Verification tool enables maximum regression speed

They can also use Jenkins to interpret and analyse results, generate a complete suite of charts and graphs, and automatically generate status and trend reports for management. By integrating Questa tools with the Jenkins Ecosystem, Mentor Graphics doubles verification management productivity, which according to the Wilson Research Group is one of the top four time-consuming tasks faced by both ASIC and FPGA verification teams around the world.

Jenkins is the leading open-source automation server that enables engineers around the world to reliably build, test, and deploy their software projects. Over the past several years, many project teams have begun to adopt Jenkins to support their verification projects as well. However, with existing solutions verification engineers can run only their verification engines from within Jenkins. They receive very little meaningful information about their verification results through Jenkins, requiring them to manually interpret and analyse results. Jenkins is a continuous integration management environment, but does not directly support the management, execution, and analysis of verification toolsets. The Mentor Graphics Questa Verification Run Manager (VRM) plugin gives Jenkins the ability to utilise regression run results through the Questa VRM system, in addition to managing and running their regressions through Jenkins.

"We cordially welcome Mentor Graphics into the Jenkins ecosystem and community,” said Oleg Nenashev, Engineer at CloudBees and Jenkins Core Team Member. “The Questa VRM plugin is one of the very first open-source plugins tightly integrating an EDA tool into Jenkins. Such plugins will greatly help with setting up efficient, continuous integration and delivery in hardware and embedded projects. As one of the top EDA vendors, Mentor Graphics shows a great example to all users and competitors. We are looking forward to more integrations with the Mentor Graphics tool chain and increased use of Jenkins in the area."

The Questa VRM plugin pulls in important information about regression runs and displays it in the Jenkins cockpit, enabling users to easily observe, analyse and report the latest regression results, as well as regression trends over time. Questa VRM also enables users to launch any tool within the Mentor Graphics Enterprise Verification Platform including its portable stimulus generator, performance analysis, and debugging environments.

“Integrating the Mentor Graphics Questa Solution into the Jenkins CI/SCM ecosystem lets users take advantage of the benefits of both systems in a single environment”, said Mark Olen, Mentor Graphics Product Marketing Manager, Design Verification Technology Division. “The two complementary environments create a more productive and efficient verification flow, enabling customers to achieve maximum utilisation of their formal and simulation systems.”