Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step ...

Testing-as-a-Service 57
Management/Governance-as-a-Service
Management/governance-as-a-service is any on-demand service that provides
the ability to manage one or more cloud services, typically simple
things such topology, resource utilization, virtualization, and uptime management.
Governance systems, such as the ability to enforce defined policies
on data and services, are becoming available as well. We cover governance in
great detail in Chapter 8, “Bringing Governance to the Clouds.”
Much the same as with security on demand, this aspect of cloud computing
is slow on the uptake. Most enterprises like to control management and
governance. However, as more applications and data are outsourced, it may
make sense to manage and govern those resources from the clouds as well.
Testing-as-a-Service
Testing-as-a-service is the ability to test local or cloud-delivered systems using
remotely hosted testing software and services. It should be noted that
while a cloud service requires testing unto itself, testing-as-a-service systems
have the ability to test other cloud applications, Web sites, and internal enterprise
systems, and they do not require a hardware or software footprint
within the enterprise.
The advantages of testing-as-a-service include the ability to avoid purchasing
test servers and testing software. Moreover, in many respects, testing,
either on-premise or in the clouds, is better done through a testing service
that connects to those applications over the Internet, since many real-life users
will do the same thing. Thus, if you are looking to test a Web site or a
Web-delivered application, testing-as-a-service is actually more logical than
testing on-premise in many instances.
The downsides are the ones you might expect. Many of those who build
and deploy applications like to control their testing environments and would
not dream of leveraging testing servers and software that they do not own or
host. Again, as more applications are rehosted in the cloud, testing-as-a-service
will become more of an accepted paradigm.