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Why load test?

Useful as a diagnostic tool for performance bottlenecking and a benchmark for growth planning, load testing is the simulation of high traffic to your site. A load test with performance analysis can:

• identify hardware to upgrade
• pin-point a code-level issue in your application
• answer if you should invest in a redesigned network.

It can also buy you the peace of mind knowing that your test environment is ready to go live or that your application will handle a marketing push.

How many visitors can my site handle?

This is the most basic question that a load test answers for you. You can perform a load test to see if your servers can handle the number of visitors you expect during a spike in traffic. At INetU, senior-level systems administrators are available 24x7x365 so that your load test can be performed off-hours, as not to affect the performance for real visitors on your site.

How many users can my site handle?

A basic load test generates a simple burst of simulated traffic at your site. However, it doesn't necessarily take into account how users will interact with your site and applications. INetU offers advanced load testing that will generate realistic load patterns, scaling up traffic in a way that reflects real-world situations to answer how many concurrent users your site is ready for.

How can my site handle more?

Just getting the performance data from a load test may not be enough, because it leaves unanswered questions:

• What can you take away from a load test that will help you accomplish your goals?
• If your load test tells you that you can only handle a small number of visitors and your goal is larger, what do you do?

Without a useful analysis of the data the best you can do is upgrade your current servers or add new ones. This will result in throwing too much expensive hardware at your problems, or continued performance bottlenecks due to a code-level problem that can't be resolved by expanding your network!

INetU's advanced load testing services turn data into actionable information so that you can take steps to make your site handle more traffic.

Our consultative experts will make appropriate recommendations so that your site is up to the challenge of heavy load. Our analysis indicates specific hardware or software bottlenecks and code-level concerns. We will suggest cost-effective upgrade paths that will help you achieve your traffic-capacity goals and fine-tune the performance of your web application.

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