How to load-test web application

Nov. 16, 2012 - PRLog -- Load testing of web applications is designed to determine the maximum power of applications, to identify vulnerabilities that can reduce the maximum capacity level of the application. The main purpose of stress testing is to determine the behavior of web applications in normal conditions and under expected peak load. The other goals of load testing are the response time, throughput, resource consumption, and the maximum number of users.


The main stages of load testing for Web applications are:
      
1.   Assessment of basic load testing scenarios.
2.   Identifying the workload, indicators, metrics and levels for load testing.
3.   Development and implementation of automated load tests.
4.   Analysis of the results of the load testing for Web applications.

Using these stages in the testing process, you will achieve all the performance goals.
It is advisable to start stress testing with a small number of virtual users and gradually increase the load. This will allow you to observe the slightest changes in the behavior of your application.

The important part of load testing is the identifying acceptance criteria, especially on the early stages of software development. It is important to document the acceptance criteria, so all participants of software testing company http://qatestlab.com/ will be able to make adjustments as it changes. Criteria are typically determined by the sphere of your business, technologies, competitors, and customer requirements.

Key stress testing scenarios are the scenarios with load aims that are most used and affect performance test scores and flow. They usually include several application activities. It is necessary to identify all of possible activities for each scenario.

Once the basic stress testing scenarios and their activities have been identified, you can begin the development of workload and stress tests.

Also you should define load levels to make sure that your tests can be used to compare and predict the different load conditions.

It is very important to find metrics that are most suitable for your load testing purposes and which can help you to find the weaknesses of your application. It is useful to define specific system, network, platform, service, application and business metrics.

Compilation of performance levels, metrics, scenarios and workload analysis will help software testing team to better understand, evaluate and adjust web application.
When performing load tests, take attention at load testing tools. It will be helpful in the creation such test which is best suitable for your web application.

After the implementation of load test, it's time to analyze the results. This requires in-depth knowledge and experience with response time and system data.

Load testing helps to determine the maximum level of application efficiency and find all the weaknesses and faults that may affect the load performance of web applications.
The basic principles for load testing are to identify the basic load scenarios, determine workload for distributing it among the principal load scenarios, identify indicators and create test cases,  test web application by simulating the load with help of specific tools, and finally to analyze received metrics and data.