Performance testing is also popularly known as “Perf testing” and comes under the performance engineering field.
It focuses on non-functional testing to ensure that software applications work under the expected load. The goal of Performance Testing is not to find bugs but to eliminate performance bottlenecks. It is done to perform the system’s testing in terms of responsiveness, stress, stability, speed. It provides us with in-depth suggestions so that we can improve our product before it goes to the market or before service providers’ handovers the application to the stakeholders.
Attributes of Application Performance Testing
• Speed –how quickly an application responds
• Scalability – how much load the application can handle
• Stability – determines applications working under loads along with variation in loads.
• Reliability – how much grounded or genuine the application is.
These attributes define how the app will work when it’s taken out of the bud and introduced to the world of the market. Applications with poor performance gain a bad reputation and fail to meet expected goals. Hence benchmarks should be set for applications so that it performs the critical tasks without any hassles.
Types of App Performance Testing:
• LOAD – It is the simplest form of testing to check the ability to perform under loads that were anticipated during the review process of building an application. The outcome of load testing is a measure of critical business transactions, and load is also monitored.
• STRESS – It is performed to find ceil of an application. It is done to check the condition where the system will break/crash by providing it extreme workloads like high traffic data or its processing. It defines the threshold of the application to work beyond limits. It is also called as fatigue testing.
• ENDURANCE – It is done to ensure how much expected load application can handle for a long time. The load is given continuously, and the system is keenly observed under such condition. It is also called as soak testing. It is beneficial to find out issues related to memory leaks and utilization.
• SPIKE – Observe the software’s reaction to load deliberately given or generated by the users. It can be achieved by increasing the number of users suddenly and substantially to a considerable amount.
• VOLUME – Its primary purpose is to check systems behavior when a large amount of data is entered in the database.
Common Problems With Speed As A Common Factor
• Long load time
• Poor response time
• Poor scalability
• Bottlenecking
[ Suggested Read: Case Study on Driving App Performance Testing ]
Application Performance Testing Process:
It can vary in applying the methodology for the companies according to their product or applications, but the sole objective remains the same. It’s also beneficial in comparing two software systems having similar goal and identification of parts which can degrade systems performance in the long run.
General steps to follow –
• Identify testing environment
• Performance acceptance criteria
• Plan and design tests
• Test modeling and implementation
• Test execution and analyzing the results
• Tune the system
• Report
• Maintenance
Tools For Performance Testing of Application :
• Load Ninja
• JMeter
• Load runner
• Multi-mechanize
Test Plan For Application Performance Testing:
1. Introduction – It indicates the brief introduction of Test Plan what user has to be done.
2. Objective – It tells about the overall information of what is being tested for the particular project/product.
3. Scope – Boundary of testing – It includes all the testing activities and scope as mentioned in business process
4. Approach – Test Approach is a subset of test strategy that defines how testing is carried out in an organization.
5. Architecture – It gives the details of Application architecture details like servers, firewalls, load generators
6. Dependencies – It tells about all those actions that need to be performed before the testing of application.
7. Environment – It is a setup of Software/hardware like its IP, server, DNS, 3rd party application to be used if any, tools used
8. Test scenarios – It is just like a Test Procedure which is derived from User cases.
9. Test metrics – It measures all the testing activities, team's test progress, productivity and quality of the app under test.
10. Test deliverables – It is a detailed explanation of the project which is prepared during the testing process.
11. Defect and risk management – It is defined as a process of detecting bugs/defects and fixing them.
12. Resources – It includes the details of Team members with their roles and responsibilities.
13. Version history – Track of events during the testing process.
14. Reviews and signing-off authority – Name, position, date and sign off authority to handover reports for further process
Conclusion:
Performance testing is essential for the marketing of the application or software product. It helps to improve customer satisfaction, and that is the primary goal of software testing.
