What are different characteristics of stability testing?

Stability testing in the context of software testing and engineering as it itself
indicates, refers to the many attempts to determine if an application will crash.

- Stability testing seeks to find a fault, an error, a bug or a reason that can render the software system or the application as non working or which can make the application lame.
- The main objective of the stability testing is to determine if there are any grounds on the basis of which the software system or application should be kept void of certification and it also aims at finding some positive point on the basis of which the software system or the application can be granted the certification.

- For a software system or application to be certified, it should be in functional state and basically stable.
- This can only be done by applying specific and suitable criteria and tests for testing functionality and stability. This is nothing but the stability testing.

There are several criteria available for stability testing. Few have been discussed below in detail:

1. Pass or fail criteria
- Each primary function tested and then the results are recorded.
- Each and every individual function is operated or executed in a way that is apparently consistent with its objective or the purpose regardless of the degree of correctness of its result or output.
- The observations are recorded for analysis.
- It is certain that out of so many functions, at least one or two primary functions will prove incapable of operating in a way that it apparently consistent to their aim or purpose.

2. Functional ability of a software system or the application
- There is for sure some impairment in any software system.
- But that does not necessarily mean that the software system is not fit for normal use.
- Any software product or application is said to work abnormally in a way that it seriously impairs it for the normal usage.

3.Disruption criteria
- The software system or the application is observed to disrupt the normal functioning of the operating system.

4.Criteria of in-operability
- No primary function of the software system or application is observed to get obstructed and become inoperable and non functional during the course of the testing.
- There is at least one primary function of the software system or application is observed to get obstructed and become inoperable and non functional during the course of the testing.

5. The software system or the application is observed to crash, fail, loose data and hang.

Some Important Points:
- Stability can be defined as the ability of a software system or application to continue functioning in the case of over time and over its full range of functionalities without crashing, failing or hanging and loss of data.

- For a tester to know whether the software system is seriously unfit for normal and regular use, he /she is required to have a knowledge of how that software system or application works in a normal environment i.e., normal user and normal usage.

- In order to carry out the stability test, the tester requires knowing the types of data values which software system or application can effectively and efficiently process.

- To test for the instability of a software system, the tester needs to use his knowledge in order to give some challenging inputs to the system to fail the system.