HP ALM Performance Center

Software Version: 11.52

Quick Start

Document Release Date: May 2013

Software Release Date: May 2013

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Table of Contents
Welcome to This Guide .........................................................................7
Lesson 1: Introducing ALM Performance Center ...............................15
The ALM Performance Center Testing Process ...................................16
Performance Testing Applications ......................................................17
Lesson 2: Creating Vuser Scripts .........................................................19
Recording Vuser Scripts .......................................................................20
Lesson 3: Creating and Designing Performance Tests .......................29
Logging in to ALM...............................................................................30
Adding Vuser Scripts to ALM ..............................................................31
Creating Profiles for Monitoring Resources ........................................36
Creating Performance Tests.................................................................38
Designing Performance Tests ..............................................................39
Lesson 4: Running Performance Tests ................................................45
Creating Test Sets ................................................................................46
Reserving Timeslots .............................................................................48
Running Performance Tests ................................................................50
Lesson 5: Post-run Analysis and Trending ..........................................53
Analyzing Performance Test Run Results............................................54
Viewing Performance Improvements and Regressions.......................63
Lesson 6: Summary..............................................................................69

Table of Contents

Welcome to This Guide

Welcome to the HP ALM Performance Center Quick Start.
ALM Performance Center is HPs Web-enabled global performance testing
tool, designed to streamline the testing process and increase the test
efficiency for multiple concurrent performance tests across multiple
geographic locations.
This Quick Start is a self-paced guide designed to lead you through the
process of creating, running, and analyzing a performance test, and to
introduce you to the ALM Performance Center testing environment.

Note:

This guide assumes that your ALM Performance Center environment has
been fully installed and configured, and that a domain and project have
been set up. For more information, contact your Performance Center
administrator.

This Quick Start only describes how to work with the ALM features
associated with performance testing. For a comprehensive guide to
working with ALM, refer to the HP Application Lifecycle Management
Tutorial.

Welcome to This Guide

How This Guide is Organized

This guide contains the following lessons:
Lesson

Description

Lesson I: Introducing
ALM Performance Center

Provides an overview of ALM Performance Center

and the performance testing applications.

Lesson 2: Creating Vuser

Scripts

Describes the steps involved in recording Vuser

scripts using HP Virtual User Generator.

Lesson 3: Creating and

Designing Performance
Tests

Describes the steps involved in creating and

designing performance tests.

Lesson 4: Running
Performance Tests

Describes the steps that are necessary before

running a performance test, and how to begin test
execution.

Lesson 5: Post-run
Analysis and Trending

Describes how to analyze test run data using HP

LoadRunner Analysis, and how to view performance
improvements and regressions using the Trend
Reports feature.

Lesson 6: Summary

Provides a summary of the testing process phases

that are managed using ALM Performance Center.

ALM Help
ALM Help is an online help system that describes how to use ALM. You can
access ALM Help in the following ways:

Click Documentation Library in the ALM Help menu to open the ALM
Help home page. The home page provides quick links to the main help
topics.

Click Help on this page in the ALM Help menu to open the ALM Help to
the topic that describes the current page.

Welcome to This Guide

ALM Help Guides

The ALM Help consists of the following guides and references, available
online, in PDF format, or both. PDFs can be read and printed using Adobe
Reader, which can be downloaded from the Adobe Web site
(http://www.adobe.com).
Reference

Description

Using ALM Help

Explains how to use ALM Help and how it is organized.

Whats New?

Describes the newest features in the latest version of

ALM. To access, select Help > What's New.

Movies

Short movies that demonstrate the main product

features. To access, select Help > Movies.

Readme

Provides last-minute news and information about ALM.

HP Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Guides

Guide

Description

HP ALM User Guide

Explains how to use ALM to organize and execute all

phases of the application lifecycle management process.
It describes how to specify releases, define requirements,
plan tests, run tests, and track defects.

HP ALM
Administrator Guide

Explains how to create and maintain projects using Site

Administration, and how to customize projects using
Project Customization.

HP ALM Lab
Management Guide

Explains how to use Lab Management to manage lab

resources used for functional and performance testing on
remote hosts.

HP ALM Tutorial

A self-paced guide teaching you how to use ALM to

manage the application lifecycle management process.

HP ALM Installation
and Upgrade Guide

Describes the installation and configuration processes for

setting up ALM Server, and the project upgrade process.

Welcome to This Guide

Guide

Description

HP ALM Lab
Management
Troubleshooting
Guide

Provides information for troubleshooting problems while

working with HP ALM Lab Management.

HP ALM Business
Views Microsoft
Excel Add-in User
Guide

Explains how to install and use the Business Views

Microsoft Excel Add-in to create and configure business
view Excel reports.

HP Business Process
Testing User Guide

Explains how to use Business Process Testing to create

business process tests.

HP ALM Performance Center Guides

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Guide

Description

HP ALM Performance
Center Quick Start

A self-paced guide giving the Performance Center user a

high level overview of creating and running performance
tests.

