WHY DOES WEB PERFORMANCE TESTING MATTER FOR THE WEB APP SUCCESS?
Previously we’ve covered the subject of Quality Assurance in general. Since we’re definitely not fans of this thing commonly known as” bliss” — today it’s time to get a bit deeper into the specifics. This time — we are going to spell out the importance and certain nuances of functionality testing and also explore certain challenges it helps to solve.
There’s not anything more significant in the program than its smooth, stable operational operation and capability to maintain big and bigger than large workloads. All these are the foundational parts of any website or program essential to its success. However, they are somewhat sensible and require a lot of care so as to continue.
What can it be? It is made up of a wide array of methods designed to track and determine the quality and capacities of certain facets of the system’s operation. This reveals how the system acts in a variety of situations.
Performance testing is often considered as one of the central parts of software testing routine as it directly addresses the software capabilities to do what it supposed to do.
Why do you need performance testing?
Even though it may seem like no big deal but PT is rather complex in its nature. The pieces of it are relatively easy — but the total procedure needs to be thought-through step by step so as to gain maximum effectiveness. The first and foremost thing the tester needs to do is to define a strategy for analyzing patterns. Otherwise — then the info will be a jumbled mess with no specific use.
Basic performance testing strategy includes:
Defining which tests are needed;
Composing test situations;
Selecting time involving of test cycles
Selecting the number of iterations the test will be conducted;
Assessing the results of various iterations with one another and with overall prerequisites;
It is a cesspool of processing flaws in the system concerning stability, speed, and scalability. I.E.:
When the site runs slowly with several users on board;
When the program presents inconsistent outcomes;
if the item pops on a different operating system;
When the system misbehaves significantly due to internal upgrades;
In other words, PT keeps functioning sweet and smooth while frequently trying out its different facets. It can help to compute the number of parallel users the site manage, shows how implemented changes affect the operation behavior. The endgame is fine-tuning of the whole system.
Without it — the thing will probably mess up itself at a certain stage and then fall apart and you’ll have once in a lifetime chance to understand how to pronounce” mistakes were made” in as solemn and somber manner as possible.
Basically, Performance testing functions as a riot team watchdogs of well-rounded performance based on stated anticipated goals and documented requirements.
One other important aspect of PT is gathering data on the machine’s action in a certain scenario with a workload of a varied extent. The results of performance evaluations function as a foundation for future feature-specific tests. This offers a clear comprehension of systems limitations and gives direction about what to refine and improve.
The Objective of performance testing
The main goal of PT is quite obvious — to specify how much workload the machine may take before breaking down or stalling in terms of user activity and expose weak points of this machine with detailed particulars about the source of the problem before the damage is done.
Aside from helping to find issues but in addition, it offers directions for potential solutions via outcomes and comparative tests. It makes clear when and why the problem happened and what causes it to take place.
All that allows viewing the heatmap of this application.
Performance testing routines are usually broken up into several forms:
Anxiety — studies the system’s behavior and assesses its own stability in scenarios when the hardware can’t keep the software. I.e. if CPU, memory, and disc space are missing;
Spike — geared toward analyzing specific segments of functionality upon raising load way beyond the projected scope for short periods of time;
Scalability — regarding an ability to adapt to changing workload. Specifically — analyzing user loading, a number of feasible actions, data volume.
Volume — utilized to track the efficacy of the operation by subjecting the app to large quantities of information.
Endurance — utilized to study the system’s behavior over long periods of time.
Every test is measured by certain metrics. The most common parameters are:
Response time (average & peak)
Amount of errors that happened over the course of the evaluation;
Throughput capability;
CPU / Memory load;
In conclusion
Every application is really a tight knot of different functions connected with one another. This means every part of this program needs to be durable enough to take the excessive and extreme workload and do not fail miserably in the process. But that isn’t the thing that occurs by itself.
The smooth and stable operation is accomplished by methodical and through and during the testing process. Test after test the process is polished to complete perfection.
It takes time and a lot of effort but it’s absolutely worth trying. It’s a sort of guarantee that any substantial issue is going to be solved until it becomes badly out of control.
That is what performance testing is about.
