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Introduction:

Cloud computing is the use of computing resources that are delivered as a service over a

network. Cloud computing entrusts remote services with a user's data, software and computation.

It is an emerging technology with shared resources, lower cost and relies on pay per use

according to the user demand. It is defined as the delivery of computing requirements as a

service to a heterogeneous community of end-recipients. The available services are mainly

categorized into three classes- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS)

and Software as a Service (SaaS).

In recent times, Software as a Service is transformed into a new type of service known as

Software testing as a service (STaaS). It is defined as a model of software testing used to test an

application as a service provided to customers across the internet. It provides testing support

such as load testing, stress testing, performance testing, functional testing, latency testing and

compatibility testing through web browsers.

Though being a comparatively newer field, Cloud Testing has become a point of interest for

many of the researchers and a plenty of research papers have been published. This document

attempts to reflect the motivations and findings of the papers [1] [2] [3]. Besides, the future work

directives and some drawbacks which were observed are also mentioned here.

Review:

#Paper 1: Software Testing Based on Cloud Computing

The paper provided an overall view of cloud testing. Till now, cloud testing is evolving as a new

technology. Thus an overview covering all the prime aspects of the field is required for the

people interested to contribute in it. The paper defines cloud testing keeping the concept of cloud

computing in mind. Moreover it provides answer to some important research questions: Which

software testing can be performed in cloud? Why do we require cloud testing? How can we

perform cloud testing?

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The paper stated that testing such as, hardware compatibility, software environment

compatibility, software adaptability, functional automation, performance and stress testing can

be performed in the cloud environment. Besides they have identified some of the key reasons of

moving towards cloud testing which includes- cost savings, improved testing efficiency and

more realistic performance testing. However, security vulnerability and inappropriate choice of

testing application is considered as major threats in their writing.

According to this paper cloud testing service can be availed via two methods. One is by using a

web interface and another is by remotely logging into the virtual machine created for the testing

purpose. A general procedure for performing cloud testing was also introduced. The steps are- i)

User Authentication, ii) Choosing appropriate resources and platform, iii) Reviewing the

application and configuring the platform and iv) Payment procedure.

Though the paper had provided a nice overview of the cloud testing field, it didn’t discuss the

methods of collecting the data thus making the given information less reliable. Moreover, the

implementation details were not covered in the paper. A more detailed information regarding the

generalized procedure of cloud testing could have added more value to the paper. Nevertheless,

the paper helped me a lot to gather the basic knowledge regarding cloud testing.

#Paper 2: Research Issues for Software Testing in the Cloud

The paper discussed the research issues of testing in the cloud. It focused on the fact that since

the software development paradigm is shifting towards cloud computing, it implies that the

methods, tools and concepts to test them should also change. Therefore, it is important to

highlight cloud computing research issues from a testing perspective. They solicit an academic

research agenda that puts testing within the fast growing cloud computing context and put up a

good resource for the researchers interested this area. They have selected the grounded theory [4]

approach to discover the research issues for software testing in the cloud. Grounded theory as an

approach aims at the creation of a theory from the collected and analyzed data. For data

collection, they interviewed eleven organizations and the selection of interviewees was guided

by theoretical and snowball sampling. In order to support their results they compared those with

issues gathered from literature.

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After analyzing the data they had come up with several issues form three different perspectives-

Application Issues, Management Issues, Legal and Financial Issues. The application issues are-

Applications Suitable for Online Software Testing, Readymade Online Performance Testing

Package for any Customer, Quality Checks for Applications that have been tested in the Cloud,

Harmonization of the Test Processes across Multiple Players and Online Testing Solutions for

Ebusiness Systems. The management issues include- Pool of Testers and Effects on the

Customer’s Business. Finally the Legal and Financial Issues that were discussed are- Test Data

and Pricing Models and Service Descriptions for Testing Services.

Finally, the paper provides some vital research questions which should to be explored: How

cloud software development and testing will affect quality requirements in the future- addressing

the interdependency of cloud software development, cloud testing and overall quality assurance?

