Every organization or a group of private developers who create software need a specialized virtual environment where you can properly develop special decisions in the process of product development and also have a possibility to quickly and qualitatively test it.

Web developers should have a specialized set of verified tools, and a virtual test environment must completely initialize the deployment of the world in which an application will function in future.

Since prices for global tests are very high and you don’t always have a possibility to create a group of physical servers, so-called virtual machines for creating the necessary test environment became very popular. And if it became possible, why don’t we use these virtual machines in a specialized cloud?

Problems of Testing in a Virtual Environment

In the process of establishing the process of developing and testing the functional part of the product, many web studios face the following problems:

• Minimum budget for purchasing and the following managing the servers;
• Lack of budget for buying a licensed server and other equipment which is very necessary for creating a proper test environment;
• Permanent competition for resources and capabilities of available virtual machines between different teams and groups of developers;
• Low threshold of the flexibility of the test environment for web studios;
• Certain difficulties in real testing in the process of scaling the developed application.

Testing the Apps in Microsoft Azure Cloud

Hopefully, today there is a whole group of modern ways to establish a test environment for all developers who are interested in this. Web studios or even IT corporations can use specialized Microsoft Azure platform which offers services of deploying virtual machines in a special cloud where all necessary testing is performed.

Microsoft Azure platform offers all test machines and environments. Every developer can deploy necessary images of virtual machines in a form of classical VHD files (cloud HDDR drives) or manage available dataset in Microsoft Azure VHD with different settings on the basis of Windows or Linux operating systems.

Right after creating the necessary virtual machine in the cloud, testers and a group of developers can completely use its capabilities for building the structure of testing of developed applications, changing and adding the settings of the virtual environment on their discretion.

Why Are Tests in the Cloud Better?

There are 2 answers to this question: speed and low price.

Virtual test environment in Microsoft Azure environment can be created just in a few minutes and you can immediately use it for your own purpose, whereas in typical DATA centers such processes can take from a few days to a month.

Also, we’d like to admit that if you have a special subscription from MSDN, you will pay in a form of per minute rate and they will also offer you a personal discount with a possibility to buy a licensed software at minimum cost! It’s a real advantage.

It means that you can stop the virtual test environment at any time and it won’t spend the company’s money when you don’t need testing.

Also, we’d like to admit that with the help of previously created images such as already established Server parameters, SQL Server parameters and also BizTalk, developers can efficiently connect finished components and perform all types of testing in a few minutes.

Besides typical test tools and specialized environments in Microsoft Azure, the clients can create their own utilities for their future deployment on their local capacities. The good examples of such cloud platforms are a service of quick caching in the memory or NoSQL base or relative ecosystems.

Advantages of Software Testing in Microsoft Azure

• A quick market entry of a product. Maximum flexibility in the process of testing, the complete absence of time-out for the IT department, a full range of capacities for multilateral functioning;
• Price. The complete absence of capital expenses in the process of working with the test environment in the cloud which has excellent properties for efficient scaling;
• Using simple tools. A possibility to easily use the tools and applications which were used in the process of product development, in the cloud;
• Work with “unlimited environment”. A unique possibility to create any tests with any functional load, without serious competition from third-party companies and firms;
• Optimized network exchange between the parts of virtual infrastructure within one company with the help of tools of Microsoft Azure;
• A possibility to put a group of virtual machines either in the cloud or in its own local environment or the look-in within Microsoft Azure virtual cloud.

Testing the Product with the Help of Microsoft Azure

In the process of organizing the development and testing in the cloud environment of Microsoft Azure, testers can perform the client scripts:

• “Sandbox” for creating the application and testing it on one OS. You can easily manage available computational resources on the basis of OS Windows or Linux, install your own images from virtual machines and don’t worry much about the functionality of used infrastructure. In Microsoft Azure everything is already configured and programmed for performing the client’s test;
• Testing the build and technological compatibility of utility on released versions of OS and software. Besides that, in Microsoft Azure you can test your product, easily project its functioning together with the last versions of the available OS and allocated software;
• Load tests. Testers can perform real tests, without additional “negative” influencing of another system environment. The functions of permanent scaling of the network allow us to reproduce real tests for all cases of unexpected situations which can happen in the process of working with this software;
• Work with “unique components” (SQL Server, BizTalk or AD). You can apply for getting a certain group of lab minutes for testing to find the reliability of functioning of holistic solutions in the product. You don’t need to buy separate licensing, just apply for a query and that’s it;
• Reproducing the virtual environment with mistakes correction. Testers who are interested in this can manage completely identical reproduction of any virtual environment to properly search for, fix and edit the found bugs in the developed utility. Quickly find the reason, fix the bugs, solve the problem with functionality and end using Microsoft Azure;
• Test environment for training and demonstrating the work of the software. If you wish, you can request for availability of the finished environment for working with new technologies, tests reproduction, group training and also a visual demonstration of work of software in the created virtual cloud environment;
• Work with control systems, its own bug tracking. You can easily save costs for buying and managing the servers. Just configure a group of your tools in the provided cloud and perform necessary operations in one environment.

Creating and Testing the Components in Microsoft Azure

• Creating a personal query without the function of debugging in the virtual machine;
• The process of loading the corporate images in a virtual environment with an available set of useful tools;
• Organization of network environment between necessary servers and the local network with the help of VPN;
• Work with a familiar set of tools and applications for creating the utilities;
• Interaction with the cloud in any part of the world! Local teams are always available in the test environment.

To conclude, we’d like to repeat the undisputable fact that Microsoft Azure is a completely flexible modern platform which allows us to perform a whole range of manipulations on implementing, developing, testing and scaling the applications on the basis of the most popular programming languages. All this is supported by numerous available applications and tools, the quantity of which is permanently rising, for complete publicity and openness of this cloud.

Many beta testing companies perform the processes of deploying their projects in a virtual environment of Microsoft Azure for deep and multi-functional testing of working components.