Difference between wait and sync in QTP

Wait:-Wait statements instruct QuickTest to wait a specified amount of time before proceeding to the next step.

syntax: Wait(10)
Here the QTP will wait for 10 sec and after that it will proceed for the execution of the next step

Sync:
This method is only available for Web.
This method can be used to synchronize the test execution with a new web page that has to appear in the browser.
This method is used when QTP is not sure how long it is going to take to load page

What is a User Story?

A story describes desired functionality from the customer(user) perspective.
A good user story describes the desired functionality, who wants it, and how and why
the functionality will be used.
The basic components of a User Story are sometimes dubbed as the three C's:
 1.Card - the written description of the story, serves as and identification, reminder, and also helps in planning.
 2.Conversation - this is the meat of the story; the dialogue that is carried out with the users; recorded notes; mockups; documents exchanged.
 3.Confirmation - the acceptance test criteria that the user will utilize to confirm that the story is completed.

A user story is not technical.

A well-written user story follows the INVEST model

Independent
Negotiable
Valuable
Estimable
Small
Testable
Let's see what each one means:
 ■Independent - One user story should be independent of another (as much as possible).
                        Dependencies between stories make planning, prioritization, and estimation much
                        more difficult. Often enough, dependencies can be reduced by either combining stories
                        into one or by splitting the  stories differently.
 ■Negotiable - A user story is negotiable. The "Card" of the story is just a short description of the
                 story which do not include details. The details are worked out during the
                "Conversation" phase. A "Card" with too   much detail on it actually limits conversation 
                 with the customer.
 ■Valuable - Each story has to be of value to the customer (either the user or the purchaser). One
                  very good way of  making stories valuable is to get the customer to write them. Once a 
                  customer realizes that a user story  is not a contract and is negotiable, they will be
                  much more comfortable writing stories.
 ■Estimable - The developers need to be able to estimate (at a ballpark even) a user story to allow
                   prioritization   and planning of the story. Problems that can keep developers from
                   estimating a story are: lack of domain   knowledge (in which case there is a need for    
                   more Negotiation/Conversation); or if the story is too big  (in which case the story 
                   needs to be broken down into smaller stories).
 ■Small - A good story should be small in effort, typically representing no more, than 2-3 person 
                 weeks of effort. A story which is more than that in effort can have more errors
                 associated with scoping and estimation.
 ■Testable - A story needs to be testable for the "Confirmation" to take place.
            Remember, we do not develop what we cannot test. If you can't test it then you will never   
             know when you are done. An example of non-testable story: "software should be easy to  
             use".

Summary

Well-written User Stories are cornerstones for Agile Development.
They should be independent of each other; the details should be negotiated between the users and the developers;
the stories should be of value to the users; they should be clear enough for developers to be able to estimate them;
they should be small; and they should be testable through the use of pre-defined test

SeeNowDo

SeeNowDo is a hosted online service. It allows
Agile and Scrum teams to collaborate with highly interactive digital taskboards.
IT IS NOT a comprehensive Agile Project Management tool.
IT IS NOT a project repository.
IT IS NOT a reporting system.
IT IS NOT intended to solve all your tooling needs. Taskboards - that's it!
SeeNowDo is designed for distributed Agile and Scrum teams.
It is intended for those teams who want to take advantage of collaborative taskboards across distributed teams.
Teams can use SeeNowDo to quickly create a digital taskboard that is instantly synchronized after any update.

It is completely free. No annoying ads. No expiring "Trial" period. SeeNowDo is provided free courtesy of BigVisible Solutions.

Apache Server

The Apache HTTP Server, plays a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web. In 2009 it became the first web server software to surpass the 100 million website mileston.. Typically Apache is run on a Unix-like operating system.

Apache is developed and maintained by an open community of developers under the auspices of the Apache Software Foundation.

The application is available for a wide variety of operating systems, including Unix, FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, Novell NetWare, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, OS/2, TPF, and eComStation. Released under the Apache License, Apache is open-source software.
Since April 1996 Apache has been the most popular HTTP server software in use. As of March 2012 Apache was estimated to serve 57.46% of all active websites and 65.24% of the top servers across all domains.

