Performance
Testing
Performance testing measures response times, transaction rates, and other time sensitive requirements.
The goal of Performance testing is to verify and validate the performance requirements have been achieved for a given workload. Performance testing is usually executed several times, each using a different "background load" on the system.
The initial test should be performed with a "nominal" load, similar to the normal load experienced (or anticipated) on the target system. A second performance test is run using a larger load. The initial test will verify that the system will perform reliably over time at expected transaction levels, the second type of test will verify that the system will handle sustained traffic, without data corruption or total performance degradation.
Additionally, once a Performance test suite is developed, it can be
used to profile and tune the system’s performance as a function of
conditions such as workload or hardware configurations.