Load testing is about subjecting the system to a mix of the various operations from a various types of users with some of them being concurrent and then assessing if they can indeed be processed with the given resources.
So to conduct an effective load test, it is mandatory to understand the various types of users of the system, # of users of each user type (typical and maximum), various operations in the system mapped to these users, their usage pattern etc. In HyBIST, one of the core concept “Operational profiling” is used to come up with real-time usage scenarios to load the system.
Key aspects in this core concept are,
- Mode – Represents a time period of usage e.g. End of month, where the usage patterns are distinctive and different.
- Key operations (features/requirements) used
- Types of end users associated with the key features/requirements
- Number of end users for each type of users
- Rate of arrival of transactions
For a given mode, identify the end users types and their key operations and then identify the number of users for each type of user and then identify the rate of arrival of transaction.
Performance test relates to the time aspect of the system under various load conditions.