HP ALM Performance
Center Guide

Explains to the Performance Center user how to create,

schedule, run, and monitor performance tests. Explains
to the Performance Center administrator how to
configure and manage Performance Center projects.

HP ALM Performance
Center Installation
Guide

Describes the installation processes for setting up

Performance Center Servers, Performance Center Hosts
and other Performance Center components.

HP ALM Performance
Center
Troubleshooting
Guide

Provides information for troubleshooting problems while

working with HP ALM Performance Center.

Welcome to This Guide

HP ALM Best Practices Guides

Guide

Description

HP ALM Agile
Testing Best Practices
Guide

Provides best practices for implementing agile testing

principles.

HP ALM Business
Models Module Best
Practices Guide

Provides best practices for working with the Business

Models module.

HP ALM Database
Best Practices Guide

Provides best practices for deploying ALM on database

servers.

HP ALM Entities
Sharing Best
Practices Guide

Provides best practices for sharing entities.

HP ALM Project
Planning and
Tracking Best
Practices Guide

Provides best practices for managing and tracking

releases.

HP ALM Project
Topology Best
Practices Guide

Provides best practices for structuring projects.

HP ALM Upgrade
Best Practices Guide

Provides methodologies for preparing and planning your

ALM upgrade.

HP ALM Versioning
and Baselining Best
Practices Guide

Provides best practices for implementing version control

and for creating baselines.

HP ALM Workflow
Best Practices Guide

Provides best practices for implementing workflows.

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Welcome to This Guide

HP ALM Performance Center Best Practices Guides

Guide

Description

HP Performance
Center of Excellence
Best Practices

Provides best practices for successfully building and

operating Performance Centers of Excellence.

HP Performance
Monitoring Best
Practices

Provides best practices for monitoring the performance of

applications under test.

HP ALM API References

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Guide

Description

HP ALM Project
Database Reference

Provides an online reference for the project database

tables and fields.

HP ALM Open Test

Architecture API
Reference

Provides an online reference for the ALM COM-based

API. You can use the ALM open test architecture to
integrate your own configuration management, defect
tracking, and home-grown testing tools with an ALM
project.

HP ALM Site
Administration API
Reference

Provides an online reference for the Site Administration

COM-based API. You can use the Site Administration API
to enable your application to organize, manage, and
maintain ALM users, projects, domains, connections, and
site configuration parameters.

HP ALM REST API

Reference
(Technology
Preview)

Provides an online reference for the ALM REST-based API.

You can use the REST API to access and work with ALM
data.

HP ALM COM
Custom Test Type
Developer Guide

Provides an online guide for creating your own testing

tool and integrating it into the ALM environment using
native COM development tools.

HP ALM .NET
Custom Test Type
Developer Guide

Provides an online guide for creating your own testing

tool and integrating it into the ALM environment using a
combination of DCOM and .NET classes.

Welcome to This Guide

Additional Online Resources

The following additional online resources are available from the ALM Help
menu:
Part

Description

Troubleshooting &
Knowledge Base

Opens the Troubleshooting page on the HP Software

Support Web site where you can search the Self-solve
knowledge base. Choose Help > Troubleshooting &
Knowledge Base. The URL for this Web site is
http://h20230.www2.hp.com/troubleshooting.jsp.

HP Software Support

Opens the HP Software Support Web site. This site

enables you to browse the Self-solve knowledge base. You
can also post to and search user discussion forums,
submit support requests, download patches and updated
documentation, and more. Choose Help > HP Software
Support. The URL for this Web site is
www.hp.com/go/hpsoftwaresupport.
Most of the support areas require that you register as an
HP Passport user and sign in. Many also require a support
contract.
To find more information about access levels, go to:
http://h20230.www2.hp.com/new_access_levels.jsp
To register for an HP Passport user ID, go to:
http://h20229.www2.hp.com/passport-registration.html

HP Software Web site

Opens the HP Software Web site. This site provides you

with the most up-to-date information on HP Software
products. This includes new software releases, seminars
and trade shows, customer support, and more. Choose
Help > HP Software Web site. The URL for this Web site
is www.hp.com/go/software.

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Welcome to This Guide

Part

Description

Add-ins

Opens the HP Application Lifecycle Management Addins Page, which offers integration and synchronization
solutions with HP and third-party tools.

Tools

Opens the HP Application Lifecycle Management Tools

Page, which offers integration and synchronization
solutions with HP and third-party tools that are installed
with the ALM server.

HP ALM Extension Guides

Extensions provide added functionality to ALM. If you have a license for an
ALM extension, you can utilitize the added functionality by enabling the
extension on a per project basis. For more details on enabling extensions,
refer to the HP Application Lifecycle Management Administrator Guide.
To view the list of extensions available with ALM, or to download
documentation for ALM extensions, visit the HP ALM Add-ins Page,
accessible from the main ALM Help menu.

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1
Introducing ALM Performance Center
This lesson provides a brief overview of HP ALM Performance Center, and of
the applications that are involved in the testing process.

