Eric M Russell (8/7/2014)
Staging a high transaction volume OLTP environment for QA and performance testing is actually much harder than a data warehouse environment. Data Warehouses tend to be static with fewer users. However, even if you duplicate the OLTP physical environment, software, and database, it more difficult to predict how it will perform or behave when confronted with multi-users and concurrancy scenarios.
There are plenty of tools, LoadRunner springs to mind, that can configured and scripted to exercise clients to replicate concurrency and multi-user scenarios.
It is the database instance that I have not thought through deeply enough. Hardware etc is easy, if not costly, to replicate as is the data.
I don't think that many people duplicate data's physical scenarios so I thought I would ask.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!