Spike testing is a form of software testing in which a software program is put through its paces with significant traffic load increases and decreases. Spike testing is used to assess how a software program responds to a rapid increase or decrease in user load, as well as to identify how long it takes to recover following a spike in user demand.
Spike testing is a technique for determining the flaws in software programs in agile software development. Spike testing is used to assess how the system reacts to sudden increases and decreases in user load. Spike testing is used in software engineering to assess whether a system’s performance will degrade when it is suddenly subjected to a high load.
Another objective of spike testing is to figure out how long it takes to recover. The system requires some time to settle between two consecutive surges in user traffic. The time it takes to recuperate should be as short as feasible. If you are developing an ecommerce store, and plans to launch special deals on Black Friday, you should subject the system to spike testing. Then you can ensure that the system will not crash because of the high volume of traffic that it receives.
There is a standardized approach to follow as you do spike testing in an agile environment. Before you do the spike test, you should determine load capacity. Then you need to prepare the test environment. After that, you can define the expected load. You can continue to increase the load along with time as you do the test. Then you can set back the load to normal and finish your testing. Once you are done with spike testing, you can analyze the results.
— Slimane Zouggari