Introduction to Database Testing

Abstract

The testing of software applications usually includes accessing and verifying data of some kind. This is true of any kind of software application you can think of these days, including, of course, Web applications. In fact, out of necessity, more focus is being placed these days on end-to-end testing of large software applications. End-to-end testing traces the flow of information and any bugs encountered from the user of the system, the client, all the way through to any data accessed and then back again to the original client. Going through the entire system may include passing through multiple servers and accessing heterogeneous data stores. For example, a client system such as a browser on a home computer accesses an application stored on a Web server. This Web server, in turn, passes the client’s request for information—say, a price on a product—to a database server. The database server returns the request back to the Web server, which, in turn, passes the information back to the client. Testing this kind of arrangement can be complex as the tester tries to determine the source of bugs in the system’s multiple layers. It is important to be able to understand and work with of all types of data to be effective at end-to-end testing. This data can be stored in many ways—for example, spreadsheets, text files, and databases. Relational database management systems (DBMS) such as Oracle, SQL Server, Informix, Sybase, etc. are used to store data for large, client-server type systems.