IMPROVED METHOD OF TESTING DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM INTERFACES USING SIMULATION TESTS

Abstract

In this paper a modification of Mike Cohn’s test pyramid is described for adaptation during testing in distributed information processing systems which allows expanding the possibilities of testing and applying the features of such systems. Recommendations for further use of the mechanisms of modified Mike Cohn’s pyramid are developed. The method of testing the user interface software of the nodes of a distributed system was improved to differ from the existing techniques by including a mechanism of simulation of its operation to allow testing of individual components of the system interface. It is shown that in comparison with end-to-end testing of user interfaces the advantages of using the mechanisms of user interface test simulators allow reducing the time spent on testing any UI service. The time is reduced by decreasing the number of simultaneous user interface services. With a small number of nodes, end to-end testing of user interfaces is faster than simulation testing of the same user interfaces. As the number of nodes increases, the time required to test the services of a distributed system by simulation tests becomes shorter than the time required to test the same system by a traditional method.