infrastructure testing

7/17/2019 Infrastructure Testing

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PERSPECTIVEInfrastructure Testing – An Infosys Perspective

- Hemalatha Murugesan

Abstract

IT infrastructure encompassing software, hardware and the network forms the backbone

of organizations enabling business to achieve its goals, financial targets and profitability.

While organizations spend millions to ensure that business applications are tested to

perfection, the underlying infrastructure that is used to host and deliver these applications

is never tested and often taken for granted. Infrastructure testing is a new concept and hasnot yet been given its due importance as part of the overall release and test cycles.

This paper aims to highlight the current gaps existing in an organization’s testing approach

and challenges that are demanding the need for Infrastructure Testing.



Introduction

Most organizations today promise their customers service and product efficiency that require the IT delivery engines to be robust and

scalable. It is therefore critical to ensure that IT applications and the underlying infrastructure are adequate to deliver on the promises of

performance, scalability, reliability and 24/7 availability. Any lapses, even for a few seconds, can have a devastating effect not just on the end-

user experience, but on the brand of the organization itself.

The cost of unplanned outages/ downtime is far higher especially in financial and banking, retail and healthcare systems where organizations

are heavily dependent on technology to ensure systems are available round-the-clock. Hence the core objective of testing IT infrastructure is

to mitigate the risk of such failures or unplanned outages and to avoid both tangible losses in the form of lost revenue, legal compliance and

intangible losses like customer satisfaction and brand image.

So, where is the problem?

IT infrastructure encompasses compute

infrastructure, storage infrastructure,

network infrastructure or a combination

of all these. Changes in an organization’s

infrastructure can happen either due to

infrastructure acquisitions, migrations or aspart of business-as-usual operations. While

each component performs its designed

tasks well, there could be an issue when

these components are interlinked and

interfaced with multiple other components

to perform as a whole.

V E R T I C A L T O W E R S

INFRASTRUCTURE

ACQUISITION

INFRASTRUCTUE

MIGRATION

INFRASTRUCTURE

OPERATIONS

COMPUTE INFRASTRUCTURE

STORAGE INFRASTRUCTURE

NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE

ACQUISI ION MIGRA ION OPE A IONS

HORIZONTAL STREAMS

Limitations with present Quality Assurance approaches pertaining to infrastructure changes

Organizations have rigorously tested

software applications before they arereleased. Different tests such as integration

testing, system testing, performance

testing are done prior to the rollout of the

application into production. QA teams

are required to sign off basis SLAs prior to

release. Similarly, any upgrades or changes

made to the supporting IT infrastructure –

such as servers, network components, datacenters and desktops are tested before the

system is given end user access.

In most organizations, each piece of the

infrastructure component is tested by the

concerned stakeholder; for e.g., software

applications are tested by the QA teams

and the network components are tested by

the network team. However, for large scaleinfrastructure transformations or operations,

there needs to be a holistic approach to

infrastructure testing - from charting out the

appropriate test strategy, to planning and

structured execution to ensure the success

and reliability of the entire program.

Myths associated with Infrastructure Testing

List in table 1 are some of the most common myths associated with Infrastructure Testing:

Let us look at each of these myths in

greater detail:

• Infrastructure is provisioned in an

assured state and does not need

testing

More often than not, it is taken

for granted that the infrastructure

provisioned is tested and requires no

further validation. Furthermore, when

infrastructure testing does happen,

it is done by disjointed teams testing

infrastructure and applications in silos

resulting in multiple issues especially

when the systems are integrated for

final rollout into production. Most

organizations have no clear strategy

or approach and lack a holistic view

of the testing to be done, connecting

the dots not just from an application

perspective but also the underlying

infrastructure..

Figure 1



• IT infrastructure testing strategy is

same as software testing strategy

In most cases organizations execute a

well-defined software testing strategy.

However, an infrastructure testing

strategy also needs to be planned for

efficient and integrated assurance of

systems which is different from the

software testing strategy. Though the

testing phases remain the same, the

strategy that is adopted for testing

infrastructure and type of testing

activities are different compared to

software testing.

• Common testing approach can be

used for all IT infrastructure testing

With increased complexity of

infrastructure and requirements

come new challenges to performtesting of infrastructure changes.

