In simple
words, Internet-based-computing can be referred to as Cloud computing. Here,
shared hardware and software resources are available for use as per demand.
This concept is also based on optimum utilization of the increasing power of
servers and virtualization technologies. It is the convergence of computing,
networking and storage which create a dynamic infrastructure which makes these
functions highly dependant on each other. This forces a change in management
strategy.
Performance
generally refers to the statistics regarding response time, throughput and
resource utilization of an application. It is not difficult to assess that a
performance problems impact customer experience, revenues, brand perception and overall user
satisfaction.
Let us review the tools for performance testing in the
cloud.
- Load Storm: This
allows developers to evaluate how an application will respond under heavy
volumes of HTTP traffic. It gives massive cloud resources in the hands of web
developers which enables them to improve the performance of their application.
- SOASTA – CloudTest: It provides performance, functional,
Web User Interface and AJAX testing as an on-demand service.
- VMLogic : And Skytap offer scalable test labs along
with management software in the cloud. On an average these can cost several
thousand dollars per month.
- TechOut: This tool helps to measure and optimize the
speed and availability of critical
online applications. It also provides Website Monitoring, REST/SOAP Web
Services Monitoring, Business Transactions Monitoring, Cloud Monitoring, etc.
- IntroSpectrum: It is a hosted performance monitoring system
that makes use of real browsers to provide the most accurate view of website
performance. It is hosted in the cloud and hence it is platform/OS agnostic. It
works with any public website or any web application.
- LoadIntelligence: It can use JMeter in the cloud. It is an
affordable Software as a Service from
Cloud Intelligence. It includes access to software and unlimited hardware
resources. Users of JMeter can execute their test scripts in an unlimited,
pre-configured distributed environment. It neither requires setup nor
installations. Also, it provides immediate access to JMeter logs, reports, test
scripts, CSV files and more.
- Xceptance LoadTest: It is a load testing and regression tool
for Web apps and Java apps load testing.
For web-based tests it can emulate Internet Explorer or Firefox behavior.
- Grinder in the Cloud: It is a cloud based, open source load testing
tool which uses resources offered by Amazon Web Services. It leverages Grinder
Load Test Framework by putting it in the cloud.
- Pylot: It
is a Web Testing tool from Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud(EC2). It generates
concurrent load (HTTP Requests), verifies server responses and produces reports
with metrics. Test suites, which are executed are monitored from a GUI or
shell/console.
- HPLoadRunner,
Keynote and BrowserMob are some additional cloud based performance
testing tools.
Conclusion
Performance
is critical to revenue and an efficient performance tuning of an application
can increase revenue by 10%. Cloud performance, which is measured at the point
of application use is the sum of application performance, network performance
and cloud infrastructure performance. Cloud based performance testing tools
offer a way to test across platforms and ensures capacity even in the most
extreme scenarios.
