Testing in the Cloud

One of the most significant advantages of testing in the cloud is that it allows you to test on configurations and devices that are not available to you. For example, let's say you want to test your website on a macOS Desktop, but your only available machine is a Windows computer. Or you want to test your mobile app on an iPad, but you only have an Android tablet available.

A cloud provider, such as TestingBot, hosts a wide range of both Desktop and mobile device configurations. Whether you want to test your website, or mobile app, manually or in an automated way, both will benefit from using a cloud provider.

After all, you don't want your developers, QA, or DevOps colleagues to have to install, set up, and maintain several dozens of Windows, macOS, and Linux machines. The same goes for mobile app testing, you can only purchase and maintain a few mobile devices before things get expensive in both time and money.

Test infrastructure

We've briefly mentioned this above, but running tests requires multiple available configurations, especially if you are doing cross-browser testing or native app testing. Below are some of the challenges when it comes to setting up and maintaining infrastructure:

• Set up a grid of browsers: virtual machines with various operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS) and browsers
• Set up a grid of both physical devices and simulators/emulators
• Patch, update, improve performance, troubleshoot, migrate and scale these devices.

Once you've got your test infrastructure set up, you will need to do regular maintenance. As your test capacity grows, so will your test infrastructure, which means it will get more expensive, quickly.

Performing tests on the cloud eliminate these disadvantages and bring along a couple more advantages.

Advantages of testing in the cloud

Cloud testing provides several features:

• Scalability: run as many tests as you like, simultaneously. This drastically shortens the total test duration.
• Comprehensive coverage: testing in the cloud allows for testing on all major browsers, versions and operating systems, as well as physical mobile devices.
• Uptime: since it's a paying service, the uptime and performance is closely monitored.
• Integrations: integrate your tests with other, third-party services, such as CI systems.