Stress Testing Multi-User Application?

Question

I have an application that I'm building that has had concurrency problems in the past.
This was before implementing any LINQ error handling.

Now, I have some LINQ error handling added to my code, and I was wondering if you could give me tips about how to stress test the hell out of my application. It is super important that everything works when I deploy this thing, so your input would help.

I have two boxes set up at my desk right now to simulate two users doing whatever.

Edit:

Environment: Windows XP

App Type: WinForm

User Count: 15

Answer 1

I strongly suggest using CHESS, a free tool from Microsoft for finding and reproducing concurrency bugs. I have found it invaluable, indispensible, and generally life-saving.

Answer 2

A lot of this depends on the way your application is set up. Do you have unit tests defined? Is it a multi-layer (data/UI/business/whatever) app where you don't need direct human interaction to test the functions that you care about?

There are third part testing applications that let you set up and run scripts for testing your applications (often by recording steps that you do and then running them). WinRunner is but one example. These test systems are usually configurable to some degree.

You can also create a test project (this will be a lot easier if you have a multi-tiered application), and effectively "roll your own" test application. That may give you more control over your tests - you can either choose to do tests with predictable output in a predictable order, or generate random data and test things in random orders at random intervals, or some combination thereof.