Ans: here are several phases in back end testing. The first step is to acquire design specifications for an SQL server. The second step is test specification design. The next step is to implement the tests in this design with SQL code. The test specification design should contain information concerning component testing (individual pieces of the system), regression testing (previously known bugs), integration testing (several pieces of the system put together), and then the entire system (which will include both front and back ends).

Component testing will be done early in the development cycle. Integration and system tests (including interfaces to front ends and nightly processes) are performed after the component tests pass. Regression testing will be performed continuously throughout the project until it is finished. The back end usually does not have an independent beta test, as it only exercised by the front end during the beta test period. The last step is to deliver users a quality product.

Back end test methodology
Back end test methodology has many things in common with front end testing and API testing. Many test methods can be used for back end testing. Structural testing and functional testing are more effective approaches in back end testing. They are overlapped in some test cases. However, the two methods may discover different bugs. We strongly recommend testers to do both types of testing. There are many other test methods that can be applied to back end testing. We list a few below. For other test methods, please check other test design references.

Structural testing
A back end can be broken down into a finite number of testable pieces based on a back end’s structure. Tests will verify each and every object in a type of structure.

Functional testing
A back end can be broken down into a finite number of testable pieces based on application’s functionality. The test focus is on functionality of input and output but not on the implementation and structure. Different projects may have different ways to break down.

Boundary testing
Many columns have boundary conditions. For example, in a column for percentages, the value cannot be less than zero and cannot be greater than 100%. We should find out these types of boundary conditions and test them.

Stress testing
It involves subjecting a database to heavy loads. For incidence, many users heavily access the same table that has a large number of records. To simulate this situation, we need to start as many machines as possible and run the tests over and over.