Load Runner 8.0

LoadRunner 8.0

Mercury

D a y - 1

Agenda – Day 1 ( LoadRunner Overview)‏

Introducing LoadRunner

What’s New in LoadRunner 8.0?

LoadRunner Terminology

LoadRunner Components

Load Test Workflow

How LoadRunner Works?

LoadRunner Solution

Types of Performance Testing

Objectives of Performance Testing

When is Load Testing Needed?

Why Load Test your Application?

Questions A Performance Test Should Answer.

Supporting Environments

Introduction to Load Runner 8.0

Load Runner is a Mercury Interactive Tool that predicts performance and behavior of the system

By creating lots of load, you can see how the system reacts at peak levels or with simultaneous Users

To test the application, LoadRunner emulates an environment where multiple users work concurrently. While the application is under load, LoadRunner accurately measures and analyzes the system performance, and its functionality.

What's New in LoadRunner 8.0 ?

What’s new In Load Testing?

The first unified application for Performance Testing, Tuning and Diagnostics.

Accurate prediction of system performance, pinpoint application bottlenecks and resolve infrastructure bottlenecks

Provides a web-based, enterprise-wide load testing solutions

Contd… Load Testing

What's New in LoadRunner 8.0 ?

What’s new In Diagnosing?

Introduces J2EE Diagnostics, Siebel Diagnostics, and Oracle Diagnostics

Gives the complete visibility into J2EE, Siebel and Oracle component Performance under Load

First time you can drill down from a slow end user transaction all the way to the slow method

Diagnosing Contd…

What’s New in LoadRunner 8.0 ?

What’s new In Tuning?

A complete solution to help you identify, isolate, and resolve performance problems in your infrastructure

Tuning console is a part of Mercury Interactive’s performance center product line, which is a comprehensive solution for performance testing, tuning, and diagnostics.

Tuning

Scenarios

Using LoadRunner, you divide your application performance testing requirements into scenarios.

A scenario defines the events that occur during each testing sessions.

For example, a scenario defines and controls the number of users to emulate, the actions that they perform, and the machines on which they run their emulations.

Vusers

In a scenario, LoadRunner replaces human users with virtual users or Vusers.

When you run a scenario, Vusers emulate the actions of human users—submitting input to the server.

A scenario can contain tens, hundreds, or even thousands of Vusers.

Contd….

Vuser Scripts

The actions that a Vuser performs during the scenario are described in a Vuser script.

When you run a scenario, each Vuser executes a Vuser script. Vuser scripts include functions that measure and record the performance of the server during the scenario.

Transactions

To measure the performance of the server, you define transactions.

Transactions measure the time that it takes for the server to respond to tasks submitted by Vusers.

Contd….

Rendezvous Points

You insert rendezvous points into Vuser scripts to emulate heavy user load on the server.

Rendezvous points instruct multiple Vusers to perform tasks at exactly the same time.

For example, to emulate peak load on the bank server, you insert a rendezvous point to instruct 100 Vusers to simultaneously deposit cash into their accounts.

Controller

You use the LoadRunner Controller to manage and maintain your scenarios.

Using the Controller, you control all the Vusers in a scenario from a single workstation.

Contd….

Hosts

When you execute a scenario, the LoadRunner Controller distributes each Vuser in the scenario to a host.

The host is the machine that executes the Vuser script, enabling the Vuser to emulate the actions of a human user.

Performance Analysis

Vuser scripts include functions that measure and record system performance during load-testing sessions.

During a scenario run, you can monitor the network and server resources.

Following a scenario run, you can view performance analysis data in reports and graphs.

LoadRunner Components Contd…. Controller VuGen Analysis LoadRunner Tuning

VuGen (Virtual User Generator) – records Vuser Scripts that emulate the steps of real Users using the application

The Controller is an administrative center for creating, maintaining, and executing scenarios. The controller assigns Vusers and load generators to scenarios.

Starts and stops load tests, and perform other Administrative tasks

Components of LoadRunner 8.0 Contd….

Components of LoadRunner 8.0

LR Analysis uses the load test results to create graphs and reports that are used to correlate system information and identify both bottlenecks and performance issues.

Tuning helps you quickly isolate and resolve performance bottlenecks. By adding a centralized tuning console to LoadRunner, the Mercury Tuning Module ensures that performance bottlenecks are resolved during testing, and helps you determine the optimized configuration settings for production.

