• Initial testing can be performed at suppliers’ labs • Final test environment should seek to simulate the production environment: – Full range of hardware and firmware – Full range of applications
• Test with production data:
– Use volume migration or data replication tools to enable this
– Simulate peak loads during testing • Establish metrics for sign-off
Where and how the testing is performed can be critical in order to ensure that the test results reflect real-world results:
Suppliers can test configurations in their own labs, saving the customer time and money.
Supplier’s labs often cannot replicate real-world factors, such as the true range of hardware installed in the servers or attached to the network, application performance profiles, and other applications.
It is important to test with real production data and simulated peak performance loads. Data replication and volume migration features can facilitate this.