The QA Testing Checklist for Ensuring Successful Cloud Migration

Nowadays, when businesses are increasingly moving toward digital transformation,  migrating to the cloud ecosystem is turning into a foregone conclusion. Some of the primary reasons businesses increasingly use cloud migration services include remote access, data modernization, data protection, security, enhanced productivity and efficiency, cost benefits, and operational excellence. According to recent statistics by Hostingtribunal, the global cloud services are expected to touch $623.3 billion by 2023. In addition, according to a study performed by Unisys, 77% of the businesses worldwide are adopting cloud migration as a part of their business strategy, witnessing a massive improvement in their operational capabilities. As a result, it can be safely assumed that cloud migration has become a necessity for businesses in the age of modernization.

However, according to a study conducted by Unisys, around one-third of the cloud migration fails to achieve its end goals. So, what can be the possible causes of failure? Some of the primary reasons for such occurrences are not setting realistic expectations by businesses and lack of cloud migration assurance. This blog will discuss a QA testing checklist comprising significant aspects, including planning, execution, and validations, to help you prepare better for cloud migration. Following this comprehensive checklist can help businesses avoid possible issues such as system latency, server breakdown, lack of scalability, and website crashes, among others.

The QA checklist for Performing Successful Cloud Migration

Here is the QA testing checklist for businesses to follow and achieve success in cloud migration:

Functional Validation

The functional validation cloud migration testing approach helps assess the production readiness migrated to the cloud platform. In addition, it also helps ensure that various aspects of the applications are functioning as expected and as per the SLAs. To confirm the robustness and stability of each migrated application, it is recommended that businesses validate and verify the application’s end-to-end functioning. The below-mentioned test cases should be performed for every cloud application testing:

• If a valid input provides the expected results
• The automated test suit’s compatibility with the application.
• Various service integration with cloud-based applications.
• If page layout and other object references function as desired.

Integration Testing

Cloud migration does not mean only moving the workload to the cloud migration platform but also managing different variables such as authentication, authorization, compatibility, integration, and security. One of the essential parts of the variable is confirming whether all the applications are entirely integrated with third-party tools and they can easily communicate with each other. In addition, it is necessary to identify the dependencies for each application since these dependencies among different applications and systems can make integration testing quite challenging. While performing QA testing for cloud-based applications, it is recommended for the testing team to consider the following: 

• Different resources for the validation of integration testing
• Assurance of cloud migration with third-party tools
• Finding glitches in coordination within the cloud
• Configuration of application in the cloud environment
• Integration of different applications

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Performance Testing

For a successful cloud migration strategy, it is recommended to validate the scalability and responsiveness of any application. To ensure the application’s performance, the following steps should be checked:

• Determine and store business transactions and the end-to-end flow of the application
• Determine the configuration and architecture of an incompatible application
• Perform load testing in parallel
• Determine the setup tools and monitoring requirements
• Store the application performance under several load thresholds
• Determine if the application has limited internet bandwidth but intensive CPU capacity needs

Business Continuity Plan & Disaster Recovery

It doesn’t matter which platform you are using to run your operations; there is always the possibility of things going south. Without comprehensive testing in place, migrating applications and systems to the cloud can be challenging since it can lead to system crashes or latency. For every business looking forward to migrating to the cloud, keeping a recovery plan in place to address challenges like security attacks and cloud outages is recommended. Moreover, to ensure the same, the following steps should also be considered:

• Assess and update business continuity processes from time to time
• Perform regular test simulations to evaluate the readiness of your tech team
• Automatically restore applications when faced with hardware failures
• Examine the cloud migration automation test results to update the business continuity plan

Security Testing:

With the ever-increasing frequency and scope of cyberattacks, it is recommended for businesses migrating to the cloud to apply advanced cybersecurity measures. It is advantageous to make cloud migration risk assessments and validate data security. Some of the critical factors necessary to be considered during security testing include:

• What are different compliance requirements?
• How does data get stored in the cloud?
• List of people who have access to data?
• How do users access data?
• What sort of sensitive information is stored, used, or transferred?
• Ensuring proper authorization and authentication while accessing the cloud network

Wrapping Up

Thanks to the ever-increasing popularity and flexibility of cloud platforms, many businesses migrate their applications, data, and systems to the cloud. It allows them to create robust, innovative, responsive, and customer-friendly applications at scale. However, to enjoy all the benefits of cloud migration, businesses should follow the QA mentioned above checklist to ensure a seamless migration and achieve their end goals.