Load Test Work Flow

How LoadRunner Works ?

How LoadRunner Works?

The LoadRunner Solution Contd….

The LoadRunner Solution

The LoadRunner automated solution addresses the drawbacks of manual performance testing:

LoadRunner reduces the personnel requirements by replacing human users with virtual users or Vusers. These Vusers emulate the behavior of real users — operating real applications.

Because numerous Vusers can run on a single computer, LoadRunner reduces the hardware requirements.

The LoadRunner Controller allows you to easily and effectively control all the Vusers — from a single point of control.

LoadRunner monitors the application performance online, enabling you to fine-tune your system during test execution.

Contd….

The LoadRunner Solution

LoadRunner automatically records the performance of the application during a test. You can choose from a wide variety of graphs and reports to view the performance data.

LoadRunner checks where performance delays occur: network or client delays, CPU performance, I/O delays, database locking, or other issues at the database server. LoadRunner monitors the network and server resources to help you improve performance.

Because LoadRunner tests are fully automated, you can easily repeat them as often as you need.

Types of Performance Testing Find out whether the system can handle the expected load upon deployment under real-world conditions. Find the application's breaking point. Apply testing that measures whether the application's environment is properly configured to handle expected or potentially unexpected high transaction volumes. Find the stability of the system with respect to handling large amounts of data over extended time periods. Find the behavior and performance of each tier . Load Testing Stress Testing Volume Testing Component Testing

Objectives of Performance Testing

How long does it take to complete a task?

Application Response Time Reliability Configuration Sizing Capacity Planning Acceptance Bottleneck Identification Regression Product Evaluation How Stable is the system under a heavy work load? Which configuration provides the best performance level? At what point does degradation in performance occur? Is the system stable enough to go into Production? What is the cause of degradation in performance? Does the new version of Software adversely affect response time? What is the best server for 100 users?

When is Load Testing Needed ? Production What is the cause of performance degradation? Deployment Is the system reliable enough to go into production? Development Does the system response time meet requirements? Planning and Design What is the best server to support 1000 users? Evolution How many users can be added without decreasing system performance? Change Management

Why Load Test?

The failure of a mission-critical application can be costly.

Assure performance and functionality under real-world conditions.

Locate potential problems before your customers do.

Reduce development Time.

Reduce infrastructure costs

Questions a performance test should Answer

Does the Application respond quickly enough for the intended users?

Will the application handle the expected user load and beyond?

Will the application handle the number of transactions required by the business?

Is the application stable under expected and unexpected user loads?

Are you sure that users will have a positive experience on go-live day?

Application Deployment Solution - The Citrix protocol.

Client/Server - MS SQL, ODBC, Oracle Web Applications 11i, DB2 CLI, Sybase Ctlib, Sybase Dblib, Windows Sockets, and DNS protocols.

Custom - C templates, Visual Basic templates, Java templates, Javascript, and VBScript type scripts.

Distributed Components - COM/DCOM, Corba-Java, and Rmi-Java protocols.

E-Business - FTP, LDAP, Palm, Web (HTTP/HTML), Web Services, and the dual Web/Winsocket protocols.

Enerprise Java Beans -EJB Testing and RMI-Java protocols.

ERP/CRM - Baan, Oracle NCA, Peoplesoft 8, Peoplesoft-Tuxedo, SAP-Web, SAPGUI, SAPGUI/SAP-Web dual, and Siebel (Siebel-DB2 CLI, Siebel-MSSQL, Siebel-Web, and Siebel-Oracle) protocols.

Contd….

Legacy

Terminal Emulation (RTE).

Mailing Services

Internet Messaging (IMAP), MS Exchange (MAPI), POP3, and SMTP.

Streaming

MediaPlayer and RealPlayer protocols.

Wireless

i-Mode, VoiceXML, and WAP protocols.

Internet/Intranet Web Servers Clients App. Servers Database Server

Platforms

NT, 2000, XP

Sun

HP

IBM

Linux

LoadRunner Architecture

Gurpreet Singh QA-Lead Q & A

D a y - 2

Virtual User Generator

&

Controller

Agenda – Day 2

What is Virtual User (Vuser) ?

