LOADRUNNER FAQ

Question1. What is load testing?

Load testing is to test that if the application works fine with the loads
that result from large number of simultaneous users, transactions and to
determine weather it can handle peak usage periods.

Question2. What is Performance testing?

Timing for both read and update transactions should be gathered to
determine whether system functions are being performed in an
acceptable timeframe. This should be done standalone and then in a
multi user environment to determine the effect of multiple transactions
on the timing of a single transaction.

Question3. Did u use LoadRunner? What version?

Yes. Version 7.2.

Question4. Explain the Load testing process?

step1: Planning the test
Here, we develop a clearly defined test plan to ensure the test scenarios
we develop will accomplish load-testing objectives.

step2: Creating Vusers

Here, we create Vuser scripts that contain tasks performed by each
Vuser, tasks performed by Vusers as a whole, and tasks measured as
transactions.

step3: Creating the scenario

A scenario describes the events that occur during a testing session. It
includes a list of machines, scripts, and Vusers that run during the
scenario. We create scenarios using LoadRunner Controller. We can
create manual scenarios as well as goal-oriented scenarios. In manual
scenarios, we define the number of Vusers, the load generator machines,
and percentage of Vusers to be assigned to each script. For web tests, we
may create a goal-oriented scenario where we define the goal that our
test has to achieve. LoadRunner automatically builds a scenario for us.

step4: Running the scenario

We emulate load on the server by instructing multiple Vusres to perform
tasks simultaneously. Before the testing, we set the scenario
configuration and scheduling. We can run the entire scenario, Vuser
groups, or individual Vusers.

step5: Monitoring the scenario

We monitor scenario execution using the LoadRunner online runtime,
transaction, system resource, Web resource, Web server resource, Web

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 1 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

application server resource, database server resource, network delay,

streaming media resource, firewall server resource, ERP server resource,
and Java performance monitors.

step6: Analyzing test results

During scenario execution, LoadRunner records the performance of the
application under different loads. We use LoadRunner’s graphs and
reports to analyze the application’s performance.
Question5. When do you do load and performance Testing?
We perform load testing once we are done with interface (GUI) testing.
Modern system architectures are large and complex. Whereas single user
testing primarily on functionality and user interface of a system
component, application testing focuses on performance and reliability of
an entire system. For example, a typical application-testing scenario
might depict 1000 users logging in simultaneously to a system. This
gives rise to issues such as what is the response time of the system, does
it crash, will it go with different software applications and platforms, can
it hold so many hundreds and thousands of users, etc. This is when we
set do load and performance testing.

Question6. What are the components of LoadRunner?

The components of LoadRunner are The Virtual User Generator,
Controller, and the Agent process, LoadRunner Analysis and Monitoring,
LoadRunner Books Online.

Question7. What Component of LoadRunner would you use to record a

Script?
The Virtual User Generator (VuGen) component is used to record a
script. It enables you to develop Vuser scripts for a variety of application
types and communication protocols.

Question8. What Component of LoadRunner would you use to play Back

the script in multi user mode?
The Controller component is used to playback the script in multi-user
mode. This is done during a scenario run where a vuser script is
executed by a number of vusers in a group.

Question9. What is a rendezvous point?

You insert rendezvous points into Vuser scripts to emulate heavy user
load on the server. Rendezvous points instruct Vusers to wait during test
execution for multiple Vusers to arrive at a certain point, in order that
they may simultaneously perform a task. For example, to emulate peak
load on the bank server, you can insert a rendezvous point instructing
100 Vusers to deposit cash into their accounts at the same time.

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 2 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

Question10. What is a scenario?

A scenario defines the events that occur during each testing session. For
example, a scenario defines and controls the number of users to emulate,
the actions to be performed, and the machines on which the virtual
users run their emulations.

Question11. Explain the recording mode for web Vuser script?

We use VuGen to develop a Vuser script by recording a user performing
typical business processes on a client application. VuGen creates the
script by recording the activity between the client and the server. For
example, in web based applications, VuGen monitors the client end of
the database and traces all the requests sent to, and received from, the
database server.
We use VuGen to:
a) Monitor the communication between the application and the server;
b) Generate the required function calls; and
c) Insert the generated function calls into a Vuser script.

Question12. Why do you create parameters?

Parameters are like script variables. They are used to vary input to the
server and to emulate real users.

a) Different sets of data are sent to the server each time the script is run.
b) Better simulate the usage model for more accurate testing from the
Controller; one script can emulate many different users on the system.

