Thursday 24 April 2014

Book Review - Testing Cloud Services:How to Test SaaS, Paas and IaaS

As per my earlier post: -


As per previous book reviews: -



working in association with the British Computer Society (BCS), I've just completed this book: -


http://www.polteq.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Testing-Cloud-Services-150x191.png

and here's what I think: -

This book is presented as being pertinent to those considering the deployment of IT services in the cloud, via one of a number of engagement models, including: -
  • Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
  • Platform-as-a-Service (Paas)
  • Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
Whilst the book fully delivers upon its promise, I'd personally suggest that it's relevant to anyone with a responsibility for, or even an interest in, the testing of information systems.

At ~180 pages cover-to-cover, it provides a brief, and very easy to read, guide to the core aspects of testing, from the role of the test manager, through identifying, managing and mitigating risk by testing, to the aspects of a system that one should be testing.

Of course, given the subject, it also provides a very useful introduction to, and overview of, the currently available cloud solutions. Whilst remaining product and vendor neutral, it uses commonly available services, such as Amazon, Dropbox and hosted email, to provide the reader with context.

As a consultant with a deep interest in the functional AND non-functional aspects of any information system, including those delivered fully or partially via the cloud, this was an extremely useful reference to the aspects of testing, regardless of where the target system is.

Specifically, non-functional aspects such as availability, performance, resilience and security are more than adequately covered here. Whilst not claiming to cover absolutely every single non-functional requirement, the book gives a good grounding in why these measures matter.

From the preface and introduction, it's clear that the authors, Kees Blokland, Jeroen Mengerink and Martin Pol have considerable combined experience of software testing. This experience clearly translates across to the reader, whilst, as mentioned previously, showing no particular bias to their employer,Polteq, or to any particular vendor / solution / methodology.

In conclusion, this is an excellent book, providing the reader with a good grounding in the current crop of cloud-based solutions and services, whilst providing an extremely useful instruction in the art of testing.

For me, this book rates as 10 out of 10, as it provides the reader with all that is needed to get up-to-speed with the cloud and, more importantly, with systems testing.

Hope this is of some help.

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