One kind of system testing called recovery testing looks at a system’s ability to bounce back from errors. The method is to fail the system and then confirm that the recovery process of the system was carried out correctly.
Recovery testing is necessary to make that a system is fault-tolerant and capable of recovering well from errors. It is anticipated of a system to recover from errors and carry on with its operations within a predetermined window of time. Any mission-critical system, such as defence systems, medical devices, etc., needs recovery testing. Such systems are subject to stringent protocols that specify how and when the system must recover from failures as well as how it must operate during such times.
Recovery testing should be done on a system or program to check for issues like:
- Breakdown of the power supply
- There is no way to reach the external server.
- Loss of wireless network signal
- Physical circumstances
- The external gadget is not working
- The external gadget isn’t working the way it should, etc.
Procedures to follow before doing a recovery test:
Prior to initiating the Recovery testing process, a tester needs to make sure the following are completed:
- Recovery Analysis: It’s critical to assess how well the system can deploy additional resources, such as servers or CPUs. This would facilitate a better understanding of the recovery-related modifications that may affect how the system functions. It is also important to research every potential failure, including its potential consequences, degree of severity, and methods of execution.
- Test Plan preparation: Creating a test plan involves designing the test cases with the environment and recovery analysis results in mind.
- Test environment preparation: Preparing the test environment by designing it in accordance with the findings of the recovery analysis.
- Keeping Up Backup: Program-related data, including different program versions and database states, needs to be backed up. Furthermore, data backups at many places are crucial if the data is significant.
- Allocating recovery personnel: It’s critical to assign recovery personnel to the recovery testing procedure who possess the necessary knowledge and training.
- Documentation: In order to assess the system’s performance in the event of a failure, this stage places a strong emphasis on recording every action taken both before and during the recovery testing.
Recovery testing example:
We can induce software failure in a system that is receiving data across a network for processing by disconnecting the system power supply. We can then re-plug the machine and see whether it can recover and resume receiving the data from where it stopped after some time.
Another illustration would be rebooting the computer to cause software failure when a browser is operating in several sessions. We can see if the system recovers from the failure and loads all of the sessions it was working on previously by restarting the system.
Benefits of Recovery Testing:
- Enhances the system’s quality by getting rid of any possible defects, making the system function as it should.
- Disaster Recovery Testing is another name for recovery testing. To ensure a backup plan is in place for recovery in the unlikely event of a system compromise or failure, many businesses maintain disaster recovery centers.
- As probable weaknesses are found and fixed in the system, risk can be eliminated.
- Fixing errors enhances functionality, making the system more dependable and enabling it to operate more effectively in the event of a failure.
Drawbacks of Recovery Testing:
- Recovery testing requires several processes and preparations both before and during the operation, which makes it a time-consuming procedure.
- To ensure correct execution of recovery testing, the tester needs instruction. Data and backup files should be sufficient for him to carry out recovery tests.
- In certain instances, the possible defects or problems are unpredictable. Preserving software quality is essential, so to address the challenge of pinpointing the precise cause, we generate and run random test cases to eliminate any potential defects.
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