Question13. What is correlation? Explain the difference between

automatic correlation and manual correlation?
Correlation is used to obtain data which are unique for each run of the
script and which are generated by nested queries. Correlation provides
the value to avoid errors arising out of duplicate values and also
optimizing the code (to avoid nested queries). Automatic correlation is
where we set some rules for correlation. It can be application server
specific. Here values are replaced by data which are created by these
rules. In manual correlation, the value we want to correlate is scanned
and create correlation is used to correlate.

Question14. How do you find out where correlation is required? Give few
examples from your projects?
Two ways:
First we can scan for correlations, and see the list of values which can be
“` correlated. From this we can pick a value to be correlated. Secondly,
we can record two scripts and compare them. We can look up the
difference file to see for the values which needed to be correlated.

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 3 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

In my project, there was a unique id developed for each customer, it was

nothing but Insurance Number, it was generated automatically and it
was sequential and this value was unique. I had to correlate this value,
in order to avoid errors while running my script. I did using scan for
correlation.

Question15. Where do you set automatic correlation options?

Automatic correlation from web point of view can be set in recording
options and correlation tab. Here we can enable correlation for the entire
script and choose either issue online messages or offline actions, where
we can define rules for that correlation.

Automatic correlation for database can be done using show output

window and scan for correlation and picking the correlate query tab and
choose which query value we want to correlate. If we know the specific
value to be correlated, we just do create correlation for the value and
specify how the value to be created.

Question16. What is a function to capture dynamic values in the web

Vuser script?
Web_reg_save_param function saves dynamic data information to a
parameter.

Question17. When do you disable log in Virtual User Generator, When

do you choose standard and extended logs?
Once we debug our script and verify that it is functional, we can enable
logging for errors only. When we add a script to a scenario, logging is
automatically disabled.
Standard Log Option:
When you select Standard log, it creates a standard log of functions and
messages sent during script execution to use for debugging. Disable this
option for large load testing scenarios. When you copy a script to a
scenario, logging is automatically disabled
Extended Log Option:
Select extended log to create an extended log, including warnings and
other messages. Disable this option for large load testing scenarios.
When you copy a script to a scenario, logging is automatically disabled.
We can specify which additional information should be added to the
extended log using the Extended log options.

Question18. How do you debug a LoadRunner script?

VuGen contains two options to help debug Vuser scripts-the Run Step by
Step command and breakpoints. The Debug settings in the Options
dialog box allow us to determine the extent of the trace to be performed

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 4 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

during scenario execution. The debug information is written to the

Output window.
We can manually set the message class within your script using the
lr_set_debug_message function. This is useful if we want to receive debug
information about a small section of the script only.

Question19. How do you write user defined functions in LR? Give me

few functions you wrote in your previous project?
Before we create the User Defined functions we need to create the
external library(DLL) with the function. We add this library to VuGen bin
directory. Once the library is added then we assign user defined function
as a parameter. The function should have the following format:
__declspec (dllexport) char* (char*, char*)

Examples of user defined functions are as follows:

GetVersion, GetCurrentTime, GetPltform are some of the user defined
functions used in my earlier project.

Question20. What are the changes you can make in run-time settings?
The Run Time Settings that we make are:
a) Pacing - It has iteration count.
b) Log - Under this we have Disable Logging Standard Log and Extended.
c) Think Time - In think time we have two options like Ignore think time
and Replay think time.
d) General - Under general tab we can set the vusers as process or as
multithreading and whether each step as a transaction.
Question21. Where do you set Iteration for Vuser testing?
We set Iterations in the Run Time Settings of the VuGen. The navigation
for this is Run time settings, Pacing tab, set number of iterations.

Question22. How do you perform functional testing under load?

Functionality under load can be tested by running several Vusers
concurrently. By increasing the amount of Vusers, we can determine how
much load the server can sustain.

Question23. What is Ramp up? How do you set this?

This option is used to gradually increase the amount of Vusers/load on
the server. An initial value is set and a value to wait between intervals
can be specified.
To set Ramp Up, go to ‘Scenario Scheduling Options’

Question24. What is the advantage of running the Vuser as thread?

VuGen provides the facility to use multithreading. This enables more
Vusers to be run per generator.

