Driver Testing Tips

1. Introduction
As we know, Windows drivers can run and work in either user mode or kernel mode.
Kernel-mode drivers run as part of the operating system and possess the privileged abilities. The drivers reviewed below are the drivers of kernel level. As any software testing procedure, driver testing includes automatic and manual testing, but in this article we will focus mainly on the last one.
Later we will review testing process for the followings types of drivers:
•    File System Filter Drivers
•    Network Redirection Drivers
•    Virtual Storage Drivers
•    USB Client Device Drivers
2. General aspects of driver testing
First of all, I would like to say ?Don?t install the driver to be tested on your working system!? However, there are some exceptions on this occasion, for example:
•    You are looking for a reason to reinstall your system...
•    You don?t want to waste time on searching bugs on the clean test systems...
•    You are sure that the driver is stable...
•    You have to test the work of the connected devices...
Secondly, driver tester must have a virtual machine installed on the working computer and at least one real test computer.
Thirdly, before starting the testing procedure, it is necessary:
1. To define the number of operating systems for which it is necessary to check the driver functionality. Usually, first of all you use the OS confirmed by the specification. Let?s suppose that a driver must successfully work under Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003/Vista accordingly to the requirements. Applying our experience in driver testing, we extend this list to the following:
•    Windows 2000
•    Windows 2000 sp4
•    Windows XP_sp0
•    Windows XP_sp1
•    Windows XP_sp2
•    Windows XP_(Windows is installed on FAT32) (obligatory system)
•    Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
•    Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
•    Windows Vista
Additionally:
•    Windows Server 2003 Small Business
•    Windows Server 2003 Enterprise EditionSp1
At that, it is desirable for all of these systems to be Checked Build versions. Using the Checked version slows down Windows functioning, but multiplies probability of finding bug in the driver functioning. If there is no a single Checked Windows, it is necessary to purchase the Checked version of at least one system, for example from the Windows XP series.
Thus Windows XP_Chk is added to the OS list. But you shouldn?t limit you work only to this list: the more the number of OS, under which driver passed the complete testing successfully, the better quality of product guaranteed.
2. If possible, select test computers with as different hardware and configurations as possible. I recommend obligatory test on machines with single processor, single processor with Hyper-Threading, two-core processor and dual processor machines.
3. To make the following settings for each OS where driver testing will be performed: in System Properties\Advanced\Startup and Recovery Settings\Write debugging information it?s necessary to select Kernel memory dump or Complete memory dump, and uncheck Automatically restart option for the case of you won?t be nearby in the moment of Blue Screen appearance.
4. To set verification by standard Driver Verifier Manager of the system with all options, except for Low resource simulation. This is determined by the fact that at first you must obtain stable functioning of driver without the option of Low resource simulation, and then test the functioning with this option on smoke tests.
5. To select antivirus software with which it is desirable to test the driver performance. Usually it?s recommended to take the most commonly used antivirus programs, such as DrWeb, Kaspersky Antivirus, V3, Symantec Norton Antivirus, NOD32. The list is not limited to these names, of course. The more programs you will test, the better driver performance will be; this will only increase the quality of product.
6. To verify compatibility of your driver with other drivers, the system ones and the drivers by other producers. It is desirable for the last ones to be stable enough ? in this case it will be easier for you to discover reasons for improper work of the system or Blue Screen appearance, and to expose bugs in driver performance.
The next general aspect of driver testing is verification of driver loading and unloading, i.e. you set the group of tests that are relevant to each driver:
1.    Driver installation. The script for driver installation can be written by programmer, but the tester verifies whether it?s done correctly. Here we check the following:
a.    Has the system crashed after driver installation or not?
b.    Has *.sys file been written in the C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers directory?
c.    Have necessary keys been registered in Registry, if they are presented in our case?
The driver installation not always supposes its start - it depends on implementation of driver. Some of them run after system restart and cannot be stopped during the process of work (usually these are File System Filter Drivers), therefore the following questions arise:
d.    Does system start correctly with installed driver?
e.    Does system crash when the driver is started manually?
2.    System Restart while the driver is working. System must be normally rebooted without Blue Screen; after system start, the driver and its settings must comply with the statuses described in the specification.
3.    System Reset while the driver is working. System must perform the Reset operation and start without Blue Screen; after system start the driver and its settings must comply with the statuses described in the specification.
4.    System shutdown while the driver is functioning. System must perform the Shut down operation successfully without Blue Screen.
5.    System Start with the pre-installed driver. System must be rebooted without Blue Screen; after the system starts, the driver and its settings must comply with the statuses described in the specification.
Further work of driver tester includes functional testing of the testing object and search of BSOD, which features depend on the type of testing driver.
3. File System Filter Drivers Testing
The drivers of this type are designed for enhancement of the file system functionality, for example for catching operations of OS in order to watch, forbid or permit certain processes, operations, files in certain disk space. The set of tests to verify the driver functionality is formed in accordance with the type of driver and here you have to pay special attention to the software products workings with network places.
Let?s consider an example when we use a database with the multi-users connection status. Let?s suppose that the real multi-users DB1 is on the computer N1 and we can work with DB1 on the computer N2 without problems. Let?s install some File System Filter Driver on the computer N1 and computer N2. When trying to get access to DB1 from the computer N2 we can get such results:
•    DB1 on the computer N1 is not accessible for the computer N2;
•    N1 computer has crashed with BSOD;
•    N2 computer has crashed with BSOD;
•    DB1 remained accessible for using on the computer N2.
It is necessary to test an access to Shared Folders from one machine to another. Thus you have to test standard operations of creation, deleting, copying, renaming, moving of small and large folders and files in Shared Folders.
An insidious test is the starting of some *.exe file both from network space and locally.
On the test system, it?s useful to run software products which perform file system indexing (for example, Google Desktop). BSOD or Dead Lock of system with installed File System Filter Driver can occur when such programs are started or functioning.
System can work inadequately after installation of new Virtual Storage Driver (these drivers are developed for creation of virtual encrypted disks) or while it?s functioning. BSOD or noticeable slow down in system performance can happen as a result of File System Filter Driver and Virtual Storage Driver interaction ? naturally, it?s not good.
In my opinion, this type of drivers is the hardest from the view of covering full set of tests, and the most unforeseeable in system crashes while driver is functioning.
4. Network Redirection Drivers Testing
Network Redirection Driver is a network file system which gives access to the resources of remote computer. In practice, such drivers are used for creation of network disks, and we will examine such drivers in this paragraph.
First of all, it?s necessary to select test data, so we will take:
•    Files and folders of small size (to 10?b);
•    Files and folders of large size(more than 600?b);
•    Folders containing some nested files and folders (one folder for one file);
•    Folders containing a great number of nested files and folders (nesting is equal to 5; the number of files (size to 1?) is more than 100 in each folder).
In this case main tests are divided into the followings groups:
Group #1 is "Verification of network disk displaying". After connecting network disk that is implemented on the base of Network Redirection Driver, this disk must be displayed in all of the file managers.
Group #2 is "Verification of functionality"
1.    Testing the standard operations (opening, change, hiding, creation, deleting and other) with files and folders on a network disk.
2.    Testing the operations of copying, saving files and folders to/from a network disk from/to a local disk. It?s necessary to pay special attention to all of applications included in MSOffice package, MindManager and also to verify saving project of MS Visial Studio from local space to a network disk and compiling this project.
3.    Testing the operations of copying when size of copied files is changed and also when an operation of copying/saving files is interrupted incorrectly.
4.    Testing software product on the different language versions of OS, for example under English and Korean OS, and performing tests from the first three points of Group #2. The driver must automatically pick up the language of the system and successfully perform all available operations with files and folders.
5.    Testing search function on a network disk.
6.    Checking the data integrity when moving them from a local disk to a network one and vice versa.
Group #3 is "Verification of data exchange speed"
1.    Testing speed on every set from the group of test data when downloading to Network Disk from Local Disk.
2.    Testing speed on every set from the group of test data when unloading from Network Disk to Local Disk.
At that, it is necessary to take into account the capabilities of data transfer over the local network and capabilities of network protocols both with data cashing and without it. If you can get an analogue product, then compare its speed with the speed of your product.
Group #4 is "Disconnect"
1.    Checking the reaction of the system to disconnecting the network cable with the network disk connected:
a.    during uploading of each set from the group of test data;
b.    during downloading of each set from the group of test data.
2.    Testing the reconnect of network disk after plugging connecting network cable to the computer.
Group #5 is "Users sessions"
1.    Testing network disk performance for different users in the terminal session of Windows Server2003.
2.    Testing network disk performance for different users with Switch option on Windows XP.
3.    Testing network disk performance for different users with Login switching on Windows Server2003.
5. Virtual Storage Drivers Testing
Virtual Storage Driver is virtual data storage (for example, it can use random-access memory or file). Usually it is used for implementation of virtual encrypted disks.
Main points when testing this type of drivers are:
1.    Standard operations (opening, change, hiding, creation, deleting and other) over files and folders on a virtual disk.
2.    Creation of image of maximum possible size; its formatting.
3.    Data safety when working with different encrypting algorithms.
4.    Driver speed (reading ? writing to/from a virtual disk).
5.    Place of images localization (USB memory, Network Disk, Local Disk) and ability to access it.
6.    Data integrity on repeated connection of image after incorrectly disabled access to image had happened.
6. USB Client Device Drivers Testing
USB Client Device Driver manages USB device, interacts with it by means of USB packages (URB), for example, for redirecting requests to another computer. The real USB devices are always involved in testing of such drivers; therefore the critical errors occur mostly during interaction between the driver that is tested and devices? drivers. For example, BSOD can happen on a computer with USB Client Device Driver installed when the following actions are performed:
a.    connecting new USB device;
b.    correct removing of USB device;
c.    incorrect removing of USB device;
d.    installing drivers for USB devices;
e.    working with USB device.
7. Conclusion
Remember that correctly chosen set of tests for the certain type of driver helps your to improve the quality of your product.

