Understanding the Difference Between Performance Testing and Load Stress Testing

When developing a website, you need to put the site through rigorous tests to ensure that it can perform at its best at all times. Whether you already have a website and have noticed your traffic numbers dropping or you are in the process of launching a new site, then you will want to look at the performance testing and load stress testing solutions available.

There is a distinct difference between the two and both are just as important as the other when it comes to ensuring your site is running well, even in peak periods.

Performance testing is used to determine response times, duration and time lapses in the system. This type of software tests the entire system, addressing performance issues and ensuring the system is reliable. It identifies problems; such has how long pages take to load, enabling you to make the necessary changes.

It is important that you are aware that customers that visit your site will move to one of your competitors if they cannot find what they are looking for, the pages take too long to load or they cannot access the site at all. The problem is that a majority of these customers will never return to your site, which means you've lost potential income because your site wasn't performing adequately.

Performance testing is responsible in testing the behavior of the system and the speed the pages take to load. This testing should be carried out on a regular basis and used to monitor the site at all times, enabling you to address any issues quickly and effectively before it becomes a serious problem.

Load stress testing is the other important software that you will want to invest in, you can see a return on investment within a short period of time as it tests your system, identifying problems and giving you the ability to make the necessary changes as quickly as possible.

Load stress testing determines the load on the system in terms of volume and endurance. This software can identify the behavior of the system and how much it takes to reach breaking point. It identifies memory issues, buffer overflow, bandwidth issues, system failure, response times and so much more.

Load stress testing helps identify issues with the database, hardware and network. It is a useful tool to see how the application will behave after a crash, ensuring you have the relevant steps in place to ensure it gets back online in the shortest space of time.

When choosing your software solutions for testing, it is important that you choose wisely. There are a wide variety of load stress testing and performance testing solutions on the market, each one offering different reporting options and system checks.

You should be focused on ensuring that your website is running at its best at all times, which means it can load pages quickly, perform under load and will not reach breaking point when you have a couple of hundred visitors visiting your site throughout the day.

Your developers should work with the testing software to ensure that when you launch your site you have peace of mind that all problems have been managed. If you already have a website the load testing software can monitor the system, identify issues and inform you as and when they happen, reducing the risk of too much downtime and giving you the ability to repair the issues quickly and effectively.

Always choose your software from a reputable supplier that is dedicated in helping you achieve online success in terms of productivity, visibility and brand.

By Simon Pri