EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2013 presentation on With Cloud Computing Who Needs Performance Testing by Albert Witteveen. See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/

1. With Cloud Computing,
Who Needs Performance Testing?
Albert Witteveen, Pluton IT
www.eurostarconferences.com
@esconfs
#esconfs
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3. Albert Witteveen

4.  You just woke up after a 10 years nap:
Team member:
“We can add extra processing power and memory on the fly.
An extra database has a lead time of two weeks”

5. Does this sound familiar:
 Performance test: everything OK
 Day 1 on production: we end up adding more than four times
the hardware

6. 1. the tools simulate but are not quite equal
2. load profiles are based on too many assumptions
3. we report more accurately than we can measure
4. long setup time → limited amount of tests
5. we hide it all in complex reports

7.  We send and accept the same requests and responses but
can't anticipate slight changes
 In production, a lot more is going on then just our test
 Did we really get a good response
 Similar hardware is expensive

8.  Cloud computing: adding extra hardware can be done on the
fly and on a moments notice
 With the high costs of performance testing and how easy we
can 'speed things up' if needed:
Why bother testing? The money is better spent on that extra
hardware

9. Just start with an overkill of hardware and scale down to what is
actually used!

12.  Computers are running or idling.
 The queuing theory is an established model for performance
engineers
 It can describe the behavior of systems on every layer

16.  Queuing center: a location in our system where waiting
(queuing) occurs a Bottleneck if you will
◦ They can exist anywhere: CPU, Memory, Network, IO, other systems
◦ There is always one or more queuing centers
◦ A queuing center really determines the performance
◦ The queuing center provide key information on scalability
◦ Service and wait time are the real components of performance

17.  Queuing model describe anything: large connected systems,
small, embedded ...
 You can 'zoom in' and the model can describe the behavior or
the server
 You can keep zooming in to CPU, network etc.

18.  Multiple zoom levels
 Residence time = wait + service time
 There is always a queuing center
 No queuing center found: look harder

19.  Cloud computing not infinite:
 Financial limit
 Technical: IO/Network/CPU speed per process
We don't build supercomputers to calculate a mortgage offer

20.  Always find the queuing centers
 Based on the result: judge 'yes we are likely to meet
requirement X Y and Z'
 Show where the risks are 'requirement x cannot be feasibly
met for function y'
 Explore the risks

21.  Explore identified resource heavy components with
stakeholders, developers and oracles
◦ Other use of this component?
◦ Real frequency of usage?
◦ Validity of the (generic) requirement for this function?
 Place the results in context:
◦ You may have a bigger issue than you thought
◦ Or it is actually OK for this usage

22.  Define a set of key functions/use cases with stakeholders and
experts (i.e. functional testers)
 Per test identify at least one queuing center
 Compare with generic requirements
◦ Can meet ?
◦ Risk exist → explore → place in context →define further test
 The model allows you to place real behavior in context and a
realistic assessment of risk

23.  If no queuing center was found → monitoring was not
sufficient
 Queuing centers:
◦ Tell you about the risks to core functionality: performance and
financial
◦ Tell you on the ability to scale
◦ Improve response time in scaling up

24.  Stakeholders don't (necessarily) understand queuing models
 Explain in what matters to them: i.e. when making the offer it
takes 15 seconds to generate
 Think of the systems as queuing systems and explain
behavior

25.  Knowing what the behavior is can tell you:
◦ if you can handle requirements
◦ how to scale if needed
◦ estimate if performance can be met within budget
◦ if you need to adapt your cloud (i.e. improve IO/network, CPU)
 So yes: it still makes sense to do performance testing

26.  Batch process tested to be run from multiple servers
 Process needed to be faster
 Risk: 'on-line' processes on server should not be impacted
 Finding: 3 servers, three times as fast. But no queuing center
found???
 Deep diving in CPU monitoring showed the queuing center:
Process was pausing/waiting after each cycle
 Conclusion: → on-line processes not impacted as there was
sufficient CPU time for other processes

27.  Stress point found
 Unclear where queuing center was
 Cause: JAVA memory management can be deceiving on OS
level.
 Rule that the queuing center needed to be found made us find
out. The absence of a queuing center makes you look further