Notes:

The Quick Start describes how to run a performance test with a single
host functioning as both a load generator and a Controller (C+LG).
However, due to possible heavy load on the Controller and load
generator hosts during a performance test, it is best practice to assign
these functions to separate host machines.

Ensure that the latest standalone versions of HP Virtual User Generator

(VuGen) and HP LoadRunner Analysis are installed on your system.

In this lesson you will learn about:

The ALM Performance Center Testing Process on page 16

Performance Testing Applications on page 17

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Lesson 1 Introducing ALM Performance Center

The ALM Performance Center Testing Process

Using ALM Performance Center, you create performance tests in which you
define the events that occur during a testing session. During a test,
ALM Performance Center replaces human users at physical machines with
virtual users, or Vusers. These Vusers create load on your system by
emulating actions of typical users in a repeatable and predictable manner.
Suppose you are testing a Web-based travel agency application that enables
users to book flights online. Your goal as the performance tester is to
determine how the application behaves when multiple users try to perform
the same transaction at the same time. Using ALM Performance Center, you
can run a test in which 1,000 Vusers, emulating 1,000 travel agents, would
simultaneously try to book a flight on the application.

What is the testing process?

The testing process consists of the following basic processes:

Creating the script. Capturing typical end-user business processes

performed on your application.

Designing the performance test. Setting up the test environment by

defining events that occur during the testing session.

Preparing to run the performance test. Adding the performance test to a

test set and reserving a timeslot for the test.

Running the performance test. Driving, managing, and monitoring the

test.

Analyzing the results and viewing performance trends. Analyzing the

performance data generated during the test run, and viewing trending
information that\ identifies performance improvements and regressions
over time.

These processes are explained in more detail in the lessons that follow.

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Lesson 1 Introducing ALM Performance Center

Performance Testing Applications

Each step in the testing process is carried out by one of the HP load testing
tool components. The components are as follows:
Application

Description

HP Virtual User Generator

(VuGen)

Creates the script and generates virtual users, or

Vusers. VuGen does this by capturing actions
that typical end-users would perform on your
application, and then records these actions into
automated Vuser scripts. These Vuser scripts form
the foundation of a performance test.

HP ALM Performance Center

Provides the central console from which you

build, manage, and monitor a test.

HP Analysis

Analyzes the performance test and provides

graphs and reports with in-depth performance
analysis information. Using these graphs and
reports, you can pinpoint and identify the
bottlenecks in your application and determine
the changes need to be made to your system to
improve its performance.

Sample ApplicationHP Tours

To illustrate the testing process, this Quick Start uses a sample Web-based
travel agency application called HP Tours.
During the course of this Quick Start, you will go through the basic steps
of creating, running, and analyzing a performance test. The test will
emulate 10 travel agents simultaneously connecting to the HP Tours Web
server and performing various flight reservation actions, such as logging
on, searching for flights, purchasing flights, checking itineraries, and
logging off.

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Lesson 1 Introducing ALM Performance Center

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2
Creating Vuser Scripts
This lesson explains the steps involved in recording Vuser scripts using HP
Virtual User Generator.
In this lesson you will learn about:

Recording Vuser Scripts on page 20

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Lesson 2 Creating Vuser Scripts

Recording Vuser Scripts

You record Vuser scripts using HP Virtual user Generator (VuGen). A Vuser
script is a record of a typical end-user business process. VuGen works on a
record-and-playback principle. As you walk through a business process on
your application, VuGen records your actions into an automated script
which later forms the foundation of the performance test.
This section includes:

How do I start recording user activity? on page 20

How do I record a business process to create a script? on page 22

How do I view my script? on page 25

How do I save the script? on page 27

How do I start recording user activity?

You begin by opening Vugen and creating a blank script.
1 Start VuGen.
Select Start > All Programs > HP Software > HP LoadRunner > Virtual User
Generator or double-click the Virtual User Generator shortcut icon on
your desktop.

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Lesson 2 Creating Vuser Scripts

2 Create a blank Web script.

a On the VuGen Start Page, click the New Script button. The Create a
New Script dialog box opens.

A protocol is the language that your client uses to communicate with

the back end of the system. HP Tours is a Web-based application, so
you will create a Web virtual user script.
b Make sure the Category type is Single Protocol. VuGen displays a list
of the protocols that are available for a single-protocol script.
c From the list of available protocols, select Web - HTTP/HTML and click
Create. VuGen creates a blank Vuser script and displays the script in
the VuGen Editor.

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Lesson 2 Creating Vuser Scripts

How do I record a business process to create a script?

The next stage in creating user emulation is recording the events performed
by a real user. In the previous section, you created an empty Web script. In
this section, you will track the events of one passenger reserving a flight
from Denver to Los Angeles and then checking the itinerary.
1 Start recording on the HP Web Tours site.
a Click Record > Record or click the Record button on the VuGen
toolbar. The Start Recording dialog box opens.

b In the Record into action box, select Action.

c In Record, select Web Browser.
d In the URL address box, type http://localhost:1080/WebTours.
e Keep all other default settings.

