A generic framework for testing service interfaces where attributes for service access are abstracted from test execution attributes. An eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Service Attribute (SA) file may be used to define a server tag and one or more services tags. The server tag specifies protocol, address, and other access information for a host machine that provides the service. A service type and configuration parameter defaults may also be included with the server tag. Each service tag defines a name of a corresponding service, and a request-response configuration for the corresponding service. With this information in hand, a test executor can then issue a request message to the corresponding service indicated in the service tag, using the protocol and address information and request configuration, and match the response received against the response configuration. A separate Test Execution (TE) file may specify attributes of the test including hardware parameters, sequential/parallel execution, or the like.