Load testing is kind of software testing which is basically the procedure to put demand on a system and measure its response. It is performed to calculate behavior of the system under both general &
anticipated peak load conditions. It has an ability to make out an application's maximum operating capacity and bottlenecks as well and determine which part of element can cause any degradation. The load
testing has various forms such as reliability testing, volume testing, stress testing and so on.
Now as we have understood the concept of load testing so it is the time to go through all the simple steps that are involved in performing the load testing process...
Step 1 – Formulate the Load Testing Objectives
The main motive of this step while carrying load testing is to identify & write the performance based objectives of software. How should an application act under load is the key question that need to be addressed making the process of testing running smoothly.
Following are the parameters that is required to consider:
- Timing of Response: How much time an application takes to perform a certain calculation or display a certain output.
- Maximum User Load: There has to be determination of how many users could be able to run on testing hardware configuration.
- Utilization of Resources: It is also
considered during the process of load testing is that how much
resources a software use in terms of network I/O, disk I/O, memory
and CPU as well.
Step 2 – Detect the Main Scenarios
Scenarios are termed as foreshadowed user paths that generally
incorporate multiple software activities. These can be identified
from having a significant performance impact and specific performance
objectives. Even these represent business activity of users over
time.
Step 3 – Distinguish the Workload
The third step of performing the load testing involves two take
namely:
- Establish the Ratio or Distribution of Work: There has to be identification of distributed work for each key scenario. It should be based on the number of users executing the scenario.
- Make a Calculation of User's Load Per Scenario: Based on the earlier recorded data, the calculation of the maximum possible concurrent users for the software is important part in identifying the workload.
Step 4 – Establish Different Forms of Metrics
As far as metrics are concerned, these are recognized as
derivative of the performance goals. These are basically used to
measure software's real time performance in accordance with the
performance targets. In addition to the identification of the
metrics, these play an important role in detecting the problems as
well as bottlenecks within the software. Below are the different
forms of metrics:
- System-based Metrics: This form of metrics
help in identification the utilization of resource on server. It
includes network I/O, disk I/O, memory and CPU metrics.
- Service-level Metrics: Now this metrics set
help to get the overall measurement of an application.
- Network-specific Metrics: When it comes to
network-specific metrics, it provides the overall details on health
& efficiency as well of network including gateways, switches and
routers.
- Application-specific Metrics: This set of
metrics is consisted of custom performance counters embedded in
software code that monitors the software's health.
- Platform-specific Metrics: These metrics are associated to a program that is used to host a software like ASP.NET related metrics and so on.
Step 5 – Choose the Load Test Tool
Before note down the tests, there is a requirement of selecting
the right load testing tool. In order to do this, doing research work
can help in this regard. Load testing tools need specific knowledge
and each tool is surrounded with its own advantages and
disadvantages. Even the functions and features vary as per the
purposes. Hence, it is needed to select the one that can meet the
requirements of load testing process.
Step 6 – Develop Test Cases
Test cases are technically described as a group of activities that
are involved in a user or scenario profile. These are basically
developed based on the scenarios as well as the profile mix. The main
point required to keep in mind while performing the load testing is
that each test case is required to have expected results in such a
way that each test can be marked as pass or fail after doing the
procedure of execution.
Step 7 – Have a Sense of Understanding the Load
Environment & Be Prepared for It
As the set up loading environment can make architecture
duplication of production environment as closely as possible. It is
important to replicate load on environment that should be similar to
production as the smallest configuration or hardware could be able to
bring the big impact on results.
Step 8 – Run the Procedure Step by Step
Initially, these has to be load be in testing with smaller number
of users distributed against the user profile and thereafter load can
be increased. So it becomes important to have enough time between
each step of loading. As a result, system will get enough time to
bring it on the track before the test case can be executed by the
next set of user connections. It is suggested that load run is tested
in cycles. And each one should accomplish a certain increment of
load. There should also have an analysis along with fixing time in
between them. It becomes important to have a check on metrics for
each cycle & document them so that evidence of loads was achieved
already can be shown.
Step 9 – Run the Final Load Testing Process
Successfully implementing the above step of load testing process
will consider the system is stable. Now it is the step of having
final load testing process. Before starting the procedure, it should
be assured that monitor of both computer taking load and computer
running the load test will take place in it.
Step 10 – Now Finally Examine & Evaluate the Results
After completing the process of load testing, it is required to analyze the results obtained. The objectives that were formulated in
the first step have to be evaluated in this particular step. It is
the time to compare the actual run results with the planned testing
process activities. With this, there are possibilities of sharing
load as well as performance test results along with evaluations.
At the end, it can be concluded that load testing is a long
process but the proper knowledge of how to conduct it and
understanding of the specifications will make the working simple and
hassle-free. This kind of testing can be performed on various things
apart from different applications. So, take a glimpse of all these
above-mentioned steps that are involved in load testing and keep all
things to run in a smooth and convenient way!
