CLOUD BASED TESTING

byIsah Sani Birnin Gwari

CLOUD BASED TESTING

INTRODUCTIONTesting an enterprise application is an important part of software development life cycle and so is the case with application deployment environment. Application has to be tested for correctness, completeness, security and quality.It also has to be tested for the performance of the system under varied load, check when it fails so that the application can be constantly improvised

With respect to Software engineering, performance testing is determining the system behaviour in terms of responsiveness, stability, scalability, reliability and resource usage under a particular workload.

CLOUD COMPUTING

Refers to theprovisionof computational resources on demand via acomputer network, such as applications, databases, file services, email, etc.The means of using the Internet and remote servers for software applications, data access, data management and storage resources.

A typical cloud must have several distinct properties: elasticity and scalability, multi-tenancy, self-managed function capabilities, service billing, connectivity interfaces and technologies.

CLOUD SERVICE MODELSSoftware as a Service(SaaS)Platform as a Service(PaaS)Infrastructure as a Service(IaaS)

Software as a Service(SaaS)The applications / products are available to the user on demand via the internet. Eg:Gmail, Google docs.Platform as a Service(PaaS)The runtime environment is available on demand which is used by developers to deliver their applications. Eg: Google App Engine.Infrastructure as a Service(IaaS)IaaS is for architects where the actual hardware infrastructure is deployed on pay per use basis. Eg: Amazon webservices, GoGrid.

CLOUD BASED TESTINGCloud testing is a form of testing in which web applications uses cloud computing environment and infrastructure to simulate real world user traffic by using cloud technologies and solutions.

Cloud testing basically aligns with concept of cloud and SaaS. Cloud testing provides with the ability to test cloud by using the cloud infrastructure such as hardware and bandwidth that more closely simulate real world conditions and parameters.

Testing as a Service (TaaS) TaaS is considered as a new business and service model, in which a provider undertakes software testing activities of a given application in a cloud infrastructure for customers.TaaS can be used to validation of various products owned by organizations that deal with testing products and services which are making use of a cloud based licensing model for their clients.

Cloud Testing EnvironmentsPublic CloudPrivate CloudCommunity CloudHybrid Cloud

BENEFITS OF CLOUD TESTINGTesting on cloud carried quite a number of benefits in terms of cost and resources. It is something like service on demand or testing on demand. The cost of hardware, software, tools, tester etc. is charged on usage basis. Some of the key benefits that can be drawn from this are.

Easier to access environments -Easier to get virtual environments vs. dedicated physical hardware-Easier to get different system types & software configurationsEasier to deploy-Test Systems-Applications Under TestEasier to manage-Access systems when needed (e.g. during a test cycle)Reduced CostsScalability-A cloud based application or product can be customized based on the requirement.

TYPES OF TESTING IN CLOUDSFunctional Testing Non-Functional Testing Ability Testing

Cloud Testing Key Players Acutes (2002) SAP performance testing, load testing and stress testingLoadRunner(2006) Load testing, examination system performance.SOASTA(2006) Touch test, mPulse and cloud testing.Amazon web services(2006) Infrastructure as a service.Google app engine(2008) Web Application platform as a service.Loadstorm(2008) Saas, performance testing, load testing and stress testing. Azure(2009) Application platform as a services.Heroku(2010) Build modern apps, PaaS.

Cloud Based Testing VS. Conventional Software Testing

CONCLUSIONTesting in a cloud is to increase availability, security, performance, interoperability, disaster recovery and multi-tenancy testing. The aim of cloud testing is to ensures high quality service delivery and avoiding data outages requires testing inside datacenter or outside the datacenter or in both place. Most organizations are now leaning to adopting the cloud testing because of itsflexibility, scalability and reduced costs.