Failover Testing in Software Testing

Software products/services are tested multiple times before delivery to ensure that it is providing the required service. Testing before delivery doesn’t guarantee that no problem will occur in the future. Even some times the software application fails due to some unwanted event or due to network issues or due to server-related problems. The aim of failover testing is to respond to these types of failures.

Suppose that PC gets off due to some technical issue, and on restarting we open the browser, then a pop-up is shown saying Do you want to restore all pages? On clicking restore, all tabs are restored. The process of ensuring such restorations is known as FAILOVER TESTING.

Failover Testing :
Failover testing is a technique that validates if a system can allocate extra resources and backup all the information and operations when a system fails abruptly due to some reason. This test determines the ability of a system to handle critical failures and handle extra servers. So, the testing is independent of the physical hardware component of a server.

It is preferred that testing should be performed by servers. Active-active and active-passive standby are the two most common configurations. Both the techniques achieve failover in a very different manner but both of them are performed to improve the server’s reliability.
For example, if we have three servers, one of them fails due to heavy load, and then two situations occur. Either that failed server will restart on its own or another situation when the failed server cannot be restarted, the remaining servers will handle the load. Such situations are tested during this test.

Considerable Factors Before Performing Failover Testing :

1. The budget has to be the first thing to be taken into consideration before thinking about performing the Failover test.
2. The budget is connected to the frameworks that might get crashed or break down under pressure/load.
3. Always keep in mind that how much time it will take to fix all of the issues caused by the failure of the system.
4. Note down the most likely failures and organize the outcomes according to how much harm is caused by the failure.

Considerable Factors While Performing Failover Testing :

1. Keep a plan of measures to be taken after performing a test.
2. Focus on execution of the test plan.
3. Set up a benchmark so that performance requirements can be achieved.
4. Prepare a report concerning issue requirements and/or requirements of the asset.

Working of Failover testing :

Failover Testing

1. Consider the factors before performing failover testing like budget, time, team, technology, etc.
2. Perform analysis on failover reasons and design solutions.
3. Develop test cases to test failover scenarios.
4. Based on the result execute the test plan.
5. Prepare a detailed report on failover.
6. Take necessary actions based on the report.

Benefits of Failover Testing :

1. Allows users to configure everything like user access and network settings and so on.
2. Ensures that the configuration made is working properly.
3. All the faults are easily resolved in the system’s server beforehand.
4. Provides better services so that users’ servers can run smoothly.
5. Ensures no loss during downtime.

Examples of Failover Testing :

1. Banking and Financial applications
2. Telecom applications
3. Visa applications
4. Trading applications
5. Emergency service business applications
6. Government applications
7. Defense service-related applications

Once the failure in a system is identified, the issue is resolved and the system gets back to its previous form. The prime purpose of this test is to ensure to retain data and resources on time when crashes happen.

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