Virtual users or Vusers emulate the steps of real users. The steps that Vusers perform are recorded in a Vuser Script.

What is VuGen (Virtual User Generator) ?

VuGen records Vuser Scripts that emulate the steps of real users using the application

VuGen not only records Vuser scripts, but also runs them. Running scripts from VuGen is useful for debugging

VuGen records sessions on Windows platforms only. However, a recorded Vuser script can run on both Windows and UNIX platform.

Cont…

What is VuGen (Virtual User Generator) ?

VuGen creates the script by recording the activity between the client and the server. For example, in database applications, VuGen monitors the client end of the database and traces all the requests sent to, and received from, the database server

Developing Vuser Script Enhance / Edit the Vuser Script Record a Basic Vuser Script Configure the Run-time Settings Run the Vuser Script in Stand-Alone Mode Integrate the Vuser Script

Process of Recording Script

Record a basic script

Enhance the basic script by adding the control-flow statements and other Mercury API functions into the Script

Configure the Run-time settings

Verify that the script runs correctly, run it in stand-alone mode

Integrate into your test : a LoadRunner scenario, Performance Center load test, Tuning module session, Business process monitor profile

Understanding VuGen Code

When you record a Vuser script, VuGen generates Vuser functions and inserts them into the script. There are two types of Vuser functions:

General Vuser Functions

Protocol-Specific Vuser Functions

The general Vuser functions and the protocol-specific functions together form the Mercury VuGen API.

This API enables Vusers to communicate directly with a server.

Starting VuGen .

Start > Programs > LoadRunner > Applications > Virtual User Generator

Welcome Screen - VuGen Single Protocol Script Multiple Protocol Script Creates a single protocol Vuser script. This is the default option Creates a multiple protocol Vuser script. VuGen displays all of the available protocols and allows you to specify which protocols to record

Vuser Script Sections

Each Vuser script contains at least three sections:

vuser_init

one or more Actions and

vuser_end .

the Vuser finishes or is stopped a logoff procedure vuser_end the Vuser is in "Running" status client activity Actions the Vuser is initialized (loaded)‏ a login to a server vuser_init Is executed when... Used when recording... Script Section

VuGen Editor

Recording Your Application

Click the Start Recording Button

For most Client / Server protocols, the following Screen opens

Recording Tool Bar (Floating Tool Bar)‏

Ending and Saving a Recording Session

To complete the recording:

After you record a typical business process, you complete the recording session by performing the closing steps of your business process and saving the Vuser script.

Switch to the vuser_end section in the floating toolbar, and perform the log off or cleanup procedure.

Click the stop Recording button on the recording Tool Bar

Enhancing Vuser Script

After you record the Vuser Script you can enhance its capabilities by adding functions like

General Vuser Functions

General Vuser functions greatly enhance the functionality of any Vuser Script. All general Vuser functions have an LR Prefix

Protocol - specific Vuser Functions

Library functions used to enhance the script. ( LRS - Windows, LRT - Tuxedo)‏

Standard ANSI C functions

Enhancing the Vuser script by adding general C functions.

Like Adding Comments, Control flow statements, and so forth to your Vuser Script

Cont…

Inserting Transactions into Vuser Script

Inserting Rendezvous point

Inserting Comments

Obtaining Vuser Information

Sending Messages to output

Log Messages

Lr_log_message

Debug Messages

Lr_set_debug_message

Lr_debug_message

Error and Output Messages

Lr_error_message

Lr_output_message

Cont…

Handling errors on Vuser Script during execution ( Runtime settings > Miscellaneous > Error handling )‏

By default when a Vuser detects an error, the Vuser stops the execution

You can use the lr_continue_on_error function to override the continue on error runtime setting

To mark the segment, enclose it with lr_continue_on_error(1); and lr_continue_on_error(0); statements

Synchronizing Vuser Script

Synchronize the execution of Vuser script with the output from your application

Synchronize applies only to RTE Vuser Scripts

Cont…

Emulating User Think Time

The time that a user waits between performing successive action is known as the Think Time

Vuser uses the lr_think_time function to emulate user think time

Vuser > Run-time settings > Think Time

Cont…

PARAMETERIZING

Parameterizing

Parameterization involves the following two tasks :

