Stress Testing

What is Stress Testing?

Stress testing is the process of evaluating the stability of hardware or software under high-load conditions. This type of testing involves adding load to a system to assess its operational limits. These limits should be well defined in terms of desired capacity.

Stress Testing Helps Companies Determine the Stability of a System or Application

In a stress test, the application under test (AUT) is subjected to a significant load for a certain amount of time to determine its breaking point and evaluate its error handling. This testing is carried out to determine the precise number at which the system will fail, often based on the number of users and server requests.

Types of Stress Testing

Type	WHAT DOES IT DO?
Server-Client Testing	Server-client testing, also known as distributed testing, is carried out across all clients from the server. During this testing, the client sends requests to the server for information; then, the server sends the requested information back to the client.
Product/Application Testing	Products and applications are tested to find bugs related to performance bottlenecks, network problems, data blockages, and locks.
Transaction Testing	One or more transactions between two or more applications are tested. The goal of this testing is to fine-tune and optimize the system.
Systematic Testing	Often used to test systems that run on a server, systematic testing makes it possible to find errors where data from one software prevents the operation of another.
Analytical Testing	Analytical testing is performed to evaluate the system under unusual conditions or parameters that are unlikely to occur. The goal is to identify flaws in these odd situations, such as numerous concurrent users attempting to log into the application.

Stress Testing Considerations

Questions	Answers
What type of tech products can be stress tested?	Most often, various software applications are stress tested. Selecting the right tool for testing software depends on the type of stress testing you want to perform. Hardware can also be stress tested, including PC, CPU, GPU, and RAM.
What is your company’s specific goal behind stress testing?	Stress testing analyzes how a system or application behaves under load and, potentially, after a failure due to high load. A successful stress test is determined by the system displaying an appropriate response to the error when it is under an extreme load.
What kind of tools are used for stress testing?	Organizations can use several tools for stress testing. Here are some of the most common ones: Loadrunner: This is a widely used tool for stress testing from HP. The results provided by Loadrunner are considered a benchmark. Neoload: A paid tool for stress testing on web and mobile applications. JMeter: An open-source tool that can conduct all types of performance testing, including stress testing. Primarily tests web applications. Grinder: An open source and Java-based tool used for load and stress testing. WebLoad: A free tool that supports web and mobile app stress testing.
What process should you use for stress testing?	There are typically seven steps to the stress testing process: 1. Identify the testing environment: Determine the tools, hardware, and software network configurations available to complete the stress test(s). 2. Determine performance criteria: What result will signify that your stress test(s) was successful? 3. Plan and design the stress test(s): This includes creating the test plan and identifying test scenarios. 4. Configure the test environment: Equip the testing environment with the tools and resources needed to execute each test. 5. Implement the test design: Develop the stress test(s) according to the plan. 6. Execute the test(s): Run the test(s) and confirm you have the require data to analyze the results correctly. 7. Analyze the results: Do your results reflect your desired output? Compile and distribute the outcome data.

Stress Test Your Tech Solution with CENGN

As a non-profit looking to supercharge Canada’s innovation economy, CENGN offers the infrastructure and expertise needed for small and medium-sized businesses to test their tech products.

These services are provided through a no-cost CENGN project to Canadian companies looking for commercial growth.

Most tech companies are experts in their specific product, not stress testing. CENGN leverages the experience gained from 200+ commercialization projects to help businesses determine their testing goals, identify appropriate metrics and required equipment, design a unique testing process, and test to validate their product.

Stress Test Your Product on the CENGN Testbed

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