In this article, we will see how to select performance testing tool to validate the non-functional requirements of the application. There are many factors plays a critical role in any tool selection. From non-functional testing perspective, selection of tool is technically oriented. There are two types of tools available: Open Source and Commercial.
Following are the important factors must be considered before selecting performance testing tool, irrespective of open source or commercial tools:
- Budget
- Types of license
- Vendor support and online forums
- Protocol support
- Scripting languages
- Protocol analyser
- Record and Playback options
- Data Parameterization
- Checkpoints
- Transactions
- Actions
- Iterations
- Built-in functions
- Custom Functions for reusability
- Compare scripts utility
- Bandwidth simulation
- Browser support / compatibility
- Log Levels
- Real time Workload Model
- Scheduling
- IP Proofing
- Intuitive Graphs and Charts for identifying bottleneck
- Different formats of Result Generation like *.html, *.csv, *.xls, *.xlsx, *.pdf etc.
- Diagnostics
- Resource Monitoring
- Batch execution
Steps to select performance testing tool
Following are the steps involved in performance testing tool procurement.
- Analyze your requirements
- Which protocol the application is built?
- In what technology the application is built?
- Critical use cases of the application
- Tools constraints
- Budget
- Types of Licenses (Concurrent, Seat, Pay Per VUsers, Protocol bundles etc.)
- Vendor  restrictions
- Prepare the tools features matrix
- Primary features
- Secondary features
- Optional features
- Immaterial features
How to select the tool?
Assume you analyzed the requirements and the budget approved from your higher management. Register at vendor’s website, download the latest version of the tool and get a trial license key. Usually trial license comes with full features for 10-14 days. Install it and start trying to script few critical scenarios.
Perform a warm up load test and generate the results and analyze it. Explore all the features and try to implement in the script. Go online and search for the vendor support websites and other forums. The above mentioned activities will increase your confidence level of the tool.
Happy Performance Testing!
For your reference:Â Performance Testing ProcessÂ
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1)in which situations we go with “url mode of recording” instead of html?
2)how architecture knowledge is neccessary for a performance tester?
Hi Sanjana,
Mode of recording comes into picture if you are unable perform correlation. If you are not getting any info in one type of recording, then switch to other type of recording.
Regarding architecture, it is always good to know about the architecture. Architecture knoewledge reveals your maturity and confidence level for any tester.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you need any further clarifications.
Thank you,
NaveenKumar N
From QAInsights.com