An Overview of Server Testing

When it comes to server testing, testing will be limited to client/server I/O, network stress, CPU consumption, and memory consumption. But the importance of the process in SDLC is large and cardinal.

The process helps servers to go down, record lock, Input-Output mistakes. It can test addresses system performance and learn how the servers can best reply to heavy workloads and what causes the failure through peak loads.

This article will help to learn and get an overview of service testing and the benefits of conducting the testing.

Why are test services required?

Several benefits surround around the idea of server testing which explains the requirement for an investment of time and finances for this method. Firstly, the team becomes responsible and trained to understand their services and functions.

They can hence make observations and display bugs immediately. It speeds up the performance and speed.

Secondly, before the developing work even starts, one can point out and explain the flaws of the service.

With the testing scripts, one can recognize the bugs and flaws instantly before the issue is caused at the latter stages. This henceforth helps saving time. Thirdly, these test scripts are improved faster than manual testing hence they need only seconds to explain complex issues.

They are consistent and enable teams to understand changes efficiently and quickly. Since one can observe what is changed and what requires to be changed, the issues can be identified and fixed immediately.

Finally, server testing makes the jobs easier on part of the team leading to less time consumed to recognize bugs and issues and also manually debug the problems.

Things To Keep In Mind While Doing Server Testing

Developing testing suites takes time 

Developing the method of server testing takes time in order to develop and write scripts. However, one can be ensured that the team can save rest lot of time in the long-run situation.

Maintenance takes time

It is not an easy task to manage scripts if any of the changes. Hence maintenance issues exist and one requires to keep this in mind to avoid headaches at later stages.

You need documentation

Proper service documentation is needed to be able to write the scripts and develop the process.

Testing techniques

There are several testing techniques that can be helpful while testing server programs. It is important to have efficient techniques so as to recognize bugs at an early stage.

Since companies and brands also favor getting their products to market as soon as possible, it helps to prioritize the risks and failures in the engine and solve them.

The first one amid the techniques is risk-driven testing. In risk-driven testing, the tester will exercise the part of the server or system he plans to test and explores the impact of errors and likelihood ratios.

This testing prioritizes possible errors in the service and the probability of failure through testing processes.

Secondly, performance testing is a process to test client and server programs. It evaluates and analyzes parts of the system such as software, parameters for performance and speed, resource utilization, time, and transaction rates.

Due to its characteristics, it is also called stress testing or load testing. But before performance testing an application, various issues should be recognized and understood beforehand such as, the number of users operating on it simultaneously, stress felt on the server, peak user performance, function of the system through highest workload timings, and so on.

This information helps to know workload stress on the server.  Later, the performance testing tests scalability and reliability factors and can look into if the product can operate according to the expectations or not for commercial use.

Further, this testing also helps to know if any part of the program is creating trouble or delayed performance and gets up with a solution to the error.

Different types of Testing

There are types of testing that can be suitable for client-server applications. These are unit testing, integration testing, and system testing.

Unit Testing

Unit is the smallest part that is testable in a program. It divides small parts of the program and tests the individual parts or units individually to understand and prove if they work efficiently and accurately.

The documentation presents all required records of the test that can include the characteristics which help to get the unit successful. It also documents positive and negative uses of the unit and highlights the negative problems or errors which may trap the program.

However, the unit testing single-handedly cannot test and discover all the bugs. It should be mixed with other testing techniques as it is only a phase of three-layer testing.

Integrated Testing

Integrated testing, otherwise called I&T combines individual parts and tests them as a group. They take parts that the test has published and they test this information with a plan.

This output is hence an integrated system that can be then provided for the final layer of testing, which is, system testing. Hence the integration testing tests the functionality, reliability, and performance of the server or system.

It reveals if any inconsistencies are occurring between or inside the components or groupings of the units which are integrated within testing plans and outputs.

System Testing

Finally, system testing is the layer of testing that is managed after the system is integrated.

The input here is integrated parts that have passed integrated testing. System testing discovers hence the inconsistencies, if any, within assemblages in the system. It is final testing and is therefore known to be aggressive.

It is called to be destructive testing as it can operate the system around up to the point of failure. This testing includes reliability, usability, maintenance, performance, and compatibility.

Also Read: 8 Important Success Factors Of QA Project

Conclusion

This article highlighted the advantages of server testing from both business and development angles. Although it needs a while to manage and make the time as an initial investment, it completely helps to finish the projects at a later stage more promptly and efficiently. It hurries up the development and benefits ship better products.

At TestUnity, we strive for the highest quality in every project, and our professional QA specialists are ready to ensure it. Contact us if you’re looking for a dedicated team to enhance your product’s quality.

TestUnity

Testunity is a SaaS-based technology platform driven by a vast community of testers & QAs spread around the world, powered by technology & testing experts to create the dedicated testing hub. Which is capable of providing almost all kind of testing services for almost all the platforms exists in software word.