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Lesson 2 Creating Vuser Scripts

f Click Start Recording. A new web browser opens and displays the HP
Web Tours site.

Note: If there is an error opening the site, make sure that the Web
server is running. To start the server, select Start > All Programs > HP
LoadRunner > Samples > Web > Start Web Server.
The floating Recording toolbar opens.

2 Log on to the HP Web Tours site.

a On the HP Web Tours home page, type the user credentials:

Username: Type jojo

Password: Type bean

b Click Login. A welcome page opens.

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Lesson 2 Creating Vuser Scripts

3 Enter flight details.

a Click Flights. The Find Flight page opens.
b Define the following flight criteria:

Departure City: Denver (default)

Departure Date: Keep the default, current date

Arrival City: Los Angeles

Return Date: Keep the default, tomorrows date

a Keep the rest of the default settings and click Continue. The search
results appear.
4 Select a flight.
Click Continue to accept the default flight selection. The Payment Details
page opens.
5 Enter payment information and book flight.
a In the Credit Card box, enter 12345678.
b In the Exp Date box, enter 01/13.
c Click Continue. The Invoice page opens, displaying your invoice.
6 Check the itinerary.
In the left pane, click itinerary. The Itinerary page opens displaying the
itinerary for flight you booked above.
7 Log off the HP Web Tours Site
In the left pane, click Sign Off.
8 Stop recording.
Click the Stop button on the floating toolbar to stop the recording
process.
VuGen generates the required code and inserts the code into the Vuser
script.
If the Design Studio opens, click Close to close the Design Studio.

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Lesson 2 Creating Vuser Scripts

How do I view my script?

You have now recorded a travel agent logging in, booking a flight,
checking the itinerary, and logging off. VuGen recorded your steps from
the moment you clicked the Start Recording button to the moment you
clicked the Stop Recording button. You can now use VuGen to view the
script.
1 Display the Solution Explorer tab.
On the left side pane, make sure the Solution Explorer tab is selected.

This tab provides you structured access to the various parts of a Vuser
script, as well as to a number of files that are associated with the Vuser
script.

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Lesson 2 Creating Vuser Scripts

2 Display the Step Navigator tab.

Click the Step Navigator tab.

The Step Navigator displays an icon-based view of the script that lists the
actions of the Vuser as steps. For each action you performed during
recording, VuGen generated a corresponding step in the Step Navigator.
The Step Navigator displays a snapshot icon to indicate that a specific step
contains a snapshot.

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Lesson 2 Creating Vuser Scripts

3 View a step in the VuGen Editor.

Double-click any step in the Step Navigator to display the corresponding
function in the VuGen Editor. The Editor displays a text-based view of the
script.

In the Editor, the actions of the Vuser are listed as API functions. VuGen
uses color-coding to show the functions and their argument values in the
script. You can type C or API functions, as well as control flow statements,
directly into the script.

How do I save the script?

Select File > Save Script As and save the script locally on your desktop. For
example, type Scripts. The script file should be zipped. After you have
created your performance test, you will upload the script to ALM
Performance Center.

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Lesson 2 Creating Vuser Scripts

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3
Creating and Designing Performance
Tests
This lesson explains how to manage test assets in ALM, and the steps
involved in creating and designing a performance test.
In this lesson you will learn about:

Logging in to ALM on page 30

Adding Vuser Scripts to ALM on page 31

Creating Profiles for Monitoring Resources on page 36

Creating Performance Tests on page 38

Designing Performance Tests on page 39

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

Logging in to ALM
You log into ALM as follows:
1 In your Web browser, enter the ALM Performance Center URL.
2 On the Login page, enter your username and password, and click
Authenticate.
3 Select the required Domain and Project and click Login.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

Adding Vuser Scripts to ALM

The first step in your test design process is to add your Vuser script to ALM.
Adding the script involves two steps: Creating a scripts folder, and
uploading the script to the folder.

How do I upload the Vuser Script?

There are two methods for uploading the script to ALM. From within ALM,
or directly from VuGen.

Uploading scripts from within ALM

You upload the script from within ALM, in the Test Plan module, as follows:
1 Make sure the script is saved locally and is zipped.
2 On the ALM sidebar, under Testing, select Test Plan.
3 Create a script folder.
a Select Subject.
b Click the New Folder button, and specify a name for the folder, for
example, Scripts.
c Click OK to add the folder.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

4 On the module toolbar, click the Upload Vugen Script button. The
Upload VuGen Scripts dialog box opens.

5 In the Select Folder box, select the scripts folder you created above.
6 Click one of the Select buttons and navigate to the location of the zipped
script file.
7 Click Upload to upload the script.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

Uploading scripts directly from Vugen

You upload the script from within Vugen using the HP ALM Connection
dialog box.
1 Create a folder for the script.
2 In VuGen, select ALM > HP ALM Connection. The HP ALM Connection
dialog box opens.

