WebLOAD Quick Start

Version 8.0

RadView Software

The software supplied with this document is the property of RadView Software and is furnished under a licensing agreement. Neither the software nor this document may be copied or transferred by any means, electronic or mechanical, except as provided in the licensing agreement. The information in this document is subject to change without prior notice and does not represent a commitment by RadView Software or its representatives. WebLOAD Quick Start Copyright 2007 by RadView Software. All rights reserved. January, 2007, RadView Publication Number WebLOAD, TestTalk, Authoring Tools, ADL, AppletLoad, WebFT, and WebExam, are trademarks or registered trademarks of RadView Software IBM, and OS/2 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Word for Windows, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Excel for Windows, Microsoft Access for Windows and Microsoft Access Runtime are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. SPIDERSESSION is a trademark of NetDynamics. UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories. Solaris, Java and Java-based marks are registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. HP-UX is a registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard. SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. Netscape Navigator and LiveConnect are registered trademarks of Netscape Communications Corporation. Any other trademark name appearing in this book is used for editorial purposes only and to the benefit of the trademark owner with no intention of infringing upon that trademark.

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RadView Software

Table of Contents

WebLOAD Quick Start.......................................................................5

How WebLOAD Works ........................................................... 5 Quick Start Steps ................................................................... 6 Creating an Agenda ............................................................... 6 Configuring a Load Template using the WebLOAD Wizard............................................................................... 9 Opening the WebLOAD Wizard ............................................. 10 Selecting an Agenda and a Performance Statistic to Monitor............................................................................. 10 Selecting a Host ..................................................................... 11 Scheduling the Test ............................................................... 12 Setting Session Options ......................................................... 12 Running the Test .................................................................. 13 Analyzing Test Results ........................................................ 14 Viewing the Results in Real Time........................................... 15 Creating Integrated Reports ................................................... 15 Viewing Data Drilling Reports................................................. 16 Viewing Results with WebLOAD REPORTER ....................... 17

Index ..................................................................................................19
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WebLOAD Quick Start

RadView Software

1.

WebLOAD Quick Start

Welcome to WebLOAD, the premier performance, scalability and reliability testing solution for Web applications - Internet and intranet. WebLOAD is easy to use and delivers maximum testing performance and value. WebLOAD verifies the scalability and integrity of Web applications by generating a load composed of Virtual Clients that simulate real-world traffic. Probing Clients let you refine the testing process by acting as a single user that measures the performance of targeted activities, and provides individual performance statistics of the Web application under load.

How WebLOAD Works

WebLOAD tests Web applications by generating Virtual Clients that simulate real-world loads. Virtual Clients emulate the actions of human users by performing typical actions on your Web application. By increasing the number of Virtual Clients, you increase the load on the system. You create visual JavaScript-based test scripts (Agendas) that define the behavior of the Virtual Clients and WebLOAD executes these test scripts monitoring the application response graphically and statistically, and presenting the test results in real time. WebLOAD incorporates functional verification into the scalability testing process allowing you to accurately verify the scalability and integrity of your Web applications at the per-client, pertransaction, and per-instance level under defined load conditions. WebLOAD saves the test results including data from the Load Machines and the hosting hardware's performance monitor. You can view all or part of the data in real time, or after the test session is complete, in tabular format or in graphical format.

WebLOAD Quick Start

Quick Start Steps

Quick Start Steps

This quick start shows you how you can get started quickly using the RadView Software test site at www.netizenbanking.com (http://www.netizenbanking.com). Then you can refer to the complete WebLOAD documentation set to learn more techniques for using WebLOAD. In this Quick Start, you perform the following steps: 1. Create an Agenda (see Creating an Agenda (on page 6)). 2. Configure a load template using the WebLOAD Wizard (see Configuring a Load Template using the WebLOAD Wizard (on page 9)). 3. Configure session options (see Setting Session Options (on page 12)). 4. Run a test (see Running the Test (on page 13)). 5. Analyze test results (see Analyzing Test Results (on page 14)). Note: We recommend that you follow the steps in order. All examples are interrelated and dependent on earlier steps.

Creating an Agenda
The first step in creating an Agenda is to record your actions as you interact with your Web application. 1. Start WebLOAD IDE by selecting Start | All Programs | TestView | WebLOAD IDE. WebLOAD IDE opens.

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WebLOAD Quick Start

2. Select Create a new project, and click OK. The WebLOAD IDE main window opens in Editing Mode, for you to begin creating your Agenda.

3. In the main window, in Editing Mode, click the Start Record recording. The following message appears.

toolbar button to begin

WebLOAD Quick Start

Creating an Agenda

4. Click OK. WebLOAD IDE begins recording all of the actions you perform in the browser, as indicated by the recording notification in the WebLOAD IDE status bar.

