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The overwhelming problem facing IT departments is network efficiency and ensuring they are working correctly. Especially as networks are expanding as society continues to go in an electronic direction, the opportunities for poor networks increases. As such, the need for network tests is growing.
Why is Testing Even Necessary?
Did you know that inefficient networks are more susceptible to security problems? Security problems can be exploited (whether intentionally or not) such that someone who wouldn't be authorized to access information would be able to access it.
In addition, the more inefficient the network, the more likely the network is to encounter major problems. You know what is a major downer? Having employees ready to work on the network, only to have a problem making access to necessary functions impossible.
And if you have your company website on a faulty network, your website can go down. If you've ever gone to a webpage that's down, you know that consumers or clients do not look kindly on being forced to wait.
What is the Solution?
Testing, testing, and testing. There are multiple types of test automation software which will automatically run tests on your network. You can run tests to see how your network holds up under normal and heavy traffic, and determine how the programs respond during heavy traffic times.
In addition, these tests should reveal what types of access loads can cause crashes and unresponsive programs. This information allows you to decide if you need to upgrade your systems to allow a higher volume of traffic. With redundancy tests you can figure out, while in a safe testing situation, what happens if one of your servers fail—will the other servers be able to hold up with the extra burden?
You can (and should) not just figure out why a system might fail under a heavy access burden, but why it fails. If you know why, you can figure out the best way to fix it.
How Do I Get Testing Done?
You can hire network test labs to run tests for you. Data center testing and commissioning can be more expensive that automated methods, however, you'll typically get better results. As great as an automated system can be, you'll get better communication on what is wrong and how to fix it from professionals.
However, whether automated or commissioned, the basic goal is to better secure your lab management system. And if you're in the unenviable position of having to do a data center migration, best practices dictate you should use the opportunity to run tests—it is an ideal time to tighten up your network efficiency.