Top 15 Performance Testing Terms

 Top 15 Performance Testing Terms every SDET should know!

1) Latency: Time taken for a request to travel from the client to the server & back
Ex: Measuring the time it takes for a webpage to start loading after clicking a link

2) Throughput: Number of transactions processed by a system in a given time
Ex: Analyzing how many requests per second a web server can handle

3) Bandwidth: Maximum rate of data transfer across a network
Ex: Testing if a video streaming can deliver high-definition videos smoothly over different network speeds

4) Concurrent Users: Number of users accessing the system simultaneously.
Ex: Simulating 500 users logging in at the same time to test a social media platform

5) Think Time: Simulated delay between user actions.
Ex: Adding a 5-second pause between browsing different pages to mimic real user behavior

6) Response Time: Time taken to get a response from the server after a request is made
Ex: Measuring how long it takes to receive search results after entering a query on a website

7) Peak Load: Maximum load a system handles during high-traffic periods
Ex: Testing an online ticket booking system during a major event release

8) Baseline Testing: Establishing a benchmark for system performance under normal conditions
Ex: Measuring average response times of a website with a single user before starting load tests

9) Bottleneck: A point in the system that limits overall performance
Ex: Identifying that a slow database query is causing delays in processing user requests

10) Resource Utilisation: Measurement of system resources used during testing
Ex: Monitoring CPU and memory usage of a web server while handling user requests

11) Think Time: Pause between user actions during a test to simulate real usage
Ex: Adding a 3-second delay between form submission and clicking the next link

12) Error Rate: The percentage of failed transactions.
Ex: Out of 1000 requests, if 50 fail, the error rate is 5%.
Importance: High error rates indicate system issues that need to be addressed

13) Resource Monitoring
Description: Monitoring server resources (CPU, memory, disk, network) during tests
Ex: Using tools like New Relic or CloudWatch

14) User Distribution: Different types of users performing different actions
Ex: 70% of users browse products, 20% add to cart, 10% complete purchases

15) Ramp-Up Period: The time it takes to start all virtual users
Ex: If you have 100 users and a ramp-up period of 2 minutes, users start at intervals to prevent a sudden load spike