Software Testing Automation in DevOps
Testing is an integral and essential part of any successful software project. What does automated testing provide other than manual testing?
How previously development and testing was done?
In manual testing , test cases are executed manually without any use of tools or scripts. Waterfall development processes were used in all other development methods then, all the different teams in an organization used to work independently.
This creates a lot of problems between teams when it comes to finding a solution to some bug introduced. And it was extremely difficult to locate at what stage the bug was introduced in code. It ultimately resulted to a slow release to market in this development cycle
This is where Agile technology came into picture. Agile technology follows the processes of continuous development and continuous integration with continuous deployment. In this, the product goes through different build cycles. Each build cycle includes production, testing, and feedback. Hence, this calls for the need of DevOps.
In DevOps, Development and Operations teams work together to achieve the task. DevOps will automate the performed manual tests as they consume a lot of time. Automating a process hugely decreases the time required for testing an application. Without any automation, it becomes almost impossible to practice DevOps.
So why use automation testing?
Automation testing means to automate a process and involves less of human intervention. So, why to use automation testing? The main reasons are-
· Time-saving: Since it uses test cases to detect bugs in the software program, it is less time consuming as compared to other testing methods. If the testing is made faster, then the deployment frequency of the product in the market can increase.
· Less error prone: This involves the use of software program to test the application thus, reducing chances of human errors. Manual effort is only required to generate the test case and to command it to execute the testing process. So various human errors are eliminated to a great extent.
· Repeating executions: When you need to execute the test case for a number of times so as to check the validity of the application then Automation testing can prove to be a boon. It consumes less time so repeated execution becomes easy.
· Reliable: When we automate any application or process, the reliability is automatically increased to. The major reason being less human errors.
How Automation tests helps DevOps?
During the time when waterfall development processes were dominating all other development methods, all the different teams in an organization used to work independently on one application. In waterfall technology, all the teams are focused on their parts of :
· Planning team plans the line of action
· Defining team defines the various requirements and tools necessary to carry out that action
· Then Production team builds the product according to the specifications
· After building, the testing team performs the tests on the product to validate if it is meeting the requirements or not.
· Then finally the product is deployed in the market for service.
This creates a lot of problems between the teams when it comes to finding a solution to some bug introduced at a certain phase. And it is next to impossible to locate at what stage the bug was introduced. But ultimately the main problem was that release to market in this development cycle was extremely slow. In an era where competitors release new features every other month, this methodology fails to give an edge.
This is where Agile technology came into existence. Agile technology follows the process of continuous development, continuous integration, and continuous deployment. In this technology, the product goes through different build cycles. Each build cycle includes production, testing, and feedback. This accounts for the need of DevOps.
In DevOps, Development and Operations teams work together to achieve the target. Since the product is tested at every build cycle so the testing needs to be in pace with the development process to avoid any hassle between the teams. DevOps cannot succeed if the tests are performed manually as they consume a lot of time. So, here automation testing plays a major role. Automating a testing process decreases the time required for testing an application and it provides support to the DevOps culture. Without automation testing, it becomes almost impossible to practice DevOps.
When DevOps and automation testing work concurrently the following problems are eliminated:
· Silos among the teams: Working together eliminates the differences among the teams and creates an atmosphere of understanding in the organization.
· Delayed product deployment: Understanding between the teams increases the speed of product development and troubleshooting problems. As a result, the speed of product deployment increases.
· Slower Release to market: If the product will be deployed at a higher frequency, then the problem of slower release to market will no longer exist.
· High failure rate of new releases: When testing methods are automated and product is developed and tested in collaborative environment then the failure rate of new product releases will be decreased to a great extent.
In a nutshell, we can say that Automation Testing is a backbone to DevOps and it becomes impossible to implement DevOps culture without the help of Automation Testing. When practiced together in an organization, they can help to attain new heights of success. Automation and more automation is the core of a successful DevOps cycle.
