Today I have written to a customer on what we usually do about load/performance testing. I decided to put it here should I need it again as well as to help you organize our load testing activities.
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Load testing usually start from learning about the customer's problem. Every load testing session is unique and this is very important to start moving right direction from the beginning.
After learning the purpose of testing we develop testing strategy. Test strategy include the definition of load scenarios (how many virtual users are to be involved, where to put the load in the system (at which hierarchy level), what type of scripts to use (simulative or fast), etc.)
Then we start working on scenarios. Scenarios are the individual scripts which will be played back by virtual users. Customer input is vital because domain knowledge is the key to creating the right set of scenarios.
Then we execute several test runs with different load level to see how server reacts and to make sure that load is adequate and test results are not affected by configuration or communication issues. Usually it takes from 5 to 10 runs to finalize test plans and conditions.
A very tight communication with development representative and deployment team is very important. We have to make sure the testing is performed in clean conditions, whereas no one else can interfere and alter test results.
During the testing we usually set up server-side monitors to find the resource-bottleneck, if any.
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Having done all above you will make sure that the problem is solved, not just a load test performed.
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