What is Load Testing and How Platform Lab is the Right Infrastructure for You

In all cases, it is much easier for a company to retain customers, reduce the dropout rate and maximize its revenue when its Web applications perform better. One of the key area to enhance your web applications is to perform load and stress testing of websites and applications.

One can distinguish between performance measurement and load test. Performance measurements test is the repeating selected test cases or individual processes within a system under a base load. In this case, the individual functions are tested for their performance properties, whereby the scalability for the single function is being tested.

Load tests in the strict sense are to test their entire process chain and performance, i.e. the links between the individual processes; so they simulate actual operations from the real commercial operation and provide a non-negligible step towards achieving functional operational integrity.

If the system is aware of the defined load limit, one speaks of the stress test. The load (number of virtual users) should be gradually increased to above the defined load limit.

Thus, the following questions are examined:

• As the response time varies depending on the load?
• Can the system be worked acceptable even under heavy load?
• The system or application displays undefined behavior (for example crash)?
• If there is data inconsistency?
• If the application returns to the normal range in the case of a decrease in the overload?

The most destructive form of load testing is the fail-over test. This involves checking the system behavior under load when system components fail. Ideally, therefore, emergency scenarios are tested for the appropriate switching of additional resources to prevent a total system failure.

An important criterion is the maximum producible load, as well as the hardware requirements. Another useful feature is the ability to distribute the load generation on multiple computers, which can be achieved by some testing tools. In this way, the influence of the network capacity, as well as the hardware limitations of the load-generating computer, be minimized.

Platform Lab in the Right Choice

Take up the challenges of today by conducting extensive tests focused on the cycle of applications (development, modernization, and maintenance). Platform Lab testing services offer high-performance solutions for customers in the banking, financial, health, and commerce to enjoy the business benefits.

The client states how many concurrent users a test will need, the preferred test tool and the length of the test. Platform Lab creates the load test driver environment quickly and setup time is measured in hours, not days. Platform Lab has outstanding relationships with HP, Sun, Cisco, Dell, EqualLogic and several other vendors to arrange for trail evaluations prior to an eventual purchase, pending a successful test.

With the web load testing solution of Platform Lab, you can:

• Provide a positive user experience by eliminating downtime and solving problems faster
• Manage high volume and pace of change while reduce or eliminate the risks associated with launching new applications, migration to cloud and mobile environments and technology upgrades
• Benefit from a unified view and create reports on business functions at all IT silos, such as reports on the status of key business initiatives
• Optimize collaboration and accelerate incident management through the unified vision of reality.

Platform Lab offers on-demand infrastructure to off-load your projects to ensure that you do not have to slow down your project schedule. We have the complete hosting solution for project and testing environments so you do not need to invest in infrastructure for your in-house test lab. Host your project site here at Platform Lab, and reduce the risk your company runs by testing against production.