What

Performance testing is testing an application to check whether it sustains itself under various loads with regard to concurrent usage, database performance and response to queries, speed, response, heavy data input, etc. Testing is done to determine how quickly a product handles a variety of events and it comprises testing applications on various parameters, executed through the following tests.

A test in which the application’s timing profile is monitored, including execution flow, data access, function and system calls to identify and address performance bottlenecks and inefficient processes. A performance test is generally executed to compare results with either accepted performance benchmarks, which may be universal or empirically derived, or to benchmark the performance in your environment against third party products.

Load Testing is a type of performance test used to validate and assess the acceptability of the operational limits of a system under varying workloads while the system-under-test remains constant. Measurements are usually taken based on the workload throughput and in-line transaction response time. The variations in workload will usually include emulation of average and peak workloads that will occur within normal operational tolerances. Load Testing is performed with the intent of determining how well the product handles competition for system resources. The competition may come in the form of network traffic, CPU utilization or memory allocation.

Why
Performance testing an application in a well planned manner helps eliminate performance related issues at the time of roll out or on implementation. Many a time an application is rolled out without being tested for stability and has to be recalled when users encounter repeated performance issues. In mission-critical applications, this could prove disastrous.

How we do it at Our Test Lab
At Omnitech, we take close consideration of every aspect related to system and application stability. Backed with our experience with a variety of front- and back ends, servers, web-based applications etc., we have empirically derived benchmarks for performance, load, volume and stress. Used in conjunction with industry-accepted benchmarks, we analyze each aspect of software and hardware to infer performance capabilities.

Load, size, throughput, round time, transaction time, connect time, send time, response time, process time, average latency, receive time, disk memory and CPU utilization are just a few parameters that are closely studied during each activity of the application. Response parameters of each activity are monitored under various loads and concurrent usage to check for failure. What are also determined are important aspects of load, volume and hardware thresholds for a given number of users.