What is recovery testing?
Recovery testing checks how well software bounces back from crashes and failures. It tests whether an application can restore itself after issues like power outages, network drops, or system failures. The goal is to confirm the system returns to normal operation with minimal data loss.
Do you have any examples of recovery testing?
Testers create failures on purpose to see how systems respond. They might:
- Force-shutdown a database server and verify the app reconnects properly
- Cut network connections to see if the application handles the interruption
- Corrupting data files to test if backup systems work correctly
- Simulating power outages during critical operations
Why is recovery testing important?
Systems fail—it's pretty much inevitable. Recovery testing ensures applications handle these failures gracefully. It protects business operations from extended downtime, maintains data integrity during disruptions, builds user confidence in system reliability, and confirms disaster recovery plans actually work.
What are the challenges of recovery testing?
Recreating realistic failures poses several challenges.
Setting up environments that mimic production systems is difficult, as is determining acceptable recovery timeframes for different failures. Testers struggle to replicate complex scenarios like hardware failures or cyberattacks, and need to make sure automated recovery mechanisms work consistently. The process requires careful balance between thorough testing and avoiding damage to test environments.
