Mitigating Risks for Mission-Critical Applications with Performance Testing

 


In today’s consumerist society, customers are looking for instant gratification. They do not settle for the also-rans but only the best. This means business enterprises have to be at the top of their game to develop and deploy reliable, secure, and user-friendly software applications. This also calls for avoiding system failures and risk mitigation, especially for mission-critical applications. So, to save the reputation and bottom line of businesses, the performance testing of applications is a must. It helps businesses achieve outcomes such as stability, speed, responsiveness, and scalability while eliminating bottlenecks.

 

A performance testing strategy checks the performance of an application irrespective of constraints. These may include traffic load, bandwidth availability, and network fluctuations. It helps businesses to smoothen out issues pertaining to throughput, latency, speed, and poor responsiveness, among others. However, when it comes to handling mission-critical applications, any performance risks should be identified and fixed. The below-mentioned segment lists the performance risks for mission-critical applications and the ways to mitigate them.


Types of performance risks and their mitigation

Every mission-critical application should undergo performance testing to identify (and mitigate) the associated risks. The risks are mentioned below: 

Speed: According to Google research, about 53% of users are likely to abandon sites that take more than 3 seconds to load. Also, user satisfaction is usually driven by a quick response to a query. This means businesses often go about trotting speed as one of their selling points leaving risks in their trail. Let us discuss a performance testing approach to mitigate speed-related risks.


Ensure the targets of application performance testing are end-user requirements and not some obscure elements.

·         Compare the response time of an application with its competitor or earlier releases.

·         Design the workload keeping in mind the actual load on the application.

·         Include transactions or activities consuming more resources and time.

·         Simulate production environment using data volume during performance testing.

·         Run multiple rounds of tests to achieve consistency in results.

·         Ensure the data is not corrupted and follows business logic.

 

Scalability: It is a crucial aspect of any software application and ensures the application does not falter in performance when subjected to a high traffic load. The strategies for mitigation of risks during performance load testing are as follows:

 

·         Test the application by subjecting it to varying load thresholds and comparing the results.

·         Execute the test at normal and peak load levels.

·         Design test cases related to real business issues.

·         At the breaking or stress point, reduce the load gradually and analyze the performance indicators.

·         Identify the maximum load threshold where the application can meet the SLAs.

·         Try going beyond the peak load threshold and evaluating the application’s behavior.

 

Stability: The stability of an application is not a stand-alone attribute but encompasses many within its fold. These may include uptime, reliability, and recoverability. The performance testing methodology to mitigate stability-related risks is as follows:

 

·         Plan and execute the endurance tests meticulously for a long duration, mimicking the application in production.

·         While performing stress testing, monitor the key counters in the servers (memory utilization, disk usage, and others).

·         Remove or disable a component of the application and measure its impact during performance testing.

·         Add a patch to the application during testing and see its behavior.

·         Test the application before and after rebooting the system and compare the results.

·         Perform negative tests and study the outcomes.

 

Production issues: The application should be tested before its deployment into the production value chain. However, should any issues be discovered once the application is in the production pipeline, there should be a detailed analysis of the same. It may include looking into the patterns of resource utilization, error logs, and usage trends. A performance risk assessment shall let the business know about the conditions meriting performance testing of the application. This will enable the business to assess risks, make informed decisions, and chart future plans.


Conclusion

Your end-users expect the software applications to perform better without facing issues. They anticipate faster and more dependable user experiences. Customers will abandon the application and move on to the next if this is not present. This can leave your business bruised and looking down the barrel at falling revenues. However, by establishing a performance center of excellence, various parameters of the application’s performance can be tested. This can lead to satisfied customers while mitigating any inherent risks.

 

Source: Tealfeed


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