The Role Of Recovery Testing In Software Testing
Regardless of technological advancements and the inception of AI and ML, the process of building software from scratch remains to be an elaborate one. It demands the irreplaceable expertise gained by developers over time.
One of the key phases in the software development cycle is software testing – the final check to iron out any possible software flaws before it is launched in the market. Testing an application or software helps identify the most minor of errors and bugs. This is done by executing certain system components using manual or automated tools. It is essentially an intricate process designed to verify whether the application that is built matches the requirements or not.
Software Testing in itself is a long but necessary process with many steps involved. There are multiple types of testing, to name a few – Unit Testing, Integration Testing (Black Box testing + White Box testing), Recovery Testing, Alpha Testing, Beta Testing, System Testing, Stress Testing, Regression testing, and more. Each one of the types is dedicated to solving a certain set of errors. In this blog, we will study the importance of recovery testing in software testing.
What Is Recovery Testing In Software Testing?
Recovery testing is a part of a bigger testing process. As the name suggests, in this phase of testing, developers verify whether an application can recover from crashes, hardware failures, and other similar problems.
To put it simply, recovery testing in manual testing is the process wherein developers conduct a forced failure of the software in many different ways to test whether the recovery happens as expected or not. It also determines how quickly the recovery happens and whether improvements have to be made in terms of accuracy and speed.
Here are the three key parameters that are considered while testing:
- In case of data loss, is it possible to retrieve it completely?
- To verify if any other additional operations of the software can be done or not.
- To analyze the fraction of scenarios in which the system can recover back.
Here are the other common failures which need to test, while performing the recovery testing:
- Power failure
- Devices not responding (external)
- Server not responding
- External server not reachable
- Wireless network signal loss
- Database overload
- Network errors
- DLL file missing
- Physical conditions
Recovery Testing Life Cycle
The life cycle of the recovery process involves five important steps – Normal operation, Disaster and Failure Occurrence, Interruption to Standard Process, Recovery Process, and finally, the Rebuild Process. Let’s study these steps in detail:
1. Normal Operation:
In this phase, the system consisting of hardware, software, and firmware is run at a normal pace to check whether it is functioning as expected or not. This is done for a certain period of time without any disruption.
2. Disaster and Operation Failure:
Here, disruption occurs when the software is running. This can happen due to multiple reasons like software crashing due to hardware failure, input-initiated malfunction, or damage caused as a result of a strike, fire, theft, and so on.
3. Interruption To Standard Process:
The disruption phase is quite dreaded as this is the one where that causes profit losses. All the manual effort and time that has gone into the building of the software goes in vain. In addition, businesses face the risk of data loss, and as a result, business or financial loss.
4. Recovery Process:
With a backup plan in place well before disaster strikes, businesses do not have to worry about data loss or progress loss. Recovery can be done without much hassle and in lesser time. A skilled team of testers can work with the system and retrieve important information with ease.
5. Rebuild Process:
In some cases, rebuilding the models or retrieving the progress made on a project may take some time if the damage is significant. It may demand multiple sessions of operation to rebuild all folders along with configuration files. This is also where accurate documentation plays a key role to ensure effective recovery.
How To Perform Recovery Testing?
The expert team of testers designated for the task must adhere to the following steps for successful recovery testing:
1. Recovery Analysis:
The system to be tested should have the capability to allocate extra resources like multiple CPUs, and servers. This helps testers with analyzing the effects of recovery-based changes on the working structure of the system.
2. Preparing The Test Plan:
The testing team is responsible for preparing the test plan once the recovery analysis results are verified and documented.
3. Preparing The Test Environment:
In this step, testers analyze the results obtained from the recovery analysis process. On the basis of the insights gained, they start designing the ideal test environment.
4. Conducting Back-up Maintenance:
This is one of the most critical steps. The testing team builds a backup of all aspects related to the software, system, and data. This is done so that it becomes easier to recover any possible data loss during the test. The data has to be stored in different locations to keep it secure.
5. Allocating Recovery Personnel:
Given that the recovery testing involves multiple different steps, a dedicated team of testers is assigned to handle and supervise each step.
6. Documenting Every Step:
Every measure taken before and during the testing phase has to be noted down to the details. All the failure checks should be documented. This information can be leveraged as references for recovery test runs that are yet to come.
Key Advantages Of Recovery Testing
- Much like every other testing type, the key advantage of recovery testing is to detect the bugs and fix them with the main purpose of enhancing software functionality.
- Effective recovery testing can ensure automatic backup of critical data and systems.
- With recovery testing, the team of testers can detect performance-related issues and fix them before the software product goes live in the market.
- It works wonders in terms of minimizing preventable losses. For example, reducing the risk of failure of the software product in the market (post-launch).
- Ultimately, recovery testing renders a system more stable, reliable, and error-free.
Recovery Testing Examples
Scenario 1:
Start downloading a file through a Wi-Fi network. Then, try moving away from the wi-fi zone to a point where there is little to no network. To check the recovery process, get back to the Wi-Fi zone. If the files resume downloading from the same point, then the recovery rate is good.
Scenario 2:
Unplug the connecting cable when an application is receiving data from a network. Plug the cable back in after a few minutes. Then, analyze the application’s ability to continue receiving data from the point at which the network connection disappeared.
Scenario 3:
During multiple sessions on your computer, suddenly remove the power supply of the system. Restart the system while a browser has a definite number of sessions open and check whether it can recover all of them. If all the applications and web pages get reloaded, then the system is functioning at its full potential.
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