Load Tester 4.3 Released! - Web Performance
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Load Tester 4.3 Released!

Following closely on the heels of the previous release, the 4.3 release focuses on network compatibility and testcase configuration improvements based on feedback from customers and from our services work in the past year with such clients as the US Census and the New York Marathon.

JSON and custom parsers

JSON support – Load Tester now understands the JSON data format which is popular in AJAX apps. A new parser allows the fields view to display the fields within JSON data structures and new detection rules will automatically configure many JSON-related fields.

support for JSON format

Parser customization: Load tester now allows selection of which parser to use for any field. For simple name-value pair formats, testers can supply the field and NVP separators and Load Tester does the rest. For ad-hoc parsing, a Regular Expression parser handles formats of moderate complexity with ease. Not a RegEx expert? No worries – our support engineers are happy to help you write a parser to handle your format.

Example of a custom RegEx parser

Authentication Support

This release bring major improvments to support for many common authentication protocols. These are features that should
just work – they should be neither seen nor heard – and we have made them nearly transparent to testers. But for those of you who, like us, really geek out on network protocols, changes to the testcase editor make it easier to see exaclty what happens under the covers. Feel free to skip the rest of this section if the gory details of network authentication protocols don’t excite you – there are more goodies for you in the Test case Configuration section.

The configuration for Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA), a.k.a. NTLM, can now be quickly changed on the Identity page of the testcase properties – re-running the User Identity wizard is no longer needed. Test cases originally recorded without IWA can now use IWA without re-recording – just supply the user credentials! The reverse case is also supported. Load Tester now accurately simulates IE9‘s speculative authentication (which is an IE performance improvement). The ASM wizard, which automatically configures dynamic fields, now understands IWA better and can configure fields more accurately, especially for AJAX apps.

Kerberos support: Load Tester can now record and replay testcases on most Microsoft systems that require Kerberos authentication.

Support for authenticating proxy servers has been added to testcase recording and replay, as well as the
rest of the product, including the support request wizard, new version notification, software updater and cloud
engines.

Basic authentication is now entirely automatic using the User Identity configured for the testcase – even if it did not occur during the recording.

User Identity page in the testcase properties allows you to configure the user identity in one place for Integrated Windows Authentication, Kerberos, Basic and Authenticating Proxies.

Configuring a User Identity

Testcase configuration

Fields view: The addition of two new structural modes allows the user to get a better view of the fields depending on the need at hand. The existing flat view, which shows all fields without regard to their hierarchy, is complemented by an abbreviated hierarchy which shows the most commonly used fields at the top level with any subfields in a tree below it. In addition, the full-hierarchy mode shows all the fields in the transaction in a tree reflecting their natural hierarchy.

Fields View: Abbreviated Hierarcy mode

Custom cookie support – before or after any transaction, cookies can be created, modified and deleted. The source for the cookie name and value (and domain, path and expiration, if desired) can come from a variety of datasources or be extracted from the content of a response. For the vast majority of applications, Load Tester’s cookie support is fully automated and this new feature allows testers to customize the configuration to handle the remaining systems.

Current date/time datasource – A new datasource allows a field to be filled with the current date/time, formatted either as a raw system time (seconds or milliseconds since 1970) or as a formatted date/time.

Testcase editor can show recorded transactions exactly as they occurred under the covers – CONNECT transactions in SSL to a proxy server, Integrated Windows Authentication, etc.

RegEx extractors can now use a datasource, such as a user state variable or dataset field, as part of the matching criteria.

Miscellaneous

DNS resolver: Go to the Tools menu to quickly determine what IP address(es) Load Tester will
resolve a domain name to.

Cloud engines are now suported in the Asia-Pacific northeast region (Tokyo). Load Tester can now generate load from the East and West coasts of North America, Western Europe, Northeast and Southeast Asia at the push of a button!

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