“A fitting test environment is required for (dynamic) testing of a test object” according to TMap® NEXT. But setup and maintenance of test environments is a expertise testers don’t have so much knowledge about. However, they are dependent of the test environment, because without a test environment no test can be executed! So what kind of infrastructure do we need to create?
For a good quality of the test object and as preparation for production it’s recommended to have an infrastructure that makes this available. It happens to many times that typical test issues are related to the infrastructure. Test environments aren’t ready on time, interfaces are missing, test data is bad or messed up by other projects or environments don’t look like production. Test environments are one of the most critical success factors of each test section. How beautiful the test plans that we write may be and also how good we prepare everything, once the test environment puts us in the lurch all is done for nothing!
DTAP Model
The DTAP model is a technical aid to support testing, DTAP stands for Development, Test, Acceptance and Production. The principle of this model is that every user of the infrastructure has an type of environment without being bothered on it by others or focuses on special type of tests, e.g. performance or usability testing. Every party in the software development gets a defined environment type. The environment types are equal to the four stages in software development: developing (development), testing (test), accepting (acceptance) and using (production). This DTAP model provides an infrastructure on which products can be tested until it goes into production.
Having a good and manageable infrastructure for testing is good for multiple targets. If tests carried out on production, than the greatest risk of testing is the disruption of the product, like a software failure or performance problems. And, of course it’s undesirable that a customer is suddenly faced with changes (new or different functionality) within the product. This is, however, inevitable when testing on production. Because the new functionality is introduced on the production environment in order to test it. This cannot be foreclosed to others.
Four separate environments
These four environments should ideally be separated from each other. Transfer from one environment to the next environment should be done through procedures. For example, nothing can go into production until all test results are positive and at least the client has approved them. In order to realize these environments an considerable investment is required.
By using use of these separated environments, the test levels for each test environment can be executed with more control and therefore better! With proper design and management it will also lead to less distortion and therefore a shorter duration of the testing phase of a project.
For a good quality of the test object and as preparation for production it’s recommended to have an infrastructure that makes this available. It happens to many times that typical test issues are related to the infrastructure. Test environments aren’t ready on time, interfaces are missing, test data is bad or messed up by other projects or environments don’t look like production. Test environments are one of the most critical success factors of each test section. How beautiful the test plans that we write may be and also how good we prepare everything, once the test environment puts us in the lurch all is done for nothing!
DTAP Model
The DTAP model is a technical aid to support testing, DTAP stands for Development, Test, Acceptance and Production. The principle of this model is that every user of the infrastructure has an type of environment without being bothered on it by others or focuses on special type of tests, e.g. performance or usability testing. Every party in the software development gets a defined environment type. The environment types are equal to the four stages in software development: developing (development), testing (test), accepting (acceptance) and using (production). This DTAP model provides an infrastructure on which products can be tested until it goes into production.
Having a good and manageable infrastructure for testing is good for multiple targets. If tests carried out on production, than the greatest risk of testing is the disruption of the product, like a software failure or performance problems. And, of course it’s undesirable that a customer is suddenly faced with changes (new or different functionality) within the product. This is, however, inevitable when testing on production. Because the new functionality is introduced on the production environment in order to test it. This cannot be foreclosed to others.
Four separate environments
These four environments should ideally be separated from each other. Transfer from one environment to the next environment should be done through procedures. For example, nothing can go into production until all test results are positive and at least the client has approved them. In order to realize these environments an considerable investment is required.
By using use of these separated environments, the test levels for each test environment can be executed with more control and therefore better! With proper design and management it will also lead to less distortion and therefore a shorter duration of the testing phase of a project.
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