Load Testing Blog
Generating Load from Multiple Regions – Load Tester 6.6
Load Tester’s cloud load generation feature includes the ability to use datacenters located in different geographical regions.
This post contains detailed steps for adding an Amazon EC2 account and for running a new test configuration. These instructions apply to Web Performance Load Tester 6.6 and up. For Load Tester 6.5 and earlier, see Generating Load from Multiple Countries – Load Tester 6.5.
Why Load Test From Multiple Regions?
Generating load from different regions enables more realistic load tests. Rather than using just local datacenters, tests can simulate traffic from all over the world rather than just local datacenters.
This feature also allows testing … Continue reading »
Generating Load from Multiple Regions – Load Tester 6.5
Load Tester’s cloud load generation feature includes the ability to use datacenters located in different geographical regions.
This post contains detailed steps for adding an Amazon EC2 account and for running a new test configuration. These instructions apply to Web Performance Load Tester 6.5 and earlier. For Load Tester 6.6 and up, see Generating Load from Multiple Countries – Load Tester 6.6.
Why Load Test From Multiple Regions?
Generating load from different regions enables more realistic load tests. Rather than using just local datacenters, tests can simulate traffic from all over the world rather than just local datacenters.
This feature also allows testing of … Continue reading »
Load Testing with Microsoft Edge
Last week Microsoft rolled out Windows 10, which includes the new Microsoft Edge web browser. We can hope that Microsoft Edge will leave behind many of the issues that plagued Internet Explorer and deliver a modern browsing experience competitive with what we’ve come to expect from Google Chrome and Firefox.
Currently, Web Performance Tester supports Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome as it’s three “top-tier” browsers for HTTP capture (virtual browser) testing and Google Chrome as the only supported browser for web driver (real browser) testing. But you can record and run load tests with Microsoft Edge today, and … Continue reading »
Mail Server Load Testing
Mail servers can be load tested by sending a large number of emails to a mail server over a specific period of time and recording how the server behaves as it receives those connections. Organizations may require this type of load testing for several reasons. For example, they generally receive a consistent, low level of mail traffic with intermittent periods of high traffic. They may also expect growth within a certain period of time and want a mail server that is capable of scaling with the organization’s growth.
REST/Web Services and API Load Testing
In this post, I’ll discuss why API testing is important, a typical situation that a tester might experience, and how to perform API testing with Web Performance Tester.
How to Change Recorded Hostnames/Edit Recorded URLs
Web Performance Tester offers several tools for changing recorded hostnames. Below, I describe common situations users may experience, and the appropriate method of changing datasources for each.
Web Performance Tester 6.5 release
If you’ve been following the quick pace of development of our real-browser features, we know you’ll be excited about these new features:
Extract values
Data in the browser can now be extracted into a user state variable for use later in the testcase. Read more…
Organize testcase steps
The steps in real-browser testcases can now be organized into hierarchical groups for better readability and easier maintenance. Read more…
Improved selection from choice boxes
Drop-down choices now support selection by position in the list (i.e. index) and by the option value (a hidden attribute in the HTML). Continue reading »
Selecting a choice by index or value from a drop-down list in the browser
The first release of Web Performance Tester (WPT) with real browser support allow users to select items from a drop-down list (an HTML Select element) based on the text visible to a human user – just like a real user would do. There are times, however, when choosing based on the position in the list (index) or the hidden value of the selection makes a testcase more robust. This is especially true when the text descriptions of the choices may change due to variations in language, software changes, etc.
Starting with version 6.5, real-browser testcases can be configured to select by … Continue reading »
Extracting Values from the Browser
Occasionally, a testcase requires a bit of information from one page in the testcase to be used on another page, later in the testcase. In some cases, this is exactly what a real user would do (e.g. click on a link chosen based on text that appeared earlier). Other times, it is a hidden identifier that is used to choose the right element from a list later. Either way, an Extract a value step can be used to get data from the browser.
In the above example, an attribute value is extracted and stored in a user state variable named … Continue reading »
Cookie Debugging From the Testcase Editor in Web Performance Tester 6.5
Load Tester 6.5 adds a quick and easy option for inspecting cookies in your testcase, and reviewing how they are used in a replay. Starting with Load Tester 6.5, the testcase editor adds two new columns: Cookies Sent (by the browser, to the server), and Cookies Received (by the browser, from the server). To enable these columns, simply select Options -> Columns.
The columns will display the number of cookies present in a transaction. In the case of a web page, it will identify the number of unique cookies sent or received. Simply hover over for a tool-tip, which will … Continue reading »
