Configuration testing involves validating an application’s behavior in various environments. This type of testing determines the immediate or long term effects of configuration changes on the system’s behavior and performance. If it’s possible that your software could be installed on many different configurations, then this kind of testing is absolutely necessary. Doing so will validate compatible configurations and alert you to incompatible ones.

Generally, the number of possible configurations is too large to test. This fact alone means that it’s vital that the planning phase of a configuration testing effort identify only those configurations that will be supported. Priorities must be established based on the expected user base and risks associated with hidden bugs in particular configurations.

Most often done in labs with multiple machine and different hardware, configuration testing can be a time consuming process that requires a great deal of hardware and software knowledge. QA Mentor’s QA Environment Management Service can help you build the right environment for these tests. Alternatively, using our own comprehensive test lab for our Test Design and Test Execution On-demand services would keep your costs down while still providing you with the specific configuration testing expertise you require. Setting up your own lab can be expensive, but we already have one up and running, and ready for your configuration testing needs.