A blank browser window opens. 5. In the address bar, enter the Web address www.netizenbanking.com to go to the RadView Software test site.

6. Navigate through the site, performing the actions you want to test. For example: a. Click My Account on the home page.

b. Click the Click Here to Login link.

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c.

Enter any set of numbers as a fictional social security number, enter a dummy password, and click Submit. Enter a keyword such as Interest to search for in the search field and select the checkboxes Home Mortgage and Business Banking.

d. Click the Search link to the right. e.

f. Click Search. Your actions are recorded and appear in the Agenda Tree as you navigate the site. (If you see more nodes in the Agenda Tree with different URLs, this may be traffic generated by browser plug-ins or extensions, for example, third-party toolbars).

7. Click the Stop Record 8. Click the Save

toolbar button in WebLOAD IDE to stop the recording.

toolbar button or click File | Save As to save your Agenda.

9. Type in Netizen Banking for the name of the Agenda in the Save As dialog box and click Save. The Agenda is saved with the extension *.wlp. You now have a basic Agenda that can be used in a WebLOAD template. For complete information on creating, editing, modifying Agendas, and adding functionality to your Agenda, see the WebLOAD IDE User's Guide.

Configuring a Load Template using the WebLOAD Wizard

From this point on, this Quick Start walks you through the following steps using the WebLOAD Console in configuring a load template with the WebLOAD Wizard:

WebLOAD Quick Start

Configuring a Load Template using the WebLOAD Wizard

1. Opening the WebLOAD Wizard. 2. Selecting an Agenda and a Performance Statistic to monitor. 3. Selecting a host on which to run the Load Machine. 4. Scheduling the test, and selecting the number of Virtual Clients to run. 5. Setting session options. For more details about each of these steps, see the WebLOAD User's Guide.

Opening the WebLOAD Wizard

The first step in defining a load template with the WebLOAD Wizard is defining the type of Agenda to run. The Agenda is the test script, which defines the actions that the Virtual Clients perform during the test. WebLOAD supports both single Agendas (lone test scripts) and Mix Agendas (a group of Agendas simulating groups of users performing different activities on the application at the same time). In this Quick Start, we will create a template running a single Agenda. For information on creating templates with multiple Agendas or Mix Agendas, see Creating Load Templates with the WebLOAD Wizard in the WebLOAD User's Guide. 1. Start WebLOAD. Select Start | All Programs | TestView | WebLOAD Console. The WebLOAD Console opens, and displays the WebLOAD Console dialog box. 2. Select Create a new template using the WebLOAD Wizard, and click OK. The WebLOAD Wizard opens. 3. On the Welcome screen, click Next.

Selecting an Agenda and a Performance Statistic to Monitor

1. On the Agenda/Mix Type screen, select Single Agenda, and click Next. 2. On the Agenda/Mix Selection screen, click the [...] button and browse your system to the location of the Netizen Banking.wlp Agenda created earlier using WebLOAD IDE. Select the Agenda and click Open. 3. Click Measurements Manager at the bottom of the screen to open the Performance Measurements Manager and define the statistics to monitor during the test. Note: In this simple example, we will monitor the CPU usage on your system during runtime. During a real test, you would probably monitor the CPU performance of your application server. 4. Click the Add data source toolbar button.

The Performance Measurements Manager Wizard opens.

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5. On the Welcome screen, click Next. 6. Click the + adjacent to Other to expand the tree, select General Performance Monitor, and click Next. 7. Click Browse to browse available hosts. In the Host selection dialog box, highlight the name of your computer in the list, and click Select. 8. Click Next. WebLOAD attempts to connect to the selected host and collect data. A tree of all available measurements to monitor is displayed. 9. Expand the tree to select the measurement you want. Click Processor | _Total, select the checkbox adjacent to % Processor Time, and click Next. 10. Click Finish.

Close & update toolbar button to save the configuration with the template 11. Click the and return to the WebLOAD Wizard. 12. On the Agenda / Mix Selection screen, click Next.

Selecting a Host
For the steps in this Quick Start, you use your own machine as the host load machine to generate Virtual Clients. The number of Virtual Clients that can be generated depends on the power of the host machine. For this test, you do not select a Probing Client.
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Configuring a Load Template using the WebLOAD Wizard

1. On the Host Selection screen, note that your computer is automatically listed as the default Load Machine. 2. Click Next to accept the default selection.