The test strategy and the sequence

in which each of the infrastructure

and application elements are tested

is different. Each scenario typically

requires a different testing approach

and an one–size fits all approach can’t

be adopted in infrastructure testing as

different use cases will require different

technical dynamics and associated

testing.

• Testing IT infrastructure is not critical

as it is not directly linked to business

outputs

The focus on infrastructure testing

is not high, which may lead to lesser

QA rigor and consequently lesser

infrastructure reliability. Many of

Infrastructure is provisioned

in assured state and does not need testing

IT infrastructure testing strategy is same as

software testing strategy

Common testing approach can be used

for all IT infrastructure testing

Testing IT infrastructure is not critical as it is not

directly linked to business outputs

Table 1

the critical changes in business

models and services are driven by IT

infrastructure transformations such

as virtualization and cloud. Thus to

ensure success of business services

and strong benefits accrual, assurance

and reliability of IT infrastructure is

most critical.

Gaps in enabling holistic infrastructure testing

Organizations may face the following challenges and gaps in enabling a holistic infrastructure testing program -

• No dedicated infrastructure testing team

• Testing done in silos with no overarching view to assess the infrastructure as a whole

• Incomprehensive reporting of infrastructure test results

Inadequate visibility

of infrastructure

testing activities

• Rapidly changing infrastructure technology landscape

• Involvement of multiple products, OEMs, vendors, service providers

• Complex infrastructure needs with reduced budgets

Changing Landscape

• Limited documentation of infrastructure test strategies, plans and cases

• IT business owners are faced with choosing between quality versus release timeliness and infrastructure testing

• Infrastructure teams are not suciently skilled in testing methodologies and lacking a ‘testing’ mindset

Lack of testing rigor

in the IT infrastructure

space

• The lack of industry best practices and standards for infrastructure testing

• Disjointed processes and methodologies for infrastructure and applications testing

• Improper cost estimations and project over runs

Lack of standards and

processes

• Increased stakeholder and governance overhead

• Insucient requirements or unclear business/applications requirements

• Complex planning with multiple vendors and stakeholders

• Distributed teams spread across various locations/geographies

• Lack of well-dened responsibility matrix

Complex

requirements



© 2013 Infosys Limited, Bangalore, India. All Rights Reserved. Infosys believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date; such information is subject to change without notice.

Infosys acknowledges the proprietary rights of other companies to the trademarks, product names and such other intellectual property rights mentioned in this document. Except as expressly permitted,neither this documentation nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, printing, photocopying, recording or

otherwise, without the prior permission of Infosys Limited and/ or any named intellectual property rights holders under this document.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing solutions. As a proven partner

focused on building tomorrow’s enterprise, Infosys enables clients in more than 30 countries to

outperform the competition and stay ahead of the innovation curve. Ranked in the top tier of Forbes’

100 most innovative companies, Infosys – with $7.4B in annual revenues and 155,000+ employees –

provides enterprises with strategic insights on what lies ahead. We help enterprises transform andthrive in a changing world through strategic consulting, operational leadership and the co-creation

of breakthrough solutions, including those in mobility, sustainability, big data and cloud computing.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) is Building Tomorrow’s Enterprise® today.

For more information, contact [email protected] www.infosys.com

About the Author

Hemalatha Murugesan is a PMP certified professional who leads the specialized testing services in FSI unit at Infosys and incubates emerging

testing service lines. She is currently leading SOA/Middleware testing, Test Data Management, Security Testing, Cloud Testing as well as

Infrastructure testing.

She has published many papers in the international conferences as well as conducted tutorials on various topics in Testing.

Imperative for Infrastructure Testing

CLOUD

Migration MOBIL ITY V IRTUA LIZATION WIN 7/8

Emerging Technologies

DATA CENTER

Migration

Desktop

Virtualization

Business

As

Usual

As organizations adopt newer technologies, (listed in Figure 2), IT infrastructure also changes to keep pace. Given dynamically changing infrastructure

and application needs, the approach to testing these developments must also change. Organizations need to develop the necessary focus and rigor

for IT infrastructure testing to ensure strong infrastructure reliability, elimination of redundant and reworked testing efforts and drastic reduction

in the overall cost.

Figure 2

infrastructure testing

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