Apache supports a variety of features.These can range from server-side programming language support to authentication schemes. Some common language interfaces support
• Perl
•  Python
•  Tcl
•  PHP

A sample of other features include
• Secure Sockets Layer
•  Transport Layer Security support (mod_ssl)
•  proxy module (mod_proxy)
• URL rewriter (also known as a rewrite engine),
Virtual hosting allows one Apache installation to serve many different actual websites. For example, one machine with one Apache installation could simultaneously serve www.example.com, www.example.org, test47.test-server.example.edu, etc.
Apache features configurable error messages, DBMS-based authentication databases, and content negotiation. It is also supported by several graphical user interfaces (GUIs).
It supports password authentication and digital certificate authentication. Apache has a built in search engine and an HTML authorizing tool and supports FTP.

SQL Server Instance

Static port allocation

If you configure an instance of SQL Server to use a static port, and you restart the instance of SQL Server, the instance of SQL Server listens only on the specified static port. The SQL Server clients must send all the requests only to the static port where the instance of SQL Server is listening.

However, if an instance of SQL Server is configured to listen on a static port, and another program that is running on the computer is already using the specified static port when SQL Server is started, SQL Server does not listen on the specified static port.

By default, the default instance of SQL Server listens for requests from SQL Server clients on static port 1433. Therefore, the client network libraries assume that either port 1433 or the global default port that is defined for that client computer is used to connect to the default instance of SQL Server.

If a default instance of SQL Server is listening on a port other than port 1433, you must either define a server alias name or change the global default port by using the Client Network Utility. However, you can also make the default instance of SQL Server listen on multiple static ports.

For more information about how to set up SQL Server to listen on multiple static TCP ports, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

294453  How to set up SQL Server to listen on multiple static TCP ports

The default instance of SQL Server does not support dynamic port allocation. However, the named instances of SQL Server support allocation of both static and dynamic ports. By default, a named instance of SQL Server listens on a dynamic port. For a named instance of SQL Server, the SQL Server Browser service for SQL Server 2005/2008 or the SQL Server Resolution Protocol (SSRP) for SQL Server 2000 is always used to translate the instance name to a port, regardless of whether the port is static or dynamic. The Browser service or SSRP is never used for a default instance of SQL Server.

Dynamic port allocation

Only named instances of SQL Server can use the dynamic port allocation process. In the dynamic port allocation process, when you start the instance of SQL Server for the first time, the port is set to zero (0). Therefore, SQL Server requests a free port number from the operating system. As soon as a port number is allocated to SQL Server, SQL Server starts listening on the allocated port.

The allocated port number is written to the Windows registry. Every time that you start that named instance of SQL Server, it uses that allocated port number. However, in the unlikely case that another program that is already running on the computer is using that previously allocated (but not static) port number when you start SQL Server, SQL Server chooses another port.

When you start the named instances of SQL Server the second time, SQL Server opens the listening port number that was started the first time, as follows:

• If the port is opened without errors, SQL Server listens on the port.
• If the port is not opened, and errors occur, SQL Server behaves as follows:
  • You receive the following error message:
    Error ID 10048 (WSAEADDRINUSE)
    When you receive this error message, SQL Server determines that the port is being used. Then, the port number is set to zero (0) again. Therefore, an available port is assigned. And, SQL Server waits for the client connection request on the port.
  • If you receive an error message that does not mention error 10048, SQL Server 2000 determines that it is impossible to wait for the connection request on the port. Therefore, the port is not opened.

Notes

• In SQL Server 2005, when you receive the following error message, the port number is set to zero (0) and is opened.
  Error ID 10013 (WSAEACCES)
• In Windows Server 2003 or in Windows XP, you may receive the 10013 error message instead of the 10048 error message when the port that is trying to open is used exclusively.

When an instance of SQL Server uses dynamic port allocation, the connection string that is built at the SQL Server client does not specify the destination TCP/IP port unless the user or the programmer explicitly specifies the port. Therefore, the SQL Server client library queries the server on UDP port 1434 to collect the information about the destination instance of SQL Server. When SQL Server returns the information, the SQL Server client library sends the data to the appropriate instance of SQL Server.

