April 20, 2024

Using Randomness To Improve The Quality Of Load Tests

Load tests should closely match real-world behavior so as to provide a developer with realistic results. This means that your tests should consider the fact each user will spend an unpredictable amount of time on a web page and enter different data into the system. The best way to capture this unpredictability of real life situations is to add randomness to the load tests. There are two main areas where randomness will help in creating accurate load tests: client sleep time and data stores.

Client sleep time is used to account for the instances when a user is not doing anything on the system. A user could be reading studying a diagram or reading text on a web page. Inexperienced load testers will overlook this issue, but it is important that you include it in your load tests. Each user will spend a different amount of time on the site therefore a developer should randomize sleep time for each virtual user and test. Most tools and programming languages used for load testing provide libraries that generate random numbers. Some tools even allow you to set the sleep time for a specific virtual user. Incorporating random sleep times to your load tests allow you to get realistic performance data from your load tests.

Data stores are files that contain parameterized data. If a developer is testing a login system, they would need to create data that contains unique login IDs and passwords for each user. One can use tools such as Mockaroo that generate high quality dummy data. If you not have the funds to pay for Mockaroo, you can use in built tools from Ruby and R that allow you to create large amounts of dummy data. When creating dummy data be sure to include incorrect data that will test the validation features of your system. Once you have created your dummy data, your user scenarios will incorporate the data in the actual load tests.

The above are just some of the ways of using randomness to improve the quality of load tests. There are other ways of using randomness such as simulating random network traffic and so on. Various tools and cloud providers will have their own method of incorporating randomness in load tests.

 

Testing a VPS Server for Performance

Websites must have their performance tested as much as possible, and the owner of the site must ensure that have had the tests done many times over. This article explains how the testing must be done, and you will find it quite simple to work with the company that complete your tests. Someone who is testing their site for the first time will find where they are lacking, and they may make decisions based on what they are told.

Who Does The Test?

The test is completed by someone who accesses the site remotely, and they will let you know what the site is capable of on the first test. They will continue to test, and you will learn what the capacity of the site is on each subsequent test. You may ask the company how they plan to test for you in the future, and they will give you a schedule for tests.

There Are Many Tests To Complete

The tests that you must complete will change given the nature of your site. You may need to progress when given the results from the tests, and you will find it quite simple to make alterations to the site once you have information from your reports. The tests will remain simple, and they will show the progress you have made as you work on your site.

Which Types of Servers Can You Test?

When you’re looking at different types of web servers, there are a variety of different types. There are shared servers, which are typically pretty slow. Then there are VPS servers, which are faster, and then dedicated servers which are the fastest. The most common type of mid range servers are VPS servers. VPS stands for “Virtual Private Server” and they are most often supplied by companies like Liquidweb. In fact, Liquidweb is pretty much my favorite VPS server host. If you’re wondering how good they actually are, you can check out Web Hosting Buddy’s review online at this URL: https://webhostingbuddy.com/liquidweb-review/.

The thing I like about Web Hosting Buddy compared to other sites is that they don’t just recommend things for the sake of recommending them unless it’s something that they used themselves. According to their article, their site is actually hosted with Liquidweb which makes me believe they are more sincere than some of the other reviews that you’ll find online. Liquidweb is also pretty much known for their customer service and support, which is top notch from my experience as a web developer. They even have an active company Twitter account and it’s not too hard to get a hold of them via social media if you need to.

The Site Is Checked At Different Times

The site will be tested and reported at different times of day, and you must ensure you have reports that show how well your site performs given the time of day. You will prepare for the amount of traffic coming to your site, and you will be prepared when you have peak hours of activity.

The load testing you undertake on your site is quite important, and you must ensure you have chosen a testing service that allows you to change your site for the future. Each new load test will go quite a long way to helping you improve your site, and you will see the results when customers visit your site every day.