Date: Mon, 05 May 2003 08:28:33 -0400 From: John Pustaver Subject: MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Software Quality Group Meeting, Wednesday, May 14, 2003: Load Testing and Load Test Tools Hi Everyone, Will your web app role over and play dead when the crowds come to visit? Paul Piper has been doing extensive research into load testing and will pass on some of his knowledge at this meeting. A copy of Steve Rakitin's, Software Verification and Validation, 1st edition, will be given to a lucky attendee. Due to enhanced security, a picture ID is now required for attendance. Best wishes, John Pustaver Director, Software Quality Group of New England Region I Deputy Councilor, ASQ Software Division P.S. If your company has SQA positions to fill for permanent or contract employment, please have HR send me a .htm file for each job with all pertinent info so that it can be posted. There are many people looking. Send to pustaver@swquality.com. The Jobs website is at http://www.swquality.com/users/pustaver/jobs/. Software Quality Group Meeting Meetings of the Software Quality Group are held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at the facilities of Sun Microsystems, Burlington (Driving directions below). MEETING DAY & DATE: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 TIME: 6:00 PM Networking, 6:30 PM Meeting HEADLINE: Load Testing and Load Test Tools SPEAKER: Paul Piper MORE INFO: John Pustaver, 978-443-4254, pustaver@ieee.org LOCATION: Sun Microsystems, Burlington (Driving directions below) DESCRIPTION: What happens to your web application when it goes into production and is hit by hundred or thousands of users at one time? Software engineering cannot afford to wait until rollout to find out what happens. The solution is load testing, which should be done from the early stages of development through the maintenance phase. Load testing will be defined and described, including how it is done, and why it is an essential addition to automated functional testing. Load testing is a way of testing web sites, applications and databases for performance and ability to support many users at one time. It includes testing response speed and other variables for performance tests, and monitoring server resource usage for scalability analysis. It can also include stress testing, to determine at what point the site slows to a halt or fails. Load testing generates data which can be used to point out bottlenecks and other system weaknesses, leading to reports for management. It may verify system capacity, number of servers needed, and lead to optimization that reduces need for additional hardware, or warnings that additional servers may be required. Selected tools that load test web sites will be described, including some price points, whether they allow free evaluations, company's URL, language(s) used, record/playback functionality, and some discussion of strengths, weaknesses, and ease of use. The general description of load testing applies to web and non-web tools, but tool analysis will be done only on some of the tools that test web sites. Pointers will be given on how you can most effectively evaluate web load testing tools for your environment and system, including things to watch out for during a Proof Of Concept. Paul Piper has over 15 years experience in quality, quality management, software testing, automated testing and application development. He has worked for companies such as FM Global, Hewlett-Packard, N.E.C., Parexel, Softkey, Revelation Software, Scansoft and Xerox Imaging Systems. 2002-2003 Software Quality Group Calendar Sep 18, 2002: John Pustaver, Flavors of Software Test Automation Oct. 9, 2002: Dan Goddu, Applying the CSQE Body of Knowledge (BOK) to the Workplace as a Method of Process Improvement Nov. 13, 2002: Marc Rene, GTECH, Introducing and Sustaining a Worldwide Software Inspection Process Dec. 11, 2002: Howie Dow, What is a Black Belt? Jan 8, 2003: Steve Rakitin & Scott Andersen, Impact of Agile Methods on Software Quality Feb. 12, 2003: Johanna Rothman, Test Planning in an Agile Environment Mar. 12, 2003: Anna Allison Memorial Presentation, Linda McInnis, Surviving and Thriving in Virtual Teams Apr 9, 2003: Milt Boyd, When will the testing be done? May 14, 2003: Paul Piper, Load Testing Tools June 11, 2003: David Herron, David Consulting Group, Software QA Risk Factors July 9, 2003: Annual Hot Topics Night August 2003: NO MEETING The Software Quality Group holds monthly meetings. Topics covered at these meetings have included software testing, inspections, ISO 9000, metrics configuration management, and demonstrations of vendor QA tools. There is no charge. The Software Quality Group meets monthly at 6:15pm on the second Wednesday of the month at the facilities of Sun Microsystems, Burlington, MA. Driving directions: From 128/95 Take the Rt. 3 exit heading north (not the Middlesex Turnpike exit if you're coming form the south). >From Rt. 3N take the first exit (which is Rt. 62 - Bedford Ave). Turn east toward Burlington. Approximately 0.3 mile after the interchange, turn right onto Network Drive, which leads to the campus on your right. Take the second drive off of Network Drive into the Sun parking lot. Park in the visitor lot and enter the lobby opposite the Sun clock tower. Information about future meetings will be available on the Software Quality Page at http://www.swquality.com/users/pustaver. To be on the email distribution list, send a note to pustaver@swquality.com. The Software Quality Group is cosponsored by Sun Microsystems and the ASQ Software Division and all are welcome. Directors of the Software Quality Group are John Pustaver, Region I Deputy Councilor, American Society for Quality Software Division, Eric Patel, Regional Councilor, ASQ-SD, Liz Hryniewich, Allan Foley, and Jack Morrison of Sun Microsystems. To unsubscribe, reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" as the subject. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ John Pustaver, Director Software Quality Group of New England voice:978-443-4254 pustaver@ieee.org Visit the Software Quality Page at http://www.swquality.com/users/pustaver/index.shtml