Strategies for Test Databases?

youngcfan asks: "I've been tasked with finding strategies for a test database that can be used effectively by both software developers and the QA team. We're a J2EE shop with most of the interesting pieces of the application interacting heavily with the database -- so we need to test it. We're ramping up on JUnit, but are looking for ways to test the database-driven pieces of code. Since QA needs the same database for functional testing separate from developers' unit tests, DBUnit doesn't seem to suffice. We also have the challenge of working on multiple releases at the same time, which only complicates how and when to add new data to the test database in a way that's useful and valid for everyone. We're looking for strategies for using a test database in a way that meets both the QA's and the developers' needs, works for multiple releases, and isn't a heavy burden to maintain given that the schema and code can change anytime before any of the multiple upcoming releases. Any suggestions?"

Comments

Use real data, not test data

[SMQ]

Test data sucks: there are too many real-world situations the developers fail to think of.

We're a pretty small shop, but here's what we do: The production server backup is loaded to the test server daily. Every developer maintains a set of scripts which make any needed databae structure modifications after the backup has loaded. All development and QA testing is done against this test database. Where the production data isn't stable enough for unit testing we force-feed a few specific rows (as few as possible). This gives us fresh, real-world data for development and testing, and when an application rolls out, the exact same set of modification scripts are usually run on the production server (i.e. the modification scripts have been indirectly but repeatedly tested themselves).