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Types of load testing

By Lucy Truce


Several Web load tests are textured to find out how a website or web application performs under various levels of usage, from the expected normal level to the predicted peak volume of traffic. There has also been said to be performance testing, reliability testing and volume testing.

This type of testing is sometimes separated into three types. Load testing 1.0 is now largely obsolete. Load testing involves testing your server performance to see how many users it can cope with, but does not really give any useful information from the user perspective; for example, does a high load slow down the loading of the website? Website Load testing 1.5 uses the same methods as load testing 1.0, but it makes good use of Cloud based resources to run the tests. Then it is able to provide more information about your website's loads, being a good way to reduce costs. Website load testing 2.0 also looks at how a user will experience your website, sporting functions such as comparing a selection of internet browsers; this is to see if they have an effect on the load. Website Load testing 2.0 also uses Cloud computing resources, so is cost effective and extremely affordable.

Although the terms load testing and performance testing are frequently used interchangeably, there are actually differences in their definitions. Load testing is normally defined as how much traffic the website is able to cope with, while performance testing looks at the speed of the website under different amounts of usage. Performance testing, then, is useful for looking at how a user will be affected by heavy website traffic.

Various different people working in the industry have differing opinions on the exact definitions of these terms. It has been said that there is also no clear difference between what is load testing and what is stress testing (stress testing involves increasing the traffic until the website or software is no longer able to function, resulting in an error message).

Despite the benefits of carrying out web testing are very clear (increased performance, higher speeds, and increased business levels), there is no real agreement between software testers regarding the goals of load testing. Web testing is a non-functional type of test, which means it looks solely at the level of users in which the system can deal with, but not whether the website actually functions correctly.

The majority of web load testing performed out online, using Cloud computing resources. Using this method then frees up the software testers to carry out other research and tests, for example, checking the website functions as intended.




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