Try Beta Testing !

What is a beta testing?

A Beta test is a testing done for a piece of computer product prior to commercial release in the market. Beta testing can be considered the last stage of testing, and normally can involve sending the product to beta test sites outside the company for real-world exposure. Normally, a free trial version of the product is allowed to be downloaded over the Internet. Beta test versions of software are distributed to a wide range of users to get the software tested in different combination of hardware and associated software.

 

What is in for a fresher or freelancer?

So what should we do as a fresher or a freelance software tester? Beta testing provides a platform for us to test some real world software. There are many companies which release beta version of their software before they ship it to the market for commercial selling.

 

By signing up as a beta tester and downloading a test version of the software, you can get a first hand preview of the software. It is an exciting experience to get the software free of cost before the world gets to see the product. If you can find few bugs or write some reviews (positive or negative) about the beta version of the software, most of the companies give a free licensed version of the product when they release in the market.

 

Benefits of beta testing to a fresher?

Also as a fresher, you can show this experience of testing a beta product. You can list down what all defects or bugs you have submitted to the company. There are few companies which I know who pay for finding bugs in there products. Your resume will shine if you can prove that you earned few dollars by finding bugs for this and that company. 

 

 

 

uTest.com

---

Sign Up with uTest.com and get paid for finding bugs. I am sure there are lots of other companies which pay for pointing out their defects.

 

 

Beta products from Microsoft

---

Microsoft also provides wide range of Beta software for testing. Sign up with them and start testing a free beta product today.

 

 

 

Here are some tips for running a Beta Test  

• Take back up of your PC before you install a Beta version software. You never know when the software crashes.
• Read the terms and conditions carefully. Find out which bugs have already been reported. You don’t want to waste time finding bugs which someone has already reported.
• Get the specification or requirement document first. How do you test a product if you don’t know what it is supposed to do?
• Create a network of Beta Testers. This will help you get informed of latest happenings around the world.

