Top 5 Load Testing Tools Available That Testers Should Consider

Load Testing is the mechanism or process of putting simulated demand or stress on a system or a device and evaluating along with measuring its extent or quality of response. Load testing can be performed for determining the behavior of a system under anticipated optimal stress conditions as well as under normal circumstances. This type of testing helps in the identification of the maximum operating capacity of a particular application along with any technical issue, bottleneck or element that may cause the application to disintegrate.

Now when it comes to tools that are used for stress testing, you will find a lot of them. However, let us discuss top 5 of them that are used the most and are considered the most effective.

Apache JMeter

It is one of the most popular open source software packages for stress testing that is extensively used to analyze the performance of various web applications. The tool is so designed to be integrated or embedded with the test plan. However, due to further development along with incorporation of a few value added features, the testing scope of Apache JMeter has further widened. At present, the tool can be widely used to test various functional performance of the applications as well as systems. However, you will need to have Unix or Windows OS for the tool to work.

NeoLoad

This load, as well as performance evaluation software is a JAVA application that is available in two different languages – English and French. It is primarily used to evaluate the performance of websites under trying conditions. The software actually increases the traffic to the website under question and thus evaluates as well as analyzes the performance under optimal load. However, for functioning the tool would need MS Windows, Solaris, Linux Operating Systems.

LoadRunner

This is a software that is developed as well as designed by HP and is extensively used for determining the performance of a particular system at the time of heavy traffic load. The tool is capable of creating as well as handling over thousands of users simultaneously. It can also provide information in respect of performance that is based on infrastructure. This HP product is comprised of several tools that include VUG or Virtual User Generator, Analysis & Controller, Load Generator. It is compatible with MS Windows as well as Linux OS.

LoadUI

It is a cross platform tool that can be used to measure as well as gauge the performance of the web applications. The software would allow an application tester to create as well as configure the tests besides allowing the individual to update while testing an application. The tool is designed to automatically update whenever an application undergoes any modification or change. It comes up with a drag and drop feature, that offers a virtual assistance to the tester. The tool is open source and hence can be downloaded free of cost. It is widely accepted mainly because of its ability to provide comprehensive testing facilities pertaining to different kinds of web based services as well as applications along with different APIs like REST. It is not a static testing tool and hence the tests cannot be created, updated or configured during run time.

WebLOAD

WebLOAD is another variety of cross platform tool (a tool that can be used across a wide variety of platforms) that is used for stress and load testing. The tool provides a wide range of information pertaining to the functionality along with the exact capability of a web application when it comes to withstanding and countering load or stress, especially over a long period of time. The software is specifically used when there is a high demand and requirement for stress or load testing. It is considered one of the most effective tools that is ideal for thoroughly testing various types of web applications subjected to heavy traffic load.

You can hire testers from top load testing companies in India who can help you accomplish testing within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide load testing services. If you would like to hire certified load testers from us or would just like to speak to one of our expert software testers, please reach out to us at Mindfire Solutions.

Top 4 Case studies – Missed to do Load Testing and failed miserably thereafter!

For automation of core business processes, most of the businesses go for applications. But prior to making the application available for customers, partners, stakeholders or employees, it should be understood whether the application can acceptably perform under peak load conditions. Herein lays the significance of load testing. It helps you to avoid unnecessary investments through adequate application capacity planning and tuning. Companies may experience serious setbacks without proper load testing, as these four case studies will show.

Case One

Customer service is a significant thing and almost all companies are very serious about it. Here we have a case where an organization on a regular basis indulges in evaluation of the satisfaction levels of the clients by means of different feedback mechanisms including surveys. This is followed by required enhancements to maintain high satisfaction levels. The performance and the reliability of the website play a vital role in empowering the organization to render supreme level of customer service. The web infrastructure is extended across a number of servers linked to the internet through manifold backbone providers. This particular company tried testing the performance of the distributed network by allowing people to log on randomly and provide performance report, through running test scripts. But this load testing was a failure because it did not provide a global perspective with respect to the performance. Measurement of certain specific areas only was being done.

Case Two

A particular appliance was installed by a customer on the network for load balancing a service provider’s Application Firewall. It was reported by the customer that the website stress test did not work out on enabling the Application Firewall. It was also stated by the client that the set up was working so far as the test environment is concerned. However, when the same thing was tried with the Website testing tool, it led to failure. Moreover, the firewall did not have any block logs.

