The Art of Applications Performance Testing, 2E

by Ian Molyneaux

Overview

Because performance is paramount today, this thoroughly updated guide shows you how to test mission-critical applications for scalability and performance before you deploy them—whether it’s to the cloud or a mobile device. You’ll learn the complete testing process lifecycle step-by-step, along with best practices to plan, coordinate, and conduct performance tests on your applications.

• Set realistic performance testing goals
• Implement an effective application performance testing strategy
• Interpret performance test results
• Cope with different application technologies and architectures
• Understand the importance of End User Monitoring (EUM)
• Use automated performance testing tools
• Test traditional local applications, web applications, and web services
• Recognize and resolves issues often overlooked in performance tests

Written by a consultant with over 15 years’ experience with performance testing, The Art of Application Performance Testing thoroughly explains the pitfalls of an inadequate testing strategy and offers a robust, structured approach for ensuring that your applications perform well and scale effectively when the need arises.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781491900543
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/04/2015
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	275
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

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; 35 years later, Ian has held many roles in IT but is a techie at heart. His current role is Head of Performance at Intechnica, a software consultancy based in Manchester UK, specializing in .NET development and performance assurance for the enterprise with a strong focus on Cloud. He currently resides in Buckinghamshire, U.K. with wife Sarah, daughter Sasha, and three cats and is trying to get used to the idea of turning 55!

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 Why Performance Test? 1

What Is Performance? The End-User Perspective 2

Bad Performance: Why It's So Common 5

Summary 10

2 The Fundamentals of Effective Application Performance Testing 11

Choosing an Appropriate Performance Testing Tool 13

Designing an Appropriate Performance Test Environment 17

Setting Realistic and Appropriate Performance Targets 24

Making Sure Your Application Is Stable Enough for Performance Testing 30

Obtaining a Code Freeze 32

Identifying and Scripting the Business-Critical Transactions 32

Providing Sufficient Test Data of High Quality 36

Ensuring Accurate Performance Test Design 38

Identifying the Server and Network Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 46

Allocating Enough Time to Performance Test Effectively 49

Summary 50

3 The Process of Performance Testing 51

The Proof of Concept (POC) 52

From Requirements to Performance Test 54

Case Study 1: Online Banking 63

Case Study 2: Call Center 70

Summary 76

4 Interpreting Results: Effective Root-Cause Analysis 77

The Analysis Process 78

Types of Output from a Performance Test 79

Root-Cause Analysis 90

Analysis Checklist 96

Summary 99

5 Application Technology and its Impact on Performance Testing 101

Asynchronous Java and XML (AJAX) 101

Citrix 102

HTTP Protocol 104

Java 106

Oracle 107

SAP 108

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) 109

Web 2.0 110

Oddball Application Technologies: Help, My Load Testing Tool Won't Record It! 112

A Transaction Examples 115

B Poc and Performance Test Quick Reference 119

C Automated Tool Vendors 129

D Sample Kpi Monitoring Templates 133

E Sample Project Plan 137

Index 139