[Draft]: Add Next-Gen E2E Test Framework with Observability and Visualization

.gitignore

@@ -99,4 +99,5 @@ bundle_*/
 test/secret/*.log
 kubeconfig
 .devcontainer/devcontainer.json
-kuttl-artifacts/*
+kuttl-artifacts/*
+e2e/artifacts/*

e2e/QUICK_START.md

@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+# E2E Framework - Quick Start Guide
+
+Get started with E2E testing in 5 minutes.
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+- Kubernetes cluster with Splunk Operator installed
+- kubectl configured
+- Go 1.22+ (for building the runner)
+
+## Quick Start
+
+### 1. Build the E2E Runner
+
+```bash
+go build -o bin/e2e-runner ./e2e/cmd/e2e-runner
+```
+
+### 2. Run a Smoke Test
+
+```bash
+./bin/e2e-runner \
+  -cluster-provider eks \
+  -operator-namespace splunk-operator \
+  e2e/specs/operator/smoke_fast.yaml
+```
+
+### 3. View Results
+
+```bash
+# Check results
+cat artifacts/results.json | jq '.tests[] | {name: .name, status: .status}'
+
+# View summary
+cat artifacts/summary.json
+
+# View auto-generated PlantUML diagrams
+ls artifacts/*.plantuml
+# Output:
+# - topology.plantuml         (topology architecture)
+# - run-summary.plantuml      (test statistics)
+# - failure-analysis.plantuml (failure patterns)
+# - test-sequence-*.plantuml  (per-test sequences)
+```
+
+### 4. Visualize Test Execution (Optional)
+
+Generate PNG images from PlantUML diagrams:
+
+```bash
+# Install PlantUML
+brew install plantuml  # macOS
+# or
+apt-get install plantuml  # Ubuntu
+
+# Generate images
+cd artifacts/
+plantuml *.plantuml
+
+# View diagrams
+open topology.png
+open run-summary.png
+```
+
+**Or use VS Code**:
+```bash
+code --install-extension jebbs.plantuml
+code artifacts/topology.plantuml  # Press Alt+D to preview
+```
+
+## With Observability (Optional)
+
+Enable real-time metrics and graph export:
+
+```bash
+# Set observability endpoints
+export E2E_OTEL_ENABLED=true
+export E2E_OTEL_ENDPOINT="otel-collector.example.com:4317"
+export E2E_NEO4J_ENABLED=true
+export E2E_NEO4J_URI="bolt://neo4j.example.com:7687"
+export E2E_NEO4J_USER="neo4j"
+export E2E_NEO4J_PASSWORD="your-password"
+
+# Run tests
+./bin/e2e-runner e2e/specs/operator/smoke_fast.yaml
+```
+
+View graph data at: `http://neo4j.example.com:7474`
+
+## Common Use Cases
+
+### Run Specific Tests by Tag
+
+```bash
+./bin/e2e-runner \
+  -include-tags smoke \
+  e2e/specs/operator/*.yaml
+```
+
+### Run Tests in Parallel
+
+```bash
+./bin/e2e-runner \
+  -parallelism 3 \
+  e2e/specs/operator/smoke_fast.yaml
+```
+
+### Keep Resources for Debugging
+
+```bash
+./bin/e2e-runner \
+  -skip-teardown \
+  e2e/specs/operator/my_test.yaml
+
+# Then inspect
+export NS=$(cat artifacts/results.json | jq -r '.tests[0].metadata.namespace')
+kubectl get all -n $NS
+```
+
+## Next Steps
+
+- Read the full [README.md](./README.md) for detailed documentation
+- Explore test specs in `e2e/specs/operator/`
+