Testing Glossary - Benchmarking

To a certain degree load testing, stress testing & benchmarking, all describe the same kind of process. They all use a community of virtual users to submit a workload to real hardware and software. Benchmarking has been used for decades to describe

• real application stressing
• sizing of undeveloped applications
• competitive positioning by vendors of servers and networks

Sizing is an estimate of the vendor's proposed configuration usually in response to an RFP or Request for Proposal.

Testing Glossary - Stress Testing

The purpose of Stress Testing is to show that the system has the capacity to handle large numbers of processing transactions during peak periods. The stress testing tests the system beyond the maximum design load of the system. It tests the defect or failure behavior of the system. Defects may come to light, which are unlikely to cause system failures in normal usage. Stress testing checks that the overloading causes the system to “fail-soft” rather than collapse under its load.

How many simultaneous users can my site take without slowing down significantly or crashing? Stress testing is nothing more than applying a steadily increasing load to your site until it reaches the breaking point (when site performance degrades to unacceptable levels). What this test tells you is how well your site will handle unexpected loads that may come as a result of unplanned events like, changing market forces, the failure of your competitors to fill the needs of their customers or serendipitous national publicity.