Performance Testing: The Main Features of The Procedure

Performance testing is one of the most important stages of software quality control. It allows you to evaluate the system's performance under various load conditions. Performance testing software helps to identify vulnerabilities, evaluate stability, and determine the limits of application scalability. In this article, you will learn about the main components of performance testing and the problems it solves.

What Is Performance Testing?

Software performance tests are tests that allow you to determine the level of important indicators for working with software. Among them, special attention should be paid to the download speed, response time, scalability, load on hardware resources, and ensuring stable operation.

The key goal of this type of testing is to identify weaknesses in hardware and software, as well as to determine methods for their further elimination in order to increase the overall efficiency of the web system.

The Most Common Types of Performance Testing

Currently, specialists practice many different methods that determine the overall level of efficiency of a hardware and software complex. Let's take a closer look at the most frequently used variations.

Load Testing

A load test determines how a web system will work with a sharp increase in the simultaneous number of requests from different users over a certain period of time. In addition, testing can also be carried out on an overestimation of the number of transactions carried out, a change in the nature of the software operation, and many other parameters.

At the same time, specialists monitor response time, throughput, the number of resources involved in the work, and many other features that affect the comfort of working with a device or web service. Identifying weak points based on the results of testing allows specialists to eliminate them before the release, which has a positive effect on interaction with end users, and also makes it possible to increase positive perception among customers.

With the right approach to the test system, developers can determine with high accuracy how many simultaneously working users the product can target without the risk of losing efficiency.

Endurance Testing

Testing the endurance of the hardware and software complex makes it possible to evaluate performance indicators over a long distance when applying a fixed workload to the web system. In simpler terms, the main task that this technique solves is to obtain information about how long the web system can function when a constant workload is applied to it.

During the testing cycle, a group of specialists monitors an extensive pool of indicators necessary for correct operation.

Among them are:

• memory leaks;
• lack of RAM resources;
• traffic load

In addition, the response time to the command and the throughput after prolonged heavy use are analyzed. This is necessary in order to understand how they will behave in the long term of the hardware and software web system operation.

Stress Testing

Stress testing of the application performance allows you to identify how the software under study will work if it is used outside the parameters of correct operation declared by the manufacturer. To do this, it is necessary to subject the software to a higher load from the outside so that the developers can understand how effectively the service will cope with peak loads after launch.

In the process of this study, the stability of the software and hardware in use is primarily determined. Such extreme tests make it possible to understand at what point a failure may occur in operation, and how to prevent or eliminate it.

Volume Testing

At the stage of the initial development of a web application, a relatively small data flow is used to conduct data tests. However, such approaches are far from what will happen with a web service after its launch. It is for this reason that so-called flood testing has also become widespread, allowing you to conduct large flows of information through the server to check for data loss, the speed of receiving a response, the reliability of storing information on the server side and many other aspects necessary for the correct launch into open access.

Benefits of Performance Testing

We have considered a large number of performance testing methods and programs, but why is it important to carry out these procedures? Let's consider the main benefits of performance testing:

1. Measuring the speed, stability, and accuracy of software.

Speed, stability, and accuracy can safely be called the most significant indicators of effective optimization of software and hardware. Testing will reveal the features of the application's behavior at different levels and periods of load, which makes it possible to most correctly build interaction with the end user.

2. Testing the main functions of the software.

The success of a product launch on the market directly depends on how correctly its code performs all the options embedded in it. Testing the performance of a website using the main functionality prescribed by the developers makes it possible to make informed decisions regarding planning the product development strategy and its further modernization.

This approach makes it possible to obtain the most advantageous positions in the market and attract a larger audience by ensuring greater stability throughout the entire service life.

3. Improving the quality of code and functionality of software.

Detecting problems also reveals shortcomings in the software code, which can only manifest themselves when the site or application gains a high level of popularity. Their timely disclosure makes it possible to avoid negative consequences after the launch and, as a result, eliminate the outflow of customers due to insufficient adaptation of the service or its incorrect operation under certain conditions.

4. Identifying and solving problems.

Software Testing reveals the main gaps in the reliability of a software product even before its release. This makes it possible to quickly eliminate them and publish a finished project, which, due to the debugged functionality, ensures a higher positive reaction from users.