3 Enter the ALM Performance Center URL, and click Connect.

4 Enter your ALM Performance Center username and password, then click
Connect.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

5 Select your domain and project, then click Login.

6 Click Close.
7 In VuGen, select File > Save Script As. The Save Script dialog box opens.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

8 Select ALM Test Plan, and then select your scripts folder as the location to
which to save the script.

9 Click Save. The Upload Script dialog box opens.

10 Accept the default setting, and click OK.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

Creating Profiles for Monitoring Resources

You monitor performance test execution and resource usage with the ALM
Performance Center online monitors. The process of designing performance
tests includes setting the resources you want to monitor. You save these
settings in a monitor profile.
For example, you use the System Resource monitors to monitor a machines
system resource usage during a performance test and identify server
performance bottlenecks.
A primary factor in a transactions response time is its system resource usage.
Using the ALM Performance Center resource monitors, you can monitor the
Windows Resource usage on a machine during a test run, and determine
why a bottleneck occurred on a particular machine.

What is a monitor profile?

To monitor server resources during the test, you select the type of monitors
to run and the servers whose resources you want to monitor. You then add
the measurements to monitor for each server. These monitor settings can be
saved as a monitor profile which can be used by any performance test in
your project.
The following section will show you how to create a monitor profile and
how to add a Windows Resource Monitor to it.

How do I create a monitor profile?

You create and configure monitor profile as follows:
1 On the ALM sidebar, under Testing, select Test Resources.
2 Create a folder for the monitor profile.
3 Select the folder, and click the New Resource button. The New Resource
dialog box opens.
4 Enter the required information, and make sure that in the Type box, you
select Monitor Profile.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

5 Click OK to add the monitor profile to the folder. For example:

6 Select the monitor profile, and in the right pane, select the Monitors
Configuration tab.
7 Click the Add Monitor button. The Add New Monitor dialog box opens.
8 Select Windows Resources. The Edit Monitor dialog box opens, enabling
you to select the Windows Resources counters you want to monitor.
9 Enter the desired information, and click Save. The monitor is added to
your monitor profile.
You will add the monitor profile to the test as part of the test design
process.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

Creating Performance Tests

To create a test, you begin by creating a test folder, and then creating the test
and adding it to the folder. In the next section, you will learn how to design
the test in the Test Designer.

How do I create a performance test?

You create the test as follows:
1 On the ALM sidebar, under Testing, select Test Plan.
2 Select Subject. Click the New Folder button, and specify a name for the
folder, for example, Tests. Click OK to add the folder.
3 Select the folder, and click the New Test button. The New Test dialog box
opens.
4 Enter the required information, and make sure that in the Type box, you
select Performance Test. For example:

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

5 Click OK to add the test to your test folder. For example:

Designing Performance Tests

You design your performance test in the Performance Test Designer.

How do I open the Performance Test Designer?

You open the test designer as follows:
1 On the ALM sidebar, under Testing, select Test Plan.
2 Select the test you created above, and click the Edit Test button on the
toolbar. The Test Designer opens.
3 If a message box opens, click Show Test Designer to open the Test
Designer.

How do I design the performance test?

From the Workload tab in the Performance Test Designer, you perform the
basic test design steps. You design the test as follows:
1 Select a workload type for the test.
When the Performance Test Designer opens, you will be prompted to
select a workload type for the test. Accept the default, Basic Schedule, by
test, by number.
2 Assign a Controller to the test.
a Click the browse button adjacent to the Controller box. The Select
Controller dialog box opens.
b Select Specific.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

c From the list that appears, select the host machine that has been
assigned the Controller and load generator (C+LG) purpose.

3 Add Vuser scripts.

a If the Scripts Tree pane is not displayed on the right, click the Select
Scripts button on the toolbar to open it. The Scripts Tree displays the
script that you uploaded previously to ALM.

b In the Scripts Tree, select the script and click the left arrow to add it to
the test. The script appears in the Groups pane.

4 Add load generators.

a On the Groups pane toolbar, in the LG Distribution box, click the
arrow and select Assign manually.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

b In the Groups Pane, in the Load Generators column, click the Select
load generators link.

The Select Load Generators dialog box opens.

c Select the Specific tab, and from the list that appears, select the host
machine that has been assigned the Controller and load generator
(C+LG) purpose.

5 Configure the schedule settings.

A schedule defines the actions of the Vusers for the performance test run,
for example, the behavior of 10 Vusers emulating 10 travel agents
simultaneously logging on to HP Tours, booking flights, checking
itineraries, and so on.
Because typical users do not perform the same action simultaneously, the
Scheduler allows you to schedule a performance test according to a more
realistic portrayal of typical user behavior.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

Define the schedule as follows:

In the lower area of the Workload tab, in the Global Schedule pane, click
in each of the schedule actions in the Actions grid and define them as
follows:

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Initialize.

Start Vusers.

Duration.

Stop Vusers.

Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

The schedule graph displays a graphical representation of the defined

schedule. The lines in the graph correspond to the actions defined in the
Actions grid.

How do I add the monitor profile to the test?

