27-06-2012, 04:20 PM
Web Application Performance Analysis Based on Component Load Testing
Web Application Performance Analysis.pdf (Size: 174.38 KB / Downloads: 71)
Abstract
Performance of many web sites depends on the load on the site at peak time under varying conditions. Performance
testing is normally conducted in a reasonably simulated environment with the help of performance testing tools.
However, performance of a website depends on various parameters and each parameter must be tested under
varying stress levels. It is not possible to draw a common denominator for performance parameters to test the
websites due to complexity of websites. Different parts of the websites must be tested with different parameters
under varying condition and stress level. In such circumstances, it is necessary to decompose the websites into many
components, which represents the behavior of various business components.
Introduction
Load tests checks the capability of the application to function properly under expected normal production conditions
and measure the response time. Performance tests are used to evaluate and understand the application’s scalability.
Performance testing is a type of testing that is performed, from one perspective, to determine how fast some abstract
of a system performs under a particular workload.[1] It can also serve to validate and verify other quality attributes
of the system, such as scalability, reliability and resource usage. It can measure what parts of the system or workload
cause the system to perform badly.
Performance Testing
Modern computer systems are becoming more complex and dependent on many factors such as the network
technologies on the internet. Computing is distributed between various processors such as in the client server
paradigm or clients and web servers. Deploying applications that rely on web servers, intranets and client server
technologies is a challenge both in assuring that the functionality will be maintained and in guaranteeing that the
functionality will be delivered with an acceptable performance. Performance problems can bring all sorts of
undesired consequences, including financials and sales loss, decreased productivity. Performance prediction may be
accomplished through performance models.
Performance testing is directly reflecting the behavior of the complete website. Visitors expect the fast response
within a short period of time. Therefore, a rigorous performance testing must be carried out on each site.
Performance testing can be viewed as a “Black Box” testing, which focuses on application and system behavior
from outside, with no knowledge of the program code that supports the system. The main objectives of the
performance testing are.
Web Testing
Conventional application software testing is well defined with a set of methods and established over the years. Each
method is implemented with a proper strategy. However, one can use some heuristics to test the specific parts, which
cannot be done by the available methods due to many practical aspects of the software. But, the conventional
methods may not walk with the web based applications. These applications vary with functionality, presentation,
and target users. Thus web applications are dynamic in nature and require strong testing methodology. During
testing of the web applications, many issues must be addressed as the website is subjected to many uncertainities.
Conclusion
Web based applications are more complex compare to the conventional client-server applications due to many
unknowns and uncertainties. Among many complexities, performance testing is one of the difficult activities which
has to be tackled with more vigor and aggression.