perspective

Infrastructure Testing An Infosys Perspective

- Hemalatha Murugesan

Abstract
IT infrastructure encompassing software, hardware and the network forms the backbone
of organizations enabling business to achieve its goals, financial targets and profitability.
While organizations spend millions to ensure that business applications are tested to
perfection, the underlying infrastructure that is used to host and deliver these applications
is never tested and often taken for granted. Infrastructure testing is a new concept and has
not yet been given its due importance as part of the overall release and test cycles.
This paper aims to highlight the current gaps existing in an organizations testing approach
and challenges that are demanding the need for Infrastructure Testing.

Introduction
Most organizations today promise their customers service and product efficiency that require the IT delivery engines to be robust and
scalable. It is therefore critical to ensure that IT applications and the underlying infrastructure are adequate to deliver on the promises of
performance, scalability, reliability and 24/7 availability. Any lapses, even for a few seconds, can have a devastating effect not just on the enduser experience, but on the brand of the organization itself.
The cost of unplanned outages/ downtime is far higher especially in financial and banking, retail and healthcare systems where organizations
are heavily dependent on technology to ensure systems are available round-the-clock. Hence the core objective of testing IT infrastructure is
to mitigate the risk of such failures or unplanned outages and to avoid both tangible losses in the form of lost revenue, legal compliance and
intangible losses like customer satisfaction and brand image.

So, where is the problem?

infrastructure, storage infrastructure,
network infrastructure or a combination
of all these. Changes in an organizations
infrastructure can happen either due to
infrastructure acquisitions, migrations or as
part of business-as-usual operations. While
each component performs its designed

VERTICAL TOWERS

IT infrastructure encompasses compute

COMPUTE INFRASTRUCTURE
STORAGE INFRASTRUCTURE
NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE
INFRASTRUCTURE

ACQUISITION

tasks well, there could be an issue when

these components are interlinked and

INFRASTRUCTUE

MIGRAT
MIGRATION
A ION

INFRASTRUCTURE

OPERATIONS
OPERAT
A IONS

HORIZONTAL STREAMS

interfaced with multiple other components

to perform as a whole.

Figure 1

Limitations with present Quality Assurance approaches pertaining to infrastructure changes

Organizations have rigorously tested

made to the supporting IT infrastructure

software applications before they are

such as servers, network components, data

released. Different tests such as integration

centers and desktops are tested before the

testing, system testing, performance

system is given end user access.

testing are done prior to the rollout of the

In most organizations, each piece of the

infrastructure component is tested by the
concerned stakeholder; for e.g., software
applications are tested by the QA teams

application into production. QA teams

are required to sign off basis SLAs prior to
release. Similarly, any upgrades or changes

and the network components are tested by

the network team. However, for large scale
infrastructure transformations or operations,
there needs to be a holistic approach to
infrastructure testing - from charting out the
appropriate test strategy, to planning and
structured execution to ensure the success
and reliability of the entire program.

Myths associated with Infrastructure Testing

List in table 1 are some of the most common myths associated with Infrastructure Testing:
Let us look at each of these myths in

provisioned is tested and requires no

final rollout into production. Most

greater detail:

further validation. Furthermore, when

organizations have no clear strategy

infrastructure testing does happen,

or approach and lack a holistic view

it is done by disjointed teams testing

of the testing to be done, connecting

infrastructure and applications in silos

the dots not just from an application

resulting in multiple issues especially

perspective but also the underlying

when the systems are integrated for

infrastructure..

Infrastructure is provisioned in an
assured state and does not need
testing
More often than not, it is taken
for granted that the infrastructure

IT infrastructure testing strategy is

Infrastructure is provisioned
in assured state and does not need testing

same as software testing strategy

In most cases organizations execute a
well-defined software testing strategy.
However, an infrastructure testing

IT infrastructure testing strategy is same as

software testing strategy

strategy also needs to be planned for

efficient and integrated assurance of
systems which is different from the
software testing strategy. Though the
testing phases remain the same, the

Common testing approach can be used

for all IT infrastructure testing

strategy that is adopted for testing

infrastructure and type of testing
activities are different compared to

software testing.