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 5 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

If the Vuser is run as a process, the same driver program is loaded into
memory for each Vuser, thus taking up a large amount of memory. This
limits the number of Vusers that can be run on a single generator.
If the Vuser is run as a thread, only one instance of the driver program is
loaded into memory for the given number of Vusers(say 100). Each
thread shares the memory of the parent driver program, thus enabling
more Vusers to be run per generator.

Question25. If you want to stop the execution of your script on error,

how do you do that?
The lr_abort function aborts the execution of a Vuser script. It instructs
the Vuser to stop executing the Actions section, execute the vuser_end
section and end the execution. This function is useful when you need to
manually abort a script execution as a result of a specific error condition.
When you end a script using this function, the Vuser is assigned the
status “Stopped”. For this to take effect, we have to first uncheck the
“Continue on error” option in Run-Time Settings.

Question26. What is the relation between Response Time and

Throughput?
The Throughput graph shows the amount of data in bytes that the
Vusers received from the server in a second. When we compare this with
the transaction response time, we will notice that as throughput
decreased, the response time also decreased. Similarly, the peak
throughput and highest response time would occur approximately at the
same time.

Question27. Explain the Configuration of your systems?

The configuration of our systems refers to that of the client machines on
which we run the Vusers. The configuration of any client machine
includes its hardware settings, memory, operating system, software
applications, development tools, etc. This system component
configuration should match with the overall system configuration that
would include the network infrastructure, the web server, the database
server, and any other components that go with this larger system so as
to achieve the load testing objectives.

Question28. How do you identify the performance bottlenecks?

Performance Bottlenecks can be detected by using monitors. These
monitors might be application server monitors, web server monitors,
database server monitors and network monitors. They help in finding out
the troubled area in our scenario which causes increased response time.
The measurements made are usually performance response time,
throughput, hits/sec, network delay graphs, etc.

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 6 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

Question29. If web server, database and Network are all fine where
could be the problem?
The problem could be in the system itself or in the application server or
in the code written for the application.

Question30. How did you find web server related issues?

Using Web resource monitors we can find the performance of web
servers. Using these monitors we can analyze throughput on the
webserver, number of hits per second that occured during scenario, the
number of http responses per second, the number of downloaded pages
per second.

Question31. How did you find database related issues?

By running “Database” monitor and help of “Data Resource Graph” we
can find database related issues. E.g. You can specify the resource you
want to measure on before running the controller and than you can see
database related issues

Question32. Explain all the web recording options?

Question33. What is the difference between Overlay graph and Correlate

graph?
Overlay Graph: It overlay the content of two graphs that shares a
common x-axis. Left Y-axis on the merged graph show’s the current
graph’s value & Right Y-axis show the value of Y-axis of the graph that
was merged.

Correlate Graph: Plot the Y-axis of two graphs against each other. The
active graph’s Y-axis becomes X-axis of merged graph. Y-axis of the
graph that was merged becomes merged graph’s Y-axis.

Question34. How did you plan the Load? What are the Criteria?
Load test is planned to decide the number of users, what kind of
machines we are going to use and from where they are run. It is based
on 2 important documents, Task Distribution Diagram and Transaction
profile. Task Distribution Diagram gives us the information on number of
users for a particular transaction and the time of the load. The peak
usage and off-usage are decided from this Diagram. Transaction profile
gives us the information about the transactions name and their priority
levels with regard to the scenario we are deciding.

Question35. What does vuser_init action contain?

Vuser_init action contains procedures to login to a server.

Question36. What does vuser_end action contain?

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 7 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

Vuser_end section contains log off procedures.

Question37. What is think time? How do you change the threshold?

Think time is the time that a real user waits between actions.
Example:
When a user receives data from a server, the user may wait several
seconds to review the data before responding. This delay is known as the
think time.

Changing the Threshold:

Threshold level is the level below which the recorded think time will be
ignored. The default value is five (5) seconds. We can change the think
time threshold in the Recording options of the Vugen.

Question38. What is the difference between standard log and extended

log?
The standard log sends a subset of functions and messages sent during
script execution to a log. The subset depends on the Vuser type

Extended log sends a detailed script execution messages to the output

log. This is mainly used during debugging when we want information
about:
a) Parameter substitution
b) Data returned by the server
c) Advanced trace

Question39. Explain the following functions:

a) lr_debug_message
The lr_debug_message function sends a debug message to the output log
when the specified message class is set.

b) lr_output_message
The lr_output_message function sends notifications to the Controller
Output window and the Vuser log file.

c) lr_error_message
The lr_error_message function sends an error message to the
LoadRunner Output window.

d) lrd_stmt
The lrd_stmt function associates a character string (usually a SQL
statement) with a cursor. This function sets a SQL statement to be
processed.

