What is Test Environment in Software Testing?

Every software passes the testing procedure to make sure that it is working as per the predefined specification. A Test Environment is a dummy setup designed and built to execute multiple test cases on the software. In the test environment, we use the software as well as hardware to achieve test cases once requirements are gathered from the client.

What is the Test Environment in Software Testing?

Test Environment is a platform to test a product whether it meets the expected requirement or not. There are many phases between development and deployment. QA can not test the product functionality directly on the Client’s server. So initially product has been tested in the testing environment until it works fine. Once the tester got surety about its functionality it deployed it on the main server.

Key Steps in the testing process

1. Once the requirement-gathering phase is completed, the developer starts with the coding phase. After completing coding the developer and tester start an initial round of testing like functional/ Unit, integration.
2. In the initial round of testing, all server software should be the same, but the hardware and database are similar to a production server and staging server.
3. To perform a ‘System Testing ‘tester requires a highly configured server that is similar to the production server, which is known as a ‘Production Server’.
4. In System testing tester we use test URLs and perform system testing.
5. If the tester finds any bug on a staging server, it will assign o developer to fix it, After fixing the reported bug it will be directly stored on the staging test server.
6. The tester needs to retest that bug on the testing server and close it.

What is a staging environment?

The staging environment is a platform to test products in the initial phase. The tester tests the product initially on the testing environment. All need to be fixed all the issue on the testing environment only. The testing environment is developed to deploy the issue-free products on the main server.

Difference Between Staging and Production Environment

What is a Test Bed?

The testbed is a platform for test execution or we can say it is a configuration prepared for test execution. It is prepared by network configuration, project-specific hardware and software, product to test, system and application software.

Importance of Test Environment

Using a Test environment an organization can have a usable and stable environment, having hardware, software, database, and networking components that can execute applications or software products smoothly and can trap the issue that arises in that product.

Types of Test Environment

There are 8 types of testing environments:

1. Performance Testing Environment
2. User Acceptance Testing
3. System Integration Testing
4. Quality Assurance
5. Security Testing
6. Chaos Testing
7. Alpha Testing
8. Beta Testing

Top Test Environment Challenges

There are 4 challenges in setting up a ‘Test Environment’ :

1) Environment creation timely

Testing Environment created by developer but sometimes it takes time to have hands-on working experience by QA team.

2) Test Data Reliability

The database of the testing environment and client environment should be the same only the QA team can get perfect results from their test execution. So for a good quality database, it is necessary to restore the database after a fixed interval of time.

3) Test procedure and knowledge of the result

It is very good practice to communicate with the team about the latest release or update. So if any teammate is not present at the critical moment then he should be informed by others with written documents about the result or release of each testing environment.

4) Best Practices for setting up a Test Environment

It is very good to practice preparing a Test Environment. For the creamy quality of the product, it is necessary to have different testing phases before deploying it on the client environment. So using a testing environment we can have a better quality of the product.

Conclusion:

It is a software product or homemade food it is necessary to test it before offering it to others. So software products need to have a ‘Testing environment’ to test before delivering to the client.

Read Also:

1) How to Write Test Cases in Software Testing

2) Test Plan Vs Test Strategy