The Internet of Things is a vast system of networked devices, sensors, and computing infrastructure. By 2020, the number of devices connected to each other through the Internet of Things may reach 50 billion. Environmental sensors, motion detectors, refrigerators and thermostats will all be It can be connected to each other in the IoT system through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, 4G LTE and other technologies. So, faced with such a wide variety of IoT systems with such a large scale and a complex environment, what challenges do testers have and what skills must they possess?
Francis Adanza, vice president of Zephyr, recently published an article in Dzone on the new challenges that IoT systems pose in terms of data security, uncertain network connectivity and a wide variety of embedded systems, and testers 5 skills you must have.
1. Adapt to gray box testing
In the Internet of Things environment, various sensors, monitoring equipment, and smart terminals can access the network through various protocols, and users cannot determine how and where these devices are used. Therefore, in order to ensure the stability and reliability of equipment operation, Testers need to do grey box testing of the product. That is to say, the test team not only needs to verify the functionality of the application like white box testing, but also needs to go deep into its internal structure like black box testing . Information about services and connection protocols, etc., and carefully design test cases to cover as many use case scenarios as possible.
2. Knowledge of embedded systems
Embedded development has always been a relatively low-key technical field, and relative to web development and enterprise-level development, embedded development seems to have little voice on the Internet. However, with the rise of wearable devices such as smart bracelets, smart watches and smart glasses, the concept of "embedded" has quickly become one of the hot spots in today's technology world.
But it is undeniable that although the embedded concept has come a long way so far, there is still no well-known and well-maintained operating system and supporting tools like iOS and Android. Although the popular Ubuntu and Debian have developed installation packages for the ARM-based MMU (Memory Management Unit, memory management unit) devices, developers still need to master basic skills such as cross-compilation to get started with embedded development. , and as a quality controller in this field, if IoT testers do not have certain embedded knowledge, they still cannot do a comprehensive test.
3. Can perform effective simulations
The Internet of Things has realized the interconnection of all things. Its devices are all kinds, the scale is unprecedentedly large, the protocols are different, and the environment is intricate, which means that testers cannot construct comprehensive test cases for each device, each protocol, and each use environment. , even if it is theoretically possible, it will require a huge cost. To this end, testers must have the ability to simulate, and often need to create a variety of virtual devices and virtual networks on a single physical device to simulate various use case scenarios to achieve the purpose of testing. Simulation not only saves time and money, but also provides scalability that is not possible with the physical environment.
4. Handle usage patterns of data spikes and bursts
In the world of virtual desktop infrastructure there is a phenomenon known as "Boot Storm": everyone is trying to log into their VDI solution at the same time (usually in the morning), so that the backend system is slow to respond and the user experience very poor. So what's the situation for the Internet of Things?
很多情况下，我们会面临同样的问题。例如，在智能家居领域，用户上班后家里的各种联网设备基本处于关闭或者待机状态，这时候数据流很小，后端系统几乎没有压力，但是当用户回家之后，接入家庭 WiFi 网络的各种设备便会运转，例如电视机、电脑、Pad 和手机，正如这时候通常会产生用电峰值一样，数据峰值也会在此时产生，从而对后端系统造成极大的压力。同样的情况在智能交通领域也会存在，例如因为上下班而造成的堵车高峰，因为节假日而造成的高速瘫痪。 这对于大部分物联网测试团队而言都是新的挑战。
5、无处不在的数据安全
物联网潜在的数据安全问题是众所周知的，但正如尼古拉斯·埃文斯在《Computer world》里所提到的：对于物联网供应商来说，安全通常是后考虑的问题。在物联网普及并渗透到人们的日常生活之前，或许可以这样做，但是随着大众对物联网的认可和使用程度越来越高，这已经成为了一个亟需解决的问题。如果说在物联网的发展前期，供应商需要通过创新吸引用户，那么在后期就必须通过稳定性和安全性留住用户。但现实情况是，面对规模如此庞大、种类如此丰富的设备、应用和服务，人们很难实现一种有效而又全面的防护策略。对物联网测试团队而言，这无疑具有极大的挑战 。
自动化测试平台TestBird，最初是从手游测试开始起步，在手游圈积累起很高的知名度，现已向APP测试领域进军，同时TestBird也加入了物联网测试领域。
来源：InfoQ