Backend Testing | What it is, Types, and How to Perform?

With the constant evolution of technology, testing applications thoroughly is more important than ever. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the importance of backend testing, the different tests that can be performed, and the best practices for ensuring your applications are well-tested. We’ll also provide tips on choosing the right tools for your needs.

What is Backend Testing?

Backend testing is a type of software testing that focuses on testing the non-user-facing components of a software application, such as the database, APIs, and server-side code. Backend testing is important to ensure that the application can handle the expected load and provide a reliable and secure user experience.

Database testing involves testing the database to ensure it can handle the expected load and perform transactions accurately and efficiently. Database testing also includes testing the database’s security to protect it from unauthorized access and modification.

API testing involves testing the application’s APIs to ensure they work as expected and can handle the expected load. API testing also includes testing the APIs’ security to protect them from unauthorized access.

Server-side testing involves testing the application’s server-side code to ensure it works and can handle the expected load. Server-side testing also includes testing the server-side code’s security to protect it from unauthorized access.

Here are some specific examples of backend tests:

• Testing the database’s ability to handle many concurrent users and transactions.
• Testing the database’s ability to perform complex queries efficiently.
• Testing the database’s security to protect it from unauthorized access and modification.
• Testing the API’s ability to handle a large number of concurrent requests.
• Testing the API’s ability to handle complex requests.
• Testing the API’s security to protect it from unauthorized access.
• Testing the server-side code’s ability to handle many concurrent requests.
• Testing the server-side code’s ability to process complex requests.
• Testing the server-side code’s security to protect it from unauthorized access.

Backend testing is an important part of the software development process. By conducting thorough backend testing, organizations can help ensure their software applications’ reliability, security, and scalability.

Objectives of Backend Testing

Here are some objectives of backend testing:

1. Verify the functionality of the server-side code – including the APIs and the database. This includes testing the code’s correctness and ability to handle different input and output scenarios.
2. Ensure the performance of the application – including the APIs and the database under different load conditions. This includes testing the application’s ability to handle large volumes of traffic, as well as its ability to respond to requests on time.
3. Test the security of the application against common vulnerabilities. This includes testing for SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and denial-of-service attacks.
4. Identify and fix defects in the server-side code. This can help to improve the overall quality of the application and reduce the number of errors that occur when the application is put into production.
5. Ensure that the application meets the requirements of the users and stakeholders. This helps avoid problems and delays later in the development process.

Types of Backend Testing

These are the following types of testing done in the backend testing:

• Structural testing: Structural testing ensures that all the database elements are mainly responsible for storing the data. Types of Structural testing are schema testing, table testing, column testing, trigger testing, and database server validation testing.
• Functional testing: Functional testing ensures the application’s functionality works with the database and the APIs properly. Any other functional testing that needs to be done on the server side can be included here.
• Non-functional testing: Non-functional testing measures the stress and load over the database and the APIs, which helps to optimize database and application performance. Types of non-functional testing are stress testing and load testing. Any other type of non-functional testing that needs to be done on the server side can be included here.
• Schema testing: This type of backend testing validates the structure of the application’s database. It ensures the database is correctly defined and can store and retrieve data correctly.
• Security testing tests the APIs and the database for vulnerabilities like SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and denial-of-service attacks. This can be done by sending carefully crafted requests to the APIs and observing the results.

How to Create the Back-End Testing Plan?

A test plan reminds you to run the all-important test operations and ensure you remember to run any test. These are some points that you should keep in mind when creating a backend testing plan:

• Backend language: Unlike the frontend, you will not have any graphical user interface(GUI). That’s why you should know and understand the language used in the backend to perform any testing.
• Database: You should have a level of understanding of the database to perform various testing like schema testing, table and column testing, trigger testing, etc.
• Create a checklist: Create a list of test cases and functionality for which you will write test cases during the testing process of the application backend.
• Identify the APIs that need to be tested: This includes identifying all of the different types of APIs used by the application and the different versions of each API.
• Select your tools: Select a good tool that will ease the testing process in the test development life cycle.
• Define the scope of testing: This includes deciding what aspects of the APIs will be tested, such as functionality, performance, and security.
• Create test cases: This involves developing a set of test cases that will cover all the different ways the APIs can be used.
• Select a testing tool: There are tools available for testing APIs. You should select a tool that is appropriate for the specific needs of your application and your testing team.
• Execute the test cases: This involves running and verifying the results.
• Report the results: This involves creating a report that documents the testing results and identifies defects.

