How does the approach to performance / load testing extranet mobile
applications change from testing other RIAs? In some ways, not much. Yes, the
user activity for every mobile application will be unique, but the same goes
for every web application. Different technology stacks, different
deployments, different load patterns, different types of users profiles, and
different content delivery… All make each web application, in its own
right, unique. The approach to methodical performance testing for capacity
planning and identifying scalability issues remains the same.
The mobile application could be a web site accessed via a URL or it could be
a native mobile application loaded onto your device. The list of mobile
devices keeps growing, but currently the most popular are Tablets, PDA’s,
Droids, Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, Smartphones, etc. Supporting testing from
thes... (more)
Often we see the workload to a web application measured by throughput. It's a
way of quantifying the volume of requests/responses in relation to time.
Transactions per second or TPS is the most common ratio used. A performance
test plan usually contains certain throughput goals. The "GO or NO GO"
decision for rolling out a new release or architectural change relies heavily
upon a web application handling a certain TPS. Management wants a "Pass"
stamp, but it's your job to make sure that the achieved TPS is indeed
realistic - not an illusion of phony numbers. My advice is to "keep... (more)
The first step in performance or load testing a web application is to create
a realistic test script. This script, representing a specific type of end
user, contains steps that are fully automated transactions flows. Often,
complex behaviors need to be emulated as part of these flows. To incorporate
the needed behavior or to handle complex scenarios, testers need to customize
these load scripts. The question is whether you utilize a tool that takes a
GUI driven approach for script customization/manipulation, or whether you
choose a tool which requires the use of a programming lan... (more)
The ability to conduct effective performance testing has become a highly
desired skillset within the IT industry. Unfortunately, these highly
sought-after skills are consistently in short supply. "Front-end testers" can
work with a tool to create a realistic load and although this is an important
skillset, creating the load is just the beginning of any performance project.
Understanding the load patterns and tuning the environment makes the unique
talents of a "performance engineer" worth their weight in gold.
Performance engineers require skills in data analysis such as resource ... (more)
Load and performance testing web applications will allow you to determine
whether or not your deployment will require a clustered environment. When
the test results show that the current throughput is restricted by the
capacity of the server but target workloads are not yet met, this is a
situation where you can achieve higher scalability by implementing clusters
to your environment. Clustering achieves higher scalability by introducing
more servers or nodes to expand the capacity of the environment. Obviously,
the benefits of adding hardware include higher capacity, reliability,... (more)
Rebecca Clinard is a Senior Performance Engineer at Neotys, a provider of load testing software for Web applications. Previously, she worked as a web application performance engineer for Bowstreet, Fidelity Investments, Bottomline Technologies and Timberland companies, industries spanning retail, financial services, insurance and manufacturing. Her expertise lies in creating realistic load tests and performance tuning multi-tier deployments. She has been orchestrating and conducting performance tests since 2001. Clinard graduated from University of New Hampshire with a BS and also holds a UNIX Certificate from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 
Doug Bonderud
Giles Proctor
Tom Flynn
Leonard Johnson
Patrick Pushor
Bob Evans
