Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
8.4 INSTALLATIONTESTING
Installation testing focuses on the way the new application or system is placed into its
production environment. The installation process itself can vary from a simple startup.
exe that copies all application fi les to their proper place to a complex set of fi les and an
instruction manual for an experienced system installer. Regardless of the simplicity or
complexity of the installation process, it needs to be tested to ensure that the recipients
of the new application or system can be successful at making it ready for use.
The recommended approach is to have a test environment with the hardware
platform(s) and software platform set up to look exactly like the intended production
environment. Then the test is to execute the installation procedure as written with
the fi les provided to validate successful installation.
During the last 10 years, installation processes were weak in helping the end-user
installer determine if the installation was successful. There has been a resurgence of
vendors that include installation verifi cation aids, both manual and automatic, with
the installation packages. Do not forget to test the verifi cation aids too!
8.5 THE SMOKE TEST
With the new, complex software applications, verifi cation of a successful installation is
not suffi cient to allow the end user to start using the software for routine business. Two
more tasks must be completed fi rst: confi guration and administration. This section deals
with confi guration verifi cation. The next section deals with administration verifi cation.
Confi guring an installed application means selecting among a list of optional
ways the software can be operated to make the software operate more closely to
the specifi c organization's requirements. Typical confi guration tasks include setting
startup parameters and choosing process rules. Examples of startup parameters are
the location of data fi les, maximum number of user sessions, maximum user session
duration before automatic timeout, ID/password of the system administrator, default
date formats, and geography-specifi c settings for language and culture. Examples of
process rules are defi nitions of security classes, startup/shutdown schedules, backup
schedules and destination fi les, accounting rules, and travel reservation rules.
The smoke test is used to verify that a successfully installed software applica-
tion can be subsequently confi gured properly. As you can see by the variety of con-
fi guration examples, there are a large number of confi guration combinations possible
for most applications. The challenge of the smoke test planner is to identify the most
likely confi guration combination for the 10 most important customer installations.
The tester starts with a successfully installed copy of the software and proceeds
to confi gure/reconfi gure the software per the 10 combinations. Each time a differ-
ent confi guration combination is established, the tester executes minimal steps that
demonstrate the software is correctly honoring the new confi guration.
The term “smoke test” comes from the hardware engineering practice of plug-
ging a new piece of equipment into an electrical outlet and looking for smoke. If
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