 

Software Testing Resume - How to write the best resume for software testing.

10 Best Guidelines for a Good Resume -

» Do not write the word 'Resume', 'CV' etc on the top of the resume. Instead write your name in bold letters. You may include your mobile number and email id for ready reference.
»Delete the career objective that you have copied from your friend's resume. Ask this to yourself – who does not want to work in a growth oriented company where he or she can utilize his or her skills to the fullest? Career object is just a waste of space and believe me, nobody reads that section.
»Include a two liner summary about your experience, skills, tools etc. so that the person reading your resume can know about your profile in 10 seconds.
»Remove all unnecessary information like father's name, hobbies, place of birth, schooling information etc. You will have enough time to give that information when you are selected.
»Structure the content of the resume based on your past experience such as skills, projects, education etc.
»Highlight your key skills and domain expertise. Talk about your USP and how you could add value to the organization that is recruiting you.
»The purpose of a resume is to generate enough interest in you to have a prospective employer contact you for an interview. Don’t fill the resume with too much information. Nobody will read a resume for more than 2-3 pages at the max.
»Use bullet points to convey information. Make information readily available to the recruiter. But be sure that whatever you have written in the resume, you will be able to explain it.
»Use a single font throughout the resume (Garamond, 12pt – my favorite). Do not use too much underline, bold and highlight in the resume.
»Get your resume reviewed by a friend or an expert. Take feedback and improve the resume. Use a good resume template suitable to your domain and update your resume frequently.

ISTQB Preparation Guide

ISTQB Preparation Guide

---

International Software Testing Qualification Board Exam Preparation Guide

The ISTQB was officially founded as an International Testing Qualifications Board in Edinburgh in November 2002 and it is responsible for the "ISTQB Certified Tester", which is an international qualification scheme. ISTQB Certification is available in two stages, Foundation Level and Advanced Level.

For details about ISTQB please visit www.istqb.org

Join ISTQB Exam Preparation Orkut Community. You will find lots of information there.

---

Remember - "Certification exams do not measure the quality of a tester. Until they do, they merely facilitate discriminatory hiring practices." - James Bach

» which book to read for ISTQB Certification ?

Foundations Of Software Testing ISTQB Certification

By -

Dorothy Graham
Erik van Veenendaal
Isabel Evans
Rex Black

» General Guidelines for Preparing ISTQB Exam

• 40 Questions
• 65% pass mark
• 90 minutes
• Multiple choice questions
• Only one correct answer
• No negative marking
• Paper/Pen based exam. Darken the appropriate circle
• Not online
• All questions from syllabus
• Read the syllabus very carefully
• Question breakup
• 50% K1 (remember, recall type)
• 30% K2 (Compare, contrast type)
• 20% K3 (Analyze, apply type. Numerical type as well)
• See syllabus for details on K levels

---

» Syllabus Breakup for ISTQB Preparation Material

The principles of testing

Terminology; why testing is necessary; fundamental test process; psychology of testing; re-testing and regression testing; expected results; prioritization.

Testing throughout the life-cycle

Models for testing; economics of testing; high level test planning; acceptance testing; integration testing in the large; functional and non-functional system testing; integration testing in the small; component testing; maintenance testing.

Static testing

Reviews and the test process; types of review; static analysis.

Test design techniques
Dynamic testing techniques, Black and white-box testing techniques; error guessing, BVA etc.

Test management

Organization; configuration management; test estimation, monitoring and control; incident management; standards for testing.

Tool support for testing

Types of CAST tool (Computer-Aided Software Testing); tool selection and implementation.

---

»Join ISTQB Exam Preparation Orkut Community. You will lots of active discussions going on to clear your doubts.

» Sample Paper Download

Free Download 2500 ISTQB Sample Papers. Click on the set to download.

» Download Set 1 (Collection of 16 Sample Papers)

» Download Set 2 (Collection of 12 Sample Papers)

Chapter	Number of Questions Expected from each chapter
The principles of testing	7
Testing throughout the life-cycle	6
Static testing	3
Test design techniques	12
Test management	8
Tool support for testing	4

» Tips and Tricks

• ISTQB Questions are simple but answers are confusing at times. More than one correct answers possible. Choose the one which is more correct or correct in more scenarios.
• Read the questions very carefully. Sometimes you might miss important words. Solve ISTQB Sample Papers frequently.
• Do not jump to answer quickly. Go through all options before selecting one.
• Look out for words like ALL, EVERY, NEVER etc. These might help you choose correct answer. For example, ALL bugs should be fixed is incorrect statement but bugs should be fixed is more correct and might indicate right choice.
• Download ISTQB dumps and read the complete ISTQB syllabus.
• Check ISTQB exam dates for your country and prepare in advance.

---

» ISTQB Advanced Level

Exam Guidelines and ISTQB Advanced Level sample papers will be added soon. Keep visiting this page for updates.

» ISTQB Training Institute

Are you interested in taking coaching for ISTQB exam? Learn from the Best ISTQB training institute.

Software Testing Levels

Test Level 1 : Unit Testing

In programming, unit testing is a software design and development method where the programmer to verify that the units of source code are working properly. A unit is the smallest testable part of an application. In the programming of a unit of May an individual program, function, procedure, etc, while in object-oriented programming, the smallest unit is a method, which belongs to May in a base / super class abstract class or derived / child class.
Ideally, each test case is independent of others; Double objects like stubs, mock objects or false and the test harness can be used to assist testing a module in isolation. Unit testing is usually done by software developers to ensure that the code of other developers have written meets software requirements and behaves as the developer intended.

