SOA Testing Tutorial: Testing Methodology For a SOA Architecture Model

An Intro to SOA Testing:

This piece will delve into the comprehensive checking techniques for service-oriented architectural design.

Modern software infrastructures require high flexibility and consistent adjustment to shifting user needs. The solitary approach is no longer adequate.

This is the point where the application of SOA technique arises as the remedy.

Because of its benefits such as cost efficiency, organizational flexibility, and uncomplicated maintenance, numerous firms are adopting or exploring to adopt the SOA model. As the industry continues to be saturated with SOA design, it’s imperative for contemporary testers to master SOA verification.

This piece will delve into the basics of SOA with illustrations.

This will furnish readers with a fundamental grasp of SOA. It will further delve into the execution of web services. In the end, it will delve into the verification steps for a model driven by the service-oriented architecture.

What is SOA?

SOA, also identified as Service-Oriented Architecture, is a flexible and effective system of amalgamating different applications and services to accomplish distinctive business objectives.

• Contrary to complicated systems, SOA consists of minute components and microservices interconnected to meet business essentials.
• The services are the system’s main components that allow for focused modifications rather than changing the entire system when alterations are required.
• Each service is designed to carry out a specific operation.
• Compared to traditional systems, SOA is more scalable as end-users access only the services they need, rather than the whole system.
• The services and microservices within the SOA structure are loosely connected, reusable, and stateless, making the system more resilient.
• This design is cost-effective concerning deployment, development, and conservation.

Illustrations of SOA

Business Requirement: An application that allows clients to sign in and search for eateries based on geolocation, downloads restaurant data and menus from the server, and process orders’ payments.

This business requirement can be accomplished through the implementation of SOA.

The subsequent services/microservices are examples for executing numerous tasks:

• The “Authentication service” is employed for signing in.
• The “Geo-locator service” is deployed for restaurant searches.
• The “Menu Downloader service” is used for downloading menus.
• The “Payment service” is employed for procession payments.

Each service specified above plays a unique role in ensuring the system operates as planned. For example, if a client solely wishes to check restaurant menus and doesn’t need a payment gateway, they would only need to acquire/deploy the first three services.

This approach simplifies development, deployment, sales, maintenance, and enhances the user experience.

Web Services

• Web services are APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that facilitate interaction between distinct software schemes.
• A service provider hosts the service on the web, accompanied by a WSDL (Web Service Description Language).
• When a client sends a request message to the service provider, communication is established using the URL/WSDL.
• In the above illustration, the Geolocation server hosts a web service used by the service requester.

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SOA Verification Process

Every product, model, and infrastructure should go through an inspection to certify a first-rate end product. SOA verification encompasses checking the entire architecture and its components.

The verification strategy for SOA could be parallel to conventional verification processes:

• Requirement review phase
• Test planning
• Test design phase
• Environment setup
• Execution phase
• Reporting phase

SOA verification process rotates around three layers of the architecture:

• Service consumers
• Process layers
• Service layers

Using the example above, the layers can be defined as follows:

• The service consumer layer handles consumer interaction, reading user input, and returning appropriate responses. This layer encompasses the UI interface.
• The process layer focuses on implementation. In the example, this layer includes methods for authentication and user creation.
• The service layer consists of the business functions. All services called when a specific task is performed are part of this layer.

The verification process can be segmented into four stages:

Layer #1

1) Service Level Verification:

• Each service is individually checked based on a request and response method.
• This inspection is compulsory and vital for proceeding with other verification procedures.

2) Functional Verification:

• Services are checked against their business requirements to guarantee accurate responses.
• Business needs are converted into test cases, and request statements are created.
• Request statements are processed to verify the accuracy of the responses.
• Proper error codes or error messages should be returned for invalid input data.
• Response formats and negative scenarios should be tested.

3) Security Verification:

• Security checks play a crucial role when it comes to web services.
• Data should be encrypted in authentication and payment gateways to ensure secure transmission.
• Vulnerabilities such as CSRF and SQL injection should be verified for XML data.

4) Performance Verification:

• Services within the structure are hosted to be utilized by multiple applications. Performance testing certifies the trustworthiness of those services.
• Performance testing should identify the durability, scalability, and response times of the services under various conditions.

Layer #2

1) Process Verification:

• This phase involves checking various business processes.
• Integration scenarios of web services and applications should be tested to meet business requirements.
• Simulators can be used to generate sample input data, and outputs should be validated accordingly.
• Data flow across different layers should be checked to ensure seamless system functioning during integration.

Layer #3

1) Complete Testing:

• This phase validates both functional and non-functional business requirements.
• App UI is tested.
• Business processes are assessed.
• Complete data flow is validated.
• Services are assessed when integrated with each other.

Layer #4

1) Regression Verification:

• This testing validates system stability in incremental build releases.
• Regression testing can be performed manually or using automated testing.

Hurdles in SOA Verification

As the old adage suggests, “The larger the network, the larger the problem!” SOA can become sophisticated and challenging to verify.

With countless elements and complexities within the SOA structure, certification through verification becomes a formidable task.

• Simulating testing environments can be difficult.
• The structure may involve products of different technologies/vendors, leading to additional challenges.
• Testing permutations increase with the number of components/services involved.
• The structure can be intricate.
• Reproducing and checking issues can be challenging.
• Verification should focus on the business scope rather than individual services and features.

SOA Verification Instruments

Various tools are at hand for SOA testing, selected based on their accuracy and efficiency.

1. SoapUI: This complimentary tool is designed for web-service testing, encompassing functional verification, performance checking, and load testing.
2. Apache Jmeter: This open-source tool is utilized to analyze the operation of SOAP invocation.
3. JProfiler: This instrument aids in detecting and preventing memory leaks, identifying performance bottlenecks, among others.
4. HP Service Test: Integrated with HP QC, this functional testing tool supports UI testing and shared service testing.

This piece provides insights into the distinctiveness of the SOA model compared to traditional models. It covers the SOA procedure and checking methodologies.

About the author: This guest post was penned by Subhasis. He is a team lead with over 8 years of corporate experience working for Fortune 500 IT companies.

You’re welcome to post your queries/comments below about SOA testing.

Best of luck!