The effectiveness of an application’s stability, speed, scalability, and responsiveness under a certain workload is assessed through performance testing, a non-functional software testing technique. Although it’s a crucial step in assuring software quality, it’s frequently viewed as something that should be done after functional testing and, in most circumstances, after the code is prepared for release.
Several methods can be used to validate the performance of software in a configuration for closed performance testing. This includes:
- The simplest type of testing, called load testing, is done to understand how the system responds to a specific load.
- A software’s capacity to handle the increasing load is tested during stress tests. It aids in figuring out the system’s capacity at its highest level.
- Another sort of testing, called endurance testing, determines how well a system will function under conditions of constant demand.
- In spike testing, the system’s user count is suddenly increased, and the system’s performance is assessed afterward.
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Software Performance Testing Environment
There are several techniques to increase accuracy, and better test results can be guaranteed. This is simple to do if a better performance testing environment configuration is used. The options for how to do this are shown below.
1. Detailed knowledge of AUT Production and Test Environment
It is the responsibility of the performance testing engineer to be properly knowledgeable and aware of the AUT production environment, including load balancing, server machines, and any other system components. These information needs to be accurately documented before the performance testing procedure can begin.
2. Isolating the test environment
Make sure that no activity is taking place in the performance test environment whenever the system is being used. It can be challenging to simulate a new bottleneck in the system test environment each time there are other users present and using the system because, as you are aware, each test will produce a unique set of findings.
In addition to this, the performance of an application server is impacted by any severe demand. As a result, if a performance task is already being executed, other actual-time application users might not be able to finish their duties as intended.
3. Network Isolation
A substantial amount of network bandwidth is required for the performance test to produce good and accurate results. In order to start and control the test, it is necessary to make sure that a specific bandwidth is attained.User queries may encounter timeout issues if the network bandwidth is poor. Keeping the test network separate from other users will help to guarantee that the test environment has the greatest amount of network bandwidth available.
4. Test Data Generators
Records from the database are crucial while validating any test. As a result, database writing, updating, reading, and deleting are the programme tasks that depend the most on performance.
There is a good possibility that the performance test will fail in the production environment if it is run on fewer database records than the test records. Therefore, it is the duty of the performance test engineer to ensure that the test environment and database have an equal amount of test records. It is advised to use a tool to produce the necessary test data if the database is tiny in order to create a framework that is more precise.
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5. Removing proxy servers from the network path
Performance outcomes may be significantly impacted if there is a proxy server between the web server and the proxy server. The client will stop making queries to the web server in this situation since they will undoubtedly have all the information and data they need in the cache. The AUT response time is shortened as a result.
A performance tester could simply handle this by moving the web server to a quiet area. Another method is to access the web server directly and modify the HOSTS file while incorporating the server IP address.
Performance Testing Production Environment
Performing a performance test in a live environment might have a variety of outcomes. This method has a number of benefits and drawbacks. Let’s look at them now.
Advantages:
- It is feasible to verify the outcomes of performance tests carried out in a test environment.
- The application’s complexity and recovery procedure are well recognised.
- The production site data set does not need to be replicated.
- The infrastructure for running tests is less expensive and takes less time.
Disadvantages:
- Real software users in the system make it difficult to identify the root cause of the bottleneck.
- Even after the test has been completed, the production database may slow down while producing more data.
- The application is sluggish and has more bugs than the intended user base.
- Most likely, real users’ access is restricted in order to correctly accomplish the performance test findings.
Once the performance testing configuration is ready, you may compare it to the production environment in the early stages of testing based on a variety of variables, including the load balancing technique, application components, number of servers, hardware and software resources, etc.
Conclusion
The appropriate setup of a performance testing environment is crucial, and we hope that this article has given you some tips on how to achieve that. Keep in mind that it is crucial above all else that the necessary tests are carried out correctly. This guarantees that the software will be free of bugs when it is delivered.
How Stelo Technology can help
Stelo Technology is skilled at carrying out software performance testing in the production stage and setting it up appropriately and effectively. Stelo Technology completes any given test with utmost devotion and sharp intelligence thanks to the experienced individuals working the desk and on the management team.
It’s stelo technology!
About Stelo Technology
A global provider of products and services teams, Stelo Technology is an independent software testing firm. We are a group of software testers who are enthusiastic about quality and like testing. We gain a thorough grasp of the applications being tested and use software testing services methodologies that result in measurable outcomes.
In essence, we contribute to the creation of amazing software.