Difference between load testing & stress testing

Replies

• 

  Anil Jain

  I have seen a loads of material on web where different person tried to explain the difference between the load and stress testing.
  
  My try of this is as follows:
  
  A system works effectively only when we get a proper response for a request. For example, I want to check the new posts for the day on CE and I hit 'New Post' button. I get a response in 3 seconds. Now Admin claims that website can support 2000 simultaneous users. Now, I will try to click on 'New posts' but with some 2000 simultaneous requests (May be virtual users or using some tool).
  
  Load testing is the process of putting demand on a system or device and measuring its response.
  
  Testing of request - response time or application functionality and making sure that they should not effect beyond 'expectations / limits' comes under that load (2000 users) testing.
  
  However, In software testing, stress testing refers to tests that determine the robustness of software by testing beyond the limits of normal operation.
  
  Again If I will take a related example, CE supports 2000 users. If I hit CE with more then its limit say 2500 user what will be the response of the system. Will it crash, if yes will it recover properly, what would be the disastrous consequences.??? Sometime use the software on computers that have significantly fewer computational resources (such as memory or disk space) than the computers used for testing.
  
  In nutshell, testing of AUT(application under test) beyond its capabilities will come under stress testing.
  
  -CB
• 

  Radhika Deshpande

  Well, I dont work on it.
  here is what i know -
  
  Load tests, or capacity or volume tests are test designed to ensure that the system can handle what has been specified, in terms of processing throughput, number of terminals connected, etc.
  
  Stress tests see what happens if we go beyond those limits.