Realistic Performance Testing
For the whole project team, realistic performance testing is one of the problems. Any application or system’s performance testing has two main goals:
To determine the system’s capacity at the intended load
to identify the performance bottleneck that prevents the system from handling the anticipated load.
A performance tester creates the performance test strategy, technique, and tool taking into account the two primary objectives listed above. The SEA pattern is followed by all performance testing instruments, which means:
- Scripting (Design)
- Execution (Workload Modelling and Test Execution)
- Analysis (Result)
SEA Pattern
The SEA may be implemented in a different manner depending on the tool being used, but the basic idea will remain the same. These tools mimic the actions of actual users in order to achieve the performance test’s goals. Real-world user is the essential phrase here. To create a realistic performance test environment, scripting, and workload modeling are essential. The following elements would make a performance test more realistic.
1. Real User Behaviour
Performance testing uses test script designs that mimic actual user activity. The steps a user would take in the actual world are included in a test script. A real user cannot be forced to select one of the offered options on the website. He is free to use any link, enter any character, open any tab, study the content of the website at his own pace, fill out the information, etc. There are five crucial considerations that must be made while writing a test script in order to accurately imitate real user activity for performance testing:
- Random Navigation: It is not necessary for every one of the 1000 people who visit a web application to use it for the same function. Users can use a banking application, for instance, to download statements, add beneficiaries, check balances, and transfer money. These navigations should each be scripted separately. This raises another query: Is it necessary for a performance tester to script every genuine user flow offered by the website? No, the important business flow must be identified by the performance tester based on the anticipated user load and response. For instance, 80% of users, irrespective of the reason they are logged in, check their bank balance after logging in. As a result, it is a crucial business transaction as account balance inquiry requests are being made more frequently than other requests. Another illustration of a responsiveness-critical business transaction is the need that an intrabank financial transfer to be finished in less than 3 seconds.
- Random Input: Numerous users who have registered or visited an application may exist. People log in using several user identities and passwords, do various product searches, input various shipping and permanent addresses, etc. In the test script, parameterization greatly aids in simulating this behavior. A list of users and the test data they will be using during the load test should be included in the parameter file. The quantity of unique test data should, in a perfect world, be equal to or more than the anticipated number of test iterations.
- Random Selections: On a website, not every user experiences the same navigational flow. Once users have logged in, they may make different choices (from dropdown menus, radio buttons, checkboxes, etc.). For instance, if two users are looking for a trip from Mumbai to New Delhi and a list of flights displays, they are free to select any flight from the list in the real world. They will be able to choose at their convenience. Correlation is useful in simulating this element of genuine user behavior. By using correlation or regex, you may collect all the pertinent values and then pass a random value derived from the collected ones.
- Random Think Time: A genuine user would typically spend some time on a website reading the material, providing the necessary information, etc. The test script experiences a delay between two subsequent queries as a result of this behavior. As an illustration, the actual user would first open an online shopping program (Home Page Transaction), input his username and password, and then choose Login (Login Transaction). In order to enter his credentials and click the login button, the user must remain on the homepage. This time indicates user thought time. On each page, the same conduct is displayed by the user. The sort of action will be different, and that is the only difference. But it is certain that he will devote a lot of attention to each web page.
- Browser Simulation: Although they resemble a genuine browser by including browser information in the request header, activating cache, storing cookies, etc., performance testing tools lack an actual browser. To decrease network traffic, a genuine web browser features a caching feature. Additionally, it uses less network traffic, resulting in quicker communication between clients and servers. Cookies are text files, too. Cookies that include different client data, such as search preferences, are stored on the client’s computer. Every request is by default treated as a fresh one. A cookie is appended to the servlet response and added to the browser’s cache before being sent with the subsequent request. As a result, the server identifies the user as the previous user. To replicate a genuine browser in the script, these features can be activated or disabled depending on end-user behavior or application configuration.
2. Real-World Load
A realistic performance test should imitate real-world load patterns once the script has been completed and genuine user activity has been taken into account. Workload modeling (or execution), which comprises the following, is related to the preparation of real-world scenarios:
- Transaction Rate: Determine the user load during the busiest and most prevalent times, then create scenarios that reflect the actual load. The defined transaction rates or user loads are simulated via load tests, stress tests, and other performance evaluations.
- Geographical Location: The Internet is widely used around the world. Finding the region from where the website receives the most traffic is a smart practice. If between 60% and 80% of traffic to the application originates from a certain area, either deploy load generators there or utilize a WAN simulator to mimic users.
- Bandwidth: Even if not many people share the same area, it’s possible that their bandwidths differ. When creating the user load for the system, keep this in mind. The needed bandwidth may be specified using a variety of performance testing tools during test execution.
- Transaction Type: Referring to the prior illustration, each business transaction has a different accessibility rate %. Decide how much of each business function is loaded, and then build the burden accordingly.
Conclusion: Realistic Performance Testing
The only testing where the purpose of the testing is accomplished artistically is performance testing. An art of replicating real-world scenarios, imitating real-user behavior, studying the results, detecting bottlenecks, and finally, an art of assuring the client that the program won’t crash because of performance problems. The realistic notion that a performance tester simulates serves as the foundation for overall performance testing.