You add the monitor profile to the test as follows:
1 In the Performance Test Designer, select the Monitors tab.
2 On the toolbar, click Add Monitor Profile. The Monitor Profiles pane
opens on the right, displaying the available monitor profiles.
3 In the Monitor Profiles Tree, select the monitor profile and click the left
arrow to add it to the test.

How do I save the test?

Click Save at the bottom of the page to save the test settings. Then click
Close to close the Performance Test Designer.

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Lesson 3 Creating and Designing Performance Tests

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4
Running Performance Tests
This lesson explains the steps that are necessary before you run the
performance test, and how to begin test execution.
In this lesson you will learn about:

Creating Test Sets on page 46

Reserving Timeslots on page 48

Running Performance Tests on page 50

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Lesson 4 Running Performance Tests

Creating Test Sets

The next step in the performance testing process is the creation of a
performance test set.

What is a test set?

After you design the performance test in the Test Plan module, you organize
the test execution by creating a test set in the Test Lab module and adding
an instance of the test to the test set. The purpose of a test set is to enable
you to group together tests that were created for similar goals.

How do I create a test set?

You create the test set and add the test to it as follows:
1 Create the test set.
a On the ALM sidebar, under Testing, select Test Lab.
b Click the New Folder button, and specify a name for the Test Set
folder, for example, Test_set_folder.
c Click OK to add the folder.

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Lesson 4 Running Performance Tests

d Select the folder you created above, and click the New Test Set button.
The New Test Set dialog box opens.
e Enter the required information, and make sure that in the Type box,
you select Performance.
f Click OK. The test set is added to the test set folder.

2 Add the performance test to the test set.

a Select the test set you just created, and in the right pane, click the
Execution Grid tab.
b Above the Execution Grid tab name, click the Select Tests button. The
Test Plan tree appears on the right, enabling you to locate your Test
Plan folder and performance test.

c In the Test Plan Tree, select the script and click the Add Test to Test Set
button to add it to the Execution Grid tab.

d Click the close button to close the Test Plan Tree.

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Lesson 4 Running Performance Tests

Reserving Timeslots
Before you run the test, you reserve a timeslot to ensure that the resources
needed will be available for the duration of the test.

How do I reserve a timeslot?

You reserve a timeslot as follows:
1 On the ALM sidebar, under Testing, select Timeslots.
2 Click the New Timeslot button. The Timeslot Reservation dialog box
opens.
3 Define the following information:

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Run. Choose Performance Test.

Start. Choose Manually as the method for executing tests. The timeslot
reservation reserves testing resources only.

Name. Enter a name for the timeslot.

Select a test instance. Navigate to the test set you created above, and
select the test to link it to the timeslot. The number of Vusers and
hosts that were defined as part of the test design process are
automatically displayed.

Duration. Set the start time, and enter a duration for the test.

Post-Run. Select Collate and Analyze.

Lesson 4 Running Performance Tests

4 Click Calculate Availability. The availability of the requested resources

during the selected timeslot is calculated. The results of this calculation
are displayed in the Timeslot Status tab and graphically on the time chart.

Note: If the timeslot cannot be reserved, reselect your resources or adjust

the start time, taking into account the reasons displayed in the Timeslot
Status tab.
5 When you find a valid timeslot, click Submit to save the timeslot.

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Lesson 4 Running Performance Tests

Running Performance Tests

Now that you have designed the performance test, added an instance of the
test to a test set, and reserved a timeslot for the test, you are ready to run the
test and observe how your application performs under load.

How do I run the performance test?

You run the performance test as follows:
1 On the ALM sidebar, under Testing, select Test Lab.
2 Select your test in the left pane.
3 Click the Execution Grid tab.
4 Select the test in the Execution Grid tab, and click the Run Test button.
The Run Performance Test dialog box opens, and the timeslot you created
above is displayed in the select timeslot grid.
Note: If no timeslot was reserved from the Timeslots module, the Run
Performance Test dialog box lists alternative timeslots.
5 Select a timeslot in the grid, and click Run. ALM Performance Center
begins the performance test execution process, and the displays the
Performance Test Run page, which enables you to manage and monitor
the test as it runs.

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Lesson 4 Running Performance Tests

What does the Performance Test Run page display?

The Performance Test Run page is the control center from which the test run
is managed and monitored.

The Performance Test Run page displays the following:

Pane

Description

Performance Test Details

The Performance Test Details Pane at the top of the

page provides the following views:
Groups View. This is the view displayed in the

above image. The Groups view displays the

statuses of the Vusers in each Vuser group in the
performance test.
Transactions View. The Transactions view

displays how many transactions have been

executed successfully or unsuccessfully.
Messages View. The Messages view displays error,

warning, debug, and output messages that are

sent to the Controller by the Vusers and load
generators during a test run.
Summary

The Summary pane displays a synopsis of the

running performance test.

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Lesson 4 Running Performance Tests

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Pane

Description

Online Graphs

The online monitor graphs display performance

measurements for those resources being monitored
in the test. This enables you to monitor how the
application under test is performing in real time
and identify where potential bottlenecks exist.