Testing IT infrastructure is not critical as it is not

directly linked to business outputs

Common testing approach can be

used for all IT infrastructure testing
With increased complexity of

Table 1

infrastructure and requirements

come new challenges to perform
testing of infrastructure changes.
The test strategy and the sequence
in which each of the infrastructure

technical dynamics and associated

the critical changes in business

testing.

models and services are driven by IT

Testing IT infrastructure is not critical

infrastructure transformations such

and application elements are tested

as it is not directly linked to business

is different. Each scenario typically

outputs

requires a different testing approach

The focus on infrastructure testing

and an onesize fits all approach cant

is not high, which may lead to lesser

be adopted in infrastructure testing as

QA rigor and consequently lesser

different use cases will require different

infrastructure reliability. Many of

as virtualization and cloud. Thus to

ensure success of business services
and strong benefits accrual, assurance
and reliability of IT infrastructure is
most critical.

Gaps in enabling holistic infrastructure testing

Organizations may face the following challenges and gaps in enabling a holistic infrastructure testing program Inadequate visibility
of infrastructure
testing activities

No dedicated infrastructure testing team

Testing done in silos with no overarching view to assess the infrastructure as a whole
Incomprehensive reporting of infrastructure test results

Lack of testing rigor

in the IT infrastructure
space

Limited documentation of infrastructure test strategies, plans and cases

IT business owners are faced with choosing between quality versus release timeliness and infrastructure testing
Infrastructure teams are not sufficiently skilled in testing methodologies and lacking a testing mindset

Lack of standards and

processes

The lack of industry best practices and standards for infrastructure testing
Disjointed processes and methodologies for infrastructure and applications testing
Improper cost estimations and project over runs

Changing Landscape

Rapidly changing infrastructure technology landscape

Involvement of multiple products, OEMs, vendors, service providers
Complex infrastructure needs with reduced budgets

Complex
requirements

Increased stakeholder and governance overhead

Insufficient requirements or unclear business/applications requirements
Complex planning with multiple vendors and stakeholders
Distributed teams spread across various locations/geographies
Lack of well-defined responsibility matrix

Imperative for Infrastructure Testing

CLOUD
Migration

MOBILITY

VIRTUALIZATION

WIN 7/8

DATA CENTER
Migration

Desktop
Virtualization

Business
As
Usual

Emerging Technologies

Figure 2
As organizations adopt newer technologies, (listed in Figure 2), IT infrastructure also changes to keep pace. Given dynamically changing infrastructure
and application needs, the approach to testing these developments must also change. Organizations need to develop the necessary focus and rigor
for IT infrastructure testing to ensure strong infrastructure reliability, elimination of redundant and reworked testing efforts and drastic reduction
in the overall cost.

About the Author

Hemalatha Murugesan is a PMP certified professional who leads the specialized testing services in FSI unit at Infosys and incubates emerging
testing service lines. She is currently leading SOA/Middleware testing, Test Data Management, Security Testing, Cloud Testing as well as
Infrastructure testing.
She has published many papers in the international conferences as well as conducted tutorials on various topics in Testing.

About Infosys
Infosys is a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing solutions. As a proven partner
focused on building tomorrows enterprise, Infosys enables clients in more than 30 countries to
outperform the competition and stay ahead of the innovation curve. Ranked in the top tier of Forbes
100 most innovative companies, Infosys with $7.4B in annual revenues and 155,000+ employees
provides enterprises with strategic insights on what lies ahead. We help enterprises transform and
thrive in a changing world through strategic consulting, operational leadership and the co-creation
of breakthrough solutions, including those in mobility, sustainability, big data and cloud computing.
Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) is Building Tomorrows Enterprise today.

For more information, contact askus@infosys.com

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