How cloud computing, service oriented architecture, open source development technologies and

crowd sourcing affect an organization’s testing process? The paper had identified some of the

key issues of Cloud Testing from three different perspectives. However, it had ignored a major

perspective- Security Issues. Though in some cases they have raised the point of security, the

field itself is so vast that it demanded more attention. Besides it would also be better if they had

highlighted the challenges of implementing cloud platform for business organizations.

Highlighting the challenges might have provided some more research issues in this field.

Overall, this paper was particularly helpful to me as it helped me to gain sufficient knowledge on

cloud testing.

#Paper 3: Blueprint for the Intercloud

– Protocols and Formats for Cloud Computing Interoperability.

This paper deals with interoperability protocols and formats for cloud computing. Major concern

of this paper is how cloud can ensure the interoperability issue. It finds out the order of protocol

that defines the inter cloud operations. It identifies the fields in which implicit interoperability

may be applied. If the idea of implicit interoperability can be implemented in the Cloud Systems,

then the communication among different clouds would be much more subtle and smooth. Clouds

can be residing in different geographies, in the form of any VMs. They can be connected by a

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common set of standards if these ideas can be implemented. IP mobility problem would be

removed. Naming, identity and trust issue would be met. There would be a common set of

standards for messaging. Standard for multicasting would be set. When services would move as

payloads, a number of issues arise. Renowned company like Google, Yahoo and Apple use these

interoperability suggestions. So it can be said with confidence that what was stated in this paper

meets industry standard.

It is possible to reproduce some of the aspects discussed in this paper. But it would need

extensive hardware support, as it would need at least two clouds to test interoperability. IP

mobility, naming, identity and trust issues are reproducible through normal network. Some

questions are being focused in the paper like what advantage would bring if implicit

interoperability is implemented, is it really worth trying, what standards should be followed

while setting up clouds, how would we compare different results of different clouds setups etc.

This paper doesn’t mention the cloud setup parameters. If one cloud provider wants to consume

services of other clouds, their functionality must be interpretable. However, this cloud doesn’t

discuss this issue of different types of cloud. This paper would have been more comprehensive if

it would have stated the implementation strategy of Clouds. Issues of IP assignment,

Multicasting etc. aren’t explained in depth.

Implicit communication among clouds can have great impact in the emerging and promising

market of cloud. Further researchers may work on setting a standard for implicit communications

among clouds.

Conclusion:

The objective of this review was to explore the conditions that influence software testing as an

online service and to find the direction for future research. The findings suggest that software

testing as an online service is experiencing a progressive trend. As more and more software

products shift from the traditional desktop form to becoming online services, we can expect that

software testing will follow the same trend. Cloud computing is increasingly becoming the

means through which online services are made available. In view of software testing, cloud

computing presents two avenues whereby (1) the system under test is accessible online or (2)

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testing infrastructure is hosted in the cloud for example the testing service mentioned in [1].

Therefore, research regarding online software testing may benefit from advances in cloud

computing. Each of the papers introduces a problem that should be addressed. A thorough

exploration may help to take a more standardized way of cloud testing. Therefore, cloud

computing can be seen as a possible inclusion during future studies.

Reference:

[1] F. Meng, and W. Jun, “Software Testing Based on Cloud Computing,” International

Conference on Internet Computing and Information Services, pp. 176-178, 2011.

[2] L.M. Riungu, O. Taipale and K. Smolander, “Research Issues for Software Testing in the

Cloud,” International 2nd IEEE International Conference on Cloud Computing Technology and

Science, pp. 557-564, 2010.

[3] D. Bernstein, E. Ludvigson, K. Sankar, S. Diamond, and M. Morrow, “Blueprint for the

Intercloud – Protocols and Formats for Cloud Computing Interoperability,” Fourth International

Conference on Internet and Web Applications and Services, pp. 328-336, 2009.

[4] A.S. Corbin, “Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and

Techniques,” Newbusy Park CA: SAGE Publications, 1990.

[5] Z. Shuai, Z.Shufen, C. Xuebin, and H.Xiuzhen, “Cloud Computing Research and

Development Trend”, 2nd International conference on Future Networks, 2010.

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