Benefits
The objective of the test is to isolate each part of the program and show that the parts are correct. A unit test provides a strict, a written contract that the piece of code must satisfy. Accordingly, it offers several advantages. Unit testing problems early in the development cycle.
* Unit testing allows the programmer to Refactor code at a later date, and make sure the module still works correctly (ie regression testing). The procedure is to write test cases for all functions and methods so that whenever a change causes a fault, it can be quickly identified and corrected.
* Readily available, unit tests make it easy for the programmer to check whether a piece of code works properly. Good product unit test design test cases that cover all paths of the unit carefully the conditions for a loop.
* In continuous unit testing environments, through the practice of maintaining inherent maintenance, unit tests will continue to accurately reflect the use of executable code from the face of change. According to the development practices in place and unit test coverage, the second of accuracy can be maintained.
* It helps eliminate uncertainty in the units themselves and can be used in a bottom-up testing style approach. By testing the parts of a program first, then testing the sum of its parts, integration testing is much easier.
* A widely debated question is in assessing the need for manual integration. While developing a hierarchy of unit tests in May appears to have achieved integration testing, which is a false sense of confidence since integration testing evaluates many other goals that can only be proved by the human factor. Some argue that a sufficient variety of test automation systems, integration of man by a group test is unnecessary. In fact, the real need ultimately depends on the characteristics of the product under development and its uses. In addition, the manual of the man or the test will depend largely on the availability of resources.
* It provides a way of life of the system documentation. Developers who want to know what functionality is provided by a unit and how the user can view the unit tests to gain a basic understanding of the unity of the API.
* Unit test cases embody characteristics that are essential to the success of the unit. These characteristics can indicate appropriate / inappropriate to use a unit as well as negative behaviors that must be trapped by the device. A unit test in itself, the essential characteristics of these documents, although many software development environments do not rely solely on the code of the document produced in development.
* On the other hand, documentation ordinary story is more sensitive to the drift of the implementation of the program and will become outdated (eg design changes, feature creep, relaxed practices for keeping documents up-to -date).
Limitations of tests
Tests can not be taken for each error in the program - it is impossible to evaluate all execution paths, for all but the most trivial programs. The same is true for unit testing. Furthermore, by definition, the unit tests that test the functionality of the units themselves. Therefore, it will not catch integration errors, or larger system-level errors (such as functions performed in multiple units, or non-functional testing areas such as performance). Unit testing is more effective when used in conjunction with other test software. Like all forms of software testing, unit testing can not show the presence of errors, it can not demonstrate the absence of errors.
Software testing is a combinatorial problem. For example, each boolean decision statement requires at least two tests: one with a result of the "real" and the other with a score of "false". Accordingly, for each line of code written, programmers often need 3 to 5 lines of test code.
To obtain the benefits of unit testing, a sense of discipline is needed throughout the software development process. It is essential to keep careful records, not only tests have been performed, but also of all the changes that were made to the source code of this unit or any other in the software. Using a version control system is essential. If a newer version of the unit is not a test it had previously adopted, the version control software can provide a list of changes to source code (if any) that have been applied to the unit since that time.
It is also essential to implement a sustainable process to ensure that the test failures are reviewed daily and processed immediately. If such a process is not implemented and ingrained into the team, the application will evolve in sync with the unit test suite - more and more false positives and reduce the effectiveness of the test suite.


Test Level 2 : Integration Testing

"Integration test" (sometimes called Integration and Testing, abbreviated I & T) is the phase of software testing in various software modules that are combined and tested as a group. It follows unit testing and precedes the test system.

Tests of integration as input modules that have been unit tested, groups larger aggregates, applies tests defined in a test plan for integration of these aggregates, and delivers its output data ready for integrated system testing.

Purpose
The purpose of integration is to verify the functional tests, performance and reliability on the major design requirements of the articles. These "design objects", ie sets (or groups of units) shall be exercised through their black box using test interfaces, success and error cases simulated by appropriate parameter and data entry. Simulation of the use of shared data and areas of inter-process communication is tested and subsystems are exercised through their input interface. Test cases are constructed to verify that all components within assemblages interact correctly, for example through procedure calls or process activations, and this is done after the test individual modules, that is to say the unit tests.

The general idea is a "building block" in the check assemblies that are added to a basic check, which is then used to support the integration of new test assemblies.

Some types of integration tests are big bang, top-down and bottom-up.

Big Bang
In this approach, all or most of the developed modules are combined to form a software system or a significant part of the system and then used for integration tests. The Big Bang is very effective method to save time in the integration testing process. However, if the test cases and their results are not properly registered, the whole process of integration will be more complex and prevent the May testing team to achieve the goal of integration.

A type of "Big Bang" integration tests is called usage model testing. Usage type of test can be used in software and hardware integration. The basis of this type of integration is to launch the user tests, as the workload of the user included in similar environments. By testing in this way, the environment is the test, while the individual components are proofed indirectly through their use. Usage type of test has a optimistic approach to the test, because it expects to have some problems with individual components. The strategy relies heavily on the developers of individual components to the test unit for their products. The objective of this strategy is to avoid repeating the tests carried out by developers, and instead of flesh on the problems caused by the interaction of components in the environment. For integration tests, the tests use type can be more efficient and provides better test coverage focused more traditional functional testing. To be more efficient and accurate, care must be used in the definition of the user, as the workload to create realistic scenarios in the exercise of the environment. This gives the integrated environment works as expected for the target audience.

Bottom Up and Top Down
There are two types of integration.

1. Bottom Up

2. Top Down.

Bottom-Up Testing: An approach to integration testing where the lowest level components are tested first, and then used to facilitate testing of components at a higher level. The process is repeated until the element at the top of the hierarchy is tested.

All low or low-level modules, procedures or functions are integrated and tested. After the integration of lower level tests integrated modules, the next level of modules will be trained and can be used for integration tests. This approach is useful only when all or most of the modules of the same level of development loans. This method also allows to determine the levels of software and it is easier to report the progress of testing as a percentage.

Top Down is the procedure where the top integrated modules are tested and part of module testing, step by step, until the end of the relationship with the module. The main advantage of the database is easy to find bugs. Top to bottom, it is easy to find the missing link branch.