Topology

Displays any defined topologies for the test.

5
Post-run Analysis and Trending
This lesson explains how to analyze test run data using HP LoadRunner
Analysis, and how to view performance improvements and regressions using
the Trend Report feature.
In this lesson you will learn about:

Analyzing Performance Test Run Results on page 54

Viewing Performance Improvements and Regressions on page 63

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

Analyzing Performance Test Run Results

Now that you have run the performance test, you use HP LoadRunner
Analysis to analyze the performance data generated during the test run.
Analysis gathers the performance data into detailed graphs and reports.
Using these graphs and reports, you can pinpoint and identify the
bottlenecks in the application, and determine what changes need to be
made to the system to improve its performance.

How do I view Analysis information?

To provide for more interesting results, for the purposes of this Quick Start, a
sample analysis session is provided, which is based on a performance test
similar to the one you ran.
To open the sample Analysis session:
1 Select Start > All Programs > HP Software > HP LoadRunner > Analysis or
double-click the Analysis shortcut icon on your desktop.
2 Select File > Open. The Open Existing Analysis Session File dialog box
opens.
3 Navigate to the <Analysis Standalone Installation>\Tutorial folder.
4 Select analysis_session and click Open. Analysis opens the session file in
the Analysis window.
The data contained in this sample session is examined in more detail in the
sections that follow.

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

To open the Analysis session for the test you ran:

To view Analysis data for your actual performance test, you perform the
following steps:
1 Connect Analysis to ALM Performance Center.
a Select Start > All Programs > HP Software > HP LoadRunner > Analysis
or double-click the Analysis shortcut icon on your desktop.
b In Analysis, select Tools > HP ALM Connection. The HP ALM
Connection dialog box opens.

c Enter the ALM Platform URL, for example, http://server:8080/qcbin, and

click Connect.
d In the dialog box that opens, enter your ALM user credentials, and
click Authenticate.

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

e Select your domain and project and click Login. The dialog box should
look as follows:

f Click Close.

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

2 Open the Analysis session file for your performance test.

a Select File > Open. The Open Analysis Session dialog box opens.
b Select Test Lab. The test sets in the project are displayed.
c Navigate to the Results.zip file for the instance of your performance
test that you want to analyze.

d Double-click the Results.zip file. The analysis session file is

downloaded from ALM Performance Center and is opened in Analysis.

Did I reach my goals?

Analysis opens displaying the Summary Report. The Summary Report
provides general information about the performance test run. In the
Statistics Summary of the report, you can see how many Vusers ran in the
test and view other statistics such as the total/average throughput, and the
total/average hits. The Transaction Summary of the report lists a summary of
the behavior of each transaction.

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How can I view the graphs?

The graph tree in the left pane of the Analysis window shows the graphs
that are open for viewing. From the graph tree, you can choose to open new
graphs and remove graphs that you no longer want to view. The graphs are
displayed in the graph viewing area in the right pane of the Analysis
window. You can view data from the selected graphs in the graph legend in
the lower pane of the window.
As an example, we will now analyze the Average Transaction Response Time
graph. Using this graph, you can view the behavior of the problematic
transactions during each second of the performance test run. In this section,
you view the behavior of the check_itinerary transaction.
To open and analyze the Average Transaction Response Time graph:
1 Click the Add New Graph button. The Open a New Graph dialog box
opens.

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

2 Under Transactions, select Average Transaction Response Time.

.

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

3 Click Open Graph. The Average Transaction Response Time graph opens
in the graph viewing area.

4 In the legend, click check_itinerary. The check_itinerary transaction is

highlighted in the graph and in the legend below the graph.
Notice how the average response time of the check_itinerary transaction
fluctuates greatly compared to the other transactions at the bottom of the
graph, which follow a more or less stable average response time.

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

How can I compare data from different graphs?

You can join two graphs together to see the effect of one graphs data upon
another graphs data. This is called correlating two graphs. For example,
you can correlate the Running Vusers graph with the Average Transaction
Response Time graph to see the effect of a large number of Vusers on the
average response time of the transactions.
1 Click the Add New Graph button. The Open a New Graph dialog box
opens.
2 Under Vusers, select Running Vusers.
3 Click Open Graph. The Running Vusers graph opens in the graph viewing
area.
4 Right-click the Running Vusers graph and select Merge Graphs.
5 From the Select graph to merge with list, select Average Transaction
Response Time.
6 In the Select type of merge area, select Correlate, and click OK.

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

The Running Vusers and Average Transaction Response Time graphs are now
represented by one graph which opens in the graph viewing area.

Another Analysis tool, Auto Correlate, merges all graphs containing data
that could have had an effect on a given transaction. Correlations of the
transaction with each element are displayed, allowing you to deduce which
elements had the greatest effect on the given transaction.

How can I sort graph data?

