Software testing performance testing tutorials and videos

Spike Testing vs Performance and Load Testing

Software Testing Magazine — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:31:56 +0000

If you ask two software testers, you will get three different definitions for each software testing term. This article discusses the spike testing activity and how this type of testing relates to and differs from performance and load testing. Author: Franco Martinig, Martinig & Associates Some Software Testing Definitions Spike, performance and load testing are three types of tests used to assess non-functional capabilities of the applications and websites under test, mainly on the server side. Performance testing is primarily concerned by the speed of availability of the application for the end-user. In the case of a website, software quality assurance teams will use tools like WebPageTest to detect issues related to the size of images or the time needed to reach for external resources like Google Analytics scripts. Results might vary depending on the usage of browser caches or the distance between the user and the application resources. Load testing is used to assess the behavior of the system when it is used simultaneously by many users. Software testers use online testing platforms that can reproduce the access of the applications by a certain number of virtual users with different mobile devices or browsers. Issues detected will range from the physical specifications of the servers like the disk or virtual memory size to the software concurrency problems that can occurs in writing log file or table access in a database. Software Testing Magazine has created a list of free online load testing tools available to perform this activity. Spike [...]

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Closing the Gap: How Synthetic Data Brings Performance Testing Closer to Production

Software Testing Magazine — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:09:28 +0000

In performance testing, you need a lot of data to get results that are meaningful for a production context. In this article, Sudhakar Reddy Narra explains why you should not just focus on the quantity, but also on the quality of the data that you are going to use in your tests. Author: Sudhakar Reddy Narra, https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudhakar-reddy-narra-05751655/ When most people hear Performance Testing they picture virtual users hammering APIs while graphs track response times. That is just one part of the story, but not the whole thing. The real performance issues do not just come from how many users you simulate , but they come from the data those users are working with. If your test data is too clean, too uniform, or just plain unrealistic data, your system will look fine in staging and then fall apart under the real production workloads. The trouble is that production data is usually off limits for performance testing. Security, privacy, and compliance rules mean you can not just clone the production database and hand it for performance testing. That is where synthetic data comes in. If you do it right, it behaves like production data : varied, skewed, multilingual, full of quirks , without exposing anything sensitive. Done wrong, it gives you a false sense of safety in your load test. In this article, I will walk through how to generate synthetic datasets that actually mimic production. The key is to stop thinking in terms of raw record counts and start modeling [...]

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Learning Gatling: Documentation, Tutorials, Videos

Software Testing Magazine — Fri, 24 May 2024 14:36:43 +0000

Gatling is an open source load testing tool. It officially supports HTTP, WebSocket, Server-Sent-Events and JMS. Gatling is developed in Scala and built upon Netty for non-blocking HTTP. It works with Akka for virtual users’ orchestration. This article provides pointers to documentation, tutorials, courses and videos to learn how to use Gatling. Author: Franco Martinig, Martinig & Associates Gatling is a highly capable open source load testing tool. It is designed for ease of use, maintainability and high performance. This tool provides excellent support for the HTTP protocol that makes it a preferred choice for load testing any HTTP server. As Gatling core engine is protocol agnostic, it is perfectly possible to implement support for other protocols. For example, Gatling currently also ships JMS support. Having scenarios that are defined in code and are resource efficient are the two requirements that motivated the creation of Gatling. The scenarios are self-explanatory, as they are based on an expressive DSL. The load testing scripts are easy to maintain and can be kept in a version control system. Gatling’s architecture is asynchronous as long as the underlying protocol, such as HTTP, can be implemented in a non-blocking way. This kind of architecture allows for implementing virtual users as messages instead of dedicated threads, saving resources. Thus, running thousands of concurrent virtual users is not an issue. Load testing tools are very helpful to assess the capabilities of websites to achieve a small response time when they receive a high volume of visits. This [...]

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What is a Performance Testing Service, and What Tests Are Conducted?

Software Testing Magazine — Fri, 17 May 2024 15:06:26 +0000

Any successful system or application must go through performance testing. It’s a non-functional software testing method. It helps determine a system’s responsiveness, scalability, speed, and stability under a specific workload. Performance testing is a vital step in ensuring system quality. However, it is, in most cases, seen as an afterthought. The objectives of a performance testing service include evaluating: System output Data transfer velocity Processing speed Memory utilization Maximum concurrent users Network bandwidth usage Command response times Workload efficiency and more Benefits of Performance Testing Performance testing provides various key benefits. It helps ensure that your system or application meets the expected service levels and offers a positive user experience. Applications or systems released publicly in the absence of testing could, in most cases, suffer from a damaged brand reputation. Performance test results will highlight enhancements you need to implement relative to scalability, stability, and speed before your system goes into production. Applications’ adoption, success, and productivity depend directly on performance testing’s proper implementation. It is true that resolving production performance issues can be extremely expensive. However, the use of an endless optimization performance testing strategy is vital to the success of a productive overarching digital approach. Tests Conducted Various performance testing types are performed across the development lifecycle. This ensures that the system or application not only meets performance requirements but also fulfills user expectations. The main tests conducted include: Stress Test A stress test helps check the upper limits of your application. It involves testing the system under [...]

