Tag Archives: test clouds

Cloud Applications; testing on the cloud

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The last few weeks I get a lot of requests to tell something about testing and cloud, like this interview for the Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald. And one of the most asked questions of course is what’s different in testing on the cloud and where do you need to pay extra attention at.

Cloud applications are still few compared to traditional applications, but they are the future. But what are cloud applications? When the question is asked “can you name a few cloud applications?” most people answer Salesforce.com, Facebook, Google Apps and even Microsoft Azure. Four hits (where one isn’t actually a cloud application), as the best known examples. Are there more? Yes and they are growing in numbers!

Note: Microsoft Azure is not a cloud application, but an infrastructure and platform.

But how do we test these cloud applications? What’s so special about them that they need a different type of testing than traditional applications? Cloud applications are applications that are created to leverage the opportunities the cloud gives them, but they also work with the disadvantages the cloud offers, like, for example, standardization.

The cloud is defined by its service model, deployment model and usage

The cloud is defined by its service model, deployment model and usage

Mostly cloud applications are based in the third cloud layer: SaaS. They are Software as a Service solutions that run completely on cloud infrastructure and platforms. And that is exactly the reason the testing of SaaS applications is different from traditional applications. When they are integrated in the current architecture they need to be tested on three levels: namely the infrastructure, the platform and the application itself, see figure. The usage of standard services of applications also means a change for system testing. Functional testing will be executed at a minimum, as the standard applications are already tested and approved by the supplier. But that doesn’t say anything about how it integrates into the client’s cloud.

But that’s my idea. How do you see this?

The future of the cloud is full of hot air

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The cloud is full of the thought it propagates. It’s not about a new idea of providing computing power, but a business model around offering standard, metered services. But maybe the trend is that the cloud is fading; full of hot air. In Gartner’s newest ‘Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2012’ Cloud computing has fallen from the top spot it had the last 2 years to number 10. But what comes out of this article is that its ideas will stand. Like for instance with the launch of Apple’s iCloud it was clear to me that there is a connection between mobile apps and cloud. And also with, for instance, the efficiency of data centres and big data. These all uses the principle of the cloud.

In my opinion the future will result to a complete fade of the cloud. The cloud will merge with other developments in the future. Most IT will dissolve into services like that of Utilities (water, gas and electricity). And therein lies also its fallback. These ‘utility services’ have to cover a specific need, like the apps now do on your smartphone or tablet. And it needs to cover only those needs. When a greater need is covers it can only go wrong; there’s either a shortage of functionality or a surplus of it.

Because of those ‘delimited’ services, a whole different way of working arises in the world of Software Developers. These companies need to evolve into Service Integrators; there services don’t directly have to be related with cloud computing. But it will support another way of working; working in short cycles for standard work packages.

How do I see this? Well at first there is the fusion of services already in place. Google Apps (like Gmail) and Hotmail are already ‘in the cloud’ and nobody thought about it, or even worried about it. People are using applications like Evernote that are based in the cloud and the content is downloaded to your ‘app’ when you open the application. And now with Apple moving data into its iCloud it accelerates it even more.

In the near future more and more mobile apps will be dependent on an Internet connection to get the data or computing power it needs. Not only by downloading it, but by using it real time. Like updates on your flight schedules, but also your phone bill and even bank accounts. Those things will not stay on your phone or tablet, but have a small client running and using the cloud as its back office. It even looks like we are moving back to the client-server model, but with a better usage of the back office…

Tip: Keep your eyes open when using these cloud-based applications. There can always be a risk!

Thus, the cloud itself will increasingly fade the background, but its ideas will be incorporated in more and more applications.

New times, new motivation, new (e)book…

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The last months it’s been very quiet on this blog. Both Andréas and I had some issues with time and motivation. It’s something that happens with writing a blog. But as the vacations come to an end (I’m still going in September) we need to pick up the pace and share our thoughts. For me the past few months have been very busy. A lot of my free time has been consumed by writing a book. On June 7, 2011 me eBook “TMap NEXT Testing Clouds” was launched. And next month I will give a presentation on this on a seminar from my employer. And let’s see what comes next…

This book is different from its TMap predecessors. Whereas the books in the TMap series are handbooks with step-by- step information, this book is an innovation, about testing clouds for the early adopter. It describes the cloud business model for testing, business technology and steps we took in cloud projects. It can be seen as a successor of the Seize the Cloud book Sogeti published in late March of 2011. Where that book lacks discussion of testing, this book carries on to focus on testing.

Cloud, at it simplest, is internet-based computing with the use of shared resources and software provided on demand with reduced management effort. As a service it is still at an early stage, but the growth of cloud-based computing is outstripping even the most optimistic predictions. It’s early 2011 and almost all forecasts of ‘the’ most important IT technologies name cloud computing in their Top 3.

That growth is based on a compelling value proposition: speed to market, agility to bring forward or retire service, and the chance to move expenditure from CapEx into OpEx. Although the cloud is still in its infancy, it is increasingly clear that the cloud model will supplement, if not entirely replace, mainframe and client/server installations in the years to come.

In my view, the cloud is a business model or platform on which testing must be carried out just like any other service. It enables convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources. Those resources, from networks, servers, storage, applications and services, can be rapidly provisioned and released – thereby drastically reducing management effort and service provider interaction.

The cloud is not only an IT opportunity, but a strategic business opportunity; it creates the ability to get the business in charge of IT and change from Information Technology (IT) to Business Technology (BT). But the cloud market is still in a very early stage and will continue to grow and evolve. And as the Cloud Era emerges, testing will change! Not only for information systems, but also for testing the infrastructure, cloud-enabled applications, and the ability to have instant deployable test infrastructure. Testing applications on the cloud is the same as testing applications on a traditional infrastructure. Only what is tested is different.

I have written this book with great enthusiasm. And I feel that using the cloud for testing has a lot of potential for how we use testing services in the future. It will give us testers the ability to be the Generation Now. I believe this book will interest those people who are part of that generation, and that it will help them in using the cloud for the benefit of testing.

The book can be downloaded in ePub and PDF from here: http://www.sogeti.com/publications.