All the tools that can help a website or intranet application developer to ensure it won't crash under load.

Why load testing?

In today's world of e-business, your customers and business partners want their Web sites to be competitive. The criteria for a competitive Website are the following : pages that download immediately and efficient and accurate online transactions.

Your users are located at several remote sites and you'd like to be able to test these various network access channels to reflect the application's type of usage?

The methodology

Companies simulate real world Web users by using Cloud Testing services. Once user scenarios are developed and the test is designed, these service providers leverage Cloud servers (such as Amazon EC2) to generate Web traffic that originates from around the world.

Define a Realistic Scenario

When you record a scenario that is to be played back, there will be potentially hundreds of simulated users playing that scenario concurrently. It is important that the scenario is representative of the actions of your user population and their locations. The scenario should perform the same types of operations as your users this is obvious to most people but also at the same speed your users would.

Often, testers will carefully research what actions their users perform. Satisfied, they will then record a scenario, but record the actions in quick succession, thinking that its the only the transactions themselves that are important. Equally important is the think time, the time between operations.

Benefits of Cloud load testing

• More flexibility : by generating the load from your virtual users over the cloud, you have at your disposal as many generators as needed, without having to tie up or increase your own internal resources. In just a few minutes, you'll have all the power you need.
• More realistic : you can test more realistic scenarios with load being input from different parts of the globe, and test your entire infrastructure from top to bottom (firewalls, routers, ...).
• No limits : using the cloud, you can progressively test heavier and heavier loads (the power available is almost limitless) to find the real limits of your system's capabilities
• More savings : you only pay for the power you use, when you really need it.