In the istio-operator repository, we have a bunch of integration tests that perform SMCP installs and the created k8s resources etc. They are currently run against a fixed SMCP version, even though 99% of the tests will apply to multiple versions, and should be run against multiple versions (ie all current 2.0 tests should also be run against 2.1 SMCPs).

Example: https://github.com/maistra/istio-operator/blob/maistra-2.1/pkg/controller/servicemesh/controlplane/gateways_test.go