Replacing the constant values in the Vuser script with parameters

Setting the properties and data source for the parameters

Parameterization Limitations

You can use parameterization only for the arguments within a function

You can’t parameterize text strings that are not function arguments

Cont…

Creating Parameters

In a script View : Select a string and select replace with parameter from the Right click menu

Type the Name of the parameter in the appropriate box or select from the list

Select parameter type from the parameter type list. The available types in the list are Date/Time, file, Group Name, Random number, Unique number, User defined function, or Vuser ID,

Cont…

VuGen creates new parameter, but does not automatically replace any selected string in the script

Cont…

Vuser >Parameter List (or)‏

Enhancing Vuser Script Tree View Script View Cont…

Select Next Row

Sequential

Random

Unique

Same line as <Pameter_Name>

Update Value on

Each iteration

Instructs the Vuser to use a new value for each script iteration

Each occurrence

Instructs the Vuser to use a new value for each occurrence of the parameter

Once

Instructs the Vuser to update the parameter value only once during the execution

Cont…

Enhancing Vuser Script DATA WIZARD Cont… 1 2 3 4

CORRELATION

Determine which value to correlate

Using WDiff you can find which string to correlate

Save the results using Web_reg_save_param and lrs_save_param

Replace the Saved variable in your query or in your statements

Primary reasons for correlating - To Generate dynamic code Cont…

web_reg_save_param (“ myval ", " LB =userSession value=",

" RB =>", "Ord=1", "RelFrameId=1.2.1", "Search=Body", LAST);

"Name=userSession", "Value= { myval } "

Storage Variable Left boundary Value Right boundary Value

LoadRunner 8.0

Run-time Settings

RunTime Settings

Run Logic

You can instruct a Vuser to Repeat the Run section when you run the script. Each repetition is known as iteration

Number of Iterations

LoadRunner repeats all of the actions, the specified number of times.

If you specify a scenario duration in the controller, the duration setting overrides the Vusers iteration settings.

Cont…

RunTime Settings

Pacing

Control the time between iterations.

The pace tells the Vuser how long to wait between iterations of Vuser

You can instruct Vuser by following any of the method below

As soon as the previous iteration ends.

After the previous iteration ends with a fixed / random delay

At fixed / random intervals

Cont…

RunTime Settings

Log

Vusers log information about themselves and their communication between server

Two types of Logs

Standard

Extended

VuGen writes log messages that you can view in execution log.

lr_log_message . Messages sent manually, using lr_message , lr_output_message , and lr_error_message , are still issued

Cont…

RunTime Settings

Think Time

When you run a Vuser script, the Vuser uses the think time values that were recorded into the script during the recording session. VuGen allows you to use the recorded think time, ignore it, or use a value related to the recorded time:

Cont…

Miscellaneous

You can set the following Miscellaneous run-time options for a Vuser script:

Error Handling

Multithreading

Vusers support multithreaded environments. The primary advantage of a multithread environment is the ability to run more Vusers per load generator.

Automatic Transactions

RunTime Settings

LoadRunner 8.0

CONTROLLER

LoadRunner 8.0 - Controller

What is Scenario?

A scenario is a file that defines the Vusers execution, the number of Vusers to run, the goals of the test, the computer that hosts the Vusers, and the conditions under which to run the Load Test

Controller organizes and manages scenario elements

During scenario execution the controller :

Runs Vuser Groups

Controls the initialize, run, pause, and stop conditions of each Vuser

Displays the status of each Vuser

Displays any messages from Vusers

Monitors system and network resources

Types of Scenarios

Manual Scenario

Manage your Load Test by specifying the number of Virtual users to run

Goal-Oriented Scenario

Allow LoadRunner Controller to create a Scenario based on the goals you specify

Manual Scenario

You control the number of Running Vusers at the time which they Run.

You can specify how many Vusers run simultaneously

Allows you to run the Vuser in Percentage mode

Goal-Oriented Scenario

Determine your system to achieve the particular goal

The goal may be number of hits per second , Number of transaction per second, etc.,

Manages Vusers Automatically to maintain and achieve the goal

Which scenario to use?