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 8 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

e) lrd_fetch
The lrd_fetch function fetches the next row from the result set.

Question40. Throughput

If the throughput scales upward as time progresses and the number of

Vusers increase, this indicates that the bandwidth is sufficient. If the
graph were to remain relatively flat as the number of Vusers increased, it
would be
reasonable to conclude that the bandwidth is constraining the volume of
data delivered.

Question41. Types of Goals in Goal-Oriented Scenario

Load Runner provides you with five different types of goals in a goal
oriented scenario:
• The number of concurrent Vusers
• The number of hits per second
• The number of transactions per second
• The number of pages per minute
• The transaction response time that you want your scenario

Analysis Scenario (Bottlenecks):

In Running Vuser graph correlated with the response time graph you can
see that as the number of Vusers increases, the average response time of
the check itinerary transaction very gradually increases. In other words,
the average response time steadily increases as the load increases.
At 56 Vusers, there is a sudden, sharp increase in the average response
time.
We say that the test broke the server. That is the mean time before
failure (MTBF). The response time clearly began to degrade when there
were more than 56 Vusers running simultaneously.

Question42. What is correlation? Explain the difference between

automatic correlation and manual correlation?
Correlation is used to obtain data which are unique for each run of the
script and which are generated by nested queries. Correlation provides
the value to avoid errors arising out of duplicate values and also
optimizing the code (to avoid nested queries). Automatic correlation is
where we set some rules for correlation. It can be application server
specific. Here values are replaced by data which are created by these
rules. In manual correlation, the value we want to correlate is scanned
and create correlation is used to correlate.

Question43. Where do you set automatic correlation options?

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 9 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

Automatic correlation from web point of view, can be set in recording

options and correlation tab. Here we can enable correlation for the entire
script and choose either issue online messages or offline actions, where
we can define rules for that correlation.

Automatic correlation for database, can be done using show output

window and scan for correlation and picking the correlate query tab and
choose which query value we want to correlate. If we know the specific
value to be correlated, we just do create correlation for the value and
specify how the value to be created.

Question44. What is a function to capture dynamic values in the web

vuser script?
Web_reg_save_param function saves dynamic data information to a
parameter.

1. What are the three sections of a Vuser script and what is the purpose
of each one?
1) Vuser_init - used for recording the logon.
2) Actions - used for recording the business process.
3) Vuser_end - used for recording the logoff.

2. For what purpose are Vusers created?

Vusers are created to emulate real users acting on the server for the
purpose of load testing.

Question45. What are the benefits of multiple Action files within a

Vuser?
They allow you to perform different business processes in one Vuser to
represent a real user who does the same thing. They let you build Vusers
that emulate real users defined in the User Community Profile. They also
allow you to record the login and logoff separately from the Action files
and thus to avoid iteration.

Question46. How can you tell the difference between an integer value
and a string value in a VuGen script?
Strings are enclosed in quotes; integers are not.

Question47. What is the purpose of a LoadRunner transaction?

To measure one or more steps/user actions of a business process.

Question48. What is the easiest way to get measurements for each step
of a recorded script? For the entire action file?
Enable automatic transactions.(Runtime settings, Recording Options)

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 10 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

Question49. When would you parameterize a value rather than correlate

queries?
Parameterize a value only when it is input by the user.

Question50. What are the four selection methods when choosing data
from a data file?
Sequential, Random, Unique, and Same line as .

Question51. How can reusing the same data during iterative execution
of a business process negatively affect load testing results?
In reusing the same data for each iteration, the server recognizes the
same data is requested and places it in its cache. The load test then gets
performance results that are not based on real server activity but
caching. This will not provide the correct results during the analysis of
the load test.

Question52. How can caching negatively affect load testing results?

When data is cached in the server’s memory, the server does not need to
fetch it from the database during playback. Then, test results do not
reflect the same performance they would if real users were loading the
system with different data.

Question53. Why is it recommended to add verification checks to your

Vusers?
You would want to verify, using LoadRunner that the business process is
functioning as expected under load.

