Automated Cloud Testing – What Should You Know Before Adopting?

Cloud testing is becoming a significant enterprise practice to achieve quality, security and reliability at scale. An increasing number of enterprises are in the process of switching their system to the cloud or have plans to take advantage of the cloud's availability of resources, architectural flexibility, reasonable pricing and most notably, scalability.

Cloud-based software testing can help organizations solve these challenges easily and cost-efficiently.

What is automated cloud testing?

Cloud infrastructure is becoming increasingly popular. A majority of software applications are now web-based and operate on cloud servers. Automated cloud testing helps in validating cloud applications more reliably, efficiently and at scale. It leverages the resources from the cloud including hardware, software, and other infrastructure to deliver end-to-end software testing solutions.

With cloud testing, a business may lower the cost of test results without affecting operational applications, allowing them to become more competitive. By adopting cloud testing services, enterprises can significantly reduce provisioning time, as the cloud provides on-demand deployment of test servers. This prevents new servers from being idle. Testers repeat the same tasks repeatedly in each new build, with more than 80% of validation processes being repetitive.

Importance of automated cloud testing:

Servers, storage, databases and other computer system resources are made available through cloud test services, allowing enterprises to run automated tests at scale without worrying about hardware constraints. Test engineers can run tests without a limited scope restricted to a few devices. It enables you to run multiple tests parallelly without making you wait for one test to get over to start the next one.

Reduced time-to-market and pay per use pricing makes cloud testing more cost-efficient. All these benefits come without having to maintain or update the server while reducing your upfront investment in the infrastructure.

Why should you use cloud-based automation testing?

The main advantage of cloud-based automation testing is the scalability to perform automated tests without manually setting up each device and testing environment. This way, you save a considerable amount of time and effort and avoid compromising on the setup of some devices without reducing the effectiveness of the automated testing to a few devices.

You can perform as many tests as you would like simultaneously and do not need to wait to complete them before the infrastructure becomes available. This way, you'll receive immediate, actionable results.

As opposed to the traditional on-premises environment, cloud testing services allow customers to pay only for what they use, resulting in a faster time to market.

The advantages of cloud-based automated testing:

Cloud test services have the advantages of high availability, scalability, and low cost. It allows you to test web and mobile apps on various devices without the need to invest in additional infrastructure. Cloud testing is becoming increasingly popular, resulting in cloud-based testing tools being available in the market.

Here are a few advantages of cloud-based automation testing:

·??????Easily set up and work with ready-to-use testing environments. The cloud enables easy scaling up and down of resources at any moment without the need for installation.

·??????Ditch the need to upgrade or maintain servers because the cloud test services will manage this for you.

·??????Get rid of the need for resource management and maintenance.

·??????Conduct tests on a diverse variety of devices and operating system combinations

·??????Reduce the amount of money spent on the initial infrastructure investment.

·??????Reduce the cost of software licensing and maintenance.

·??????Continuously scale workloads to uncover performance issues before an application becomes live.

·??????Enhance productivity and collaboration within the team.

·??????Enable access to shared services from anywhere.

·??????Pay on per service basis based on your usage duration.

·??????Get initiated with testing quickly and easily with the comprehensive automated testing ecosystem.

Challenges in testing cloud applications:

Cloud application testing comes with its own set of challenges. Here are some of the prominent challenges faced by QA (Quality Assurance) teams that you should consider before going all out for cloud test automation.

·??????Delivery Rate – There is a constant requirement for quality assurance operations because cloud testing can be executed at a faster pace and lower resource utilization could become an issue.

·??????Data Protection – There is a persistent risk of data breaches when using the cloud because your data is hosted on the cloud. Security should always be a primary focus in cloud testing.

·??????Concerns about performance – When it comes to cloud computing, performance is mostly dependent on network connectivity. Cloud test services continue to use a large chunk of bandwidth to run smoothly, making it difficult for complex applications to run and be delivered.

·??????Concerns about integration – On-premises or cloud-based applications may need to be integrated or interconnected in production. Given the periodic upgrades to cloud applications, these integrations must be tested continuously.

·??????Delivery on a regular schedule – If you want to keep up with the pace of innovation, you will need QA teams to adapt to continuous integration.

·??????Stack of development tools – QA must adapt and evaluate testing tactics and methods because of periodic modifications to the development technology platform and the constant reskilling of resources.

·??????Simulating real-time software upgrade testing – Live upgrades must be tested in the cloud to ensure that they do not affect any connected SaaS (software as a service) consumers.

·??????Need for technical proficiency – Automated cloud testing is a technically challenging undertaking that involves expertise in various programming languages and frameworks. Insufficient test automation skills can prevent teams from reaching their goals successfully.

Bottom Line

Cloud testing services and adaptability are now required for every business, from the smallest start-up to the largest corporation. When it comes to streamlining and improving processes, cloud computing proves to be a meaningful change for businesses due to its minimal maintenance costs, enhanced security, and instant data access.

There are many ways in which the cloud can help with software quality testing. Cloud-based software testing has emerged as a viable and popular alternative to on-premises solutions and in some cases, has completely replaced on-premises testing methodologies too.