Blockchain is the technology used to secure, store, and manage data in a decentralized and cryptic format. It’s a highly protected and encrypted digital ledger in the form of a chain of blocks. They are linked to each other through cryptography. But when blockchain is implemented into an industry or application, how do you test it?
In this article, we’ll discuss key challenges faced by QA specialists needing to test blockchain technology, while also providing a toolbox and solutions to meeting those challenges.
How Blockchain Works?
Let’s start with the basics. Each block in the blockchain has a unique hash value as well as the hash value of the previous block it is connected to. Originally, blockchain was designed for digital currencies, such as Bitcoin. Later, its benefits led to its usage in recording not only financial transactions but virtually everything of significant value.
QA Approach to Blockchain Testing
Testing of applications based on blockchain technology comes with numerous challenges. Of course, there are traditional testings and validation like functional/non-functional testing, performance testing, integration testing, etc. But also, QA engineers need to have specialized capabilities like Smart Contract testing, peer/node testing, owning math & cryptographic skills, and industry-leading tools.
Verification & Validation
Usually, a blockchain is present in a decentralized network of nodes. They are high configuration computer systems. Every node has a copy of the blockchain transaction history, and the verification process in the blockchain is a consensus mechanism based process. For verifying a new transaction and creating a new block for that, all the nodes should receive input values that they cross-verify against available data.
Due to its nature, and all the different entities that the blockchain system involves for its operation like a large number of nodes, different encryption techniques must be followed for the interaction between nodes sharing the transactional data. Validating all these various entities is a must for ensuring that the developed blockchain ecosystem is functioning as expected.
Types of Blockchain Testing
We’ll start with some basics and then move on to particularities of blockchain testing types.
Functional Testing
It plays a vital role in assessing the business circumstances and effectiveness of use-case scenarios. These are the key considerations for running functional testing in blockchain apps.
- Block Size
In a blockchain, each block has a memory size that you can measure in megabytes. Recently, it was reduced to 1MB from 36MB for security reasons. So, software testers should focus on scenarios like transaction data stored in each block exceeding 1MB, encryption techniques used to connect the blocks, etc. - Data Transmission
The main architecture of block chain revolves around data transaction and security. So, the first thing to test here is a possibility of data loss during transmission between blocks. - Block Addition
QA engineers need to carefully evaluate the blocks added to the chain. The reason is simple: once they are added to the chain, they cannot be altered. - Smart Contract
Make sure that the parties involved in transactions are adhering to the rules of the smart contract. It will ensure the smooth functioning of the blockchain app. - Node Testing
All the diverse nodes present on the network QA engineer should test independently to ensure their smooth functioning.
Integration Testing
As blockchain is an ecosystem that comprises different components, all them must be connected. Also, it’s crucial to test different APIs associated with these components for their compatibility with each other.
Performance Testing
This type of testing in blockchain is significant from the perspective of the number of transactions that require testing and their sizes. Other important and dependent parameters include:
- network;
- sequence of transactions at each node;
- transaction processing speed;
- user and system interface;
- the responses required from smart contracts.
Security Testing
The agenda here is to identify if blockchain applications are vulnerable to attacks & if the authorization and authentication systems are credible. Security testing additionally considers confidentiality, integrity, non-denial of services, availability etc.
For cryptocurrency-based applications, it also covers wallet signatures methods, private keys, consensus algorithm, and application platform dependencies. The other significant factor for security testing is that fraudulent transactions are irreversible as transaction reversal is nearly impossible in blockchain technology.
Blockchain Testing Plan
When it comes to such a complex testing as a blockchain, the question of “where to start from?” arises. Here is straightforward and efficient outline:
- Identify the platform.
- Identify the critical test points.
- Identify the right test tool (manual & automated).
- Deploy tool, test & stabilize application.
Tools for Blockchain Testing
The last point of a blockchain plan begs the logical question of testing tools available on the market. The following are a few tools that help in testing blockchain applications and guarantee they function properly.
Ethereum Tester
It’s one of the most utilized platforms for building blockchain apps. Ethereumis packed with tools that can facilitate both app development and testing. It is reliable for Web3 Integration, API, Smart Contracts, Backend, and several other blockchain tests.
Hyperledger Composer
Here is an open-source tool that allows you to model and test your blockchain network with a minimal set of tools like Docker and a browser. It’s done through Hyperledger Composer, which facilitates blockchain development with a modeling language, a UI, and a CLI. It allows automated system tests and interactive testing.
Exonum Testkit
This tool specializes in testing the activity of the entire service of the blockchain application. Exonum Testkit allows us to do API testing and transaction execution without the need of the network operation and consensus algorithm.
BitcoinJ
This is an open-source Bitcoin client library. It can maintain a wallet, send and receive transactions without a local copy of Bitcoin Core, and has many other advanced features. Though it’s developed in JAVA, it can be used from any JVM compatible language like Python, JAVAScript, etc.
Populus
Populous is a peer-to-peer invoice platform. It makes use of blockchain’s distributed ledger technology to provide a global trading platform for invoice financing. Invoice Finance is a form of funding that instantly unlocks the cash tied up in outstanding sales invoices. Business owners allow invoice buyers to buy invoices at a discounted rate to unlock their cash quicker.
Manticore
This tool is used to run security testing on blockchain applications. Manticore is a symbolic execution tool for analysis of binaries and smart contracts.
Corda Testing Tools
Corda is a blockchain-based and open-source distributed ledger platform. It has a built-in testing feature to help with:
- writing contract & flow tests;
- integration testing;
- load testing.
Embark Framework
Embark is a framework for building, testing, and deploying a blockchain app. It allows to develop and deploy decentralized applications. Embark currently integrates with decentralized storages (IPFS), EVM blockchains (Ethereum), and decentralized communication platforms (Whisper and Orbit). Swarm is supported for deployment.
Truffle
Truffle is a very familiar tool for Ethereum developers with a variety of testing features, including automated contract testing. This framework has functionality beyond just testing and worth adding to the testing toolbox.
To Sum Up
Blockchain technology is perceived as the future. Therefore, every business should assess if it can be leveraged for their business growth. For the same reason, thorough blockchain testing is essential prior to market launch.
Given the relative newness of the technology, dealing with the creation of suitable test data, scale, security and performance are some of the key testing challenges in blockchain. The right testing tools such as Eteruem Tester, Populus, BitcoinJ, Truffle, and Embark that can help QA engineers to navigate these testing challenges. Though in-depth test analysis is still required to build a quality blockchain product.