Examples

Manual Scenario with 1000 users

Script Should define Update

When running the Load Test at peak load achieve 1000 concurrent users

Goal-Oriented with transaction time as the ‘Goal Type’

Define search transaction

Response time of 8 seconds with 2000 concurrent users during non-peak hours

Achieve response time of 12 Secs with 5000 concurrent users during peak hours

Scenario Type Scenario Outline

Vuser Groups

Scenario consists of group of Vusers which emulate the Human users to interact with your application

Each script you select is assigned a Vuser group

Each Vuser group is assigned a number of Vusers

You can Assign different script to each Vuser or You can assign the same script to all the Vusers

Adding Vuser Group

Group Name

Vuser Quantity

Load Generator name

Load Generator for your Scenario

Load Generator is a machine that serves as the host for running Vusers

Its important to know that which script need to be run from which location

For example customer activity, the function of location, workload of location…etc.,

Adding Load Generator

Click the generators button to open the dialogue box

Now click the add button to open the Add load generator dialogue box

Enter the name and load generator platform which you want to add

A machine must have installed LoadRunner agent to use as a Load Generator

Assigning Number of Vusers

Simple scenarios use just one Vuser Script To profile a more complex mix of users, assign several Vuser scripts based on “User profile” in one scenario

Gurpreet Singh QA-Lead Q & A

D a y - 3

Agenda – Day 3

Analysis

&

Reports

LoadRunner Analysis

Analysis provides graphs and reports to help you analyze the performance of your system. These graphs and reports summarize the scenario execution.

Using these graphs and reports, you can easily pinpoint and identify the bottlenecks in your Application

LoadRunner Analysis

To view a summary of the results after test execution, you can use one or more of the following tools:

Vuser log files contain a full trace of the scenario run for each Vuser. These files are located in the scenario results directory.

Controller Output window displays information about the scenario run.

Analysis graphs help you determine system performance and provide information about transactions and Vusers.

Graph Data and Raw Data views display the actual data used to generate the graph in a spreadsheet format.

Report utilities enable you to view a Summary HTML report for each graph or a variety of Performance and Activity reports. You can create a report as a Microsoft Word document, which automatically summarizes and displays the test’s significant data in graphical and tabular format.

Analysis Basis

LoadRunner - Analysis

Creating Analysis Session

When you run a scenario, data is stored in a result file with an .lrr extension. Analysis is the utility that processes the gathered result information and generates graphs and reports.

When you work with the Analysis utility, you work within a sessio n. An Analysis session contains at least one set of scenario results (lrr file). Analysis stores the display information and layout settings for the active graphs in a file with an .lra extension.

LoadRunner - Analysis

Methods of opening LoadRunner Analysis

Open Analysis directly from the controller ( Results > Analyze Results)‏

Start > Programs > Mercury LoadRunner > Applications > Analysis

Start > Programs > Mercury LoadRunner > LoadRunner , select the Load Testing or Tuning tab , and then click Analyze Load Tests or Analyze Tuning Sessions.

You can also instruct controller to open analysis automatically after the Scenario execution by selecting Results > Auto Analysis

Collating Execution Results

When you run a scenario, by default all Vuser information is stored locally on each Vuser host

After scenario execution the results are automatically collated or consolidated – results from all the hosts are transfer to results directory

You disable automatic collation by choosing Results > Auto collate Results from the controller window

You can collate manually by selecting Results > Collate Results

If your results are not collated Analysis will automatically collate the results before generating the analysis data

Viewing Summary Data Analysis : Tools  Options Generate Summary data only View the summary data only. If this option is selected Analysis won’t Process the data for advanced use with filtration Generate Complete data only View only the complete data only after it has been Processed. Do not display the Summary Display Summary while generate Complete data only View summary data while the complete data is being processed. After the processing, view the complete data. A bar below the graph indicates the complete data generation progress.

Data Aggregation

Aggregate Data:

Specify the data you want to aggregate in order to reduce the size of the database.

Select the type of data to aggregate:

Specify the type(s) of graphs for which you want to aggregate data.

Select the graph properties to aggregate:

Specify the graph properties— Vuser ID, Group Name, and Script Name—you want to aggregate. If you do not want to aggregate the failed Vuser data, select Do not aggregate failed Vusers.

Setting Database Options

You can choose the database in which to store Analysis session result data and you can repair and compress your Analysis results and optimize the database that may have become fragmented.

By default, LoadRunner stores Analysis result data in an Access 2000 database.

