Load/Performance Test Plan

Interview Questions

The Test Plan Samples

Load/Performance Test Plan

Reference Documents
Reference information used for the development of this plan including:
Business requirements
Technical requirements
Test requirements
…and other dependencies

1. Scope
What does this document entail?
What is being tested?
What is the overall objective of this plan? For examples:
To document test objectives, test requirements, test designs, test procedures, and other project management information
To solicit feedback and build consensus
To define development and testing deliverables
To secure commitment and resources for the test effort

2. Approach
The high-level description of the testing approach that enables us to cost effectively meet the expectation stated in the Scope section.
3. Load Test Types and Schedules
Specify the test types (with definition for each) to run:
Acceptance test
Baseline test
2B1 load test
Goal-reaching test
Spike test
Burstiness test
Stress test
Scalability test
Regression test
Benchmark test

Be specific:
Specify what tests you will run
Estimate how many cycles of each test you will run
Schedule your tests ahead of time
Specify by what criteria you will consider the SUT to be ready-for-test
Forward thinking: Determine and communicate the planned tests and how the tests are scheduled

4. Performance/Capability Goals
Identify goals:
Percentage of requested static pages that must meet the acceptable response time?
Percentage of requested scripts that must meet the acceptable response time?
The baseline multiplier (2x, 4x, ...) that the system must be capable of handling?
The spike ratio that the system must be capable of handling?
The peak ratio that the system must be capable of handling?
The burstiness ratio that the system must be capable of handling?
Tolerance ratio: Imposed load ? 25 %?
Safety ratio: Imposed load x 2?
Spike ratio: Imposed load x 3?
Burstiness ratio: Imposed load x 5?
Increase the load by multiplying the load baseline by 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, Nx gradually until unacceptable response time is reached.

Other questions to consider:
What is response time?
What is acceptable response time?
Which metrics should we collect?
What is the correlation between demand and increased load?
How do we determine which components are problematic?
How do we correlate financial implications?

5. Load Testing Process, Status Reporting, Final Report
Describe the testing and reporting procedures. For example:
The internal test team will execute all created scripts. These Scripts will be generated and executed against the system at least three times. We will execute these scripts again, after subsequent hardware, software, or other fixes are introduced.

Test team will baseline load as follows:
Load Test Team will test Nile.com with 1000 Simultaneous Clients/Users, and report back on the following metrics:
Response Time each transaction hitting the Web site.
Any web or database server errors as reported in the data log.
Round time
Failed Web Transactions
There will be Status Reports sent to Team Lead detailing:
Performance tests run
Performance metrics collected
Performance Errors and status
Number of Bugs Entered
Status Summary
Additional load testing, if needed.
The Final Report will include summary bug counts, overall performance assessment, and test project summary items.

Additional Information to be provided by Development Team:
Build Schedule
Acceptance test criteria
Deployment Plans

6. Bug Reporting and Regression Instructions
Describe the bug reporting process and the fix/change regression test procedures.

7. Tools Used
State the tool solutions for the project:
Load testing tools
Monitoring tools
Tool Options:
Product vs. Application Service Provider (ASP)
Freeware
Lease or rent
Purchase
Build
Outsourcing (testing with virtual client licensing included)

8. Training Needs
Training programs to be provided to the team to enable successful planning and execution.

9. Load Descriptions
Server-based
Number of users and/or sessions
Average session time
Number of page views
Average page views per session
Peak period (e.g., 75% of traffic is from 11:00 AM-4:00 PM)
Number of hits
Average page size
Most requested pages
Average time spend on page
New users vs. returning users
Frequency of visits (e.g., 75% of users made one visit)
Demographics
Client information such as browser, browser version, Java script support, Java script enable/disable, and so on.

User-based
Number of users
Session length
User activities and frequency of activities per session
Think/Read/Data-input time
Percentage by functional group
Percentage by human speed
Percentage by human patience (cancellation rates)
Percentage by domain expertise (speed)
Percentage by familiarity (speed)
Percentage by demographics (arrival rates)

Other questions to consider:
What is the definition of “workload”?
How do we size the workload?
What is the expected workload?
What’s the mix ratio of static pages vs. code?
What is the definition of “increased load”?
What is future growth? Can it be quantified?
What is the definition of scalability?

10. System Under Test Environment
Specifying mixes of system hardware, software, memory, network protocol, bandwidth, etc.
Network access variables: For example, 56K modem, 128K Cable modem, T1, etc.
Demographic variables: For example San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Paris, London, etc.
ISP infrastructure variables: For example, first tier, second tier, etc.
Client baseline configurations
Computer variables
Browser variables
Server baseline configurations
Computer variables
System architecture variables and diagrams

Other questions to consider asking:
What is the definition of “system”?
How many other users are using the same resources on the system under test (SUT)?
Are you testing the SUT in its complete, real-world environment (with load balances, replicated database, etc.)?
Is the SUT inside or outside the firewall?
Is the load coming from the inside or outside of the firewall?

11. Exclusions
Set clear expectations—State which goals will be outside of the scope of this testing. For example:
Content accuracy or appropriateness testing is out of the scope of this plan.
The integration of any major third party components (for example a search engine, credit card processor, or mapping component) with the site will be tested, though the scope of the project does not include in-depth functional testing of these components.
Internationalization
Compatibility Testing

12. Test Deliverables
This test plan
Performance testing goals
Workload definitions
User scenario designs
Performance test designs
Test procedures
System baseline/System-under-test configurations
Metrics to collect
Tool evaluation and selection reports (first time, or as needed)
Test scripts/suites
Test run results
Analysis reports against the collected data
Performance related error reports (e.g., failed transactions)
Functional bug reports (e.g., data integrity problems)
Periodic status reports
Final report

13. Budget/Resource
Monetary requirements for equipment and people to complete the plan.

14. Team Members and Responsibilities
Project team members, their responsibilities and contact information.

15. List of Appendices
Specific test case, test design and test script information to be added as we go. Here are a few examples:
Real-World User-Level Test Suite
Concurrency Test Suite
Data Elements
Test Scripts
Error Reports
Web Monitoring Data

16. Test Plan Approval
Business Approval

______________________ __________
[Name/Title] Date

Testing Approval

_________________________ ______________ [Name/Title] Date

Appendices
Appendix 1 User Scenario Test Suite
Appendix 2 Concurrency Load Testing Suite
Appendix 3 Data Element from Load Test
Appendix 4 Test Scripts – Requires Webload or Text Editor – IN JAVASCRIPT
Appendix 5 Error or Web Server Failures.
Appendix 5 Web Monitoring Data.