What is a key requirement for performance testing?

A key requirement for performance testing is having a realistic volume of data. Performance testing aims to evaluate how well an application performs under expected workload conditions. To achieve accurate and meaningful results, the test should simulate the actual conditions the system will face in a production environment, including the amount of data that will typically be processed.

By utilizing a realistic volume of data, the test can provide insights on system behavior, identifying potential bottlenecks, resource limitations, and response times. This helps in ensuring the application can handle the expected load without degradation in performance, thereby validating that it meets the necessary performance benchmarks.

In contrast, while technical documentation can provide valuable context and guidelines for testing, it does not directly impact the performance metrics obtained during testing. Test cases based on historical data can inform performance expectations, but they might not represent current workload scenarios accurately. Accessibility to production data is often useful for testing but might not always be feasible due to privacy or security concerns, making the realistic volume of data the most critical factor for effectively conducting performance tests.