Spike vs Scalability Testing

[BrownZeus]

Hey all,

 

So for work we're being trained on Performance Testing. However, my trainer though experienced, isn't the greatest teacher.

Google searches haven't given any clear comparisons

What is the difference between Spike and Scalability Testing? The graphs provided are identical and the explanation was unclear (also due to a slight language barrier)

 

Thanks in advanced!

[Lurick]

Spike testing is where you suddenly increase or decrease the load by a large amount in a very short period of time. Such as you've got sustained 100k transactions hitting the server and suddenly it's at 5 million for a minute and then back down to 100k.

 

Scale testing is generally where you ramp up, usually incrementally, until the application/server/etc. cannot handle any more load. Additionally you can push it to where it breaks or cannot handle any more, dial it back a bit, and then see how long it can sustain that large load.