Performance Testing in Cloud – Promises, Benefits & Challenges

When it comes to performance testing, Cloud is an undeniable competitive advantage. And like any formidable advantage, performance testing on the cloud comes with its own set of challenges. This blog is a write up of the scenarios that emerge as the cloud is leveraged to simulate enormous loads under shorter timelines and in varying business environments.

Some of the most winning benefits of cloud based performance testing include the speed, scale and flexibility of testing without long term investments on on-premise performance test labs, devices, virtual machines and geographically distributed counters. The sheer cost benefit and operational efficiency with an on-demand testing service makes it one of the most business friendly performance testing models.

The challenges are equally formidable. Firewalls, Secure gateways, DNS mappings need to be made conducive for testing while retaining their restrictions for the actual production environment and accompanied processes.

The competition in offering better services has brought out a wide array of Cloud based performance test tools which have a combination of multiple features, great UI and varying degrees of customization.

Configuration setting can be another area which needs a comprehensive understanding of the business environment, the testing requirement and test process. Then the test strategy’s alignment with the business goals will lead to the inclusion of the tool(s), the setting up of counters with respect to the load that has to be simulated to meet the projections.

Virtualization of services on the data center, integration of distributed data grids, consolidation of objects are required to have a resemblance to the production environment while being isolated to avoid disruptions.

Reports generated from cloud based performance testing need to be reorganized into business specific formats that enable better visibility and decision making while documenting the outcomes of the overall assessments ranging from bottleneck analysis, assessment of throughput and response times.

The knowledge of the conclusion of cloud based testing helps clients understand the kind of contingencies that might arise during and after test execution. To mitigate risk and make compliant agreements, it makes sense to understand a conventional service delivery of cloud testing model.

Typically, once the strategy is in place, counters are identified with the estimated loads and variances, the devices are simulated, the tools are deployed and tests (consolidated from cases into scenarios) are ready to be executed by leveraging a cloud server. Once test execution is complete, the results and analytics are delivered through pre-determined and in some cases customized dash boards to the client.

Enterprises and testers have found it more appealing to design a strategy which begins with the test outcomes and steps back to the requirements. This method not only identifies inherent ambiguities but also streamlines all the actions into a smooth process.

To get your queries on Cloud Based Performance Testing answered, Register for Cigniti Webinar on Performance Testing. The webinar will help you understand when & why to invest in cloud based performance testing, How to setup performance test labs in cloud and most importantly how to confront typical challenges faced in the process.