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Performance Testing and Profiling in Python Applications

Software Testing Magazine — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 15:18:12 +0000

In the dynamic field of software development, where efficiency can be the difference between success and failure, Python stands out for its simplicity and broad applicability. However, achieving peak performance in complex production environments often requires meticulous tuning. This comprehensive guide delves into the essential practices of performance testing and profiling, which are indispensable tools for Python developers aiming to optimize their applications for maximum efficiency. Understanding Performance Testing and Profiling in Python Important Ideas and Definitions Performance testing looks at how well an app can work under expected load conditions, making sure it meets the standards for speed, response, and stability. Profiling goes along with speed testing because it gives you a full picture of how an application works while it’s running and shows you exactly where in the code slowdowns or problems happen. This difference is important because performance testing checks how long an app can run and how well it can grow in real-life situations that are simulated. Profiling, on the other hand, gives you more information about specific code problems and performance issues. Importance of Performance Optimization in Python Optimizing the performance of Python applications is crucial for several reasons. Efficient applications enhance user satisfaction by providing faster responses and more stable experiences. Additionally, they reduce operational costs by minimizing the computational resources needed, thereby allowing a business to scale more effectively without a proportional increase in hardware investments. By improving resource efficiency, optimized applications can support a larger user base or handle more transactions with [...]

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How New Software Solution Is Tested During Legacy System Upgrade

Software Testing Magazine — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 08:37:41 +0000

While revamping aging business systems, rigorously testing new components minimizes disruption risks before deployment. We explore best practices to confirm that stability, seamlessness, and security meet standards throughout the transformation process. The Role of Testing Complex legacy platforms with years of patchwork face unpredictable behaviours when undergoing upgrades. Thorough validation ensures alterations integrate smoothly without introducing defects. Structured testing from ModLogix confirms revamped solutions uphold capabilities across: Functionality – All features work without regression, including edge use cases. Data Integrity – No corruption, losses or miscalculation through changes. Performance – Acceptable response times under peak loads sans degradation. Scalability – Handles increasing users, transactions and information volumes. Resilience – Understands stresses and recovers correctly from failures. Security – No fresh vulnerabilities or gaps allowing unauthorized access. Frequent testing across the transformation timeline prevents realizing issues in late crimping projects and adoption after launch. Key Testing Strategies The United States government spends more than $100 billion annually on information technology. The majority of that will go toward running and maintaining current systems, including older ones known as “legacy” systems. These systems can be expensive to maintain and are open to intrusion by hackers. Companies also spend a lot of money on maintaining outdated software, so in some cases it’s better to update it and test it well. Testing suites combine tactics exposing different flaws: Unit Testing Validates individual code components like functions or API endpoints in isolation to verify correctness before integration. Tests all execution paths, including exceptions to validate robust logic. Integration Testing [...]

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Chaos Testing: Strengthening System Resilience with a Proactive Approach

Software Testing Magazine — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 13:47:50 +0000

Chaos testing, also known as chaos engineering, is a proactive methodology used to test the resilience and reliability of complex distributed systems. This article provides an in-depth overview of chaos testing, highlighting its benefits, key principles, techniques, the proposed chaos testing framework, and popular tools available in the market. The article emphasizes the importance of chaos testing as a proactive approach to identifying and addressing potential system issues, ultimately improving overall system resilience and performance. Author: Divyeshkumar Patel, Test Automation Technologist Introduction In today’s digital age, the reliability and resilience of systems are of utmost importance. Chaos testing offers a proactive approach to ensuring system stability and performance. This article aims to introduce chaos testing, explaining its purpose and significance in today’s technological landscape. Benefits of Chaos Testing Chaos testing offers numerous benefits to organizations. By simulating real-world scenarios and intentionally introducing controlled failures, it enables organizations to identify potential weaknesses and address them proactively. Through this iterative process, system resilience improves, downtime is reduced, and overall customer satisfaction is enhanced. Key Principles of Chaos Testing Conducting chaos testing requires adherence to key principles to ensure effective results. This article highlights the importance of creating a controlled and safe testing environment, carefully managing and monitoring the impact of failures. Furthermore, it discusses the significance of testing across various scenarios and failure modes, as well as the necessity of continuous testing for ongoing system resilience enhancement. Techniques of Chaos Testing Chaos testing employs several techniques to test system resilience and response [...]

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A Medley of Frontend and Backend Performance Testing Techniques

Software Testing Magazine — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 14:50:19 +0000

Frontend and backend performance are key elements in the success of websites. This presentation introduces you to both frontend and backend performance testing and why a medley of these software testing activities are needed to make sure that your website is performant. It will also give you a quick walkthrough as to how tools such as xk6-browser can help with running both protocol-level (how performance testing is normally run through concurrent interactions at the protocol layer) and browser-level tests (testing with real browsers to provide a more realistic performance test). This talk will equip with new knowledge regarding frontend and backend performance testing, which you can apply to your work projects. TestJS Summit – Video producer: https://www.testjssummit.com

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