Web applications performance is also a big issue in today's busy Internet environment. The user wants to retrieve the information as soon as possible without any delay. This assumes the high importance of performance testing of web applications. Is the application able to respond in a timely manner? Is it ready to take the maximum load or beyond that? These questions imply that web applications must also be tested for performance. Performance testing helps the developer to identify the bottlenecks in the system and can be rectified.

In performance testing, we evaluate metrics like response time, throughput, and resource utilization against desired values. Using the results of this evaluation, we are able to predict whether the software is in a condition to be released or requires improvement before it is released. Moreover, we can also, find the bottlenecks in the web application. Bottlenecks for web applications can be code , database, network, peripheral devices, etc.

Performance Parameters

Performance parameters, against which the testing can be performed, are given here:

Resource utilization: The percentage of time a resource (CPU, Memory, I/O, Peripheral, Network, is busy.

Throughput: The number of event responses that have been completed over a given interval of time.

Response time: The time lapsed between a request and its reply.

Database load: The number of times database is accessed by web application over a given interval of time.

Scalability: The ability of an application to handle additional workload, without adversely affecting performance, by adding resources such as processor, memory, and storage capacity.

Round-trip time: How long does the entire user-requested transaction take, including connection and processing time?