A Detailed Introduction To Performance Testing

The Importance of Performance Testing in Software Development

In this blog post, we will discuss the concept of performance testing, objectives of doing performance testing, the types of testing techniques involved while doing performance testing, the challenges faced by test engineers while doing performance testing, and the advantages of doing performance testing for any software application.

Concept of Performance Testing

1. Performance testing, part of non-functional testing is the type of software testing process done or performed to measure the speed, response time, load, scalability, and stability of the software application.

2. Performance testing of any software application depends on following major parameters or factors: –

Speed – It determines whether the software application is responding quickly or not.

Response Time – It means the time taken by the server to respond to the client’s request.

Load – It means when N-number of users are using the software application simultaneously or sending the request to the server at a time.

Scalability – It determines the maximum user load that any software application can handle.

Stability – It determines whether the software application is stable or not under varying loads.

3. Performance testing is a subset of performance engineering, which is why it is also known as “Perf testing.”

Process of Performance Testing

Following is the process which every test engineer should follow while doing performance testing for any software application: –

Plan and design performance test scripts
Configuration of test environment
Identify the test environment for performance testing scenarios
Implementation of performance tests according to test designs
Execution of performance test scripts
Analysing the results obtained after doing performance tests
Identify the bottlenecks in the application
Re-run the performance test scripts again

Objectives of Performance Testing

The following are some of the objectives generally in focus while doing performance testing of any software application: –

The primary goal or we can say objective of doing performance testing for any software application is to provide information to stakeholders about speed, response time, load, scalability and stability.

Another major objective of doing performance testing is to identify and eliminate the performance bottlenecks in the software application not to find bugs.

Another major objective of doing performance testing is to prevent the software application from issues such as running slow while several users use it simultaneously, inconsistencies across different operating systems, and poor usability.

Types of Performance Testing

There are six types of testing techniques involved in doing performance testing for any software application: –

1. Load Testing –

Load Testing is a type of performance testing technique tests the software application’s ability to perform under anticipated loads. The main objective of doing this type of performance testing is to identify and eliminate bottlenecks in the software application before it goes live.

2. Stress Testing –

Stress Testing is a type of performance testing technique tests the software application under extreme workloads with the purpose to know how it handles high traffic or data processing & to identify the breaking point of the software application. This type of performance testing technique has also two subcategories – Endurance or Soak and Spike Testing.

3. Endurance or Soak Testing –

Endurance Testing is a type of performance testing technique tests the software application to make sure whether it can handle the expected load over a long period of time or not. This type of performance testing technique is also known as Soak Testing. Soak Tests simulates a steady increase of end users over time to test application’s long-term sustainability.

4. Spike Testing –

This type of performance testing technique tests the software application’s reaction to sudden large spikes in the load generated by the users of software application. Spike Testing helps in determining if a software application can handle an abrupt and drastic workload increased over a short period of time, repeatedly. 

5. Volume or Capacity Testing –

This type of performance testing technique tests the volume for large number of data stored in the database, and the overall software system’s behaviour is monitored. The main objective of doing this type of performance testing is to test software application’s performance under varying database volumes.

6. Scalability Testing –

Scalability Testing type of performance testing technique tests the software application’s effectiveness in scaling up or down performance measure attributes. For example, testers could perform a scalability test based on the number of user requests for any software application.

Challenges of Performance Testing

Following is some of the challenges faced by test engineers while doing the performance testing for any software application: –

Challenge of Bottleneck – It is one of the major challenges faced by test engineers while doing performance testing for any software application. Basically, Bottleneck is the informal name of bug, which occurs when the software application is limited or slowdown by one faulty section of the code which causes a bad impact on the application’s performance.
The key to fixing a Bottlenecking Issue is finding that section of code which is causing slowdown of the application and try to fix it there. Bottlenecking Issues can be resolved by either fixing software issues like (issues related to the operating system) or fixing hardware issues like (adding additional hardware including hard disk, RAM and the processor), and other coding issues etc.

Challenge of Poor Response Time – Response Time is the time when user inputs any data into the application until the application doesn’t give output as response to that input. Generally, the response time for any software application should be quick enough as per the requirement of user because if the user have to wait too long, then he/she will lose interest in using that particular software application.

Challenge of Slow Speed – While doing performance testing for any software application, the speed of that particular application should be faster in order to get user’s attention and interest because if the speed of application is slow, it may lose the user’s attention and interest for using that particular application.

Challenge of Poor Scalability – This type of challenge occurs when the software application can’t take the load of N-number of users using that particular application and expected user requests to use that particular application at the same time. That’s why the test engineers should have to do upward scalability testing to check the maximum capacity of the application and downward scalability testing when expected time is not same as the actual time.

Advantages of Performance Testing

Following is some of the advantages of doing performance testing for any software application: –

It helps to demonstrate that our software application meets the required performance criteria or not.

It helps to enhance application’s speed, stability and precision in both normal and instituting situations.

It helps to enhance client or user satisfaction by client retention measurements.

It helps to enhance overall load efficiency of the software application.

Conclusion

So, in the end, we can conclude to say that in software engineering, performance testing is essential and necessary before launching any software product into the market. It ensures customer satisfaction and protects an investor’s investment against product failure.

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