Limitations
Any condition not specified in integration tests, apart from the confirmation of the execution of the design items are usually not tested.

Testing Level 3 : System testing

System testing of software or hardware testing is performed on an integrated system to verify and assess the system with its requirements. System testing falls within the scope of black box testing, and as such, should require no knowledge of the interior design of the code or logic.

In general, the test system has, as its entry, all the "integrated" software components that have successfully passed the integration tests and the software itself incorporated into any applicable hardware system (s). Test system is a limiting type of testing, it seeks to detect defects both within the inter-assemblages "and also in the system as a whole.

System testing is performed throughout the system as part of a functional specification (s) (FRS) and / or a System Requirement Specification (SRS). Test system is a phase of inquiry, where the emphasis is to have almost a destructive attitude and test not only the design but also the behavior and believed the same expectations. It is also intended to test and beyond the limits defined in the hardware / software specification (s). Test system includes load testing and stress testing. Once the load testing and stress tests are completed successfully, the next level of Alpha or Beta Testing Testing will proceed.

Types of system testing

The following examples are the different types of tests that should be considered during the system test:

• GUI software testing
• Usability testing
• Benchmarks
• Compatibility tests
• Error handling test
• Load test
• Volume test
• Stress tests
• Help for usability testing
• Testing for safety
• Scalability tests
• Capacity test
• Sanity testing
• Smoke tests
• Test
• Ad hoc tests
• Regression testing
• Reliability testing
• Recovery test
• Test facility
• Maintenance Test
• Accessibility tests

Tsting Level 4 : System Integration Test

System Integration Test (SIT) in the context of systems and software

engineering, is a testing process that exercises a software system coexistence with others. The integration of the system has multiple test systems that have made the system tests, tests for entry and their necessary interaction. After this process, the Deliverables are submitted to acceptance testing.

System integration testing (SIT) is a testing phase occurs after the unit tests and

prior to testing user acceptance (UAT).

Some of the Features of SIT:
System Integration Test (SIT) is the testing of the subsystems as a whole, to ensure that they function as a system.
The test should be guided by the requirement of the specification and system integration (SI) of the engineer's knowledge that the system should do.
No requirement to define the specifications of a system fully, they will always be gaps in what the requirement of the specification says and what is expected of a system.
This is where the experience of the engineer SI comes into play, because he / she carries out his work they need to keep your eyes open for any defects or problems. If the engineer must be aware that defects will be present, which there is through informal testing, ie the operating system and see what happens.
The SIT should ensure that the system meets the requirements of the specification of the formal and any implied or "common sense" requirements are met.
S.I.T. should also take place in different environments, for example, different temperatures. This should not be anything fancy, for example, a full environmental tests, but can be as little as possible of the airflow down, or a little, by turning the laboratory or thermostat down a little, it is amazing how small changes in the environment can affect the performance of a system.

Testing Level 5 : Acceptance Testing

In engineering and its various subdisciplines, acceptance testing is black-box testing of a system (eg software, lots of manufacture of mechanical parts, or batches of chemical products) prior to its delivery. In others, it is known that functional testing, black box testing, release acceptance, testing, quality assurance, application testing, confidence testing, testing, validation, testing of acceptance or factory.

In software development, acceptance testing by the supplier of the system is often distinguished from acceptance testing by the customer (the user or the client) before accepting the transfer of ownership. In such environments, the trials to acceptance by the customer is known as the test user acceptance (UAT). This is also known as end-user testing, the site (acceptance) test or field (acceptance) testing.

Overview
Acceptance testing generally involves running a series of tests on the completed system. Each test, known as cases, exercises a state of operation of the user's environment or feature of the system and will result in a pass or fail boolean outcome. There is generally no degrees of success or failure. The test environment is usually designed to be identical or as close as possible, provided the user to the environment, including such extremes. These test cases must each be accompanied by test case input data or a formal description of operational activities (or both) to achieve, to thoroughly exercise the specific case and a description of the results.

Acceptance Tests / Criterion (in Agile Software Development) are usually created by customers and expressed in a business language. These are high-level tests to test the compliance of a story or user stories "played" during any sprint / iteration. These tests are created preferably through collaboration between customers, business analysts, testers and developers, but business customers (product owners) are the primary owners of these tests. When the user passes the stories of their acceptance criteria, business owners can be sure that the developers are progressing in the right direction on how the application was intended to work and it is therefore essential that These tests include tests of logic, and interface elements of validation (if required).

Acceptance of test cards are perfectly created during sprint planning and iteration planning meeting, before the development so that developers have a clear idea of what to develop. Sometimes (because of poor planning) tests in May of multiple stories (that are not implemented in the same sprint) and there are different ways to test them during the sprint. A popular technique is to mock external interfaces or data to mimick other stories that could not be played during an iteration (as these stories May were relatively lower priority). A history of the user is not considered complete until the acceptance tests have passed.

Process
Following acceptance test is directed against the entry of data or by using a test script to direct acceptance testers. Then, the results are compared with the results. If there is a good match for all cases, the test suite is said to pass. If not, the system May be either accepted or rejected in conditions previously agreed between the developer and builder.

The aim is to give confidence that the system of record of meeting the needs of both authors and users. The acceptance phase May also act as a gateway to the quality, where no quality defects to be detected in May uncovered.

A main goal of acceptance testing is that, once successfully completed, and provided that certain other (contract) are met acceptance criteria, the authors then sign on the system as satisfying the contract ( prior agreement between developer and manufacturer), and deliver final payment.

