Load or Performance Testing is a kind of automated testing, which simulates working process of the system under the load of a certain number of business users that share resources of the system.

The basic types of Performance Testing

Now let’s take a look at the basic types of Load Testing and tasks they solve.

Testing of the Performance

The goal of Performance Testing is to determine the scalability of an application under increasing load, while solving the following tasks:

• measuring the completing time of chosen operations at certain execution intensity;
• determining the number of users that works simultaneously with the application;
• defining acceptable thresholds of performance under increasing load (taking into account increasing execution intensity of operations);
• performance analysis at high, extreme and stressful levels of load.

Stress Testing

Stress Testing shows the efficiency of an application or the system itself under stressful conditions. It also allows you to estimate the system’s regeneration ability, i.e. to return to normal after passing through the period of stressful conditions. In this case “stress” means a rise of operations intensity to a very high level or some abnormal changes in the server configuration. There is an additional task for the Stress Testing can be assigned: to estimate the “performance degradation” of the system. Thus the goals of Stress and Performance Testing can overlap.

Volume Testing

The Volume Testing has the estimating of the system performance while volume of application database increases for its main goal. Tasks, performed by the Volume Testing are as follows:

• measuring the completing time of chosen operations at certain execution intensity;
• determining the number of users that works simultaneously with the application;

Stability (Reliability) Testing

The goal of Stability (Reliability) testing is to check the efficiency of the application during long-term (several hours) testing under the average load. For this kind of testing the absence of memory leaks, server restarts and other aspects which affect the stability of work play the key role, while the execution intensity of operations comes second.

Load vs Performance Testing

There is one more variation of Load Testing that is checking out system reactions for the changes of load (in acceptable range). But our point is that Load and Performance Testing has the same task: estimating the system performance (response speed) under the variable load. That is why we do not separate them. Anyway good results are depending on goals you choose and how you reach them, but not on names you choose.

Theory and practice

For detailed information on what are Load Testing and Performance Testing of programs, as well as information about process and methodology, you can find in the section Automatization of Load Testing.