that roles
and tests must satisfy.

---

### T03 — Implement Goss test suite

```task
id: T03
status: done
completed: "2026-03-09"
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "a34a1626-ff38-4925-a957-d94036fbded6"
```

Create `goss/baseline.yaml` with Goss assertions that implement every item in
`spec/server-baseline.yaml`. Each spec section maps to a Goss resource type:

| spec section | Goss resource |
|---|---|
| `firewall.status` | `command: ufw status` |
| `firewall.rules` | `command: ufw status` stdout contains |
| `ssh.*` | `file: /etc/ssh/sshd_config` contains |
| `services` | `service:` blocks |
| `packages` | `package:` blocks |
| `users` | `user:` + `file: /etc/sudoers.d/admin` |

Example structure:

```yaml
# goss/baseline.yaml
package:
  ufw:
    installed: true
  fail2ban:
    installed: true

service:
  ufw:
    enabled: true
    running: true
  fail2ban:
    enabled: true
    running: true

file:
  /etc/ssh/sshd_config:
    exists: true
    contains:
      - /^PermitRootLogin no/
      - /^PasswordAuthentication no/

command:
  ufw status:
    exit-status: 0
    stdout:
      - "Status: active"
      - "22/tcp.*ALLOW"
      - "6443/tcp.*ALLOW"
      - "8472/udp.*ALLOW"

user:
  admin:
    exists: true
    groups:
      - sudo
    shell: /bin/bash
```

**Done when:** `goss validate` passes on a freshly converged node.

---

### T04 — Ansible role and playbook for Goss

```task
id: T04
status: done
completed: "2026-03-09"
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "c072c45b-f18d-45be-b747-6d219c3f1439"
```

Create `ansible/roles/goss/` with tasks that:
1. Download the Goss binary (pinned version) to `/usr/local/bin/goss`
2. Copy `goss/baseline.yaml` to `/etc/goss/baseline.yaml`
3. Run `goss -g /etc/goss/baseline.yaml validate --format tap`
4. Fetch the TAP output back to the control node as `reports/goss-<host>-<date>.tap`
5. Fail the play if any test fails (`rc != 0`)

Create `ansible/playbooks/verify.yaml`:
```yaml
- hosts: all
  become: true
  roles:
    - role: goss
```

**Done when:** `ansible-playbook ansible/playbooks/verify.yaml` exits 0 on a
clean node, non-zero on a deliberately broken one (test with a manual config change).

---

### T05 — Add `make verify` target

```task
id: T05
status: done
completed: "2026-03-09"
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "a8100b8e-aed0-4bb4-a0dc-a6bdf3938b8d"
```

Add to Makefile:

```makefile
verify: ## Run Goss test suite against all hosts — exits non-zero on failure
	cd $(ANS_DIR) && ansible-playbook playbooks/verify.yaml -u $(SSH_USER)
```

Also update `make status` to print a summary line ("All assertions passed" /
"N assertions FAILED") rather than raw shell output.

**Done when:** `make verify` exits 0 on a good node, non-zero on a bad one.

---

### T06 — Write ADR: railiance-hosts vs railiance-bootstrap boundary

```task
id: T06
status: done
completed: "2026-03-09"
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "c3d98022-638d-4dcb-bdc7-a9501e1b6cd9"
```

Create `docs/adr/ADR-002-repo-boundary-hosts-vs-bootstrap.md` documenting:

- What `railiance-hosts` owns (OS baseline, security, spec, tests)
- What `railiance-bootstrap` owns (Kubernetes/app layer, consumes a converged node)
- Decision: any item present in `spec/server-baseline.yaml` must NOT be
  managed by `railiance-bootstrap`
- Migration note: superseded bootstrap.yml / harden.yml in that repo

**Done when:** ADR written and merged.

---

## References

- Goss documentation: https://github.com/goss-org/goss
- Server spec: `spec/server-baseline.yaml`
- Bootstrap workplan: `workplans/RAIL-HO-WP-0001-hosteurope-bootstrap.md`