Types of acceptance testing
The types of acceptance testing are

Acceptance testing by the user
This May include acceptance testing at the factory, ie the testing facility by users before the plant is moved to its own site, after which the site acceptance testing be performed in May by users on the site.
Operational acceptance testing
Also known as operational readiness test, it is the de facto control to a system to ensure that processes and procedures are in place to allow the system to be used and maintained. This May include controls to safeguard the facilities, procedures for disaster recovery, training for end users, maintenance procedures and safety procedures.
Contract and regulation acceptance testing
Contract acceptance testing, a system is tested against the criteria for acceptance as a contract, before the system is accepted. In regulation acceptance testing, a system is tested to ensure it meets governmental, legal and safety standards.
Alpha and beta test
Alpha testing is carried out at site developers, and testing of the operating system by the staff before it is delivered to external customers. Beta testing is done to clients sites, and testing by a group of customers who use the system to their own sites and feedback before the system is handed over to other customers. This is often called the "field testing".

Software QA and Testing Frequently-Asked-Questions

What makes a good Software Test engineer?
A good test engineer has a 'test to break' attitude, an ability to take the point of view of the customer, a strong desire for quality, and an attention to detail. Tact and diplomacy are useful in maintaining a cooperative relationship with developers, and an ability to communicate with both technical (developers) and non-technical (customers, management) people is useful. Previous software development experience can be helpful as it provides a deeper understanding of the software development process, gives the tester an appreciation for the developers' point of view, and reduce the learning curve in automated test tool programming. Judgement skills are needed to assess high-risk or critical areas of an application on which to focus testing efforts when time is limited.

What makes a good Software QA engineer?
The same qualities a good tester has are useful for a QA engineer. Additionally, they must be able to understand the entire software development process and how it can fit into the business approach and goals of the organization. Communication skills and the ability to understand various sides of issues are important. In organizations in the early stages of implementing QA processes, patience and diplomacy are especially needed. An ability to find problems as well as to see 'what's missing' is important for inspections and reviews.

What makes a good QA or Test manager?
A good QA, test, or QA/Test(combined) manager should:

• be familiar with the software development process
• be able to maintain enthusiasm of their team and promote a positive atmosphere, despite what is a somewhat 'negative' process (e.g., looking for or preventing problems)
• be able to promote teamwork to increase productivity
• be able to promote cooperation between software, test, and QA engineers
• have the diplomatic skills needed to promote improvements in QA processes
• have the ability to withstand pressures and say 'no' to other managers when quality is insufficient or QA processes are not being adhered to
• have people judgement skills for hiring and keeping skilled personnel
• be able to communicate with technical and non-technical people, engineers, managers, and customers.
• be able to run meetings and keep them focused

What's the role of documentation in QA?
Generally, the larger the team/organization, the more useful it will be to stress documentation, in order to manage and communicate more efficiently. (Note that documentation may be electronic, not necessarily in printable form, and may be embedded in code comments, may be embodied in well-written test cases, user stories, etc.) QA practices may be documented to enhance their repeatability. Specifications, designs, business rules, configurations, code changes, test plans, test cases, bug reports, user manuals, etc. may be documented in some form. There would ideally be a system for easily finding and obtaining information and determining what documentation will have a particular piece of information. Change management for documentation can be used where appropriate. For agile software projects, it should be kept in mind that one of the agile values is "Working software over comprehensive documentation", which does not mean 'no' documentation. Agile projects tend to stress the short term view of project needs; documentation often becomes more important in a project's long-term context.

What's the big deal about 'requirements'?
One of the most reliable methods of ensuring problems, or failure, in a large, complex software project is to have poorly documented requirements specifications. (Note that requirements documentation can be electronic, not necessarily in the form of printable documents, and may be embedded in code comments, may be embodied in well-written test cases, etc.) Requirements are the details describing an application's externally-perceived functionality and properties. Requirements should be clear, complete, reasonably detailed, cohesive, attainable, and testable. A non-testable requirement would be, for example, 'user-friendly' (too subjective). A more testable requirement would be something like 'the user must enter their previously-assigned password to access the application'. Determining and organizing requirements details in a useful and efficient way can be a difficult effort; different methods are available depending on the particular project. Many books are available that describe various approaches to this task. (See the section's 'Software Requirements Engineering' category for books on Software Requirements.)

Care should be taken to involve ALL of a project's significant 'customers' in the requirements process. 'Customers' could be in-house personnel or outside personnel, and could include end-users, customer acceptance testers, customer contract officers, customer management, future software maintenance engineers, salespeople, etc. Anyone who could later derail the project if their expectations aren't met should be included if possible.

Organizations vary considerably in their handling of requirements specifications. Often the requirements are spelled out in a document with statements such as 'The product shall.....'. 'Design' specifications should not be confused with 'requirements'; design specifications are ideally traceable back to the requirements.

In some organizations requirements may end up in high level project plans, functional specification documents, in design documents, or in other documents at various levels of detail. No matter what they are called, some type of documentation with detailed requirements will be needed by testers in order to properly plan and execute tests. Without such documentation, there will be no clear-cut way to determine if a software application is performing correctly.

'Agile' approaches use methods requiring close interaction and cooperation between programmers and customers/end-users to iteratively develop requirements, user stories, etc. In the XP 'test first' approach developers create automated unit testing code before the application code, and these automated unit tests essentially embody the requirements.

What steps are needed to develop and run software tests?
The following are some of the steps to consider:

• Obtain requirements, functional design, and internal design specifications, user stories, and other available/necessary information
• Obtain budget and schedule requirements
• Determine project-related personnel and their responsibilities, reporting requirements, required standards and processes (such as release processes, change processes, etc.)
• Determine project context, relative to the existing quality culture of the product/organization/business, and how it might impact testing scope, aproaches, and methods.
• Identify application's higher-risk and mor important aspects, set priorities, and determine scope and limitations of tests.
• Determine test approaches and methods - unit, integration, functional, system, security, load, usability tests, etc.
• Determine test environment requirements (hardware, software, configuration, versions, communications, etc.)
• Determine testware requirements (automation tools, coverage analyzers, test tracking, problem/bug tracking, etc.)
• Determine test input data requirements
• Identify tasks, those responsible for tasks, and labor requirements
• Set schedule estimates, timelines, milestones
• Determine, where apprapriate, input equivalence classes, boundary value analyses, error classes
• Prepare test plan document(s) and have needed reviews/approvals
• Write test cases
• Have needed reviews/inspections/approvals of test cases
• Prepare test environment and testware, obtain needed user manuals/reference documents/configuration guides/installation guides, set up test tracking processes, set up logging and archiving processes, set up or obtain test input data
• Obtain and install software releases
• Perform tests
• Evaluate and report results
• Track problems/bugs and fixes
• Retest as needed
• Maintain and update test plans, test cases, test environment, and testware through life cycle