If your Analysis result data exceeds two gigabytes, it is recommended that you store it on an SQL server

Session Information You can view the properties of the current Analysis session in the Session Information dialog box.

Analysis Graphs

Vuser Graphs - Provide information about Vuser states and other Vuser statistics.

Error Graphs - Provide information about the errors that occurred during the scenario.

Transaction Graphs - Provide information about transaction performance and response time.

Web Resource Graphs - Provide information about the throughput, hits per second, HTTP responses per second, number of retries per second, and downloaded pages per second for Web Vusers.

Web Page Breakdown Graphs - Provide information about the size and download time of each Web page component .

Analysis graphs are divided into the following categories:

Analysis Graphs

User-Defined Data Point Graphs - Provide information about the custom data points that were gathered by the online monitor.

System Resource Graphs - Provide statistics relating to the system resources that were monitored during the scenario using the online monitor.

Network Monitor Graphs - Provide information about the network delays.

Firewall Server Monitor Graphs - Provide information about firewall server resource usage.

Web Server Resource Graphs - Provide information about the resource usage for the Apache, iPlanet/Netscape, iPlanet(SNMP), and MS IIS Web servers.

Analysis Graphs

Web Application Server Resource Graphs - Provide information about the resource usage for various Web application servers.

Database Server Resource Graphs - Provide information about database resources.

Streaming Media Graphs - Provide information about resource usage of streaming media.

ERP/CRM Server Resource Graphs - Provide information about ERP/CRM server resource usage.

Java Performance Graphs - Provide information about resource usage of Java-based applications.

Application Component Graphs - Provide information about resource usage of the Microsoft COM+ server and the Microsoft NET CLR server.

Application Deployment Solutions Graphs - Provide information about resource usage of the Citrix MetaFrame and 1.8 servers.

Analysis Graphs

Middleware Performance Graphs - Provide information about resource usage of the Tuxedo and IBM WebSphere MQ servers.

Security Graphs - Provide information about simulated attacks on the server using the Distributed Denial of Service graph.

Application Traffic Management Graphs - Provide information about resource usage of the F5 BIG-IP server.

Infrastructure Resources Graphs - Provide information about resource usage of FTP, POP3, SMTP, IMAP, and DNS Vusers on the network client.

Siebel Diagnostics Graphs - Provide detailed breakdown diagnostics for transactions generated on Siebel Web, Siebel App, and Siebel Database servers.

Siebel DB Diagnostics Graphs - Provide detailed breakdown diagnostics for SQLs generated by transactions on the Siebel system.

Analysis Graphs

Oracle Diagnostics Graphs - Provide detailed breakdown diagnostics for SQLs generated by transactions on the Oracle NCA system.

J2EE Diagnostics Graphs - Provide information to trace, time, and troubleshoot individual transactions through J2EE Web, application, and database servers.

Adding New Graph

Graphs that contain data are listed in blue. By default, only graphs that contain data are listed. To view the entire list of LoadRunner graphs, clear Display only graphs containing data.

Use the Scenario Elapsed Time field to limit the time range for which graph data is displayed.

Graph > Add Graph, or click <New Graph> To view the entire list of LoadRunner graphs, clear Display only graphs containing data.

Filtering & Sorting Graph Data

You can filter and sort data that is displayed in a graph. You sort and filter graph data using the same dialog box .

Filtering Graph Data

You can filter graph data to show fewer transactions for a specific segment of the scenario.

More specifically, you can display four transactions beginning from five minutes into the scenario and ending three minutes before the end of the scenario.

You can filter for a single graph, in all graphs in a scenario, or in the summary graph.

Filtering & Sorting Graph Data

Sorting Graph Data

You can sort graph data to show the data in more relevant ways.

For example , Transaction graphs can be grouped by the Transaction End Status, and Vuser graphs can be grouped by Scenario Elapsed Time, Vuser End Status, Vuser Status, and VuserID.

Configuring Basic Graph Display Options View  Display Options

Configuring Basic Graph Display Options

Adding Comments and Arrows

Web Page Break Down

Analyzing Graph Results

Determining a Point’s Coordinates

Drilling Down in a Graph

Changing the Granularity of the Data

Viewing the Data as a Spreadsheet and as Raw Data

Viewing Measurement Trends

Auto Correlating Measurements

Using the WAN Emulation Overlay

Determining a Point’s Coordinates

You can determine the coordinates and values at any point in a graph. Place the cursor over the point you want to evaluate and Analysis displays the axis values and other grouping information.

