subject: Identifying The Right Load Testing Tool Or Service For The Enterprise [print this page] The most widely adopted approaches to load testing include the purchase of tools for in-house use and the newer, vendor-hosted load testing service approach.
Both approaches will demonstrate a business ROI, however, given the substantial up-front costs involved with the purchase for inhouse use, the outsourced services-based approach will provide a shorter-term ROI.
Since their introduction in early 2000, load testing services have become increasingly attractive for enterprises that are faced with maximizing their existing IT resources, reducing costs and achieving ROI in the short-term. In choosing either a tool and/or an outsourced load testing service, beware that not all are alike. It is beneficial to select tools and/or services that are intuitive enough to test the dynamic and variable nature of web-based environments.
Packaged Software:
Typically, tools sold as software packages require purchasers of the software to supply the hardware and staff necessary to run the load test software. This approach involves up-front costs for procurement of the testing software and necessary hardware to conduct the tests, and IT resource costs to implement, develop, execute and manage the load testing process. Additional costs include annual software license fees for upgrades and vendor support, potential consulting and training costs and, often, the time and cost necessary to set-up a testing lab to mirror the production environment.
This approach is costly, takes the longest time for a business to achieve its return on investment in comparison to other approaches, but provides complete inhouse control and flexibility over activities.
Vendor Hosted Services:
Early in 2000, vendor hosted testing services emerged to provide an alternative for web application environments. It leverage the Internet to conduct over the wire. With this model, It can be driven from one to many geographic locations
around the world. The pricing for services is inclusive of the utilization of the providers
hardware resources for test execution.
In this respect, customers pay to have designed and executed against their web application infrastructure and the service vendor leverages its own technology and network of distributed hardware resources to execute and deliver results. This approach provides a quick return on investment and is attractive for conducting with high volumes of concurrent users.
Traditionally, services have been thought of as less flexible than inhouse tools, however, there are a variety of different services vendors whose unique solutions can provide an equivalent level of control and flexibility. So, when is it appropriate to use a load testing service versus an in-house tool? The answer entirely depends on the testing requirements of an individual business and the amount of resources available in terms of staff, expertise and hardware. The service-based approach adds value for those new to load testing because it can quickly build a test foundation and return test results quickly.
