Top 6 Rules to Perform Load Testing

Top 6 Rules to Perform Load Testing

Performance Testing is one of the crucial Software Testing types that help us determine the maximum operating capacity of a Software Application when it is put under different environments and peak loads. It involves testing the overall performance of a Software App before it is released in the market.

Load Testing refers to Testing a Software Application by running it under various loads and analyzing its behavior. It helps us find out how the Application will behave when it is accessed by multiple users simultaneously.

It is a type of non-functional testing which is carried out to determine the sustainability of an Application to peak user load. This gives Testers and developers an idea as to how many concurrent users an Application can support at a time.

Methods of Load Testing Implementation

Load Testing can be carried out by using one of the following two methods

Implementation of Online Services

This technique is used to generate statistical load on certain pages of an application. Though this method is easier to implement, it can create challenging situations because online services bring forth requests that are unpredictable in intensity.

There is also an element of the financial risk involved here as the uniqueness of real user behavior is missing which can sometimes lead to inconsistent and unreliable results. Yes, this method helps testers save time significantly, but whether they want to carry the risks attached to it is their call.

Simulation of Real User Actions

This method involves reproducing user actions accurately to obtain precise results. Virtual users assist Testers to reach the actual performance load of the system. The virtual user here is a script that sends requests to the Application wherein it mirrors the actions of an actual user.

This method is known as the user behavior method or behavioral model. It identifies bottlenecks in the system operations and eliminates them in time. Because this method is productive and helps obtain accurate results, top Software Testing Companies have vouched for it.

Rules to Perform Load Testing in Behavioral Model

Six rules need to be followed to perform load testing using the user behavior method. They are:

User Behavior Scripts Design

The Test scripts for load testing need to be designed based on user behavior. To do this, QA engineers make a note of the following factors that need to be considered while designing these Test Cases:

• An average number of users that will work on the application.
• The number of users working on the application at the time of peak load.
• What action do these users perform and how often do they perform it.
• Distribution of roles in the system among users.

Testers can dive into Google Analytics or web analytics to get a fair idea about the statistics and start designing Test Cases. The number of Test scripts developed usually range from 3 to 10 as part of a rule. Complex applications might require more scripts.

Load Profile Design

A load profile is also created during Test case Development. It shows how the transactions performed in the system are distributed among the users by giving them different roles. It is created with the help of traffic statistics of real users.

Some of these statistics obtained from web analytics have suggested that a user does not visit all the pages in an Application. The prepared load profile does not allow the virtual user to apply more load than that the real user is projected to apply.

Design and Debug Load Scripts

When a QA performance engineer develops scripts for load testing, he/she must compare the network traffic generated by the load scripts is similar to the network traffic generated from the browser of a real user. Testers can use the Fiddler tool to do this.

Following this, QA engineers must ensure that the structure and size of requests in both cases are the same. Server responses must be checked for proper performance. In case there is an error, the system responds with an error notification.

Towards the end of the debugging process, a series of preliminary tests with a low load is performed. These Tests are conducted to ensure the test scripts designed are working accurately after the debugging of errors.

Generate Realistic Test Data

There are various methods for generating realistic test data as there is no universal approach for it. The most appropriate method for this is chosen after a system analysis and consultation with the development team.

In some cases, the QA engineers and the Development Team collaborate to implement the data generation process. Both the QA and Development can perform this process on their own as well.

Test data is classified into three main types:

• User accounts with diverse roles.
• Imported files of different types and sizes.
• Valid data for filling in forms.

Choose a Load Scheme:

As the objective of Performance Testing is to ensure the optimal working of an Application, choosing the load at which you are putting the desired Application under is important. Here are the various load schemes that Testers get to choose from:

• Scheme 1: A continuous or linear increase in the number of virtual users.
• Scheme 2: Consists of time spans when the number of users does not change.
• Scheme 3: After a continuous increase, the number of users remains the same for a long while.
• Scheme 4: The number of users remains constant for a while before the load suddenly increases.
• Scheme 5: A constantly shifting graph in the number of users. It is a combination of schemes 1 to 4 to be precise.

The conundrum of which load scheme to choose is conditioned on the uniqueness of a system and its performance requirement.

Load Testing from Multiple Locations

If your Software Application is meant to be available on the global web, users from various geographical locations will have access to it. To create a realistic load and Test the Application, the geographical factor must be considered.

To accomplish this, distributed load Tests must be performed remotely by placing virtual users in different geographical locations. Virtual machines from cloud service platforms like AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, etc. are used as load generators for this.

Conclusion

Following the guidelines with precision enables you to implement the Performance Testing of your Application correctly. These are considered as the basic rules of applying the load to a system. The result we get here is considered very close to the actual state of the system performance.

You can now book a free consultancy with experienced Testers at Sapizon Technologies to learn more about how we can improve the quality of your software products and elevate the progress of your business.