If UDP port 1434 is disabled, the SQL Server client cannot dynamically determine the port of the named instance of SQL Server. Therefore, the SQL Server client may be unable to connect to the named instance of SQL Server. In this situation, the SQL Server client must specify the dynamically allocated port where the named instance of SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, or SQL Server 2008 is listening.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

265808  How to connect to a named instance of SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2000 by using the client tools in the earlier version of SQL Server

Verifying the port configuration of an instance of SQL Server

NoteDefault instances of SQL Server always use a static port.

First verify that your instance of SQL Server has the TCP/IP protocol enabled. Then, to find which TCP/IP port your instance of SQL Server is "listening on", examine the SQL Server error log. Additionally, in SQL Server 2005 and in later versions, you can check settings in the SQL Server Configuration Manager. If you wish to see the SQL error log from within a program, follow these steps.

Note For SQL Server 2000, use Query analyzer to execute the following queries.

1. Start SQL Server Management Studio, and then connect to the instance of SQL Server.
2. Run the following query:

   Use master Go Xp_readerrorlog
   

3. In the Results pane, locate the following text (where X.X.X.X is the IP address of the instance of SQL Server and Y is the TCP/IP port where SQL Server is listening):
   SQL server listening on X.X.X.X: Y
   Note: For example, if you locate the "SQL server listening on 10.150.158.246: 1433" text in the Results pane, 10.150.158.246 is the IP address of the SQL Server and 1433 is the TCP/IP port where the instance of SQL Server is listening.

To verify the port configuration of an instance of SQL Server, follow these steps:

1. Start Registry Editor.
2. In Registry Editor, locate the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\<InstanceName>\MSSQLServer\SuperSocketNetLib\Tcp
   Note If you are using SQL Server 2005, locate the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\<MSSQL.x>\MSSQLServer\SuperSocketNetLib\Tcp\IPAll
   Notice the TCPDynamicPorts value and the TCPPort value. These values appear as follows, depending on your port allocation method:
   • Static Port Allocation
     If you configure an instance of SQL Server to use a static port, and you have not yet restarted the instance of SQL Server, the registry values are set as follows:
     TCPDynamicPorts = Last port used
     TCPPort = New static port to be used after the next restart; new static port that you set by using the Server Network Utility
     However, if you configure an instance of SQL Server to use a static port, and you restart the instance of SQL Server, the registry values are set as follows:
     TCPDynamicPorts = Blank
     TCPPort = New static port that you set by using the Server Network Utility
   • Dynamic Port Allocation
     If you configure an instance of SQL Server to use dynamic port allocation, and you have not yet restarted the instance of SQL Server, the registry values are set as follows:
     TCPDynamicPorts = Blank
     TCPPort = 0
     However, if you configure an instance of SQL Server to use dynamic port allocation, and you restart the instance of SQL Server, the registry values are set as follows:
     TCPDynamicPorts = Current port used
     TCPPort = Current port used

Configuring an instance of SQL Server to use a static port

SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008

To configure an instance of SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008 to use a static port, follow the steps that are described in the How to: Configure a Server to Listen on a Specific TCP Port (SQL Server Configuration Manager) topic in SQL Server 2005 Books Online or in SQL Server 2008 Books Online.

To configure a static port for the specialized Dedicated Administrator Connection (DAC), you must update the registry key that corresponds to your instance. For example, the registry key may be the following:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.X\MSSQLServer\SuperSocketNetLib\AdminConnection\Tcp

Note The "X" in "MSSQL.X" is a number that indicates the directory where the instance is installed for SQL Server 2005 or the instance name for SQL Server 2008.

SQL Server 2000

To configure an instance of SQL Server to use a static port, follow these steps:

1. Start the Server Network Utility. To do this, do one of the following:
   • Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server, and then click Server Network Utility.
   • Click Start, and then click Run. In the Open box, type svrnetcn.exe, and then click OK.
   The Server Network Utility dialog box appears.
2. In the Server Network Utility dialog box, click the General tab.
3. In the Instance(s) on this server list, select your instance of SQL Server.
   