How to do Backend Testing?

Backend testing is an essential part of the software development process. Following the tips above, you can ensure your application is well-tested and ready for deployment.

1. Plan your tests: Before starting testing, it’s important to plan them. This includes identifying the specific areas of the application that you need to test and the specific tests you need to run.
2. Create test cases: Once you have a plan, you need to create test cases. Test cases are detailed descriptions of the tests that you need to run. They should include the input data, the expected output, and the steps that you need to take to run the test.
3. Choose the right tools: Various tools are available for backend testing. The right tool for you will depend on the specific application you are testing and your budget and resources.
4. Automate your tests: You should automate your tests. This will save you time and effort, and it will also help to ensure that your tests are repeatable.
5. Run your tests: Once you have created your test cases and chosen your tools, you need to run your tests. This should be done in a systematic and repeatable way.
6. Analyze the results: After you have run your tests, you need to analyze the results. This includes identifying any defects that were found and any areas of the application that need further testing.
7. Fix the defects: Once you have identified any defects, you must fix them. This is an important part of the testing process, as it ensures that the application is free of defects before it is released to production.
8. Repeat the process: The testing process is iterative. Repeat the process until you are confident the application is ready for release.

Backend Testing Process

Here are the steps involved in the backend testing process, with a brief explanation of each step:

1. Planning: The first step is to plan the testing process. This includes identifying the specific areas of the application that need to be tested and the specific tests that need to be run.
2. Design: Once the testing plan is in place, the next step is to design the tests. This includes creating test cases, which are detailed descriptions of the tests that must be run.
3. Development: The next step is to develop the test automation scripts. This is where you will use automated tools to run your tests.
4. Execution: Once the test automation scripts are developed, they must be executed. This is where you will run the tests against the application.
5. Analysis: After the tests have been executed, the results must be analyzed. This is where you will identify any defects that were found.
6. Reporting: The final step is to document the testing process results. This includes documenting the defects that were found and any recommendations for improvement.

Backend Testing Validation

Here are some of the factors for backend testing validation:

• Performance check: This validates the performance of each test and the system behavior. This includes checking for performance bottlenecks and ensuring the application can handle increasing traffic and demand.
• Sequence testing: Backend testing validates that the tests are distributed according to priority. This ensures that the tests are run in the correct order and that the results are accurate.
• Database server validations: This ensures the data fed through for the tests is correct. This includes checking for invalid data types, missing data, and out-of-range values.
• Functions testing: This validates the consistency in transactions of the database. This includes checking for errors in the application’s calculations and ensuring that the application behaves as expected in different scenarios.
• Key and indexes: This ensures that the accurate constraints and the rules of constraints and indexes are correctly followed. This includes checking for errors in the application’s data structures and ensuring the application can retrieve data efficiently.
• Data integrity testing: This is a technique in which data is verified in the database to determine whether it is accurate and functions as required. This includes checking for data corruption and ensuring that the data is consistent with the application’s business logic.
• Database tables: This ensures that the created table and the queries for the output are providing the expected result. This includes checking for errors in the application’s database schema and ensuring that the application can insert, update, and delete data correctly.
• Database triggers: Backend Testing validates the correctness of the functionality of triggers. This includes checking for errors in the application’s trigger logic and ensuring the triggers are correctly triggered.
• Stored procedures: Backend testing validates the functions, return statements, calling the other events, etc., correctly mentioned per the requirements. This includes checking for errors in the application’s stored procedures and ensuring that the stored procedures are executed correctly.
• Schema: Backend testing validates that the data is organized correctly per the business requirement and confirms the outcome. This includes checking for errors in the application’s data model and ensuring the application can access data efficiently.

