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Performance Testing Microsoft .NET Web Applications Authors: N Published year: 2002 Pages: 21-24/67 |
Mirroring the Production Environment
The performance test environment should be as close to the production environment as possible. This includes the server capacity and configuration, network environment, the Web tier load balancing scheme, and your backend database. By mirroring your production environment you ensure that your throughput numbers will be more accurate.
TIP
If production equivalent hardware is not
feasible
for your performance-testing environment, you can still uncover many bottlenecks in the code and architecture. Even though a production equivalent environment is optimal, performance testing is possible in almost any environment you can scrape together.
Putting It Together in a Performance Test Plan
The performance test plan is a strategy or formal approach to allow everyone involved in a Web application, from the development team, test team, and management team, to understand exactly how, why, and what part of the application is being performance tested . The following sections are found in a performance test plan:
This gives a brief description of the business purpose of the Web application. This may include some marketing data stating estimates or historical revenue produced by the Web application.
This depicts the hardware and software used for the performance test environment, and will include any deviations from the production environment. For example, document it if you have a Web cluster of four Web servers in the production environment, but only two Web servers in your performance test environment.
This section illustrates what you are trying to accomplish by performance testing your Web application. Examples include identifying what throughput and concurrent usage levels you will be striving for as well as the maximum acceptable response times.
This will include a description of your user scenarios, tools you use to stress test, and any intricacies you will put in your stress scripts. This section will also explain what ratios and sleep times or user think times you will include in your test script.
The scripts are unlikely to be completed until after your performance analysis cycle has finished. But it is important to include these in the test plan to make them available in the next release or phase of the Web application test cycle. Because stress test scripts take time and effort to create, having test scripts available as a reference for future testing can save time.
Conclusion
Performance testing is a critical phase of any Web application s development cycle and needs to be the critical path for release to production. By planning properly before you start, you can ensure a successful performance test that will improve your odds of having a high-performing Web application when your customers begin to use it.
Chapter 3
Stress Testing with Microsoft Application Center Test (ACT)
The purpose of stress testing is to identify and isolate Web application performance bottlenecks under load. Decreasing or eliminating these bottlenecks allows you to meet or exceed anticipated traffic requirements. After you have identified bottlenecks, you can tune the Web application and server to help minimize end user response times and ultimately provide a better user experience. Stress testing involves testing an application under load to determine maximum throughput. Throughput refers to the number of client requests processed within a fixed amount of time. Stress testing is also commonly referred to as load testing, performance testing, soak testing, spike testing, and Web server testing. It is important to note that performance requirements will vary for each application.
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Performance Testing Microsoft .NET Web Applications Authors: N Published year: 2002 Pages: 21-24/67 |