Load Testing How to

Hi Andrew,

I have to be up front and tell you that a data driven web test does not make for a good load test. The problem with trying to use a data driven web test to create a load test is that the load test will turn into one very long test of a single user running through each data iteration one iteration at a time. Obviously the intended purpose of a load test is to hit the web server with a lot of users simultaneously to discover the web servers breaking point.

A better approach is to create a non-data driven web test, use it to create a load test representing a single user, then data drive that load test for multiple users.

I'll be here if you need further assistance with this.

Regards,
Cody
Telerik

how do you set up a user profile in VS2012.
http://www.telerik.com/automated-testing-tools/support/documentation/user-guide/load-testing/designing-load-tests/adding-user-profiles.aspx

Also I assume to  connect my web test to the load test I right click on my scenario and select add tests. but when I do that I get a message box that says "There are no test available to pick".

do you have a good walk through the will step me through setting up a load test, setting up the virtual users, defining the test.

This is want I want to create:

I would like to create a test with the max default  virtual users that I can use (25 I think), I want to start at 10 users, stepping up 2 users every 15 seconds, to a the max load of 25, and maintain that load for 1 hour. using a different user from my csv file for evey iteration of the test.

Hi Andrew,

Our Visual Studio plug-in does not support load testing (or performance testing, or Test Studio Test Lists). This is only supported using our standalone IDE.

Also I assume to  connect my web test to the load test I right click on my scenario and select add tests. but when I do that I get a message box that says "There are no test available to pick".

Test Studio does not have the concept of a "scenario" or "connecting a web test to a load test". Your description above sounds like you're trying to create a Visual Studio Scenario and Visual Studio Load Test, not a Test Studio Load Test. The two are miles apart in differences.

Running our standalone IDE you can "convert" a Test Studio web test into a Test Studio load test. What happens during this conversion is that your web test is executed and, while the test is running, all of the HTTP traffic that flows between the browser and the web server is recorded. This creates one User Profile and is added to your Test Studio load test.

Here's a good training video that shows how to do Load Testing with Test Studio.
http://www.telerik.com/automated-testing-tools/support/videos.aspx

Regards,
Cody
Telerik

ok, so I set up a load test for 3mins with 20 users it is not data driven so it should just be using the same user for all tests.

I run the test and 10 mins later it is still running, and the test should be producing some files in a folder on the network and not even one file is ever created.

what am I doing wrong?

Hello Andrew,

Excellent question. To find out we need to dig a bit deeper by performing some troubleshooting steps:

1. Start by modifying the test to start and end with just 1 user and run the load test again. Do you get the expected folders created this time? Some applications (I don't know about yours) are designed to not allow multiple logins of the same user simultaneously. Doing this diagnostic step is a strong indicator this is the problem.
2. Another possibility is that the user profile takes longer than 3 minutes to complete i.e. if it takes 5+ minutes to run through the sequence just one time, then none of the virtual users would be able to complete the user profile. Studying the Think Time (i.e. a fixed delay) values will help determine if this is the case. For example, if you have 20 think times, each at 10 seconds, that's 200 seconds of think time or 3.33 minutes of delay. This is on top of the amount of time it takes for each HTTP request and response to be processed.
   
   Or it may be that the sequence of processing all the HTTP requests simply takes longer than 3 minutes normally. Increasing the duration of the test is the only solutiion.
   
   
3. Another possibility is you are getting "faulted users". This means something went horribly wrong while a virtual user was trying to send the HTTP requests, such as the web server abnormally and unexpectedly forcefully closed the connection. When this happens the virtual user is aborted in the middle of the sequence. Test Studio will stop that virtual user and start a new one from the beginning.

Regards,
Cody
Telerik

I did steps 1 and 2 with no effect.

There are 13 think time in the test for  a total of 130 sec.

If I run the web test it takes about 30 sec. to run

I am not sure how to use fiddler but I will install it and try and get your info

requested files for #3

Hello Andrew,

Thank you for the files. I don't know why but the Fiddler trace you sent is missing the load test traffic, which is critical for diagnosing a load test running in your environment. All it contains is the background overhead traffic that is used to control the load agent process. Was Fiddler running on the machine that was acting as your load agent?

I discovered I'm able to access your test website directly. I went ahead and ran your load test and everything (as far as I can tell - I don't know how to check your back end) is working just fine - see attached screen shot. I did modify your load test to:

• Disable what appears to be unnecessary think times.
• Disable the HTTP requests to ssl.google-analytics.com. We want to load test your website, not Google analytics <grin>.

Another possible difference is that I'm running our latest internal build, 2013.1.1002. You may want to try upgrading to this version. You'll find it in the Latest Internal Builds section of our website once you login to your Telerik.com account. If you have trouble finding it let me know and I'll direct you to it.

I have attached a Fiddler trace of the load test traffic running on my machine for you to review. I looked through it and everything appears good as far as I am able to tell. You can see the first pass in sessions 1 - 174 in the Fiddler trace. The second pass starts after that, and so on up to the 6th pass. You'll need the full version of Fiddler to be able to open and see the captured load test traffic.

The modified load test I ran is also attached for your review.

Regards,
Cody
Telerik

so I tried the updated test you sent and it still does not do anything for me. I do not think it is even running.

so do you recommend updating to the internal build, or is there an issue with my current install we can fix?

Hi Andrew,

I am sorry to hear you're still not getting the expected results.

I do not think it is even running.

What symptom do you see that leads you to believe this?

...do you recommend updating to the internal build...

I think it's worth trying. Upgrading is a very simple process which takes little time. Let me know your results and we'll continue our diagnostics from there.

Regards,
Cody
Telerik

i do not think it is running because fiddler did not see any traffic, the test never finishes according to the status displayed on the run test page, I do not see any files being created, and the test ran for you.

I will install it

ok, I installed the internal build and my test now runs....

Thanks.

now I just need to figure out how to run this test where each virtual user is databound.

Hello Andrew,

i am very glad to hear the test is now beginning to work! Have you already found our documentation for data driving a load test? I'll be happy to assist with any questions or problems you have with this.

Regards,
Cody
Telerik