The Art of Application Performance Testing

by Molyneaux, Ian

• ISBN13: 9780596520663
• ISBN10: 0596520662
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-01-01
• Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc

Summary

This practical book provides a step-by-step approach to testing mission-critical applications for scalability and performance before they're deployed -- a vital topic to which other books devote one chapter, if that. Businesses today live and die by network applications and web services. Because of the increasing complexity of these programs, and the pressure to deploy them quickly, many professionals don't take the time to ensure that they'll perform well and scale effectively. The Art of Application Performance Testing explains the complete life cycle of the testing process, and demonstrates best practices to help you plan, gain approval for, coordinate, and conduct performance tests on your applications. With this book, you'll learn to: Set realistic performance testing goals Implement an effective application performance testing strategy Interpret performance test results Cope with different application technologies and architectures Use automated performance testing tools Test traditional local applications, web-based applications, and web services (SOAs) Recognize and resolves issues that are often overlooked in performance testsWritten by a consultant with 30 years of experience in the IT industry and over 12 years experience with performance testing, this easy-to-read book is illustrated with real-world examples and packed with practical advice. The Art of Application Performance Testing thoroughly explains the pitfalls of an inadequate testing strategy and offers you a robust, structured approach for ensuring that your applications perform well and scale effectively when the need arises. "Ian has maintained a vendor-agnostic methodology beautifully in this material. The metrics and graphs, along with background information provided in his case studies, eloquently convey to the reader, 'Methodology above all, tools at your discretion...' Ian's expertise shines through throughout the entire reading experience."-- Matt St. Onge, Enterprise Solution Architect, HCL Technologies America / Teradyne

Author Biography

Originally hailing from Auckland, New Zealand, Ian Molyneaux ended up in IT purely by chance after applying for an interesting looking job advertised as "junior computer operator" in the mid '70s. The rest is history, 30 years later I've held many roles in IT, although I've shied away from anything management related as I'm a techie at heart. His current role is EMEA SME (Subject Matter Expert) for Application Performance Assurance at Compuware. Presently residing in Buckinghamshire, U.K. with wife Sarah, daughter Sasha, and two cats, and trying to get used to the idea of turning 49!

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Why Performance Test?	p. 1
What Is Performance? The End-User Perspective	p. 2
Bad Performance: Why It's So Common	p. 5
Summary	p. 10
The Fundamentals of Effective Application Performance Testing	p. 11
Choosing an Appropriate Performance Testing Tool	p. 13
Designing an Appropriate Performance Test Environment	p. 17
Setting Realistic and Appropriate Performance Targets	p. 24
Making Sure Your Application Is Stable Enough for Performance Testing	p. 30
Obtaining a Code Freeze	p. 32
Identifying and Scripting the Business-Critical Transactions	p. 32
Providing Sufficient Test Data of High Quality	p. 36
Ensuring Accurate Performance Test Design	p. 38
Identifying the Server and Network Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)	p. 46
Allocating Enough Time to Performance Test Effectively	p. 49
Summary	p. 50
The Process of Performance Testing	p. 51
The Proof of Concept (POC)	p. 52
From Requirements to Performance Test	p. 54
Case Study 1: Online Banking	p. 63
Case Study 2: Call Center	p. 70
Summary	p. 76
Interpreting Results: Effective Root-Cause Analysis	p. 77
The Analysis Process	p. 78
Types of Output from a Performance Test	p. 79
Root-Cause Analysis	p. 90
Analysis Checklist	p. 96
Summary	p. 99
Application Technology and its Impact on Performance Testing	p. 101
Asynchronous Java and XML (AJAX)	p. 101
Citrix	p. 102
HTTP Protocol	p. 104
Java	p. 106
Oracle	p. 107
SAP	p. 108
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)	p. 109
Web 2.0	p. 110
Oddball Application Technologies: Help, My Load Testing Tool Won't Record It!	p. 112
Transaction Examples	p. 115
Poc and Performance Test Quick Reference	p. 119
Automated Tool Vendors	p. 129
Sample Kpi Monitoring Templates	p. 133
Sample Project Plan	p. 137
Index	p. 139
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.