Performance Testing, a Practical Guide and Approach
Albert Witteveen
Pluton IT
No matter what performance test tool you use, the basics are the same. We describe how to define if the test focuses on the ability to handle the expected load, finding out when it breaks or how it behaves over a longer period of time. Then how to script the test, setup monitoring.
To fully interpret the results, the book introduces the queuing theory which is the model used by performance engineers to describe and predict performance of applications. Each computer system from small and embedded to supercomputers can be modeled by using the queuing theory. Understanding the basics helps us testers to ascertain if we have understood the real behavior of the application and provide the organization both proof of the test depth as well as a reliable way of describing the real performance risks.
Not everyone is a technician and all too often projects have been confronted with performance test results that after go live of the application turned out to be insufficient. We describe how a (test) manager can plan, setup and control the performance tests and check if the team has gained the real insight in the performance without having to be a performance expert.
About Me!
Albert Witteveen has been working both as an operations manager and a professional tester for nearly two decades now. The combination of setting up complex server environments and professional testing almost automatically led to a specialisation in performance testing. He wrote a practical guide to load and stress testing which is available at Amazon. This books discusses how to do performance testing, how to provide real value and how to assess the performance in an objective way. It describes how to perform the tests, what and how to monitor, how to design the tests, how to setup the team and how to report. As a test manager he employs the lessons learned in operations to make testing, more efficient as well as more effective.