Why Development Operations Require Test Data Management?

Testing is an important component of modern software development. Developers live by the mantra “if it is not tested, it's not done.” There is a great focus on acceptance and unit testing, but organizations mostly step back when comes to the practical testing system. The poor testing environment is also a reason that a company is not able to deliver excellent solutions.

In this post, we will discuss the disadvantages of missing out on a good environment. 

Why there is a lack of Good Testing Environments?

Organizations face many competing factors when it comes to software development and deployment. There are problems pertaining to building the right thing and creating a stable solution that is liked by the customer. In every organization, the main goal is to keep a balance in the cost of development and the cost of operations. The cost is also a daunting factor when you have to achieve two goals.

Furthermore, the maintenance and creation of each environment is a time-consuming and complicated activity. Also, coordinating multiple environments has double the effect on cost. Employees also suffer from distraction and fatigue. When the complexity level increases, it becomes hard to be consistent in the project. On the whole, all of these factors lead to expanding of cost by rework and waste.

As we know the problem, let’s ascertain how to deal with it.

New Approach for Test Environment

Traditionally we used one or more test environments. Our test data management is a smaller part of our production. This might not contain the same volume of data, the network traffic may not be the same. The servers might not have the same amount of RAM and same number of cores. 

This is not the most efficient way of testing the system as a whole but there are reasons that you use this system.

The modern way of doing things is to design a production environment and run the test. Thus, it can be done by automating the infrastructure to the degree where we can generate a complete environment with a simple click and execute our test series.

We must build a test environment by keeping a specific model in mind. There are many issues which we have to deal with for achieving a goal. 

What is Needed for Better Testing Environments?

First, it is important that you accurately lay out what tools are needed and how they will be utilized. Having a solid framework to begin will be helpful later on. Identify the inclinations you are looking for in settling up an environment. Ensure that you have efficient tools to manage the environment. It’s easier to build things into the system in the first place.

You will not get the result in the first place, so don’t be overly speculative or ambitious. Converge on what you know to be true about the final state and make efforts to achieve that. There are several tools accessible to assist every phase of managing the environment. 

Primarily cloud providers entirely provide working APIs for every part of the configuration, deployment, and allocation. More than APIs there are often whole CLIs and SDKs to make using them easier. Also, there are third-party tools that make the efficient use of those SDKs almost transparent. 

There are many components of the testing environment. They are as follows:

Testability

Modern software is all tested. The software mechanism has been changing for years. The tremendous focus is given on testability. The debate always remains about what is the most effective means of testing. 

Building a system infrastructure that promotes testability is necessary for modern delivery. The test environment must be testable. Validation of the environment is also a critical feature of the solution.

Configuration Management

For automated releases, we must have good configuration management. The process must be straightforward for identifying the codes and configuration method to build process. By doing this all the environments processing further will be consistent. 

Release Management

An IT test environment management needs release management to carry on several tasks. We need to know what fixes and features are required in a release, to understand what method can be used in testing. This helps us to integrate our change management system, release process and source control tools.

Networks

Network configuration is a major concern to be addressed. The deployed environment is needed to function with a small amount of customization. The deployment is to test the environment and that does not mean that we must reconfigure every service. Toolings like Kubernetes, virtual networks and docker-compose can reduce these customizations.

Failure to design the test environment puts the organization at great risk and can also be costly. For creating test environments with a reasonable amount of consistency, it is important to manage them. Thus, test environment management is an essential component of any environment.