Performance Testing: What it is, Common Issues, and Why it Matters?

Performance and load testing are fundamental pieces of the great puzzle that is making your customers contented. A complete user experience and high-quality product are what make people happy enough to buy, apply, and advise a product to others. So what are those performance and load defects, and why everyone keeps discussing them – the answers are below.

Meet Performance Testing!

Performance testing is a kind of testing that enables examining the overall behavior of a product (PC software, mobile applications, websites, emulators, simulators) below a certain workload.</strong> QA engineers run various types of performance testing to estimate the following parameters:

• Response capacity – the speed of reaction to end-users actions/requests.
• Sensitivity – the analysis of unmeasured underlying constant variables and correlated with the parameters.
• Permanence – the stability of a product below test.
• Scalability – the least and highest of your product’s technical possibilities.
• Reliability – product functioning under particular conditions and through certain periods.

All of the performance tests deliver important data for product improvement. But for this, a QA team should initially consider the parameters they will use to determine product performance with the development and product management teams. These parameters should incorporate an average number of users, errors per second, hits per second, connect time, response time, latency, throughput, etc. 

Now, when to run performance testing? The checkups are a requirement after each big update of the product and before combining other systems or databases into the functionality.

Big marketing campaigns are one more reason to monitor the performance of a website or an app once more. For instance, Cyber Monday, Black Friday, and holiday discounts draw many more shoppers than usual. The same occurs when a company declares the release of a major update – users hurry in to check it out. Hence, it is essential to ensure that a product can manage intense user flow.

As for managing regression tests after each code change, it may be resource-consuming while not required.

Common Performance Testing Issues

Performance testing issues, being a member of the fast-changing and sometimes unpredictable IT world, substantially grow along with the technologies. Users have become more particular during recent years. 

Let’s say, a decade ago, both the choice of e-commerce stores and their technical capabilities were lesser than today. Back then, consumers could have agreed to wait 10 seconds for a web page to load, but not a few minutes. People would use a new app just because it is one of a kind, but not if it depletes the battery and makes extreme heating of a device.

Nowadays, if it takes more than three seconds for a page to load, consumers will most likely drop it and look for a site that operates faster. They would also uninstall an app just a few minutes after installing it if this app is buggy. Users still watch for new and functional solutions and still favor fast performance. The criteria and demands, however, have developed.

Based on our experience in QA, the most frequently discovered performance issues fall into various categories. 

Threading Issues

It is essential to achieve the highest level of parallel execution in developed product performance. You may be surprised, but not only inadequate threading is a problem; extreme threading is a performance issue as well. The other general bugs are thread blockage and thread waiting lines.

Memory Issues

Issues with optimization of memory usage include inaccurate caching, memory allocation of new objects, object sizes, eliminating unnecessary objects, etc. Memory management principles describe all of the memory potential issues. 

Algorithmic Defects

Here we are dealing with the basics – accuracy, and optimization of product logic. Logic issues, also known as algorithmic, explain gaps in logic.

Server Response Time  & Page Loading Time

As you already know, users are very impatient nowadays. They aren’t available to wait too long for a page to respond and content to load. Both kinds of issues may be the result of unoptimized scripts, improper caching, an abundance of plugins, or web hosting specifications.

Website Outages

You’ve apparently noticed that some websites go down because of the intense user flow. It happened to Xbox on Series X launch day,  to Disney+ on its launch day, and to thousands of other well-known and not so many web resources. To stop such crashes, QA specialists operate spike tests, examining how a system handles traffic spikes.

Accumulating In-App Data

As you make progress in a game or build more levels in an educational app, it becomes more difficult. The app stores more data now and, thus, holds more space. The same occurs as streaming apps begin caching multimedia content or when you save something to offline mode. It can occur in improved CPU usage and slow response. Such problems are a task for volume tests – one more kind of performance testing.

Configuration Bugs

Configuration testing examines the impact of newly added software configurations to assure uninterrupted and accurate functioning. For instance, a money manager app that builds reports in a column chart and a pie chart is assumed to use the same time for processing and the same hardware resources. These various configurations shouldn’t influence the performance. 

A Mixture of Several Issues

Different performance issues can combine unexpectedly. The classic example is a common slow application performance associated with the slow performance of some smallest components. Followed by an inaccurate adjustment of configuration elements, or any other minor issue can end in a considerable slowdown.

What Is Load Testing And When To Run It?

The name states it all. Load testing reviews the maximal system potential below real-life-based load conditions: simultaneous users, an extended period of functioning, multiplex operations, various network conditions, etc. Load testing is a kind of performance testing, but many QA specialists favor distinguishing it as an independent one (probably, because load tests are operated the most commonly compared to other types).

Why is load testing important? Business websites and applications should ensure uninterrupted running to promote the seamless flow of the relevant processes. It is especially important below peak user load: during reporting periods, regular payment procedures, credit card billing, etc.). For an e-commerce store, a possibility to manage an intense user flow directly influences the profit. And talking about healthcare software, interruptions can be a threat to people’s health and lives. 

Also, competition is becoming fierce as more new software solutions seem on the market. To attract loyal users, you should ensure that your product works well. Otherwise, they would start watching for faster and better working solutions. 

A performance testing procedure should involve several types of potential load situations for various system parts to identify the weak and strong sides of a product.

Also Read: 7 Best Performance Testing Tools To Utilize In 2021

To Wrap Up

The modern IT industry is becoming more challenging and ambitious. The final product should bring the maximum possible advantages to end-users. Therefore, it’s better to manage performance testing before the product goes live. No business intends to receive negative reviews, sales underperformance, and a low number of downloads.

Reviewing at least server response & page loading time, and the capability to manage traffic spikes is a usual job for every QA company. Still, even incorporating the basic features of software performance will prevent the most of issues that leave users irritated and looking for better solutions. 

Need to implement performance testing in your project? Think no more! TestUnity provides the testing services on-demand, serves with projects of any scale, and is ready to start with a few days’ advance notice. Choose to team up with a QA services provider like TestUnity. Our team of testing experts specializes in QA and has years of experience implementing tests with different testing software. Get in touch with a TestUnity expert today.

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