Question54. When does VuGen record a web_submit_data instead of a

web_submit_form? Why? (Be as specific as possible)
A web_submit_data is recorded when VuGen cannot match the action,
method, data fields, and/or hidden data values with the page that is
stored in the record proxy cache. Comparison failures are typically
caused by something other than HTML setting the properties of the HTTP
request. Because VuGen can parse only HTML, it cannot find all the
properties of the HTTP request in memory. This results in the hard-
coding of all the request information in a web_submit_data statement.

Question55. What do you need to do to be able to view parameter

substitution in the Execution Log?
Check extended log and Parameter substitution in the Run-Time
Settings.

Question55. How can you determine which field is data dependent?

Rerecord the same script using different input values, and then compare
the two Scripts.

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 11 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

Question56. Where should the rendezvous be placed in the script?

The rendezvous should be placed immediately before the transaction
where you want to create peak load. In this case, the rendezvous should
be placed right before starting the Update Order transaction.

Question57. For what purpose should you select continue on error?

Set it only when making Execution Logs more descriptive or adding logic
to the Vuser.

Question58. What is the purpose of selecting Show browser during

replay in the General Options settings?
This setting allows you to see the pages that appear during playback.
This is useful for debugging your Vuser during the initial stages of Web
Vuser creation.

Question59. What tools does VuGen provide to help you analyze Vuser
run results?
Execution Log, Run-Time Viewer, and Mercury Test Results window.

Question60. If your Vuser script had two parameters, “DepartCity” and

“Arrival City,” how could you have the Vuser script return an error
message which included the city names?
lr_error_message (“The Vuser could not submit the reservation request
for %s to
%s”, (lr_eval_string (“{DepartCity}”), lr_eval_string (“{ArrivalCity}”));

Question61. Why should you run more Vusers than your anticipated
peak load?
(1) To test the scalability of the system.
(2) To see what happens when there is a spike in system usage.

Question62. What is difference between manual scenario and Goal

oriented scenario? What Goal Oriented scenarios can be created?
Manual scenario:
–Main purpose is to learn how many Vusers can run concurrently
– Gives you manual control over how many Vusers run and at what
times
Goal oriented scenario:
– Goal may be throughput, response time, or number of concurrent
Vusers
– LoadRunner manages Vusers automatically
–
Different Goal Oriented Scenarios are:
• Virtual Users

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 12 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

• Hits per second

• Transaction per second
• Transaction Response time
• Pages per minute

Question63. Why wouldn’t you want to run virtual users on the same
host as the Load-
Runner Controller or Database Server?
Running virtual users on the same host as the LoadRunner Controller
will skew the results so that they no longer emulate real life usage. By
having both the Controller and the Vusers on the same machine, the
tester will not be able to determine the effects of the network traffic.

Question64. Each time you run the same scenario, the results will be
slightly different. What are some of the factors that can cause differences
in performance measurements?
Different factors can effect the performance measurements including
network
traffic, CPU usage and caching.

Question65.What are some of the reasons to use the Server Resources

Monitor?
To find out how much data is coming from the cache
To help find out what parts of the system might contain bottlenecks

Question66. Explain the following:

• Hits per second graph

The Hits per Second graph shows the number of HTTP requests made by
Vusers to the Web server during each second of the scenario run. This
graph helps you evaluate the amount of load Vusers generate, in terms of
the number of hits.

• Pages download per second graph

The Pages Downloaded per Second graph shows the number of Web
pages (y-axis) downloaded from the server during each second of the
scenario run (x-axis). This graph helps you evaluate the amount of load
Vusers generate, in terms of the number of pages downloaded.

• Transaction Response time (under load) graph

The Transaction Response Time (Under Load) graph is a combination of
the Running Vusers and Average Transaction Response Time graphs and
indicates transaction times relative to the number of Vusers running at
any given point during the scenario. This graph helps you view the

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 13 of

14
 LOADRUNNER FAQ

general impact of Vuser load on performance time and is most useful

when analyzing a scenario with a gradual load.

• Transaction Response time (percentile) graph

The Transaction Response Time (Percentile) graph analyzes the
percentage of transactions that were performed within a given time
range. This graph helps you determine the percentage of transactions
that met the performance criteria defined for your system.

• Network delay time graph

The Network Delay Time graph shows the delays for the complete path
between the source and destination machines (for example, the database
server and Vuser load generator).

Created by sanjeev.Singh Page 14 of

14