   Note If TCP/IP protocol is disabled, enable it now. To do this, click TCP/IP in the Disabled Protocols list, and then click Enable.
4. In the Enabled Protocols list, click TCP/IP, and then click Properties.
5. In the Default port box, type a static port number, and then click OK.
   
   Note The static port that you specify must differ from the dynamic port that your instance of SQL Server is currently listening on. For example, if an instance of SQL Server is currently listening on dynamic TCP/IP port 1400, type 1500 for the new static port.
6. Click OK, and then click OK again.
7. Restart the instance of SQL Server.
8. View the SQL Server error logs to verify that the instance of SQL Server is currently using the static port.
   
   Note If you have a clustered instance of SQL Server, and you follow the specified steps on a cluster node, you may notice that the TCPDynamicPorts registry values and the TCPPort registry values on other cluster nodes still hold the old values. When you move the SQL Server group to the corresponding cluster node, and then bring SQL Server online on the cluster node, the registry values on the cluster nodes will reflect the correct values.

You may want to set the static port of your instance of SQL Server to the same port number as the dynamic port that it used earlier. To do this, follow these steps:

1. View the TCPDynamicPorts registry value and the TCPPort registry value to determine the dynamic port number that the earlier instance of SQL Server used.
2. In the Server Network Utility, set the static port to a different port number than the registry value that you determined in step 1.
3. Restart the instance of SQL Server.
4. In the Server Network Utility, set the static port to the registry value that you determined in step 1.
5. Restart the instance of SQL Server.

Configuring an instance of SQL Server to use a dynamic port

SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008

To configure your instance of SQL Server 2005 or your instance of SQL Server 2008 to use a dynamic port, use the similar method described in the "How to: Configure a Server to Listen on a Specific TCP Port (SQL Server Configuration Manager)" topic in SQL Server 2005 Books Online or in SQL Server 2008 Books Online. For more information, see the Server Network Configuration topic in SQL Server 2005 Books Online or in SQL Server 2008 Books Online.

SQL Server 2000

To configure your instance of SQL Server to use a dynamic port, follow these steps:

1. Start the Server Network Utility. To do this, do one of the following:
   • Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server, and then click Server Network Utility.
   • Click Start, and then click Run. In the Open box, type svrnetcn.exe, and then click OK.
   The Server Network Utility dialog box appears.
2. In the Server Network Utility dialog box, click the General tab.
3. In the Instance(s) on this server list, select your instance of SQL Server.
   
   Note If TCP/IP protocol is disabled, enable it now. To do this, click TCP/IP in the Disabled Protocols list, and then click Enable.
4. In the Enabled Protocols list, click TCP/IP, and then click Properties.
5. In the Default port box, type 0, and then click OK.
6. Click OK, and then click OK again.
7. Restart the instance of SQL Server.
8. View the SQL Server error logs to verify that the instance of SQL Server is currently using the dynamic port.
   
   Note If you have a clustered instance of SQL Server, and you follow the specified steps on a cluster node, you may notice that the TCPDynamicPorts registry values and the TCPPort registry values on other cluster nodes still hold the old values. When you move the SQL Server group to the corresponding cluster node, and then bring SQL Server online on the cluster node, the registry values on the cluster nodes will reflect the correct values.

Troubleshooting

If the SQL Server clients cannot access an instance of SQL Server after you have configured it to use a static TCP/IP port, the following causes may exist:

• A firewall may be blocking the specified TCP/IP port.
  If the port that the SQL Server instance is currently listening on is blocked by your firewall, the connections will fail. For information about how to configure your firewall to work with your SQL Server, please see the Configuring the Windows Firewall to Allow SQL Server Access topic in SQL Server 2008 Books Online. Although this topic is specific to SQL Server 2008, most of the information applies to SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000.
  
  For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  287932  TCP ports needed for communication to SQL Server through a firewall
  318432  BUG: Cannot connect to a clustered named instance through a firewall
  968872  How do I open the firewall port for SQL Server on Windows Server 2008?
• Another program may already be using the specified TCP/IP port.
  If another program is already using the specified TCP/IP port, the port is not available to the instance of SQL Server and SQL Server clients may be unable to connect to the instance of SQL Server.
  
