Written by Raj
How can I learn to use LoadRunner?
The hardcopy and PDF documentation that is shipped with
LoadRunner is fairly good. You can learn
the tool and something about load testing by reading the documentation. Mercury does not send documentation to
non-customers. Please do not ask the
forum members to send you a copy of the PDF.
{mosgoogle left}
Mercury Interactive offers courses at their facility in
Sunnyvale
and other
US cities. They also can conduct courses at your
site. Mercury has certified training
partners that also offer classroom training.
Some community colleges and for-profit training companies
offer LoadRunner courses as well.
What do I need to know to do load testing
in addition to knowing how to use the LoadRunner tool?
Unlike functional testing you need to know more than just
how the application under test functions. You need to know how the components behind the client work and what the
performance issues for the components are.
Specifically, you need to know the following knowledge and
skills:
Components such as
web servers, application servers, database servers, operating systems, networks
and network elements such as load balancers. You need not have "guru" level knowledge of each of the
components but should have operational knowledge and an understanding of the
performance issues associated with the components. For example, a load tester should know what
multi-way joins, indexes and spin counts are and what affect they have on a
database server.
{mosgoogle left}
Protocol(s) used
between the client and server such as HTTP/HTML, ODBC, SQL*NET, and DCOM.
C. The LoadRunner script language is ANSI
C. It helps to know the C language, but
the scripts are generated and manipulated by LoadRunner, so there is usually
not need to directly edit the code. There
is also a icon script view which completely hides the C code.
Communication.
Load testing is not a heads down coding exercise. You will work with many parts of an organization
to coordinate activities, schedules and resources. Daily interaction with a
variety of people requires good oral and written communication skills as well
as good people skills. If you prefer to
sit in a cube by yourself, you should stay in functional testing or development.
Where can I get help?
Mercury Interactive
Customer Support Site. Visit Mercury
Interactive's customer support site (http://support.mercuryinteractive.com) for
support hours, contact information, and other important information about
customer support. Use the site to submit support service requests on-line, and
to access knowledge base articles, user discussion forums, patches, on-line documentation
and the latest product information. This
is available to only customers.
Mercury Interactive
Web Site. Visit Mercury Interactive at (http://www.mercuryinteractive.com)
for information on new products, events, a list of local distributors, and
more. This is available to the public.
Mercury Interactive
Phone Support. For customers in the
US,
Canada, and the
rest of the
Americas,
you can get phone support between
6 AM
and 5 PM Pacific Time at (877) TEST-HLP or locally at (408) 822-5400. This is
available to only customers.
For all others, see the contact list on the web at
http://support.mercuryinteractive.com/cgi-bin/portal/CSO/contacts.jsp
What protocols does LoadRunner
support?
LoadRunner ships with support for the following
protocols. Other protocols are available
but are not necessarily full supported.
E-Business
FTP
LDAP
Web/Winsocket
Dual Protocol
Palm
SOAP
Web
(HTTP/HTML)
Wireless
i-mode
VoiceXML
WAP
Streaming
Media Player (MMS)
Real
Mailing Services
Internet
Messaging (IMAP)
MS
Exchange (MAPI)
POP3
SMTP
Enterprise Java Beans
Enterprise Java Beans
(EJB)
Rmi-Java
Distributed Components
COM/DCOM
Corba-Java
Rmi-Java
Middleware
Jacada
Tuxedo 6
Tuxedo 7
ERP
Baan
Oracle
NCA
PeopleSoft
- Tuxedo
Siebel -
DB2 CLI
Siebel -
Oracle
Siebel -
MSSQL
SAP
Client/Server
DB2 CLI
Domain
Name Resolution (DNS)
Informix
MS SQL
Server
ODBC
Oracle
(2-Tier)
Sybase
CtLib
Sybase
Dblib
Windows
Sockets
Legacy
Terminal
Emulation (RTE)
Custom
C Vuser
Javascript
Vuser
Java
Vuser
VB
Script Vuser
VB Vuser
What can I monitor with LoadRunner?
LoadRunner ships with support for the following
components. Other monitors are available
but are not necessarily full supported.
Client-side Monitors
End-to-end transaction monitors - Provide end-user response
times, hits per second, transactions per second.
