Performance Testing of data retrieval from backend

Question

I am testing a Windows application which uses Sybase as the backend database. The data from the backend is retrieved through queries and displayed in the GUI. The database is located in the same PC and no network delays are expected.

Now we have some new performance requirements which state certain maximum time for this kind of data retrieval and display.

For eg., it states 'maximum 3 seconds to retrieve the employee data when the 'query' button is clicked'.

Has anyone tried automating this kind of scenarios using any tools available ? What other solutions will be possible other than manually checking the display using the watch ?

Answer 1

You can use Apache JMeter to measure Sybase queries performance following next steps:

1. Download JTDS JDBC driver and drop it into /lib folder of your JMeter installation
2. Add a JDBC Connection Configuration test element to your test plan and provide JDBC URL, driver class and credentials
3. Add one or more JDBC Request Samplers and put your queries in there
4. Add necessary Listeners to visualize results.

See The Real Secret to Building a Database Test Plan With JMeter guide for more details.

Answer 2

So before you start going down the route of tools, I would ask yourself how often will you need to do this. If once or twice your best tool is a good stop watch and a spreadsheet. Then ask if you want to do some perf testing directly against the DB and looks for tools that will help with that. If you have to end up testing all the way via the UI you are going to end up looking for a windows Ui automation framework and wrap some stopwatch calls around that.