Testing Perspectives for Cloud-Based Applications

Abstract

Cloud computing is often used to describe a model for ubiquitous, convenient, and on-demand network access to shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. Cloud computing heralds the trend of service provider companies in comparison to traditional software licensing era. As the Cloud-based services are increasing and businesses catered through software services require reassurances, so there is a need to test those services and applications before offering them to the customers. Cloud-based testing offers reduction in the unit cost of computing with test effectiveness, on-demand flexibility, freedom from holding assets, enhanced collaboration, greater levels of efficiency, and, most significantly, reduced time-to-market for key business applications. This chapter largely quantifies on testing related to Cloud computing, elaborates fundamentals of testing and differentiates between traditional software testing techniques and software testing in Cloud environment. It also emphasizes on analysis of the existing Cloud-based testing models and their limitations and Cloud-based application frameworks. The chapter concludes with the discussion on need of automated test case generation techniques, potential research directions, and technologies for testing approaches in Cloud environments.