Massachusetts Institute of Technology Touchstone Performance Test Plan
Abstract
This test plan is intended to prescribe the scope, approach, types of performance testing, resources and high-level schedule of the testing activities to be performed in the Touchstone project. This plan will identify the use cases, data, and related systems to be included in the testing process.
1.0 Document identifiers
1.1 References
The following documents were used as sources of information for this test plan:
- Questcon Technologies, The Questcon Test Management Methodology; 01/07/2005; (Test Management Methodology Release 4.0.doc).
- Questcon Technologies, MIT SOW Testing Touchstone.
2.0 INTRODUCTION
2.1 Purpose
The objective of this test plan is to outline the performance testing effort to be undertaken for the Touchstone project.
2.1.1 Project Description
MIT Touchstone is a new suite of technologies for authenticating a variety of web applications, being introduced by IS&T. MIT Touchstone does provide a single sign-on solution for applications that have been coded and configured to use the system. Within the context of Touchstone enabled applications, users will be able to seamlessly transition between systems without being prompted for additional authentication information.
The intended audience of this document includes all IT personnel involved in the development, testing, and support of Touchstone.
2.1.2 Project Technologies
MIT Touchstone utilizes/integrates with the following technologies:
- Stanford's WebAuth
- Internet 2's Shibboleth
- SAML (the Security Assertion Markup Language)
- A new account management system for some users outside of the traditional MIT community
- HTTP/S (extensive redirects)
- SSL
- MIT X.509 certificates
- Kerberos (via the HTTP/SPNEGO protocol)
- TLS
- OpenID
- Web Services
- MySQL (including replication)
- Apache
- Tomcat
- IDP High Availability Package
- LDAP
- KDC
- DNS load balancing
2.2 Scope
2.2.1 Items To Be Tested
Each of the following business processes (user flows) will be tested under load:
- CAMS Account Creation
- CAMS Account Authentication
- CAMS Account Association (OpenID)
- Authenticated Kerberos user access
- Kerberos user id and password authentication
- Authenticated OpenID user access
2.2.2 Items Not To Be Tested
The following modules and types of tests are considered to be outside the scope of this test effort and will not be tested by Questcon:
- MIT X.509 certificate access
- Kerberos (HTTP/SPNEGO) access
- CAMS Account Association (Kerberos (HTTP/SPNEGO))
2.3 Risks & Contingencies
The following risks have been identified, which may impact the testing effort.
Risk |
Contingency |
Production-like test environment not available |
Utilize development or production environment. Results may not be indicative of production and therefore cannot be used as a benchmark. Production performance issues may not be identified during testing. |
Production-like setup and settings not available. |
Use the closest setup and settings we can. Results may not be indicative of production and therefore cannot be used as a benchmark. Production performance issues may not be identified during testing. |
Fully operational test tools not available. |
Wait until the test tools are availalbe or find and use another test tool(s). This will extend the time required to perform testing. |
Test time increases due to changes in scope requiring additional test analysis and/or test case creation |
If test time cannot be increased, reduce/cut performance testing scenarios and execute highest priority scenarios initially followed by lower priority tests until test time runs out |
Involvement of subject matter experts (SMEs) for all stages of the testing effort not sufficient. |
If test time cannot be increased, reduce/cut performance testing scenarios and execute highest priority scenarios initially followed by lower priority tests until test time runs out |
Inadequate Non-functional Requirements |
Missing pass/fail criteria invalidates benchmarking. Missing load modeling invalidates all scenarios. Perform only a brute stress test to try and flush out major bottlenecks and functionality under load issues. Additionally an endurance tet can be run to attempt to identify memory leaks. All tests will be less indicative of real world usage scenarios. |
Insufficient access to systems in order monitor (This includes any necessary server side scripts which may need to be developed in order to capture desired metrics.) |
Root cause analysis will be difficult is possible. Testing time will most likely need to be extended and scenarios may be abbreviated due to time constraints. |
Substantial issue(s) which requires significant modifications to the application or re-configuration of the system are encountered. |
Some testing may need to be re-done, possibly including re-scripting etc. This would extend testing time. |
Excessive number of bottlenecks encountered and/or issue correction time. |
Extend testing time. |
Test time increases due to changes in scope requiring additional test analysis and/or test script/scenario creation |
If test time cannot be increased, reevaluate priorities and risk and test according to new priorities. |
3.0 Approach
3.1 Testing Strategy
The overall strategy for performance testing the Touchstone project is goal based. There are four main goals whe hope to acheive:
- Performance - Benchmark the system to ensure it meets all non-functional requirements related to performance.
- Stress - Push the system to it breaking point and beyond to identify how and under what level of load the system fails as well as the ramifications of such a failure.
- Endurance - Place the system under a heavy, yet manageable, load for a protracted period of time to identify any performance degradation and/or memory leaks.
- Fail-over - Place the system under a heavy, yet manageable, load, wait for it to stabilize and then disconnect the servers from their network connections to identify how the system handles the sudden loss of a server. This will help satiate any up-time SLAs or non-functional requirements.
Scripts will be designed to model various user interactions with the system. While most of the user interactions will be scripted, some may be omitted according to the 80/20 rule and/or any time constraints which may exist.
3.2 Tools
The tools we will employ are yet to be determined.
3.3 Environmental Needs
We will need the following:
- Stable production like system to test against.
- Stable hardware and software to use to generate load.
- Adequate rights and privileges to capture server side metrics (monitoring) as well as any server side scripts necessary to accomplish any needed monitoring.
4.0 Scripts
The following scripts will be used during the performance testing effort. When the design steps have been provided by MIT all of the to be determined (TBD) values will be replaced with the actual values.
