Users feel happy and satisfied when they click and get the page refreshed or report generated within no time. Every application development team and its member intends to build their solution with a given set of performance expectations. During the initial days of launch the system stabilizes and works as per expectations in terms of performance. Over a period as the business grows, number of users grow, data volume increase and servers gets older, while the performance might go down, from milliseconds to seconds and at times runs for minutes and hours.

Performance tuning is critical, inevitable and continuous process to monitor and tune various components on periodic basis. Some applications demand high volume of usage during early business hours, some at night while some has consistent demand through out the day. Based on nature of application and business, there can be high demanding period when data is inserted or loaded to the system, while at other times the extraction or output of data and reports can be high.

It involves deep knowledge of the system, technology, environment, usage and nature of usage for an expert to create a balanced plan and strategy to enhance the performance. For various reasons, no two system may have same performance improvement plan and steps that can be copied and replicated across multiple systems. There might be differences in terms of environment, number of users, hours of usage, nature of data in/out and so-forth.

Components of Performance Tuning

A large system may need involvement from various specialists to tune various components. This may involve:

• Database Performance
  
• Query Performance
  
• Application Performance
  
• Browser Performance
  
• Network Performance
  
• Server Performance
  
• Environment and OS Performance

Performance Testing Tools - Top n

Below are some of the top testing tools that helps analyze the product performance, gives detail reports and helps repeat the performance check periodically and systematically.

* Apache JMeter: The Apache JMeter™ application is open source software, a 100% pure Java application designed to load test functional behavior and measure performance.
* Appvance: Appvance.ai is the leader in and inventor of AI-driven test generation, which has revolutionized software testing.
* HeadSpin: HeadSpin enables testing and monitoring of mobile, web, audio/video applications in real-time with AI based insights
* K6: k6 is an open source framework built to make performance testing fun for developers.
* Keysight Eggplant: With Keysight's Eggplant, you can automate the entire testing process, from test case generation to results analytics.
* LoadComplete: LoadComplete is a load testing tool for creating and running automated load tests for web servers and services
* LoadNinja: LoadNinja is a cloud-based load testing and performance testing platform for web applications and web services.
* LoadRunner: LoadRunner is a software testing tool from Micro Focus. It is used to test applications, measuring system behaviour and performance under load.
* LoadView: LoadView is a cloud-based load testing solution that helps development teams predict how a website, web application, API, and more, will respond to various levels of traffic and workloads
* Loadster: Loadster is a load and stress testing tool for high-performance websites and applications.
* NeoLoad: NeoLoad (load and stress testing) is an automated performance testing platform for enterprise organizations continuously testing from APIs to applications.
* Rational Performance Tester: Rational Performance Tester generates performance and throughput reports in real time, offering awareness of performance problems at any time during a test.
* ReadyAPI Performance: ReadyAPI is an easy-to-use no-code API Testing platform designed to streamline your testing workflows.
* StormForge: StormForge automates Kubernetes resource efficiency at scale, using machine learning to optimize cloud native environments for cost and performance
* Testing Anywhere: Testing Anywhere allows testers and developers to test applications, Web sites, objects, controls and GUI front-ends.
* WAPT: Web Application Performance Testing is a tool for loading and stress testing, which provides opportunities for detailed and effective testing of web sites and Internet applications with a web interface.
* WebLOAD: WebLOAD tool is a load testing tool to perform stress testing and performance testing of the web application