Performance Testing Concepts & Terms

This article describes key concepts in building an approach to Performance Testing. Performance testing involves evaluating how a system performs under a specific workload. This can help determine if the system is able to handle the expected number of transactions and if its configuration is suitable.

Key Concepts

Load testing involves putting a system or application through a defined transaction model, either through scripts or by simulating a large number of users. The model typically consists of various functions, such as common transactions or transactions that require a high amount of system resources, such as searches and report retrieval.

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Stress testing involves putting a system under abnormal or extreme workload in order to observe its behaviour. This can help identify if the system will crash or experience timeouts when subjected to high levels of transactions. For example, stress testing might involve seeing if a database connection times out before the application crashes when subjected to a high volume of transactions.

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Response Times

These are the duration it takes to complete a transaction. There are different levels of transactions For user-facing transactions

<pre class="mermaid">
graph LR
    A[Start] --> B[Step 1]
    B --> C[Step 2]
    C --> D[Step 3]
    D --> E[End]
</pre>

<pre class="mermaid">
graph LR
A[Start] --> B[Step 1]
B --> C[Step 2]
C --> D[Step 3]
D --> E[End]
</pre>