About Performance Testing

The testing performed to determine the degree to which a system or component accomplishes its designated functions within given constraints regarding processing time and throughput rate.”

The purpose of the test is to measure characteristics, such as response times, throughput or the mean time between failures (for reliability testing) 
Performance testing tool:  
A tool to support performance testing and that usually has two main facilities: load generation and test transaction measurement. Load generation can simulate either multiple users or high volumes of input data. During execution, response time measurements are taken from selected transactions and these are logged. Performance testing tools normally provide reports based on test logs and graphs of load against response times.

Features or characteristics of performance-testing tools include support for: 

• generating a load on the system to be tested
• measuring the timing of specific transactions as the load on the system varies;
• measuring average response times;
• producing graphs or charts of responses over time 

The following types of tests are included in Performance Testing: 

• Benchmark testing: Compares the performance of new or unknown target-of-test to a known reference standard, such as existing software or measurements.
• Contention test: Verifies the target-of-test can acceptably handle multiple actor demands on the same resource (data records, memory, and so forth).
• Performance profiling: Verifies the acceptability of the target-of-test's performance behavior using varying configurations while the operational conditions remain constant.
• Load testing: Verifies the acceptability of the target-of-test's performance behavior under varying operational conditions (such as number of users, number of transactions, and so on) while the configuration remains constant.
• Stress testing: Verifies the acceptability of the target-of-test's performance behavior when abnormal or extreme conditions are encountered, such as diminished resources or an extremely high number of users.

 Next