Performance Testing Basics – understand terminologies

This blog is useful to perform load testing with correct understanding.  Select your favorite performance test tool and follow below   steps.

1. Execute test and Measure the correctness of outcome
2. Check performance
3. Examine your result
4. Tune your application

Execute test and Measure the correctness of outcome

•  Execute load tests 2-3 times and make sure that you are getting repeatable results.
• Repeatable results means, if you have executed load test 3 times with same hardware and software, comparison of result should not have major or drastic change in result. It should have approximately the same results
• NEVER go by the results of just one test.

Check performance 

• After you got steady result, check that all performance counters (like memory, disk utilization, CPU utilization) has steady behavior, not abnormal behavior.
• Check log files and confirm that there is no error.
• Some common example of abnormal or odd performance behavior is –

• High CPU utilization
• Not steady CPU Utilization
• High Memory Utilization
• Not steady memory Utilization
• Low throughput
• Long Response Time
• Very High Disk operations

Examine your result

Collect all test results and consolidate your conclusion on some of the central application such as Excel or google doc and review about. Ask questions such as below and create action plan to fix it.

•  Are you getting your base line goals which your project has set?
• Are you getting and major issues while checking performance?
•  Are you getting any major error on log files related to your applications web server?
• If you got any predictable patterns while checking performance?

Tune your application

Based on question list you build, have you got any major performance risk or issue? If so, it’s time to change the original code or hardware (based on issue) and again got to first step (Execute test and Measure the correctness of outcome).

Repeat all steps once you will not solve all performance issue.
I am going to explain some more strategies in coming blogs.