What's a 'test plan'?
A software project test plan is a document that describes the objectives, scope, approach, and focus of a software testing effort. The process of preparing a test plan is a useful way to think through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. The completed document will help people outside the test group understand the 'why' and 'how' of product validation. It should be thorough enough to be useful but not so thorough that no one outside the test group will read it. The following are some of the items that might be included in a test plan, depending on the particular project:

• Title
• Identification of software including version/release numbers
• Revision history of document including authors, dates, approvals
• Table of Contents
• Purpose of document, intended audience
• Objective of testing effort
• Software product overview
• Relevant related document list, such as requirements, design documents, other test plans, etc.
• Relevant standards or legal requirements
• Traceability requirements
• Relevant naming conventions and identifier conventions
• Overall software project organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilties
• Test organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilities
• Assumptions and dependencies
• Project risk analysis
• Testing priorities and focus
• Scope and limitations of testing
• Test outline - a decomposition of the test approach by test type, feature, functionality, process, system, module, etc. as applicable
• Outline of data input equivalence classes, boundary value analysis, error classes
• Test environment - hardware, operating systems, other required software, data configurations, interfaces to other systems
• Test environment validity analysis - differences between the test and production systems and their impact on test validity.
• Test environment setup and configuration issues
• Software migration processes
• Software CM processes
• Test data setup requirements
• Database setup requirements
• Outline of system-logging/error-logging/other capabilities, and tools such as screen capture software, that will be used to help describe and report bugs
• Discussion of any specialized software or hardware tools that will be used by testers to help track the cause or source of bugs
• Test automation - justification and overview
• Test tools to be used, including versions, patches, etc.
• Test script/test code maintenance processes and version control
• Problem tracking and resolution - tools and processes
• Project test metrics to be used
• Reporting requirements and testing deliverables
• Software entrance and exit criteria
• Initial sanity testing period and criteria
• Test suspension and restart criteria
• Personnel allocation
• Personnel pre-training needs
• Test site/location
• Outside test organizations to be utilized and their purpose, responsibilties, deliverables, contact persons, and coordination issues
• Relevant proprietary, classified, security, and licensing issues.
• Open issues
• Appendix - glossary, acronyms, etc.

What's a 'test case'?
A test case describes an input, action, or event and an expected response, to determine if a feature of a software application is working correctly. A test case may contain particulars such as test case identifier, test case name, objective, test conditions/setup, input data requirements, steps, and expected results. The level of detail may vary significantly depending on the organization and project context.

Note that the process of developing test cases can help find problems in the requirements or design of an application, since it requires completely thinking through the operation of the application. For this reason, it's useful to prepare test cases early in the development cycle if possible.

What should be done after a bug is found?
The bug needs to be communicated and assigned to developers that can fix it. After the problem is resolved, fixes should be re-tested, and determinations made regarding requirements for regression testing to check that fixes didn't create problems elsewhere. If a problem-tracking system is in place, it should encapsulate these processes. A variety of commercial problem-tracking/management software tools are available (see the section for web resources with listings of such tools). The following are items to consider in the tracking process:

• Complete information such that developers can understand the bug, get an idea of it's severity, and reproduce it if necessary.
• Bug identifier (number, ID, etc.)
• Current bug status (e.g., 'Released for Retest', 'New', etc.)
• The application name or identifier and version
• The function, module, feature, object, screen, etc. where the bug occurred
• Environment specifics, system, platform, relevant hardware specifics
• Test case name/number/identifier
• One-line bug description
• Full bug description
• Description of steps needed to reproduce the bug if not covered by a test case or if the developer doesn't have easy access to the test case/test script/test tool
• Names and/or descriptions of file/data/messages/etc. used in test
• File excerpts/error messages/log file excerpts/screen shots/test tool logs that would be helpful in finding the cause of the problem
• Severity estimate (a 5-level range such as 1-5 or 'critical'-to-'low' is common)
• Was the bug reproducible?
• Tester name
• Test date
• Bug reporting date
• Name of developer/group/organization the problem is assigned to
• Description of problem cause
• Description of fix
• Code section/file/module/class/method that was fixed
• Date of fix
• Application version that contains the fix
• Tester responsible for retest
• Retest date
• Retest results
• Regression testing requirements
• Tester responsible for regression tests
• Regression testing results

A reporting or tracking process should enable notification of appropriate personnel at various stages. For instance, testers need to know when retesting is needed, developers need to know when bugs are found and how to get the needed information, and reporting/summary capabilities are needed for managers.

What is 'configuration management'?
Configuration management covers the processes used to control, coordinate, and track: code, requirements, documentation, problems, change requests, designs, tools/compilers/libraries/patches, changes made to them, and who makes the changes. (See the section for web resources with listings of configuration management tools. Also see the section's 'Configuration Management' category for useful books with more information.)

What if the software is so buggy it can't really be tested at all?
The best bet in this situation is for the testers to go through the process of reporting whatever bugs or blocking-type problems initially show up, with the focus being on critical bugs. Since this type of problem can severely affect schedules, and indicates deeper problems in the software development process (such as insufficient unit testing or insufficient integration testing, poor design, improper build or release procedures, etc.) managers should be notified, and provided with some documentation as evidence of the problem.

