Cloud Testing: An Introduction And Benefits

Unlimited storage on your computer was nothing far from a myth a few years ago. But today, the same is possible with the cloud. It lets you perform a lot of tasks without a hassle. 

According to Statista, the cloud application market size is expected to reach 168.6 billion dollars by 2025. With the size of cloud applications rising, it became evident to introduce cloud computing. Cloud testing was then carried out to ensure the quality of everything in the cloud environment.

This advancement in cloud technology is aimed toward application QA and testing. But before diving into cloud testing and its benefits, let’s learn about cloud technology.

What is Cloud Technology?

Cloud computing is an essential component of modern society, providing global access to online resources through a network of servers worldwide. 

This technology offers numerous benefits to users, including the convenience of not having to manage physical servers or install software on individual machines. Additionally, users can access their files and tools from any device that’s synced with the cloud, which saves valuable local memory.

Cloud computing has also significantly reduced the cost and complexity of IT infrastructure for businesses. With servers no longer requiring regular updates and maintenance, and the ability to perform international operations efficiently, the cloud eliminates many of the traditional boundaries of IT operations. 

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing describes a range of services offered by third-party providers. These services can include databases, networking, servers, and storage. 

The primary goal of cloud computing is to optimize the utilization of resources, promote flexibility, and enable scalability. By doing so, cloud computing can help businesses reduce operational expenses while providing a robust ecosystem for IT-related tasks. 

With its numerous benefits, cloud computing has become an increasingly popular solution for organizations seeking to streamline operations and enhance their capabilities.

Cloud hosting can be divided into 3 categories:

• Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS: IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service aims to provide servers, network devices, and storage as a form of service.
• Platform as a Service or PaaS: PaaS or Platform as a Service aims to help users to develop, run and manage multiple applications on the cloud, without hindering the capabilities of the device’s operating system.
• Software as a Service or SaaS: Software as a service or SaaS is one of the most popular cloud computing services. SaaS companies allow their consumers to use centrally hosted applications against a subscription fee.

Now that you have an understanding of the cloud and cloud technology, let us understand what cloud testing actually is.

What is Cloud Testing?

Cloud testing is a method of testing software applications using cloud-based infrastructure. With cloud testing, software developers can leverage the entire testing infrastructure on the cloud for application testing. 

By using cloud testing services, organizations can achieve greater efficiency in their testing processes, ensure a smooth user experience across different platforms and devices, and reduce the costs associated with maintaining and upgrading their testing infrastructure.

Without cloud testing, testing the same software across multiple devices with different browsers in different locations can be time-consuming and resource-intensive.

By leveraging cloud testing, companies can reduce the amount of resources they need to allocate to manual testing. This is particularly beneficial for IT companies with limited resources, as cloud testing reduces the need for extensive workforce engagement and can help save both time and money. 

By automating the testing process and utilizing cloud-based infrastructure, companies can ensure that their software is thoroughly tested and functioning as expected, without the need for manual intervention. To explain this better, cloud testing can be categorized into three types:

• Testing resources of the cloud: The cloud, in this case, is an individual entity. This type of cloud testing involves testing the cloud provider’s services as a PaaS or IaaS. 
• Testing software native to the cloud: It is testing the SaaS (Software as a Service) products in the cloud.
• Testing software with tools based on the cloud: In this case, the tools and platforms are use the cloud infrastructure for the purpose of testing software and applications

Types of Cloud Testing

Now that you know about the cloud, let us see the different types of cloud testing possible:

• Functional testing: It allows QA on every functional aspect of the application on both hardware and software. The testing is carried out on a fully integrated software platform to ensure it complies with the standards.
• System Testing: System testing checks if an application on the cloud performs well under a given range of system requirements.
• Interoperability Testing: As the name suggests, Interoperability testing checks if an application (hosted on the cloud) is flexible and compatible enough to perform consistently with the same efficiency under multiple infrastructures.
• Acceptance Testing: It is done to ensure that an application on the cloud is meeting the expectations of the customers.
• Availability Testing: This is rather an administrative job. The idea is to check whether the application is running with its services available around the clock. 
• Multi-tenancy Testing: As the name suggests, Multi-tenancy tests check if an application in the cloud is handling a load of multiple tenants, i.e., multiple user requests appearing simultaneously – and also performing consistently. 
• Performance Testing: These tests ensure that an application in the cloud can handle a given number of user requests. The cloud must also be scalable enough to allow a rise in usage if required.
• Security Testing: It ensures only individuals with login access can authorize the data. As a result, the information stored in the cloud always has extra layers of protection. 
• Disaster Recovery Testing: Sometimes, the data stored in the cloud may be lost due to inevitable situations. This type of testing tests the recovery rate of this data, i.e., how fast and how much data. 

Uses of Cloud Testing

Cloud testing is becoming increasingly popular due to the many benefits it offers. One of the main advantages of cloud testing is that it significantly reduces the time required to test heavy applications. 

This process is more flexible and scalable than traditional methodologies, resulting in a higher ROI. Additionally, cloud testing consumes fewer resources, which further adds to the ROI. Therefore, it is essential to calculate the ROI of automation testing when deciding on a budget.

Cloud testing also enables several users to access it on different devices without any disruptions, reducing the need for expensive infrastructure. This makes cloud testing highly cost-effective, as it is compatible with various ecosystems and can be used by remote teams located worldwide.

Cloud testing offers high scalability and a more efficient testing cycle, making it well-suited to handle increasing scalability requirements that can often challenge traditional testing methods. 

Furthermore, cloud testing offers increased mobility, enabling development and testing procedures to proceed without interruption, regardless of physical constraints.

Now that you are familiar with the basics of cloud testing, it is time to choose the best cloud testing tool for your organization. Confused, which one is that? We are here to save your day! Read ahead and find out the best cloud testing platform in town!

Choosing The Right Cloud Testing Platform

With over 20,00,000+ tests completed worldwide, TestGrid is the most trusted platform among organizations for automated cloud testing. With TestGrid, you can accelerate your testing process for mobile and web applications and get unparalleled efficiency with its intuitive no-code and low-code tools.

Further, the device and cloud infrastructure offered by TestGrid eliminates the need for hardware setups while giving you seamless access to multiple browser and device combinations in a centralized and scalable environment.

With its pricing plan, you will surely get the most cost-effective solution for all your testing needs without breaking the bank. So, supercharge your testing efforts with this high-quality platform by booking a demo now.

Summing Up

Setting up a device lab with thousands of devices can be costly and ineffective for organizations looking to test their mobile and web apps. As a result, developers are always on the lookout for a platform that provides cross-browser compatibility on real devices, operating systems, and browsers. 

It is where TestGrid’s real device cloud comes into the picture. It allows you to conduct end-to-end testing on various real device and browser combinations, offering you a 100% real user experience. In addition, it integrates performance engineering into your SDLC process to ensure any flaws are discovered on time.

Combining these features with advantages like network-level testing, local code execution, and test data parameterization makes it an ideal choice for businesses wanting to improve their app testing process.