Drilling Down in a Graph

Drill down enables you to focus on a specific measurement within your graph and display it according to a desired grouping.

The available groupings depend on the graph. For example, the Average Transaction Response Time graph shows one line per transaction.

To determine the response time for each Vuser, you drill down on one transaction and sort it according to Vuser ID.

The graph displays a separate line for each Vuser's transaction response time.

Note: The drill down feature is not available for the Web Page Breakdown graph.

Changing the Granularity of the Data

You can make the graphs easier to read and analyze by changing the granularity (scale) of the x-axis.

The maximum granularity is half of the graph's time range. To ensure readability and clarity, Analysis automatically adjusts the minimum granularity of graphs with ranges of 500 seconds or more.

Viewing the Data as a Spreadsheet and as Raw Data

You can view the graph in spreadsheet format using the Graph Data tab.

You can view the actual Raw Data collected during test execution for the active graph. The Raw Data view is not available for all graphs.

Correlating Graph Measurements Automatically The minimum time range should be more than 5% of the total time range of the measurement. Trends which are smaller than 5% of the whole measurement will be contained in other larger segments.

Using the WAN Emulation Overlay

During scenario execution, you can use WAN effects such as latency, packet loss, link faults, and dynamic routing to characterize many aspects of the WAN cloud. Using the WAN emulation overlay during Analysis, you can display the time period(s) in a scenario that the WAN emulator was active. By comparing measurements taken during WAN emulation to measurements taken with the WAN emulator feature disabled, you can see the impact of WAN settings on your network performance.

View > Overlay with WAN Emulation

Cross Result and Merged Graphs

The Analysis utility lets you compare results and graphs to determine the source of a problem.

Comparing results is essential for determining bottlenecks and problems. You use Cross Result graphs to compare the results of multiple scenario runs. You create Merged graphs to compare results from different graphs within the same scenario run.

Cross Result Graphs

Cross Result graphs are useful for:

Benchmarking hardware – Between Two Configurations

Testing software versions – Between Two Versions

Determining system capacity – To determine the capacity of the system

If you want to benchmark two hardware configurations, you run the same scenario with both configurations and compare the transaction response times using a single Cross Result graph. Suppose that your vendor claims that a new software version is optimized to run quicker than a previous version. You can verify this claim by running the same scenario on both versions of the software, and comparing the scenario results.

Generating Cross Result Graphs

File > Cross With Result

You can create a Cross Result graph for two or more result sets.

The Cross Result dialog box enables you to compare the results of multiple scenario runs.

Click Add to add an additional result set to the Result List.

Locate a results directory and select its result file ( .lrr ). Click OK . The scenario is added to the Result List.

Generating Cross Result Graphs

Merging Graphs

Analysis lets you merge the results of two graphs from the same scenario into a single graph. The merging allows you to compare several different measurements at once. For example, you can make a merged graph to display the network delay and number of running Vusers, as a function of the elapsed time.

Select a graph with which you want to merge your active graph. Only the graphs with a common x-axis to the active graph are available.

View > Merge Graphs

Merging Graphs

Understanding the Merge Graphs Dialog Box

The Merge Graphs dialog box enables you to merge two graphs into a single graph. In order to merge graphs, the graphs ' x-axes must be the same measurement . For example, you can merge Web Throughput and Hits per Second graphs, because their x-axes are Scenario Elapsed Time.

Three Types of Merging : 1. Overlay 2. Tile 3. Correlate

Overlay: Superimpose the contents of two graphs that share a common x-axis. The left y-axis on the merged graph shows the current graph's values. The right y-axis shows the values of the graph that was merged. There is no limit to the number of graphs that you can overlay. When you overlay two graphs, the y-axis for each graph is displayed separately to the right and left of the graph.

Tile: View contents of two graphs that share a common x-axis in a tiled layout, one above the other. In the following example the Throughput and Hits per Second graph are tiled one above the other.

Correlate: Plot the y-axis of two graphs against each other. The active graph's y-axis becomes the x-axis of the merged graph. The y-axis of the graph that was merged, becomes the merged graph's y-axis.

