Web-Based Testing and Capacity Planning - High-Performance Web Databases: Design, Development, and Deployment - page 630

should be completed on a recurring basis as web sites tend to change
URLs or are discontinued.

• Security Testing: Although implemented security measures are consid-

ered as part of the end-to-end solution, this testing type is kept sepa-
rate due to its importance. Security testing involves two key
processes. The first is the assurance that unauthorized users are
blocked from accessing data and systems not intended for the user
population. The second involves the testing of the data encryption
techniques employed by your organization.

• Regression Testing: Regression testing ensures that code changes

made during application testing or post-production have not intro-
duced any additional defects into previously tested code.

• Usability Testing: Usability testing ensures the presentation, flow, and

general ergonomics of your web site is accepted by the intended user
community. This testing phase is critical as it enables your organization
to measure the effectiveness of the content and design of your web site,
which ultimately leads to the ability to attract and keep customers.

• Stress Testing: Stress testing observes the capabilities of production

hardware and software to continue to function properly under a pre-
determined set and volume of test scenarios. The purpose of stress
testing is to ensure that the system can maintain throughput and effi-
cient operation under different load conditions.

Stress testing enables your organization to determine what conditions
are likely to cause system (hardware or software) failures. This testing
phase needs to consider the possible hardware platforms, operating
systems and browsers used by customers. Results from stress testing
are also a key component used for capacity planning (capacity plan-
ning is discussed later in this article).

• Performance Testing: Performance testing observes the response times

of your systems (i.e. web-server, database, etc.) and capabilities of
your network to efficiently transmit data under varied load conditions.
Performance testing should enable your organization to determine and
resolve bottlenecks within the application and infrastructure. Perfor-
mance testing should also consider the possible hardware platforms,
operating systems and browsers used by customers.

If testing scope has been limited to a certain aspect of the system and/or
network environment, only a limited set of tests will be completed in the
pre-production phase. Based on the priorities set in the scoping phase, the
test manager needs to determine the set of test types and resources
required in the pre-production testing phase and those that will be com-
pleted in the post-production phase. The minimum testing that needs to
occur for code changes is unit and integration testing for the modules
affected by the code change.