How can it be known when to stop testing?
This can be difficult to determine. Most modern software applications are so complex, and run in such an interdependent environment, that complete testing can never be done. Common factors in deciding when to stop are:

• Deadlines (release deadlines, testing deadlines, etc.)
• Test cases completed with certain percentage passed
• Test budget depleted
• Coverage of code/functionality/requirements reaches a specified point
• Bug rate falls below a certain level
• Beta or alpha testing period ends

What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?
Use risk analysis, along with discussion with project stakeholders, to determine where testing should be focused.
Since it's rarely possible to test every possible aspect of an application, every possible combination of events, every dependency, or everything that could go wrong, risk analysis is appropriate to most software development projects. This requires judgement skills, common sense, and experience. (If warranted, formal methods are also available.) Considerations can include:

• Which functionality is most important to the project's intended purpose?
• Which functionality is most visible to the user?
• Which functionality has the largest safety impact?
• Which functionality has the largest financial impact on users?
• Which aspects of the application are most important to the customer?
• Which aspects of the application can be tested early in the development cycle?
• Which parts of the code are most complex, and thus most subject to errors?
• Which parts of the application were developed in rush or panic mode?
• Which aspects of similar/related previous projects caused problems?
• Which aspects of similar/related previous projects had large maintenance expenses?
• Which parts of the requirements and design are unclear or poorly thought out?
• What do the developers think are the highest-risk aspects of the application?
• What kinds of problems would cause the worst publicity?
• What kinds of problems would cause the most customer service complaints?
• What kinds of tests could easily cover multiple functionalities?
• Which tests will have the best high-risk-coverage to time-required ratio?

What if the project isn't big enough to justify extensive testing?
Consider the impact of project errors, not the size of the project. However, if extensive testing is still not justified, risk analysis is again needed and the same considerations as described previously in apply. The tester might then do ad hoc testing, or write up a limited test plan based on the risk analysis.

How does a client/server environment affect testing?
Client/server applications can be quite complex due to the multiple dependencies among clients, data communications, hardware, and servers, especially in multi-tier systems. Thus testing requirements can be extensive. When time is limited (as it usually is) the focus should be on integration and system testing. Additionally, load/stress/performance testing may be useful in determining client/server application limitations and capabilities. There are commercial tools to assist with such testing. (See the section for web resources with listings that include these kinds of test tools.)

How can World Wide Web sites be tested?
Web sites are essentially client/server applications - with web servers and 'browser' clients. Consideration should be given to the interactions between html pages, web services, encrypted communications, Internet connections, firewalls, applications that run in web pages (such as javascript, flash, other plug-in applications), the wide variety of applications that could run on the server side, etc. Additionally, there are a wide variety of servers and browsers, various versions of each, small but sometimes significant differences between them, variations in connection speeds, rapidly changing technologies, and multiple standards and protocols. The end result is that testing for web sites can become a major ongoing effort. Other considerations might include:

• What are the expected loads on the server (e.g., number of hits per unit time?), and what kind of performance is required under such loads (such as web server response time, database query response times). What kinds of tools will be needed for performance testing (such as web load testing tools, other tools already in house that can be adapted, load generation appliances, etc.)?
• Who is the target audience? What kind and version of browsers will they be using, and how extensively should testing be for these variations? What kind of connection speeds will they by using? Are they intra- organization (thus with likely high connection speeds and similar browsers) or Internet-wide (thus with a wide variety of connection speeds and browser types)?
• What kind of performance is expected on the client side (e.g., how fast should pages appear, how fast should flash, applets, etc. load and run)?
• Will down time for server and content maintenance/upgrades be allowed? how much?
• What kinds of security (firewalls, encryption, passwords, functionality, etc.) will be required and what is it expected to do? How can it be tested?
• What internationilization/localization/language requirements are there, and how are they to be verified?
• How reliable are the site's Internet connections required to be? And how does that affect backup system or redundant connection requirements and testing?
• What processes will be required to manage updates to the web site's content, and what are the requirements for maintaining, tracking, and controlling page content, graphics, links, etc.?
• Which HTML and related specification will be adhered to? How strictly? What variations will be allowed for targeted browsers?
• Will there be any standards or requirements for page appearance and/or graphics throughout a site or parts of a site?
• Will there be any development practices/standards utilized for web page components and identifiers, which can significantly impact test automation.
• How will internal and external links be validated and updated? how often?
• Can testing be done on the production system, or will a separate test system be required? How are browser caching, variations in browser option settings, connection variabilities, and real-world internet 'traffic congestion' problems to be accounted for in testing?
• How extensive or customized are the server logging and reporting requirements; are they considered an integral part of the system and do they require testing?
• How are flash, applets, javascripts, ActiveX components, etc. to be maintained, tracked, controlled, and tested?

Some sources of site security information include the Usenet newsgroup 'comp.security.announce' and links concerning web site security in the

Hundreds of web site test tools are available and more than 420 of them are listed in the .

How is testing affected by object-oriented designs?
Well-engineered object-oriented design can make it easier to trace from code to internal design to functional design to requirements. While there will be little affect on black box testing (where an understanding of the internal design of the application is unnecessary), white-box testing can be oriented to the application's objects. If the application was well-designed this can simplify test design.

What is Extreme Programming and what's it got to do with testing?
Extreme Programming (XP) is a software development approach for small teams on risk-prone projects with unstable requirements. It was created by Kent Beck who described the approach in his book 'Extreme Programming Explained' (See the ). Testing ('extreme testing') is a core aspect of Extreme Programming. Programmers are expected to write unit and functional test code first - before writing the application code. Test code is under source control along with the rest of the code. Customers are expected to be an integral part of the project team and to help develope scenarios for acceptance/black box testing. Acceptance tests are preferably automated, and are modified and rerun for each of the frequent development iterations. QA and test personnel are also required to be an integral part of the project team. Detailed requirements documentation is not used, and frequent re-scheduling, re-estimating, and re-prioritizing is expected. For more info on XP and other 'agile' software development approaches (Scrum, Crystal, etc.) see the resource listings in the section.