Volume Testing

Volume Testing is a type of software testing which is carried out to test a software application with a certain amount of data. The amount used in volume testing could be a database size or it could also be the size of an interface file that is the subject of volume testing. 

While testing the application with a specific database size, database is extended to that size and after that the performance of the application is tested. When an application needs interaction with an interface file this could be either reading or writing the file or same from the file. A sample file of the size required is created and then functionality of the application is tested with that file in order to test the performance. 

In volume testing a huge volume of data is acted upon the software. It is basically performed to analyze the performance of the system by increasing the volume of data in the database. Volume testing is performed to study the impact on response time and behavior of the system when the volume of data is increased in the database. 

Volume Testing is also known as Flood Testing. 

Characteristics of Volume Testing

Following are the characteristics of the Volume Testing:

• Performance of the software decline as passing of the time as there is huge amount of data overtime.
• Basically the test data is created by test data generator.
• Only small amount of data is tested during development phase.
• The test data need to be logically correct.
• The test data is used to assess the performance of the system.

Objectives of Volume Testing

The objectives of volume testing is:

• To recognize the problems that may be created with large amount of data.
• To check The system's performance by increasing the volume of data in the database.
• To find the point at which the stability of the system reduces.
• To identify the capacity of the system or application.

Volume Testing Attributes

Following are the important attributes that are checked during the volume testing:

• System's Response Time: During the volume testing, the response time of the system or the application is tested. It is also tested whether the system responses within the finite time or not. If the response time is large then the system is redesigned.
• Data Loss: During the volume testing, it is also tested that there is no data loss. If there is data loss some key information might be missing.
• Data Storage: During the volume testing, it is also tested that the data is stored correctly or not. If the data is not stored correctly then it is restored accordingly in proper place.
• Data Overwriting: In volume testing, it is tested that whether the data is overwritten without giving prior information to the developer. If it so then developer is notified.

Volume Testing is a type of Performance Testing. 

Advantages of Volume Testing

• Volume testing is helpful in saving maintenance cost that will be spent on application maintenance.
• Volume testing is also helpful in a rapid start for scalability plans.
• Volume testing also helps in early identification of bottlenecks.
• Volume testing ensures that the system is capable of real world usage.

Disadvantages of Volume Testing

• More number of skilled resources are needed to carry out this testing.
• It is sometimes difficult to prepare test cases with respect to the number of volume of data to be tested.
• It is a time consuming technique since it requires lot of time to decide the number of volume of data and test scenarios.
• It is a bit costly as compared to another testing technique.
• It is not possible to have the exact break down of memory used in the real world application.

Future Trends in Volume Testing

• Testing Microservices Architecture: Modification of Volume Testing to assess scalability in applications with microservices and their interconnections.
• Testing the Performance of Edge Computing: Volume testing should be expanded to guarantee top performance in edge computing settings.
• Practices for Shift-Left Testing: Volume testing is incorporated early in the software development life cycle as a component of "Shift-Left" testing methodologies.
• Testing Containerized Applications: Volume testing methodologies have been modified to evaluate scalability in containerized settings such as Kubernetes.
• IoT Performance Testing of Devices: Utilizing specialized Volume Testing to address scalability issues specific to IoT ecosystems.

Conclusion

A crucial part of software testing is volume testing, which evaluates a system's performance at different data volume levels. An extensive volume testing approach helps software applications be more dependable, effective and scalable overall, allowing businesses to provide solid solutions that satisfy customer and corporate needs.