
Amazon AWS vs. Alibaba Cloud
28 December 2018
Private Cloud vs. On-Premises
4 January 2019Cloud Migration Testing Strategy
02 January 2019
Cloud Migration Testing Strategy
More and more businesses have been moving their applications and data to the cloud to avoid building and maintaining on-premise IT infrastructure. In addition to availing computing resources based on the pay-as-you-use pricing model, cloud computing further helps scale resources, improve data security, and accelerate disaster recovery. But no enterprise can leverage the benefits of cloud technologies fully without implementing a robust cloud migration strategy.
The cloud migration strategy must emphasize testing the applications elaborately in the cloud environment. The decision makers must remember that the same application needs to be tested differently in a traditional physical environment and cloud environment. The testing professionals must perform different types of software testing to check if the application remains functional, stable, and compatible in the cloud environment.
At the same time, cloud migration testing helps QA professionals to identify and resolve all errors and issues before the application goes live in a new environment. The decision makers must implement a comprehensive cloud migration testing strategy to ensure that the operations and applications are running flawlessly in the cloud environment. But they must focus on a number of factors to keep the cloud migration testing strategy effective.
5 Important Points to Consider while Making a Cloud Migration Testing Strategy
1) Types of Software Testing
While moving the workload to the cloud, the QA professionals need to check if the application remains stable, secure, and fully-functional in a new environment. Hence, it becomes essential for them to perform a variety of tests – load and stress testing, performance testing, compatibility testing, vulnerability testing, and security testing. The cloud migration testing strategy must clearly define to types of software testing to be performed during and after cloud migration. Also, the decision makers need to ensure deployment of adequate personnel, tools, and resources to identify and address cloud migration problems early and proactively.
2) Industry Standards and Best Practices
While preparing the cloud migration testing strategy, the decision makers must understand and adopt industry standards and best practices. The best practices will help them to streamline cloud migration testing and addressing issues arising in the live environment. The decision-makers need to ensure that the application is being evaluated by QA professionals with adequate cloud migration testing experience. Likewise, they need to accelerate and streamline the testing process by selecting the right testing tools and frameworks. The manager also needs to ensure that the issued reported during and after cloud migration are resolved on time.
3) Frontend and Backend Process Validation
While migrating an application to the cloud, the cloud engineers need to ensure that the functional flow and data flow remain unchanged. Likewise, the QA professionals need to check if the application delivers optimum user experience by validating the backend processes. They need to validate the backend processes based on key parameters like time, volume, and structure. Also, the testers must use sophisticated dataset tools to validate the backend processes based on the historical performance data and commonly used performance evaluation metrics. At the same time, they must assess the security of data and applications by assessing access control management.
4) Common Challenges in Application Validation
The managers must define and address the common challenges in application validation during cloud migration testing. The cloud migration testing strategy needs to address the challenges invalidation of application performance, application security, and environmental compatibility. When these challenges are identified and addressed in advance, it becomes easier for QA professionals to check if the application is cloud-ready, the application data transitioned properly to the cloud, all components of the application are running flawlessly, and a robust backup and disaster recovery plan is in place.
5) Ongoing Testing and Validation
While making the cloud migration testing strategy, the managers must remember that cloud deployment and testing are ongoing processes. The applications need to be modified and updated at regular intervals to deliver optimum user experience. Each time the application changes, the testers need to conduct load, performance, and security testing. Also, they need to assess an important aspect of the application at least once a quarter. The cloud migration testing strategy must facilitate regular and elaborate testing by allocating the required personnel, tools, and resources.
On the whole, elaborate and rigorous software testing is an integral part of the cloud migration process. The businesses must implement robust cloud migration testing strategy to ensure their applications are running flawlessly in the cloud environment and delivering optimal user experience. The decision makers must focus on these key factors to make and implement the cloud migration testing strategy more effectively.