4.1 CAMS Account Creation
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
4.2 CAMS Association - OpenID
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
4.3 CAMS Association - Kerberos
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
4.4 Site Access - Kerberos w/ticket
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
4.5 Site Access - Web Auth
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
4.6 Site Access - CAMS Account
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
4.7 Site Access - OpenID
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
4.8 Password Reset
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
4.9 Admin - Password Reset
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
4.10 Admin - De-Activate Account
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
4.11 Admin - Delete Account
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
4.12 Admin - Activate Account
Precondition: TBD
Data Needed: TBD
Transaction Name |
Step(s) |
Expected Result |
95th % Response Time |
---|---|---|---|
TBD |
|
|
|
5.0 Scenarios
5.1 Performance Testing Scenarios
A performance test is designed to benchmark the system under test under a realistic load scenario that mimics what we anticipate real world usage will be at its peak.
5.1.1 IDPi Only
The objective of this scenario is to benchmark just the internal IDP.
5.1.1.1 Load Model
Desired Transaction Rate: TBD
Script |
% of Load |
---|---|
Site Access - Kerberos w/ticket |
TBD |
Site Access - Web Auth |
TBD |
5.1.2 IDPe Only
The objective of this scenario is to benchmark just the exzternal IDP.
5.1.2.1 Load Model
Desired Transaction Rate: TBD
Script |
% of Load |
---|---|
CAMS Account Creation |
TBD |
CAMS Association - OpenID |
TBD |
CAMS Association - Kerberos |
TBD |
Site Access - CAMS Account |
TBD |
Site Access - OpenID |
TBD |
5.1.3 Integrated IDP External & Internal
The objective of this scenario is to benchmark both IDPs concurrently.
5.1.3.1 Load Model
Desired Transaction Rate: TBD
Script |
% of Load |
---|---|
CAMS Account Creation |
TBD |
CAMS Association - OpenID |
TBD |
CAMS Association - Kerberos |
TBD |
Site Access - CAMS Account |
TBD |
Site Access - OpenID |
TBD |
Site Access - Kerberos w/ticket |
TBD |
Site Access - Web Auth |
TBD |
5.2 Stress Testing Scenarios
5.2.1 IDPi Only
The objective of this scenario is to stress only the internal IDP. We plan to push it gradually up to its breaking point and then beyond to determine how and at what load it fails.
5.1.3.1 Load Model
Desired Transaction Rate: OPEN
Script |
% of Load |
---|---|
Site Access - Kerberos w/ticket |
TBD |
Site Access - Web Auth |
TBD |
5.2.2 IDPe Only
The objective of this scenario is to stress only the external IDP. We plan to push it gradually up to its breaking point and then beyond to determine how and at what load it fails.
5.1.3.1 Load Model
Desired Transaction Rate: OPEN
Script |
% of Load |
---|---|
CAMS Account Creation |
TBD |
CAMS Association - OpenID |
TBD |
CAMS Association - Kerberos |
TBD |
Site Access - CAMS Account |
TBD |
Site Access - OpenID |
TBD |
5.2.3 Integrated IDP External & Internal
The objective of this scenario is to stress both IDPs concurrently. We plan to push it gradually up to its breaking point and then beyond to determine how and at what load it fails.
5.1.3.1 Load Model
Desired Transaction Rate: OPEN
Script |
% of Load |
---|---|
CAMS Account Creation |
TBD |
CAMS Association - OpenID |
TBD |
CAMS Association - Kerberos |
TBD |
Site Access - CAMS Account |
TBD |
Site Access - OpenID |
TBD |
Site Access - Kerberos w/ticket |
TBD |
Site Access - Web Auth |
TBD |
5.3 Endurance Testing Scenarios
5.3.1 Integrated IDP External & Internal
The objective of this scenario is to run both IDPs concurrently for a protracted period of time (multiple days) to determine stbility and check for memory leaks.
5.3.1.1 Load Model
Desired Transaction Rate: TBD
Script |
% of Load |
---|---|
CAMS Account Creation |
TBD |
CAMS Association - OpenID |
TBD |
CAMS Association - Kerberos |
TBD |
Site Access - CAMS Account |
TBD |
Site Access - OpenID |
TBD |
Site Access - Kerberos w/ticket |
TBD |
Site Access - Web Auth |
TBD |
5.4 Fail-over Testing Scenarios
5.4.1 Integrated IDP External & Internal
The objective of this scenario is to check how both IDPs handle a sudden iteruption in connectivity by pulling the network plug from 1 of the servers (at a time)
5.4.1.1 Load Model
Desired Transaction Rate: TBD
Script |
% of Load |
---|---|
CAMS Account Creation |
TBD |
CAMS Association - OpenID |
TBD |
CAMS Association - Kerberos |
TBD |
Site Access - CAMS Account |
TBD |
Site Access - OpenID |
TBD |
Site Access - Kerberos w/ticket |
TBD |
Site Access - Web Auth |
TBD |
6.0 Monitoring
The following metrics will be collected from each Touchstone server during the performance tests to assit in diagnostics
- CPU %
- System Load
- System Memory
- JVM Memory (For each JVM)
- JVM Processor % (Hopefully we can get this through JMX) (For each JVM)
- JVM Garbage Collections (For each JVM)
- Apache httpd processes (memory, CPU, and open files for each process)
- Number of open files.
- Network Connections
- LDAP Connections (This would be applicable to Core IdP testing only)
- DB Connections (This would be applicable to CAMS testing only)
7.0 Non-functional Requirements
Touchstone Non-functional Requirements
8.0 Architectures
8.1 Physical
Touchstone Production Physical Architecture
8.2 IdPi Logical
Touchstone Production IdPi Logical Architecture