Experimenting with Dynamic Test Component Deployment in TTCN-3

In our work, we investigate efficient usage of TTCN-3 (Testing and Test Control Notation version 3) based test components in the emerging field of distributed performance testing of communicating systems. TTCN-3 is a high level formal specification language used for the specification of abstract test suites (ATSs) suitable for various testing purposes mainly in telecommunication systems testing. A TTCN-3 based test system may consist of several distributed parallel test components (PTCs) and can be executed utilizing diverse hardware platforms. Our aim is to aid development of load tests by establishing a framework, while collecting best practices at the same time, that can be used to execute tests over mixed hardware resources efficiently. We, mainly focus on automated and dynamic deployment of load test components implemented purely in TTCN-3. Also, the deployment method takes test system load into account by monitoring the participating workstations' behavior on-line. A potential test method is shown that can be used for testing server applications using low-cost or even legacy hardware as the platform for distributed lest components. A basic scenario involving SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) service testing is presented as an example.