The Ideal Strategy for Cloud Applications Testing

The cloud forms an integral part of the digital transformation process implemented by enterprises across verticals. It gives them the necessary leeway to cut infrastructure costs, improve productivity, and enhance the efficiency and delivery of software applications. The best part of using the cloud is its ability to expand capacity, accessibility, and security without burning a hole in the pocket. However, notwithstanding the slew of benefits to be derived from using the cloud platform, enterprises should ensure the quality of cloud-based applications to remain top-notch.

This is where cloud application testing comes into play wherein applications are tested for various aspects including performance before they reach the customers. Moreover, the applications ought to be tested for stability, security, scalability, and speed under various load thresholds. If not, the applications may suffer from inadequacies such as system failure, poor usability, lack of security, lack of throughput, functional issues, and many others. However, prior to going further with devising the strategy for cloud applications testing, let us know what cloud computing and testing are all about.

Why Cloud Computing and Testing?

Cloud computing is about using the resources that are available on the internet such as servers, software suites, and databases, among others. These resources can be accessed from anywhere and anytime and used for data access, storage, and management. Cloud computing allows individuals and enterprises to use internet-based resources without having to install costly infrastructure in-house.

Cloud testing is all about testing the quality of cloud-based applications by using internet-based resources such as software, hardware, and infrastructure. It helps enterprises to maintain/boost their competitiveness without hampering any mission-critical operations. Also, given the ability of enterprises to provision cloud-based resources on-demand, the former can shorten the resource allocation time.

Among the characteristics of a cloud environment is its ability to allow multiple users to access similar resources at the same time. This leads to considerable savings on time and faster delivery of the applications to the market. Although testing in a cloud environment is similar to a non-cloud one, there can be differences when it comes to performance testing. Further, the response time in testing can differ as well. Let us discuss the cloud testing strategy in detail.

The ideal strategy for cloud application testing

Alongside the priority toward accelerating the time to market, the applications developed on the cloud should be tested for their quality as well. The strategy should be formed according to the areas/factors where the test should focus on.

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Get load time information: Since testing can often be elaborate, it may entail consuming a fair amount of resources. So, before testing cloud-based applications, the information should be gathered from the cloud provider on the load shared by other customers. The info would give an insight into the response time for testing. Ideally, one should test an application when the load capacity is high to check the response time. The tests should run multiple times to ascertain the maximum, minimum, and average response time. The response time would give an idea about the extent to which the application needs to be scaled up when the need arises in real-time.

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Automation: When it comes to testing cloud-native applications, automation becomes essential. This is due to the fact that a lot of areas need to be tested simultaneously such as deployments, negative tasks, and functional actions, among others. Also, during cloud-based testing, a lot of variables are needed to be virtualized like end-users, which can be tested quickly and seamlessly with automation alone.

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Conduct stress test: Testers need to know the breaking point up to which the application can remain stable, reliable, and performing. Known as the stress test, it offers critical information about the behavior of applications when put under extreme pressure points. For example, eCommerce applications need to be tested for response times and performance when scores of users try to access them at the same time, like in the Black Friday sales event.

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Testing the virtual memory: The testers should conduct volume tests with the help of memory monitoring tools to look into the capacity and performance of the virtual memory. This is important to know the capacity of the virtual memory for testing the application.

Conclusion

Enterprises leverage the cloud platform to gain advantages such as speed, efficiency, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. However, the same can only be ensured should the application developed on cloud is tested for its performance. So, to build an ideal cloud testing strategy, various factors need to be considered, namely, the availability of resources and bandwidth, project environments, technology stack, skill sets, and business drivers, among others.