Testing Serverless Applications
Serverless cloud applications are rapidly moving into the mainstream. In this model, teams focus on developing and deploying code on a known technology stack and runtime, with fixed interfaces for application, database, and network. It offers the advantage of lower costs, faster development, and elastic growth. But testing serverless applications also brings significant challenges to testers. Because the stack is maintained by the cloud provider, it is updated with new versions and security patches on a regular basis. Testers have to continuously test the stack interfaces to make sure that interface integrity is maintained. Further, the serverless model usually incorporates an execution runtime engine, abstracting the running code from the platform. The database can also be abstracted away from actual data calls, which can hide important information during traditional testing. Join Peter Varhol and Gerie Owen to learn the architectures of serverless systems and applications and look at challenges they pose for testers and how testers can overcome them.
Peter Varhol is a software strategist and evangelist who closely observes the testing industry and uses his knowledge and experience to identify new technologies and help companies respond to those trends. His diverse technical background enables him to seamlessly integrate new technologies into his practices and provides him with a unique vision of how to adapt and succeed. His areas of research and practice include team communication, machine learning, DevOps, testing and test automation, and development tools. His efforts aim to use the latest and best technologies to address real-world problems. Peter speaks frequently at conferences, local meetups, and webinars on software development, testing, machine learning, and DevOps topics. Peter blogs at Cutting Edge Computing, and can be found on Twitter. He has master's degrees in computer science, applied mathematics, and psychology, along with doctoral work in information systems.
Gerie Owen is Testing Strategist and Evangelist at Technology Strategy Research. She is a Certified Scrum Master, Conference Presenter and Author on technology and testing topics. She enjoys mentoring new QA Leads and brings a cohesive team approach to testing. Gerie is the author of many articles on technology including Agile and DevOps topics. She recently developed a curriculum for DevOps 101 training. Gerie chooses her presentation topics based on her experiences in technology, what she has learned from them and what she would like to do to improve them. Gerie can be reached through her website, her blog, Testing in the Trenches, @GerieOwen on Twitter, and on LinkedIn.