Integration & Testing

Lesson IT1: COTS products pose new challenges for testing at both the product and system levels.

COTS products must be tested, just as you would test any piece of software. However, you will always know less about a COTS product than software you have developed yourself, and you will not have the source code to use as a basis for testing.

Lesson IT2: COTS products pose new challenges for system integration.

While some COTS products may provide mechanisms and information that are helpful in integration, there may be unexpected behaviors that will be difficult to track down since you don't have the source code.

Lesson IT3: It is important to establish and use robust testbeds that include interfaces to any external systems and capacity simulation and/or testing.

Testbeds are essential for the development and maintenance of COTS-based systems because you do not have the product source code and can never know completely how the product behaves. Hands-on experience in a substantial testbed is an important mitigation for this risk.