It's a very basic introduction of Load Runner for beginners, i explored it at my own, prepared slides & shared it with my colleagues. What is Load Runner & why we need Performance testing etc. Enjoy :)

1. Shama Ahsan

2. Agenda
 What is Automation Testing
 Test Automation Framework
 Automation Test Tools
 Why Load Runner
 Architecture
 Load Runner Components
 Think Time
 Playback
 Script Failure & it`s Solution
 Benefits of Automation for your company

3. What is Automation Testing
 Automation Testing is the use of software to control
the execution of tests, the comparison of actual
outcomes to predicted outcomes, the setting up of test
preconditions, and other test control and test
reporting functions.
 Automation is the use of strategies, tools and artifacts
that reduce the need of manual or human involvement
or interaction in unskilled, repetitive or redundant
tasks.

4. Need of Automation Testing
 Automation testing is the best way to increase the
effectiveness, efficiency and coverage of your software.
 Automated Testing Saves Time and Money
 Automated Testing Improves Accuracy
 Automated Testing Helps Developers and Testers
 Automated Testing Increases Test Coverage

5. Test Automation Framework

6. Automation Test Tools
Tool name Produced by Latest version
Load Runner HP 9.5
IBM Rational Functional IBM Rational 8.1.0.3
Tester
Parasoft SOAtest Parasoft 9.0
Rational robot IBM Rational 2003
Selenium Open source 1.0.6
SilkTest Micro Focus 2010
TestComplete SmartBear Software 8.2
TestPartner Micro Focus 6.3
Visual Studio Test
Microsoft 2010
Professional
WATIR Open source 1.6.5

7. Why Load Runner?
1. Load Runner reduces the human resource requirement by replacing real
human users with virtual users known as Vusers.
2. Load Runner reduces the hardware requirements by running multiple
Vusers in a single computer.
3. Load Runner automatically records performance of application under test.
LoadRunner provides graph and reporting options for the analysis of
performance test results.
4. Various kinds of delays can be identified using LoadRunner. During the test
execution, LoadRunner monitors network and server resources
continuously.
5. Load Runner makes performance testing very easy – LoadRunner tests are
fully automated, you can easily repeat them as often as you need.

8. What is load runner?
 HP's (formerly Mercury's) load/stress testing tool for
web and other applications.
 supports a wide variety of application environments,
platforms, databases and tracing of bottlenecks.
 Load Runner enables you to test your system under
controlled and peak load conditions.

9. What is Performance Testing?
 Performance testing is an empirical, technical
investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with
information about the quality of the product under
test with regard to speed, scalability and stability
characteristics.

10. System Requirements
 Processor:
 CPU Type: Intel Core, Pentium, AMD or compatible
 Speed: 1 GHz minimum. 2 GHz or higher recommended
 Intel Hyper-Threading technology is not supported.
 Operating System: The following 32-bit Windows operating systems are
supported:
 Windows Vista SP1
 Windows XP Professional SP2 or SP3
 Windows Server 2003 Standard
 Edition/Enterprise Edition SP2
 Windows Server 2003 Standard
 Edition/Enterprise Edition R2 SP2
 RAM:
 Minimum: 512 MB
 Recommended: 1 GB or higher

11. Architecture

12. How Load Runner Works
 Load Runner works by creating virtual users who take
the place of real users operating client software
sending requests using the HTTP protocol to web
servers.
 Requests from many virtual user clients are generated
by "Load Generators" in order to create a load on
various servers under test
 The Controller controls load test runs based on
"Scenarios" invoking compiled "Scripts" and associated
"Run-time Settings".
(cont.)

13.  Scripts are crafted using "Virtual user script
Generator" (named "VU Gen)
 During runs, the status of each machine is
monitored by the Controller.
 At the end of each run, the Controller combines its
monitoring logs with logs obtained from load
generators, and makes them available to the
"Analysis" program, which can then create run
result reports and graphs for Microsoft Word,
Crystal Reports, or an HTML webpage browser.

14. Load Runner components
Load Runner primarily is a 3 stage architecture :
 Virtual User Generator (VUGen)
 Controller
 Analyzer

15. Virtual User Generator
 Creates virtual users
 Scripts
 Recording
 Play back
 Generation
 Debug Server
 Run VuGen
Client running
an application

16. Controller
 The load is tested here.
The Controller has two sections
 Design Section - Used to design the load testing
scenario
 Run Section - Used to monitor scenarios which are in
execution.

17. Analyzer
 The executed script result is displayed in the analyzer.
 Analyzer section is used to observe reports and
graphs, it would determine the performance of our
recoded scenarios at different user load.

18. Think Time
 Think Time is the time taken by a user (usually to
think ) before user takes the next action.

19. Script Failure
 Why a script fails when it was working properly
earlier?
 It is because the dynamic values such as Cookies ,
Checksums , Session Id's at the backend change every
time the application is used.

20. Solution to the script failure?
 Correlation is the solution to the script failure.
 The user parameterizes the values. For instance, the
user parameterizes the session ID and use that
parameter instead of the hard-coded values.

21. How Automation testing can be
beneficial for your company
Manual testing is time-consuming or costly. In automated
testing, companies can focus on improving the automated
business processes. This will increase the speed and accuracy of
the development and QA team’s testing process. The entire IT
departments can be a higher return on investment, but also
reduces a great deal of risk.
Reduced test cycle time:
Since automation testing tools run considerably faster than
human users, this eventually leads to a considerably reduced test
cycle time resulting in sustainable time savings.

22. Load Runner Installation
 Run the setup.exe file in the root directory of the installation disk.
 The Load Runner Setup program begins and displays the installation
menu page.
 Load Runner Full Setup. Provides the option to install the main Load
Runner features and components including the Controller, the VuGen,
Analysis, and the Load Generator.
 Load Generator. Installs the components needed for running virtual
users to generate load.
 Click OK and follow the on-screen instructions to install the listed
software before continuing with the Load Runner installation.
 If you click Cancel, the installer will exit because Load Runner cannot
be installed without the prerequisite software.
(cont.)

23. References
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automation_Testing
 http://guru99.com/loadrunner-tutorials.html
 http://www.devbistro.com/articles/Testing/Role-of-
Test-Automation-Engineer
 http://learnloadrunner.com/
 http://www.geekinterview.com/
 www.softwaretestinggenius.com

24. Q&A

25. Thank you!!