Reliability and Stability Testing

Mar 28, 2019

4 min read

Reliability and stability testing allows you to model system behavior during regular and irregular situations, such as shutdowns, restarts of various system components, or lengthy loads on the system. This testing approach aligns with the principles of site reliability engineering, which focuses on ensuring scalable, reliable systems by addressing issues proactively through automation and strategic planning.

Problems it will solve

Minimizing the risks related to the inoperability of business processes or system components after the failure of several system components by promptly discovering problems during the reliability and fail-safety tests. This helps address key differences between reliability and availability, ensuring the system remains functional and stable.
Additionally, minimizing the risks of possible system performance degradation under loads after its restoration can be achieved by comparing the system performance indicators during the reliability and stability tests. Proper error management can also help calculate and manage error budgets, ensuring performance is maintained within acceptable limits.

Deliverables

Information about the number of defects discovered in the operation of different business processes and system components after the failure of a certain component, as well as their severity
A list of defects with a description of the problem and a method fafter the failure of a certain component
Information about the restoration time needed for the system component and business processes, and also about the necessary conditions
Information about the changes in the IT system performance after the restoration of the system operability, and about the precise parameters of the IT system response speed: response times of user operations (under different loads) and server-loading resources (cpu time, Memory, I/O)
Recommendations for the system architecture and infrastructure improvements
Description of load profiles (MS Word)

Scope of work

Collection and analysis of production environment statistics to provide insights into system performance, a core focus for site reliability engineers tasked with maintaining scalability and stability.
Coordination of the performance requirements
Determination of business processes and load scenarios for reliability testing
Determination of components for reliability testing
Description of the interactions with the external systems
Calculation of the intensity and determination of the load profiles for reliability testing
Description of the requirements for the DB volumes
Creation of a test plan

Service Limitations

Stability testing is not functional and is not intended to discover functional bugs. However, all discovered functional defects will be noted and presented to the customer.