How Microsoft Test Base prevented damages to millions of PCs

Nosotros may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.

🎤 TESTING TESTING 123

How Microsoft Test Base prevented damages to millions of PCs

Microsoft's Test Base lets developers test their apps against multiple versions of Windows, all through the cloud.

Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

Microsoft'due south Exam Base brings together the power of Azure with the company'south passion for development. With Test Base of operations, developers can test their apps against multiple versions of Windows 11 and Windows 10, including pre-release versions of the operating systems, all from a unmarried customer.

Test Base can run compatibility tests for monthly security updates and annual feature updates. Since the service works with pre-release versions of Windows, devs can have the best Windows apps ready to become when an Bone update rolls out.

Recently, I saturday down for a virtual meeting with Raji Rajagopalan, Director of Engineering in Windows+Devices at Microsoft, and Rama Shastri, a primary group programme manager at Microsoft, to discuss Test Base, how information technology helps developers, and how it has already saved millions of PCs from damages.

Simplifying remote development

Microsoft Developer Source: Microsoft

Examination Base of operations wasn't specifically built for the pandemic; its development began in 2022, only it has go a tool that allows developers to work from home. Because Exam Base runs on the cloud, developers can cosign their programs from anywhere connected to the spider web. Previously, testing apps in this way would take required a physical function with several machines dedicated to running diverse versions of Windows.

"Nosotros've been working on this since [2018], so enter 2022, and as nosotros all know, in that location is a global pandemic ... and we started seeing how a remote testing service can make the process of testing [through] the cloud be very constructive for this moment in time," Rajagopalan explained.

The Test Base team is an instance of remote work with a team spanning across the world. Its members are based in Lagos, Nigeria; Shanghai, China; Redmond, Washington; and other areas around the world.

Operating on the cloud provides another do good to Test Base of operations users, not having to have big offices full of expensive setups. Depending on the scope of an app, offices could include dozens of PCs and servers for testing.

Windows Test Base Source: Microsoft

Rajagopalan started her career as a tester at Microsoft. Back in those days, testing apps required circuitous and expensive setups that had to be maintained in-house.

"I started my career at Microsoft equally a tester ... and so I'm very familiar with writing huge test matrices where if I have to exam my applications, I take to effigy out what are the other dependencies and describe that matrix, which is quite irksome and expensive. Every time I had to do this, whether it was with automation or manual testing, information technology was a time-consuming process," Rajagopalan said.

How Test Base works

Microsoft Developer Source: Microsoft

Examination Base of operations is a service by Microsoft that allows developers to onboard applications through the Azure portal for testing. Information technology provides functioning metrics, crash reports, and other test results to help developers determine whether an app runs every bit intended on different versions of Windows xi or Windows 10.

If there is an issue with compatibility, Test Base of operations can help make up one's mind what's causing problems. For example, Test Base can show you lot the moment an application failed, which can aid find what was going on leading up to the app's failure.

Because Test Base of operations is from Microsoft, it provides admission to pre-release versions of Windows and Windows Server. This allows developers to exist proactive rather than reactive. Without the benefit of testing against pre-release versions of Windows, developers would have long days any time a new version of Windows came out.

Of class, issues can still occur even afterwards testing against pre-release versions of Windows, but Test Base'south access to early on builds takes some stress off devs.

Test Base of operations has a free trial that includes 100 hours of gratuitous test validation. After the trial menstruation, Examination Base costs $8 per 60 minutes of actual apply.

Saving people from trouble

Microsoft Server Source: Microsoft

Shastri shared a real-world example from a security software company (not specified):

They've been using Examination Base to validate their apps, but in this case, they brought their latest app version, which was under development for them, and tested it against Windows updates. As they analyzed the test results and the performance insights that nosotros provided, they observed that their new app version was consuming much college CPU cycles than their previous version. And then, as they root caused it, they chop-chop found out that it was an issue because of buffer encryption that they had put in place. They were able to quickly ready the issue, and this prevented them from shipping a damaging issue to millions of their customers.

Rather than rolling out an update that spiked CPU usage and caused other issues, the company was able to address the trouble before any client was afflicted.

Hereafter-proofed past the cloud

In some ways, Test Base was ahead of its time, and illustrates why moving toward the cloud is a sound strategy in many industries. While information technology wasn't designed with the pandemic in mind, being built on Azure allows remote development from teams around the world.

Now that hybrid and remote work are here to stay, developers tin utilize Azure to build applications. Even for companies that have a physical office, Test Base allows organizations to move away from bulky and expensive setups for onboarding applications.

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Acquire more.