• API functionality ensures that the APIs return the expected results in the correct format.
• API performance involves measuring the response time and throughput of the APIs under different load conditions.
• API security involves testing the APIs for vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and denial-of-service attacks.
• API authentication and authorization concerns testing the API’s authentication and authorization processes to ensure that users only have access to the resources they are authorized to access.
• API error handling involves testing the API’s handling to ensure it returns the appropriate error codes and messages when errors occur.

Tools For Backend Testing

Tools are abundant in the market, but these are some of the best ones out there to test your application backend:

Testsigma: The cloud-based test automation tool for front-end and back-end testing, with API testing capabilities and soon-to-be-released database testing features.

Postman: Postman is a popular tool for API testing. It allows you to send and receive HTTP requests and responses, and it has many features for testing APIs, such as mocking, stubbing, and logging.

Data Factory: You can use the Data factory to create an automated workflow to perform data-driven test cases using your database as a data source. It provides a programmatic UI for ease of testing.

Data Generator: Using Data Generator, you can generate any data row and schema objects per your backend testing requirement.

TurboData: TurboData helps to generate test data with foreign keys and select, update, and delete SQL commands.

Advantages of Backend Testing

Here are some major advantages explained in detail

1. Improves the quality of the application: Backend testing can help to identify and fix defects in the server-side code, such as logic errors, incorrect data handling, and security vulnerabilities. This can improve the overall quality of the application by making it more reliable, efficient, and secure.
2. Reduces errors: By testing the application’s performance under different load conditions, backend testing can help to identify and fix defects that may cause errors when the application is put into production. This can help reduce the number of errors users experience, improving their satisfaction with the application.
3. Increases security: Security testing can help identify and fix application vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection attacks and cross-site scripting attacks. This can make the application more secure against attack, protecting users’ data and preventing unauthorized access.
4. Enhances user experience: Backend testing can help ensure a good user experience by testing the application’s functionality and performance. This can include testing the application’s responsiveness, error handling, and usability.
5. Meets compliance requirements: Backend testing can help ensure the application meets industry standards and regulations, such as data privacy and security. This can help protect the application from legal liability and ensure it complies with industry standards.

Disadvantages of Backend Testing

These are just some of the disadvantages of backend testing.

1. Time-consuming and expensive: Backend testing requires a deep understanding of the application’s code and architecture. This can make it time-consuming and expensive, especially for large and complex applications.
2. Difficult to test for security vulnerabilities: Backend testing can be challenging for security vulnerabilities often hidden in the application’s code. This can make finding and fixing these vulnerabilities challenging before attackers exploit them.
3. Challenging to test for performance bottlenecks: Backend testing can be difficult, as complex interactions between different application parts often cause these bottlenecks. This can make identifying and fixing these bottlenecks difficult before they impact the application’s performance.
4. Difficult to test for scalability: Backend testing can be challenging, requiring testing the application under different load conditions. This can make ensuring the application can handle increasing traffic and demand challenging.

Conclusion

Before we wrap up, are you ready to relax and giggle?

“Why did the backend tester cross the road? 

To patch a bug.”

Backend testing is a necessary aspect of software development that cannot be overlooked. It ensures that the application’s functionality is smooth and error-free from the perspective of the server and database. 

Developers can identify and resolve issues by implementing effective backend testing strategies and tools before deploying the application to end-users. This saves time and resources and enhances the application’s user experience and overall reputation. 

Therefore, investing in backend testing is a wise decision that can go a long way in ensuring the success of your software project.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are backend testing and UI testing?

Backend testing: This type of software testing focuses on the application’s server-side code and database. It ensures the application’s functionality is correct and can handle the expected load.

UI testing: Software testing focuses on the application’s user interface. It ensures that the application is easy to use and meets the user’s needs.

What is frontend vs. backend test?

Frontend testing: This type of software testing focuses on the application’s user interface (UI). It ensures that the UI is easy to use and meets the user’s needs.

Backend testing: This type of software testing focuses on the application’s server-side code and database. It ensures the application’s functionality is correct and can handle the expected load.

Which tool is best for backend testing?

Testsigma is a good tool for API testing; Postman is also a popular tool for API testing.

Backend testing tools can range in price from free to hundreds of dollars per month.