  This problem is specific to an instance of SQL Server that is configured to use a static TCP/IP port. This problem does not occur for an instance of SQL Server that is configured to use dynamic port allocation. In dynamic port allocation, if another program is already using the specified TCP/IP port when you start the instance of SQL Server, the instance of SQL Server selects a new port.
  
  For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  293107  Clients cannot communicate to SQL Server through port 1433 or the port SQL Server is listening on
• A Named Instance of SQL Server is listening on port 1433.If a Named Instance of SQL Server is listening on port 1433, the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server (Provider=SQLOLEDB) and the Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Driver (Driver={SQL Server}) may be unable to connect to the server. This failure to connect occurs when both the instance name and the port number from the connection string are omitted. If no port number is specified, the drivers validate the server instance name. If the server instance name is not the default instance, MSSQLSERVER, the connection does not succeed. To enable a successful connection, you must specify the instance name or the port number in the connection string or in a SQL Alias.

Virtual Memory

What is virtual memory?

If your computer lacks the random access memory (RAM) needed to run a program or operation, Windows uses virtual memory to compensate.

Virtual memory combines your computer’s RAM with temporary space on your hard disk. When RAM runs low, virtual memory moves data from RAM to a space called a paging file. Moving data to and from the paging file frees up RAM to complete its work.

The more RAM your computer has, the faster your programs will generally run. If a lack of RAM is slowing your computer, you might be tempted to increase virtual memory to compensate. However, your computer can read data from RAM much more quickly than from a hard disk, so adding RAM is a better solution.

Virtual memory and error messages

If you receive error messages that warn of low virtual memory, you need to either add more RAM or increase the size of your paging file so that you can run the programs on your computer. Windows usually manages the size automatically, but you can manually change the size of virtual memory if the default size is not enough for your needs. For more information, see Change the size of virtual memory

Visio Diagram

A Visio diagram is a great way to illustrate a process, a timeline, a design, or other business information. In Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007, you can analyze how a process or other area is actually performing by connecting data to the shapes in your diagram. You can also add different visual effects based on the data values.

For example, you can link sales data from an Excel workbook to the shapes it relates to. When a phase of the sales process takes longer than guidelines recommend, the shape for that phase changes color or shows an icon that alerts you to the situation. As the data in your worksheet changes over time, you can update it in your Visio diagram with a click of the mouse.

Build, Version, Release

Build is a Executable file which is handed over to the tester to test the functionality of the developed part of the project. Build is a version of software with is still in testing

Release is that which we finally hand it over to the client of the project after the development and testing phases are completed.

Version is the number of releases made according to the addition of the requirement of the client.

Example of the Version [Product] may be different versions of Automation Tools like Win-Runner 7.0 , Win-Runner 8.0 etc

Microsoft Windows operating system was first labelled with standard numerical version numbers (Windows 1.0 through Windows 3.11).

Later, Microsoft started using separate version names for marketing purposes, first using years (Windows 95 (4.0), Windows 98 (4.10), Windows 2000 (5.0)), then using alphanumeric codes (Windows Me (4.90), Windows XP (5.1)), then using brand names (Windows Vista (6.0)). With the release of Windows 7 it appears that Microsoft has returned to using numerical version numbers, although the official version number for Windows 7 is 6.1.

Equivalence partitioning and Boundary value analysis

Equivalence partitioning

It can be applied at any level of testing and is often a good technique to use first.

The idea behind the technique is to divide (i.e. to partition) a set of test conditions into groups or sets that can be considered the same (i.e. the system should handle them equivalently), hence 'equivalence partitioning'.

Software Architecture

Software architecture is the fundamental organization of a system, embodied in its components, their relationships to each other and the environment, and the principles governing its design and evolution.

The client/server software architecture is a message based, versatile and modular communications that is intended to improve flexibility, usability, interoperability and scalability as compared to centralized, mainframe, time-sharing computing.

Client/server architecture illustrates the relationship between two computer programs in which one program is a client, which makes a service request to another program called Server.

Server provides service to the request.

A single machine can be act as both, a client as well as server depending on the software configuration.

Although the client/server architecture can be used within a single computer by programs, but it is a more important idea in a network. 

In a network, the client/server architecture allows efficient way to interconnect programs that are distributed efficiently across different locations.