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Multiplying the Value of Automated Tests @Oredev

emanuil
November 20, 2018

Multiplying the Value of Automated Tests @Oredev

One of the most widely touted drawback of the automated tests is that they work in strictly bounded context. They can only detect problems for which they are specifically programmed. The standard automated test has a bunch of assertions in the last step. The outcome of the test (pass/fail) is decided by those assertions. By definition, an automated test cannot detect an ‘unknown’ problem.

Because of their narrow focus, the automated test are occasionally compared to dumb robots. It takes a lot of time and effort to write and support them however their return of investment is still marginal. I’ve heard this mantra so many times that people just starting in the testing field can easily accept it as a truism.

Using the 6 techniques (flaky behavior, random test data, attack proxy, logs insights, data quality and application metrics), any automated tests can be transformed into sensitive and highly advanced suite. This suite will be able to detect problems for which the tests are not specifically programmed. New, unseen or unanticipated problems are now immediately highlighted. The value of your tests will be dramatically increased. And the best part is that you don’t need to modify the existing tests.

emanuil

November 20, 2018
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  1. “a test oracle, is a mechanism for determining whether a

    test has passed or failed” - Wikipedia A deep oracle is a mechanism to detect problems, even if a test has passed. @EmanuilSlavov
  2. Automated test are suitable only for regression testing Automated test

    can not find any new bugs Automated tests give false sense of quality @EmanuilSlavov
  3. for i in {1..100}; do if ! execute_test ; then

    break; fi; done; Single test execution command Stop if the test fails even once Run it 100 times
  4. In the majority of the cases the fault is in

    the test, but sometimes it’s not… @EmanuilSlavov
  5. Configuration Problems Misconfigured load balancer External resources fail to load

    on time - e.g. JS library DB connection pool with limited capacity @EmanuilSlavov
  6. Application Problems Thread unsafe code Lack of retries in a

    distributed system DB connections not closed after use @EmanuilSlavov
  7. Eum odit omnis impedit officia adipisci id non. random tweet

    '' Random Sentence Constant String Special Character random tweet Provident ipsa dolor excepturi quo asperiores animi. @someMention & random tweet Dignissimos eos accusamus aut ratione [email protected] random tweet Ut optio illum libero. Natus accusantium aliquam dolore atque voluptatum et a. http://ryanpacocha.biz/nikita random tweet @EmanuilSlavov
  8. Tests should be able to generate all the data that

    they need. @EmanuilSlavov random
  9. https://api-tier.komfo.net/komfo_core/api/publish?client_id=93&team_id=981 Host: api-tier.komfo.net Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded Api-Token: 59203-242eab327550693c4b791dc01 Referer: https://web-tier.komfo.net/komfo_core/publish/composer Content-Length:

    538 { "message":"Good evening everyone", "post_ad_lifetime":"0", "permission": {"type":"everyone"}, "targets":"fb_1211718002161534", "type":"status", "is_published":1, "limit_audience_options": {“ageFrom”:13,”ageTo":65,"gender":0} } SQL Injection Payloads ' '' # - - - ‘%20; ' and 1='1 ' and a='a or 1=1 or true like ‘%' ') or ‘1'='1 ' UNION ALL SELECT 1 @EmanuilSlavov
  10. A Tool vs Your Tests XSS here Your tests know

    how to navigate your app better. @EmanuilSlavov
  11. The usual test relies on assertions at the last step

    Code execution may continue after the last step Some exceptions are caught, logged and never acted upon Look for unexpected error/exceptions in the app logs @EmanuilSlavov
  12. If all tests pass, but there are unexpected exceptions in

    the logs, then fail the test run and investigate. @EmanuilSlavov
  13. What is Bad Data?* Missing Bad Format Unrealistic Unsynchronized Conflicting

    Duplicated * The Quartz guide to bad data
 github.com/Quartz/bad-data-guide
  14. One of those values was zero (0) @EmanuilSlavov If we

    see bad data in production we add a check for it.
  15. If all tests pass, but there is bad data, then

    fail the test run and investigate. @EmanuilSlavov
  16. Record various application stats after each test run Easy on

    dedicated environment, especially with containers With fast tests* you can tie perf bottlenecks to specific commits *Check my talk called “Need for Speed”
  17. 0 900 1800 2700 3600 App Log File: Lines After

    Each Commit 54% increase @EmanuilSlavov
  18. 0 11500 23000 34500 46000 Total Mongo Queries: Count After

    Each Commit 26% increase @EmanuilSlavov
  19. Logs: lines, size, exceptions/errors count DB: read/write queries, transaction time,

    network connections OS: peak CPU and memory usage, swap size, disk i/o Network: 3rd party API calls, packets counts, DNS queries Language Specific: objects created, threads count, GC runs, heap size What data to collect after a test run is completed…