You can filter graph data to show fewer transactions for a specific segment of
the performance test, and you can sort graph data to show the data in more
relevant ways. For example, you can filter the Average Transaction Response
Time graph to display only the check_itinerary transaction.
1 Click Average Transaction Response Time in the graph tree to open the
graph.
2 Right-click the graph and select Set Filter/Group by.
3 In the Transaction Name value box, select check_itinerary and click OK.

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The filtered graph displays only the check_itinerary transaction and hides all
the other transactions.

How can I publish my findings?

You can publish the findings from your analysis session in an HTML or
Microsoft Word report. The HTML report can be opened and viewed in any
browser. The Word report is more comprehensive than the HTML report,
enabling you to include general information about the performance test and
to format the report to include your companys name, logo, and the authors
details.
For more information about analyzing performance test results, refer to the
HP LoadRunner Analysis User Guide.

Viewing Performance Improvements and Regressions

A trend report is an ALM Performance Center feature that allows you to
view changes in performance from one performance test to another, or
across several performance tests. By analyzing these changes, you can easily
identify improvements or regressions in the measurements performance.
For example, if you would like to analyze the performance trend of the
average transaction response time measurement of Transaction X, then the
trend report would display the changes in the response time from one test
to the next, clearly indicating whether this measurement improved (where
the response time decreased) or regressed (where it increased).

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

What steps are involved in working with trend reports?

The process of creating and viewing a trend report involves the following
steps:

Step 1 - Creating the trend report. Creating the basic trend report by
defining its name and description and then selecting a template.

Step 2 - Adding test runs to the trend report. Extracting test run data
from Analysis to the trend report.

Step 3 - Viewing trend report data. Opening the trend view and
analyzing the trending information.

We will now discuss these steps in more detail.

Creating the Trend Report

You create the trend report from the main Trend Reports page.
To create the trend report:
1 Open the main Performance Trending page.
a On the ALM sidebar, under Testing, select Test Lab.
b Select the Test Runs tab, and click the Performance Trending button.
The My Performance Center application opens, displaying the
Performance Trending page.

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

2 Open the Trend Report Creation page.

On the Performance Trending page, click the New Trend Report button.
The Create New Trend Report page opens.

3 Define the General Details and Content and Layout settings.

a In the Create New Trend Report page, define the following
information:

In the General Details pane, enter a name and description for the
trend report.

In the Contents and Layout pane, select the Transaction Trends

template.

b Click Create to create the trend report. The Select Test Runs to Trend
Report dialog box superimposes on the Trend Overview tab.

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

4 Add Performance Test Runs to the Trend Report.

From the Project, Test Set and Test lists respectively, select the
performance test that you want to trend. All analyzed instances of the
performance test appear in the table.

Select those analyzed instances of the test that you want to add to the
trend report, and click Add. Performance Center uploads the test runs
from Analysis and adds them to the trend report. The trend report opens
displaying the Trend Overview tab.

Notes:

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To add test runs to the trend report, there must be a data processor in
your projects host pool. For details, contact the Administrator.

The process whereby ALM Performance Center extracts the performance

test data from Analysis is very labor intensive on the data processor and
may take anywhere from several minutes to over an hour. We
recommend that you use a data processor dedicated for this purpose.

Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

Viewing Trend Report Data

For the purposes of this Quick Start, we will look at trending information for
the average transaction response time measurement only.
To view trending information:
On the trend report, click the Performance tab.
In the trend view that opens, you will see a table that displays the
transactions that were present in the test run, as well as the average
transaction response times for each selected instance of the test run.
By comparing these average transaction response time figures, you can
identify if the performance of the transaction improved or regressed from
one test run to the next.
The following example illustrates this point.

In the trend view shown above, four transactions (TRX_01, TRX_02,

TRX_03, and TRX_04) are displayed and their average Transaction
Response Time measurement is being trended from four performance test
runs: 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Test run 3 has been automatically defined as the baseline run, (as
indicated by the word Base in brackets). This means that the average
transaction response times contained in the other tests are compared to
test run 3 only.
In test run 3, the average transaction response time for TRX_01 was 2.045.
The average transaction response time for the same transaction in test run
4 was 4.073, which represents a slower response time and therefore a
regression in the performance of this measurement. The percentage
difference between the two figures is displayed in parenthesis, in this case
+99.17%.

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Lesson 5 Post-run Analysis and Trending

In test run 6, the average transaction response time for TRX_01 was 1.05,
which represents a a faster response time that test run 3, and therefore a
performance improvement. The percentage difference between the two
figures is displayed in parenthesis, in this case -48.66%.

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6
Summary
ALM Performance Center enables you to manage the following phases of
the testing process: Creating and designing performance tests, preparing to
run performance tests, running performance tests, and post-run analysis.

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Lesson 6 Summary

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Phase

Description

Creating and
Designing
Performance Tests

Setting up the test environment by defining events that

occur during the testing session.

Preparing to Run
Performance Tests

Adding the performance test to a test set and reserving a

timeslot for the test.

Running
Performance Tests

Driving, managing, and monitoring the test.

Post-Run Analysis

Analyzing the performance data generated during the test

run.