Software Test Environments

What is a Test Environment?

Test Environment is basically a replica of actual production environment which is provided to the end user with close enough hardware and software configurations, where the testing happens for the application that have been developed.

Setting up a right test environment ensures software testing success. Any flaws in this process may lead to extra cost and time to the client.

Different Test Environments

• Unit Test - Unit Tests are done by Developers in this environment. Units or components of a software are tested individually. The purpose is to validate that each unit of the software code performs as expected
• Integration Test - Units or individual components of the software are tested in a group. The focus of the integration testing level is to expose defects at the time of interaction between integrated components or units.
• System Test - The test is performed on a complete integrated system to evaluate the compliance of the system with the corresponding requirements. The goal is to detect any irregularity between the units that are integrated together.
• User Acceptance Test (UAT) - After a successful system testing, a build is developed in the UAT environment for User Acceptance Testing. This process is done to check whether the system accepts a user's requirements. It's performed at a time when actual users use the system. Once the UAT team confirms the application, it is deployed to the Live environment.

Why are all these different Test Environments important?

Why don't we just test the the software on the after it is done and released on the production environment, right?

Okay let's look at it this way; Suppose a bank is your client and they want to change the User Interface. You cannot start changing the interface for the application right-away as it is being used by millions of people. The current application needs to continue running on the web, while development & testing need to happen on some other ‘environment’ before the updatedapplication is deployed for public use!

It's important because;

1. It helps to test the application in multiple environments
2. It reduces the chance of failure or crash of an application while its being tested
3. It checks the functional and non-functional aspect of an application in different environment
4. It improves the performance of the end product or application by hardcore testing