Case Three

This case is about a company owning an HTML5 game development portal which ignored load testing and the web portal had to be again pulled back into beta testing. As the portal was taken out of the beta and put into the live world, several problems cropped up with the backend. As a result, the site was unable to scale at a rapid pace to keep in line with the load. It was an uncomfortable experience for the users who were keen on browsing the website and accessing the games. The organization owning the portal was not prepared enough for the real world usage, and owing to this the launch of the application was a failure.

Case Four

Here we have a company whose content delivery network enables media companies to go for large file delivery of the present age rich media Internet to the clients. Since the organization renders B2B content delivery services, keeping in line with the expectations of the media clients is a must. This can only be done through facilitating content delivery with high performance. For this, monitoring of static content of web pages as well as streaming media with respect to a global end user perspective was required. The company found it difficult to perform appropriate load testing because it did not have servers across the globe set up for testing streaming quality or http service. As a result, the organization failed to evaluate the stream quality as well as performance of its Windows Media Video and Flash Media servers.

Load and stress testing, when appropriately performed through an application’s development cycle goes a long way in reducing the count of failures affecting the application. This is a very essential aspect, especially when the application is customer facing and in involved in interaction with an external audience.

We provide software performance testing services. If you would like to hire performance testers from our team, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Top 4 Case Studies – Why missing out on Load Testing can be disastrous!

Each enterprise wants to beat its competitors by launching a powerful website. So it always explores options to optimize the look, feel, performance and scalability of the website. In addition to keeping the visitors engaged, the web application also needs to handle the constant fluctuations in the size of the website traffic. No enterprise can predict the exact number of users who will simultaneously access its website. Therefore, it must load test the website thoroughly to ensure that it is stable, scalable and high-performance. There are many instances when the website development projects failed only due to failure in load testing. These companies could have optimized the performance and scalability of the websites simply by conducting load testing.

Case Study I

Each person wants to participate in the famed New York City Marathon. The people who cannot participate in the hugely popular event keenly follow the runners’ progress during the race. So many websites try to attract users by allowing them to observe the runners’ progress live. A popular online sports portal tried to broadcast the race without implementing a proper load testing plan. The webmasters even ignored to check if the website and web server are effective in handling an enormous size of traffic at average page duration of one second. The absence of a comprehensive load testing strategy made them face one of the worst-case scenarios for the performance of their websites as well as the server load. The webmasters rectified their mistakes, and load tested the application immediately to optimize its performance during the next New York City Marathon.

Case Study II

The owner of a popular online gift card store underestimated the significance of load testing. The entrepreneur even did not realize whether the website and web server are optimized to handle heavy load during busy holiday season. The owner realized the problem only when the website failed to deliver maximum capacity during the peak holiday season. However, the webmaster realized the problem immediately, and hired renowned software testing service provider to identify the problem. After evaluating the system and environment thoroughly, the professionals found problem in a key section of the code that affects the scalability of the web store. The web store owner could have avoided the problem easily thorough load testing during the development and deployment of the website.

Case Study III

Some companies even do not realize the significance of load testing while migrating to a new and advanced system. The new system definitely offers loads on innovative features, functionalities and advantages to an enterprise. A large communication service company failed to avail the benefits of an advanced system as it failed to implement a detailed load testing plan. It invested a huge amount of funds in buying and installing the mission-critical systems. But the systems failed to support the company’s workflow along with a large number of users. The load testers hired by the enterprise identified problem with the hardware. The new system needs higher specification hardware to support a large number of users.

Case Study IV

A popular online action sports network updates its websites at regular intervals without conducting any load testing. New sections were being added to the website to complement promotion and sponsoring of various sports events. At the same time, the website also allows participants to register by submitting information. The participants also have option to create their sports profiles, monitor the activities of competitors, and communicate with promoters and sponsors. After some time, the sports network realized that the website is working at a much slower pace. It hired experienced load testers to determine the nature of the exact problem. The testers prepare a comprehensive load testing plan, and suggested the changes required to optimize the performance and scalability of the website.

Conclusion

In each of the above mentioned cases, websites owners concentrate more on the features and functionality of the website. The enterprises failed to determine if the website is effective in handling a large number of visitors at a time. Some websites like the marathon portal and gift card store need to handle heavy traffic only at certain times. But no webmaster can predict when the website will attract an increasing number of visitors. So most enterprises, nowadays, are integrating load testing as part of the website development strategy. The test-driven development strategy will further optimize the performance and scalability of a website in the long run. Also, the enterprise can avoid maintenances required to meet huge website traffic.

You can hire software testing companies from India after due validation of their skillsets, expertise and experience in handling huge load testing projects to avoid risks associated with letting an amateur do load testing for you.

We provide load testing services. If you would like to talk to one of our certified software testers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.