The concept of cloud computing is gaining a
lot of popularity due to its ease of access, security and disaster recovery
process amongst other things.
With cloud computing, companies can store,
manage or process all their files and data using internet servers instead of
local storage. Due to a lot of benefits offered by cloud computing, companies
have also started using this technology to test performance of software and
applications. Cloud testing includes testing of applications using cloud
based resources (hardware, infrastructure and software) for a cohesive,
end-to-end solution.
Why Use Cloud Testing
Previously, testing of applications was
done internally by the testing team of a company. But as more and more services
are moving to the cloud, the testing process is becoming a lot better. There
are numerous benefits of using cloud software testing compared
to regular testing methods.
- Lesser cost of testing: Due to the flexibility offered by the Cloud, the computing resources
can be easily scaled up or down whenever required to provide a cost-effective
website and application performance. Companies essentially have to pay for just
what they use. Unlike the regular in-house testing process, businesses do not
need to invest a lot of money to set up hardware and infrastructure for long
term testing. They can go to the cloud provider directly, who takes care of the
tools and licenses.
- Test under different circumstances: Cloud infrastructure is built to handle different testing scenarios
for optimum results. Companies can replicate virtual users in various locations
across the globe to test how the application responds when used far and wide.
Cloud services also support enterprise testing due to its scalability.
- Faster testing: Tests can be run virtually on-demand with scalable Cloud
infrastructure. Companies can easily schedule testing times and resources are
allocated accordingly. This eliminates long delays as is seen with hardware
allocation and deployment procedures of in-house testing.
Challenges in Cloud Testing
Cloud testing can be an effective way to
test applications and websites for businesses. But just like every other
testing process, it has its own set of challenges.
- One
of the major cloud testing challenges faced by companies is the level of
service provided by the vendor. Often after a company has moved a major part of
its operations to the Cloud, it cannot be accessed when required. The Cloud
service provider can thus cause delays in the testing process.
- With cloud testing it can be difficult to
isolate root causes for multiple problems encountered in load testing. Also,
when trying to precisely measure effects of minor changes made to application
code or its settings, cloud testing can make it difficult due to differences in
internet traffic and bandwidth availability.
- Sometimes during load testing, one particular
IP address can generate a lot of traffic. Apparently, security teams identify
the pattern to resemble a DoS attack and shut down the tests. In such cases,
the traffic might even be real and lack of a proper testing strategy or
schedule can cause undue delays.
Best Practices in Cloud Testing
1. Preparing for a two-stage process: The initial stage should be for internal testing, where minor
performance issues can be sorted out under medium load. Companies should
proceed to the second cloud testing stage only after preliminary internal
tests, by increasing the load gradually for large-scale application testing.
2. Using multiple cloud providers: Using different cloud providers enable companies to test in more
geographical locations and get more realistic results. Also, the testing can be
more scalable. Network issues can also be sorted at the provider level in this
case.
3. Keep your data secure: It is wise to encrypt data transferred between controllers and load
generators. This secures both the data sent and received. Also, securing the
load generators with their own firewalls prevents external threats.
In a world of Cloud Computing, it can be
extremely beneficial for large companies to move their application testing to
the cloud.
With
cloud testing best practices, a lot of bottlenecks can be avoided effeeffectively ma results
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