Managing Results Using Quality Center

LoadRunner's integration with Quality Center lets you manage Analysis result sessions using Quality Center, Mercury's test management tool.

LoadRunner works together with Quality Center to provide an efficient method for storing and retrieving scenarios and collecting results.

Importing External Data

The LoadRunner Analysis Import Data tool enables you to import and integrate non-Mercury data into a LoadRunner Analysis session.

Importing External Data…Supporting Formats

NT Performance Monitor (.csv)‏

Windows 2000 Performance Monitor (.csv)‏

Standard Comma Separated File (.csv)‏

Master-Detail Comma Separator File (.csv)‏

Microsoft Excel File (.xls)‏

Master-Detail Microsoft Excel File (.xls)‏

Analysis Diagnostics

Siebel Diagnostics Graphs

Siebel DB Diagnostics Graphs

Oracle Diagnostics Graphs

J2EE Diagnostics Graphs

After a scenario run, you can use the Siebel diagnostics graphs to analyze Siebel CRM server performance.

Siebel diagnostics graphs enable you to trace, time, and troubleshoot individual transactions through Web, application, and database servers .

Analysis Reports

Analysis Reports includes the following sections:

Understanding Analysis Reports

Creating a Microsoft Word Report

After running a scenario, you can use the Analysis reports to analyze the performance of your application.

About Analysis Reports

Viewing Summary Reports

Creating HTML Reports

Working with Transaction Reports

Data Point Reports

Failed Transaction Report

Failed Vuser Report

Data Point Report

Detailed Transaction Report

Transaction Performance by Vuser Report

Analysis Reports

Analysis Provides the following Reports

Summary Report

HTML Reports

Transaction Reports

Summary Report The Summary report provides general information about the scenario run. You can view the Summary report at any time from the Analysis window.

HTML Report Reports  HTML Report You can instruct Analysis to create an HTML report. Analysis creates an HTML report for each one of the open graphs.

Transaction Report

Transaction reports provide performance information about the transactions defined within the Vuser scripts. These reports give you a statistical breakdown of your results and allow you to print and export the data.

Transaction Reports are divided into the following categories

Activity

Performance

Data Point, Detailed Transaction, Transaction Performance by Vuser

Activity reports provide information about the number of Vusers and the number of transactions executed during the scenario run. The available Activity reports are Scenario Execution , Failed Transaction , and Failed Vusers . Performance reports analyze Vuser performance and transaction times. The available Performance reports are Data Point , Detailed Transaction , and Transaction Performance by Vuser .

Activity Report

Scenario Execution

Failed Transaction

Failed Vusers

Scenario Execution Report

The Scenario Execution report is an Activity report that provides details about major events that occurred during the scenario run. This includes information on every Vuser, such as when it was ready to run and for how long it ran.

Failed Transaction Report

The Failed Transaction report is an Activity report that provides details about the beginning time, end time, and duration of the failed, but completed transaction.

Failed Vuser Report

The Failed Vuser report is an Activity report that provides details about all Vusers that were in the error, stopped, or done : failed states during the scenario execution. The Ready At and Running At times are relative to the computer's system clock.

Data Point Report

LoadRunner enables you to record your own data for analysis. You instruct LoadRunner to record the value of an external function or variable, also known as a data point , during the scenario run.

The data point is set by including an lr_user_data_point function ( user_data_point for GUI Vusers) in your Vuser script.

The Data Point graph shows the value of the data point during the scenario run. The x- axis represents the number of seconds that elapsed since the start time of the run. The y-axis displays the value of each recorded data point statement.

The Data Point report is a Performance report that lists the name of the data point, its value, and the time its value was recorded. The values are displayed for each Group and Vuser.

Data Point Report

Detailed Transaction Report

The Detailed Transaction (by Vuser) report is a Performance report that provides a list of all transactions executed by each Vuser during a scenario. The report provides details about the execution time of each transaction per Vuser.

Is a Performance report that displays the time required by each Vuser to perform transactions during the scenario.

The report indicates if the transaction was successful and what the minimum, maximum, and average times were for each Vuser.

This report is useful when you have several different types of Vusers in a scenario and you want to characterize performance for each type.

You can create a report as a Microsoft Word document.

Word Report generation tool to automatically summarize and display the test's significant data in graphical and tabular format and to display and describe all graphs in the current Analysis session.