IoT is an emerging technology that helps connect different devices to a central network so that they can communicate with each other effortlessly. IoT can help in giving smart features to not-so-smart devices in different industries. To increase the IoT application reliability, it is essential to test them to extreme levels. This way, teams can ensure that there is no issue in their IoT network and that it can withstand different event scales easily.
If you are new to IoT performance testing and don’t understand much about this, this article is for you. In this article, we will cover what is IoT load testing, the best practices that you should follow while doing this, and some tools that can help you in creating an IoT load testing process for your organization.
So, let’s start with understanding the basics.
What is IoT Load Testing?
IoT Scalability is a question for many companies. As they keep increasing the number of connected devices, their networks are becoming more and more busy. IoT load testing is a process that can help such companies to test their networks for extreme loads. This can be helpful in understanding the peak performance of any IoT network and how it can be improved over time to accommodate changing and increasing business needs.
Having known the basics of IoT load testing, let’s have a look at the best practices you should follow.
Best Practices to Follow in IoT Load Testing
Understand the Connected Devices
IoT devices are often connected to various different devices. Each IoT device works as the point that connects to multiple devices in the network. To test such networks, it is essential to understand the connected devices entirely. You cannot correctly test an IoT network without understanding the network inside-out. If you don’t understand the network correctly, you may end up testing the wrong parts of the setup. On the other hand, there can be chances where your actions on one part may affect another part of your network. Hence, it is a best practice to understand the connected devices and underlying networks correctly.
Get The Right Tools
Having the right tools is another best practice that you should follow in IoT device stress testing. There are various testing tools in the market, but they are not the same. While most of them work well for load testing for web applications, you need to find the ones that support Load testing for IoT devices and applications. By choosing the correct tools, you can get the right and expected results from the efforts. Moreover, the right tools will also improve your team’s efficiency and productivity.
Analyze Requirements Correctly
Before you select any Load Testing services for IoT Devices and Applications, it is essential and best to analyze your requirements correctly. Each IoT network is built for a specific purpose, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to IoT testing. To ensure the right results of your process, it is essential that your testing teams understand the requirements correctly.
Ensure Data Security During Load Testing
IoT networks process lots of critical data that emerges from different connected devices, and it is vital to ensure data security during the load testing process. Many hackers are on the outlook of weak links on the IoT network, and if you expose any such weak link during testing, your data security may be compromised.
Hence, it is essential to keep data secure during all the phases of load testing.
Test Till Limits
Just like any other load testing project, IoT load testing should also be done to the limits. The best practice in IoT testing is to test networks and devices to their limits so that you can find issues in them before any major catastrophe occurs.
By now, you know the best practices to follow in testing IoT scalability and performance, so you might be eager to test your IoT networks. To carry out the testing process, you need to have some great tools in your hands. Below are some of the top IoT testing tools to help you.
Top IoT Testing Tools
LoadRunner
LoadRunner is an excellent load-testing tool that supports IoT testing. It can help you simulate various IoT events and applications in a way that makes it feel like the network is under real-world load.
It also has a great real-time monitoring feature, using which you can understand performance metrics in real-time and identify bottlenecks in your network. Moreover, it has a unique pricing model where you pay per virtual user. Each virtual user is priced at $1.4 per day, and you can have a maximum of 50 virtual users running simultaneously.
JMeter
Apache JMeter is a popular API and IoT testing tool. It was developed in 1998 with Java at its core, and even today, this tool receives regular updates. JMeter has an active and large community that develops different types of plugins and other helpful resources. This tool supports multiple application types and protocols and works easily for IoT networks. It also comes with a robust reporting and data analysis module that is useful in reporting the test findings for your IoT network.
Locust
If your IoT network is based on Python, and you are looking for another Python-based tool that can be integrated easily, locust should be your choice. It is an open-source load-testing tool that can be used to load-test IoT networks with millions of connected devices.
Moreover, the tool is also capable of simulating millions of users and device traffic for the test phase. As it is based on Python, overall usage is quite simple, and there is good community support for the product.
Bevywise IoT Simulator
Bevywise IoT simulator is a load-testing tool that can be used for load-testing MQTT-based IoT networks and applications. With this simulator, you can quickly simulate thousands of users on a device with basic hardware configurations.
Conclusion
If you have created an IoT network for your business, it is crucial that you load test it right away. Load testing will help you ensure that your network is scalable right from the start and you have the right tools to maintain the network.