Introduction
In today’s enterprise landscape, IBM Cloud runs applications that often span multiple regions, tenants, and even different cloud providers. These multi-cloud, multi-tenant architectures let organisations serve diverse customers with isolated data, custom configurations, and global availability.
But with flexibility comes complexity. Each tenant might operate in a different environment, follow unique compliance rules, or run in various IBM Cloud regions like us-south or eu-de. Testing in this world isn’t just about checking if a button works - it’s about ensuring consistent performance, security, and functionality across a vast, distributed system.
Why enterprise-scale testing is different ?
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Multi-region: Different regions mean different configs, laws, and network conditions.
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Multi-tenant: Each tenant has unique settings and strict data isolation needs.
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Microservices: Many backend services must work together without version or service failures breaking the flow.
The Goal - Ensure consistent, secure, and reliable behavior for every tenant, in every region, across all services.
This is where Playwright excels. It delivers speed, consistency, and automation at enterprise scale - without adding extra testing headaches.
How Playwright speeds up multi-cloud/multi-tenant testing:
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Run the same tests in parallel across multiple regions like us-south, eu-de, or jp-tok.
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Switch tenant configs and credentials at runtime - no duplicate scripts needed.
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Set up tenant-specific test data automatically via APIs before UI checks.
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Cover multiple browsers and devices in a single run.
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Capture videos, screenshots, and detailed logs for quick troubleshooting.
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Simulate real-world network issues like latency or throttling to test resilience.
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Seamlessly integrate into IBM’s CI/CD pipelines (Tekton, Jenkins) for scalable, fast execution.
Here’s a focused comparison on why Playwright stands out for multi-tenancy and multi-cloud testing compared to other common frameworks like Selenium, Cypress, or Puppeteer :
1. Multi-Browser & Multi-Context Support Out-of-the-Box
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Playwright natively supports Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit in a single tool, without extra plugins.
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You can test multiple tenant sessions in parallel within the same test run, each in its own browser context, no separate browser launches required.
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Why Others Lag: Selenium often requires extra setup for parallel contexts; Cypress is single-browser per run.
2. Built-in Parallel Execution Across Environments
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Playwright’s projects feature lets you define region-specific configs and run them all at once.
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Perfect for testing the same IBM Cloud app in us-south, eu-de, and jp-tok without duplicating test code.
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Why Others Lag: Selenium and Puppeteer can parallelise but need extra tools or scripts; Cypress parallelisation is tied to their cloud service.
3. API + UI Testing in One Framework
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Playwright can run API calls alongside UI actions in the same script.
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Enables state orchestration - you can set up tenant-specific data in the backend before hitting the UI.
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Why Others Lag: Cypress supports API calls but not across multiple browser contexts; Selenium doesn’t natively handle APIs.
4. Self-Contained Test Environments
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Playwright ships with its own browser binaries, ensuring tests run identically across regions.
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No dependency on system-installed browsers - important for IBM Cloud pipelines that run across multiple zones.
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Why Others Lag: Selenium depends on system/browser drivers; Puppeteer is mostly Chromium-only
5. Advanced Network & Device Emulation
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Playwright can intercept requests, simulate latency, block resources, or emulate mobile devices natively.
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Test real-world multi-cloud scenarios like high-latency cross-region access or mobile tenants on slow networks.
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Why Others Lag: Selenium requires third-party libs for network mocking, Cypress network control is limited.
Demonstration of Distributed Playwright Testing on IBM Cloud/OpenShift:
TypeScript example using Playwright to hit multiple regions concurrently:
import { chromium } from 'playwright';
async function hitRegions(urls: string[]) {
const browser = await chromium.launch();
const context = await browser.newContext();
// Create an array of promises, each fetching a different URL
const requests = urls.map(async (url) => {
const page = await context.newPage();
await page.goto(url);
const content = await page.content();
console.log(`Fetched content from ${url}, length: ${content.length}`);
await page.close();
});
// Wait for all requests to finish concurrently
await Promise.all(requests);
await browser.close();
}
// Example URLs for different regions
const regions = [
'https://example.com/us',
'https://example.com/eu',
'https://example.com/asia',
];
hitRegions(regions)
.then(() => console.log('All regions fetched successfully'))
.catch((err) => console.error('Error fetching regions:', err));
Key Takeaways
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Multi-region, multi-tenant applications create exponentially more complex testing challenges that traditional tools can't handle efficiently.
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Playwright's architecture naturally fits these needs with parallel execution across regions and native multi-context support for testing tenant isolation.
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Tool choice becomes critical at enterprise scale - While Selenium requires workarounds and Cypress hits architectural limits, Playwright provides seamless API + UI testing with built-in network emulation for real-world scenarios.
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Your testing strategy must match your architecture - distributed IBM Cloud applications demand distributed testing approaches.
Playwright isn't just another framework - it's purpose-built for the multi-cloud, multi-tenant reality that enterprise teams face every day.