Testing with a dedicated machine instead of VM Ware
Ben Logan - Published: 18th Feb 2009 18:34 GMT
When performing compatibility testing for our clients we take special care to make sure we have as much control over the test machine as possible in order to have a "sterilised" testing baseline from which to work from.
All of our test machines are configured the same way at the our test lab, so we can have a new image of the machine loaded up in under a minute.
What is VMWare?
VM, which stands for "Virtual Machine", is a piece of software that allows one machine to run multiple Operating Systems on the same machine with its own band of computer programs and computer hardware resources, as if they were standalone.
Why do we use standalone machines??
When testing for clients on a very tight timescale (often overnight and in a period of 2-3 days) it is important to be clear on the bugs you are reporting on and more importantly any steps to take to recreate the bugs. In order to reduce the possibilities of the machines having built up software, plug-ins, DLLs, or anything which might affect the testing, we ensure we format the machine and restore an image with Norton Ghost.
This ensures the following are as near to "Out of the box" as possible:
- Installation of Operating System
- Installation of drivers
- Setting system locales
- Installing specific browsers (if applicable)
- Installing specific Adobe Flash versions (if applicable)
Need some more information?
If you would like to learn more about how we can help you run and co-ordinate compatibility testing then please call us or email us below and we would be happy to help out where we can.
We are ready to answer your questions right now, so please contact us by telephone on +44 (0)207 168 7526 or drop us a quick email info@spotlessinteractive.com and we will do our best to help you with any questions you might have.
