Web load testing provides a benchmark of the capabilities and strains your web application or site is able to handle. Using scripts to generate the load, the real life demands on your website are simulated, enabling an accurate assessment of your capacity requirements.

Why Load Test?

• Maximize the efficiency and cost effectiveness of your Web infrastructure
• Ensure that your mission-critical applications reliably handle peak loads
• Improve load capacity of Web applications throughout their entire life cycle
• Pinpoint performance bottlenecks with ease

What We Test For

Hardware Limitations

Discovering hardware limitations after a site is launched can be expensive, which is why it is vital that a lot of planning and testing is completed before deciding on your hosting infrastructure.

Bandwidth Limits.

Measuring the bandwidth usage of a Web site during peak times can give you an accurate idea of the type of service required. Using this report you can decide weather to constrain the number of inbound connections or increase your capacity.

Memory Leaks.

Memory leaks can be difficult to isolate, and are usually due to poor coding, open connections, or issues relating to third party components. Monitoring memory usage can identify a memory leak and using scripts to check individual components it is possible to identify the issue that requires attention.

Resource Locking

Resource locking is a common database tool enabling records to be “locked” against being modified in order to protect data. However, bad locking practices will often cause a site to fail under heavy loads. Resource locking is frequently overlooked as a possible reason for site failure.

Bottlenecks

The root cause of a bottleneck can lie in either the hardware or the software. Whilst comparatively easy to identify, bottlenecks (and software bottlenecks in particular) can be very difficult to resolve.

Transactional Problems

Transactional processing covers a broad spectrum of issues, for example Credit-Card processing or validation. Testing the transactional elements of the site is the most important and usually the hardest task to complete as considerations need to be made for aborted or unsuccessful transactions. A report detailing all the transactional risks is vital in helping you build a robust environment.

Benefits of Web Load Testing

• Increases uptime and availability of mission-critical Internet systems.
• Avoids project failures by predicting site behaviour under large user loads.
• Measures and monitors the performance of your e-business infrastructure.
• Ensure your system can handle the load of hundreds of concurrent transactions before you deploy and launch it into the real world.
  

Planning

At the start of the project it is vital we cover every aspect of the user’s interaction with your website, and that we asses every piece of code and every component (hardware and software) of your web infrastructure. Our planning team will sit down with you and create a complete strategy.

Test Development

During this phase we will identify what needs to be tested and create the scripts and the load testing environment to realistically mirror a live environment. We will also identify what to monitor and ready the monitoring tools without affecting the performance of your environment.

Test Execution

In this phase we will run the tests and create the exact load during peak times, as well as simulating the environment during off-hours or during scheduled maintenance windows.

Results analysis and Tuning Enhancements

We provide you with detail reports on the performance of your infrastructure under different loads, identifying the key areas that need to be resolved, and working with your team to resolve these issues.

Why Cintra?

• Experts in Oracle based enterprise architectures and web applications since 1996.
• Measured benefit.
• Detailed deliverable report.
• We use proven but freely available opensource testing tools, avoiding costly software licensing of tools such as Mercury Tools.