§ Hits per Second
§ HTTP Responses per Second
§ Pages Downloaded per Second
§ Throughput
§ Transaction Response Time
§ Transaction per Second (Passed)
§ Transaction per Second (Failed)
§ User-defined Data Point
§ Virtual User Status
§ Web Transaction breakdown Graphs
Server Monitors
NT/UNIX/Linux monitors - Provide hardware, network and
operating system performance metrics, such as CPU, memory and network
throughput.
§ NT server resources
§ UNIX / Linux server monitor
Load Appliances Performance Monitors
§ Antara.net
Application Deployment Solutions
§ Citrix MetaFrame (available only for LoadRunner)
Network Monitors
§ Network delay monitor - Provides a breakdown of
the network segments between client and server, as well as network delays.
§ SNMP monitor - Provides performance data for
network devices such as bridges and routers.
Web Server Performance Monitors
Web server monitors - Provide performance data inside the
Web servers, such as active connections, hits per second, etc.
§ Apache
§ Microsoft IIS
§ iPlanet (NES)
Web Application Server Performance Monitors
Web application server monitor - Provides performance data
inside the Web application server, such as connections per second, active
database connections, etc.
§ Allaire ColdFusion
§ ATG Dynamo
§ BEA WebLogic (via JMX)
§ BEA WebLogic (via SNMP)
§ BroadVision
§ IBM WebSphere
§ iPlanet Application Server
§ Microsoft COM+ Monitor
§ Microsoft Active Server Pages
§ Oracle 9iAS HTTP Server
§ SilverStream
Streaming Media Performance Monitors (available only for
LoadRunner)
Streaming specific monitors for measuring the end user
quality on the client side, and isolate performance bottlenecks on the
server-side.
§ Microsoft Windows Media Server
§ Real Networks RealServer
Firewall Server Resource Monitors
§ CheckPoint FireWall-1
Database Server Resource Monitors
Database monitor - Provides performance data inside the
database, such as active database connections, etc.
§ SQL Server
§ Oracle
§ DB2
§ Sybase (available only for LoadRunner)
ERP Performance Monitors (available only for LoadRunner)
§ SAP R/3 Monitor
Middleware Performance Monitors
§ Tuxedo - Provides performance data inside a BEA
Tuxedo application server, such as current requests in queue.
§ IBM WebSphere MQ (MQSeries) (available only for
LoadRunner)
In addition to these monitors, LoadRunner also supports user
defined monitors which allows you to easily integrate the results from other
measurement tools with LoadRunner data collection.
How many users can I emulate with LoadRunner
on a PC?
This greatly depends on the configuration of the PC (number
of CPUs, CPU speed, memory and operating system), the protocol(s) used, the
size and complexity of the script(s), the frequency of execution (iteration
pacing and think times) and the amount of logging.
How much memory is needed per user?
You can get some approximation of the memory needs by
looking at the "LR 7.02 footprints.pdf"
file located on the LoadRunner discussion group at
groups.yahoo.com/group/LoadRunner/files.
Can I get a evaluation copy of
LoadRunner?
No. Mercury does not
ship evaluation copies of LoadRunner. You can contact Mercury or a Mercury reseller to get a demo at your site
or via Webex.
What is the current shipping version
of LoadRunner?
7.8
What is the difference between
LoadRunner and Astra LoadTest?
Astra LoadTest is another load test tool from Mercury
Interactive built specifically for testing web applications. Relative to LoadRunner it:
§ Supports only HTTP and HTTPS protocols.
§ Has less functionality.
§ Uses the VBScript scripting language.
§ Has a larger footprint (~ 5 MBytes).
§ Costs less.
§ Is easier to learn.
In that LoadRunner supports web applications plus much more,
it is the preferred tool for load testing web applications. The exception is if the load testers are
non-technical (bad idea) or the load test project's budget is too limited to
afford LoadRunner.
What is the relation between
LoadRunner and Topaz?
Topaz is Mercury Interactive's line of products and hosted
services for monitoring applications after deployment to production. The Topaz products are built with LoadRunner
technology and use the same script recorder. Scripts built for load testing with LoadRunner can be used by Topaz for
monitoring without modification.
How much does LoadRunner cost?
The main cost drivers for a LoadRunner license are the
number of users to be simulated and number and type of protocols used. You will need to talk a sales representative
to price out the various components.
The total cost of LoadRunner typically runs from USD$50,000
to $100,000 or more.
Maintenance cost is 18% of the total list price. The maintenance includes new LoadRunner
releases, patches, phone support and access to the support web site.
Where can I buy LoadRunner?
LoadRunner is sold by Mercury Interactive and by authorized
resellers.
