The document discusses best practices for setting up test environments. It recommends determining the purpose, technical structure, users, and number of environments needed upfront. Maintaining stable, cost-effective environments through configuration management, release management, and availability monitoring is key to minimizing downtime and unnecessary defects. The ideal setup depends on each project's specific requirements and goals for the test environment.

2. Test Environments How to get them Right Kevin Harvey 20 th August 2008

3. Overview This Webinar will aim to address the following: Why it is important to get Test Environments right Environment Goals Environment Requirements Cost Effectiveness Stability

4. Why ? Keep the project cogs moving !!! Minimise loss of man hours due to lack of environment availability in all areas of the project Maximise design and development time available Minimise unnecessary defects due to unknown environment inconsistencies Save money

5. Key Attributes Stable Maintainable Accurate Accessible Cost effective

6. Basic Environment

7. Key Questions What will the test environment be used for ? What does the test environment look like ? Who will access the test environment ? How many environments will I need ? How do I minimise downtime ?

8. Purpose What will the test environment be used for Proofing and designing business process solutions Developing solutions Unit testing Smoke testing Integration testing User acceptance testing Performance testing Security testing Operation acceptance testing Post go live warranty periods

9. Technical Structure What does the test environment look like Architecture External system links Interfaces both internal and external Data Loads

10. User Requirements Who will access the test environment Support Developers Testers Analysts

11. Project Requirement How many environments Development Staging Integration Performance Security User Acceptance Operational Acceptance

12. Stability How do I minimise downtime Configuration management Release Management Efficient test user administration Availability Monitoring Virtualisation

13. Stability (cont) Example Dev STG INT PERF & SEC UAT OAT

14. Summary There are no definitive answers Early and concise information gathering is key Involve all key project players as early possible Ensure stability through ongoing management If possible appoint a dedicated Test Environment Manager If you have any questions, then please e-mail: [email_address]