Performance Engineering: Test Design and Preparation

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Performance Engineering: Test Design and Preparation

Posted On : Sep-07-2011 | seen (194) times | Article Word Count : 476 |

In continuation to my last Article post where we discussed why developing the test plan for software performance testing is one of the crucial aspects.

In continuation to my last Article post where we discussed why developing the test plan for software performance testing is one of the crucial aspects. We discussed the most critical, component in your performance test plan and design which is defining your test data. How vital is indentifying scenarios, then determining the relative distribution of these scenarios in our system and finally how to simulate that variability. We discussed the most critical, component in your performance test plan and design which is defining your test data.

Now let’s talk about Test design & preparation aspects. If we have performed the necessary steps in the prior phases, that is, gathered and reviewed the project documents, met with the business and technical teams to establish and understand goals and requirements, for both the business and environment, and defined our performance test scenarios, the implementation of our test design and verification of our test environment configurations should be relatively easy.

In Software Performance Testing, test design involves the creation of our business process/transaction test scripts and scenarios, as defined by our previously gathered requirements. The creation of these scripts and scenarios are typically handled by one of a number of excellent automated performance testing tools currently on the market. On the high end, tools such as HP’s Loadrunner provide a best-of-breed solution, with sophisticated and feature-rich recording, testing, analysis, reporting and graphing tools. On the other end of the spectrum, free, open source tools such as JMeter provide a lot of functionality for the price.

Such automation is essential today to produce consistent and repeatable performance testing services in a timely fashion. However, automation doesn’t do everything for you. It is the responsibility of the Performance Engineer to edit and enhance these scripts and scenarios to ensure unique or dynamic data (such as server ids or time stamps) are properly correlated, that the data feeds are realistic and varied to properly simulate production. It is also the responsibility of the PE to validate that transactions are implemented correctly, for example, the proper web pages are returned, database data is updated appropriately, etc.

As for the test environment, the PE checks with the technical team that all hardware components and configurations are properly set, and the database load and state are as expected. The PE also makes sure all resource utilization monitors used to gather metrics during the load test are properly setup and working.

Finally, as the ‘conductor’ of the performance test, the PE identifies all assigned support responsibilities (e.g. system administration, database, infrastructure support, network support, users), determines the role of each during testing and coordinates the testing schedule.

Performance Testing Services has lot more to discuss and share, in my next article post I will come up with Post-test Analysis and Reporting. Stay tuned for the next post.

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<h1>Performance Engineering: Test Design and Preparation </h1> Author: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/profile_Knowledge Sharing Team .aspx'>Knowledge Sharing Team </a> In continuation to my last Article post where we discussed why developing the test plan for software performance testing is one of the crucial aspects. We discussed the most critical, component in your performance test plan and design which is defining your test data. How vital is indentifying scenarios, then determining the relative distribution of these scenarios in our system and finally how to simulate that variability. We discussed the most critical, component in your performance test plan and design which is defining your test data.

Now let’s talk about Test design & preparation aspects. If we have performed the necessary steps in the prior phases, that is, gathered and reviewed the project documents, met with the business and technical teams to establish and understand goals and requirements, for both the business and environment, and defined our performance test scenarios, the implementation of our test design and verification of our test environment configurations should be relatively easy.

In Software Performance Testing, test design involves the creation of our business process/transaction test scripts and scenarios, as defined by our previously gathered requirements. The creation of these scripts and scenarios are typically handled by one of a number of excellent automated performance testing tools currently on the market. On the high end, tools such as HP’s Loadrunner provide a best-of-breed solution, with sophisticated and feature-rich recording, testing, analysis, reporting and graphing tools. On the other end of the spectrum, free, open source tools such as JMeter provide a lot of functionality for the price.

Such automation is essential today to produce consistent and repeatable performance testing services in a timely fashion. However, automation doesn’t do everything for you. It is the responsibility of the Performance Engineer to edit and enhance these scripts and scenarios to ensure unique or dynamic data (such as server ids or time stamps) are properly correlated, that the data feeds are realistic and varied to properly simulate production. It is also the responsibility of the PE to validate that transactions are implemented correctly, for example, the proper web pages are returned, database data is updated appropriately, etc.

As for the test environment, the PE checks with the technical team that all hardware components and configurations are properly set, and the database load and state are as expected. The PE also makes sure all resource utilization monitors used to gather metrics during the load test are properly setup and working.

Finally, as the ‘conductor’ of the performance test, the PE identifies all assigned support responsibilities (e.g. system administration, database, infrastructure support, network support, users), determines the role of each during testing and coordinates the testing schedule.

Performance Testing Services has lot more to discuss and share, in my next article post I will come up with Post-test Analysis and Reporting. Stay tuned for the next post.
About the Author: Knowledge Sharing Team at QA InfoTech is responsible for research on new tools & technologies for effective Software QA Testing services across all industry verticals. QA InfoTech (an ISO 9001:2008 & CMMI III certified) is one of the leading Software Testing Companies with five testing “Centers of Excellence” in the United States and India. It offers end to end Software Performance Testing Services. Article Source: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Performance-Engineering-Test-Design-and-Preparation_80437.aspx'> http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Performance Engineering: Test Design and Preparation _80437.aspx</a>

Article Source : http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Performance Engineering: Test Design and Preparation _80437.aspx

Author Resource :
Knowledge Sharing Team at QA InfoTech is responsible for research on new tools & technologies for effective Software QA Testing services across all industry verticals. QA InfoTech (an ISO 9001:2008 & CMMI III certified) is one of the leading Software Testing Companies with five testing “Centers of Excellence” in the United States and India. It offers end to end Software Performance Testing Services.

Keywords : Performance Testing Services,

Category : Computers : Software

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