Scheduling the Test

When you schedule the test, you define the load to be generated throughout the test and the total testing time. The Load Profiler provides a quick and easy way to select different testing patterns. To schedule the test: 1. On the Schedule screen, select Manual, and click Next. The wizard progresses to the Schedule Manually screen. 2. Click on the name of your computer. The Load Profiler buttons becomes enabled. 3. Click Load Profiler. The Load Profiler opens. 4. Select Linear from the Select scheduling model drop-down list. 5. Accept the defaults for the Total time in minutes and Starting Load Size fields. Enter 10 in the Concluding Load Size field. The test will run for 10 minutes, starting with a load of 5 Virtual Clients and increasing to a maximum of 10. 6. Click Replace. The Linear Schedule model now appears in the row below your host computer name in the Schedule Manually screen. 7. Click Next. 8. Clear the option to run the load template immediately, and click Finish. You have now completed creating a load template using the WebLOAD Wizard.

Setting Session Options

Before you run the template you just created, you can select options for verifications to perform during runtime. You can set WebLOAD to:

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Collect data at the page level. Verify the time required to receive a page (default 20 seconds). Verify that the links in your Web application act as expected. When you select page verification, WebLOAD collects transaction data under the Title name (in this case www.netizenbanking.com (http://www.netizenbanking.com)). You can observe statistics, such as the response times for this page, as the load increases. You can also gather performance data about the objects on a page by setting WebLOAD to collect object level data. As a result, you can determine whether pictures or other embedded objects are taking a long time to download. To set options for these verification tests: 1. In the WebLOAD Console, select Tools | Current Session Options. 2. Select the Functional Testing tab. 3. Under Automatic Data Collection, select the Pages checkbox. 4. Under Page Time, select the Verification checkbox, enter 20 in the Max Time field, and select Minor Error from the Severity Level drop-down list. If the time required to receive a page exceeds 20 seconds, a Minor Error message appears in the Log Window and the event is available in the WebLOAD data drilling report. 5. Under Verification, select the Verification checkbox, and enter 5 in the % field. 6. Select the Advanced Emulation Verifications checkbox, and click the [...] button to open the Emulation Verifications dialog box. 7. Select the Compare Links checkbox, and click OK. Five percent of the Virtual Clients will perform the selected verification tasks. This percentage lets you balance data gathering with the need to maintain performance during the test. 8. Click OK.

Running the Test

You are now ready to start the test. As you run the test, you can view the data gathered by WebLOAD in real time. 1. Click the Start Session icon on the Console toolbar.

2. At the prompt, click Yes to save the template. Type the filename NetizenBanking.tpl, and click Save. You can now reuse this template, with its Agenda, schedule and options at a later time. The test begins.
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Analyzing Test Results

Analyzing Test Results

You can view test results in real time while the test is running or after the test session has completed. Once the test begins, the WebLOAD Wizard default report displays in the Results window.

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Viewing the Results in Real Time

Data on load size, hits per second, round time (one run through the Agenda) and throughput (bytes per second) appear in the Chart View window, with a color legend underneath the chart. Each data point represents a 20 second slice. Data is gathered every 20 seconds and then either averaged (for hits, round time and throughout) or summed (for load size). The graphs are all normalized to scale so they can be viewed in a single Chart View window. Right-click on any data point to see actual values. Select the Spread View tab at the top of the Results window to see the data in numerical format. icon on the Console toolbar to view a quick overview of the Select the Dashboard status of the test including the following: Elapsed time Current load size (number of running Virtual Clients) Rounds executed Failed rounds Failed hits Hits per second Pages per second Throughput Select the Open Statistics icon on the Console toolbar. A Statistics tab appears in the results window. Scroll through the data and double-click a cell to drill-down to further detail. Each of these views opens in a new tab window. Please close all windows except the Default Report tab.

Creating Integrated Reports

Create an Integrated report to view the results for additional metrics gathered by WebLOAD. This can be done while the current session is still running. To create an Integrated Report: 1. In the WebLOAD Console, select Reports | Report Manager. The Integrated Report dialog box appears.

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Analyzing Test Results

2. In the Integrated Report dialog box, click New. 3. In the tree, expand the Netizen Banking::Total branch. 4. Click the + sign adjacent to Hit Time to expand the branch and then expand Current Slice. Select the checkbox adjacent to Average (Current Value). Checkmarks appear next to Hit Time, Current Slice, and Average (Current Value). 5. Expand Successful Hits and then expand Current Slice. Select the checkbox next to Sum (Current Value). 6. Expand Successful Connections and then expand Current Slice. Select the checkbox next to Sum (Current Value). 7. Scroll to the PM@your-system-name branch at the bottom of the tree (PM stands for performance monitor). Click the + sign adjacent to it to expand the branch. Expand Processor:%Processor Time:_Time and then expand Current Slice. Select the checkbox next to Average (Current Value). This choice displays the statistics on CPU processor usage that were collected during the load test. 8. Click OK. The Save dialog box appears. 9. Type in MyReport for the name of the report, click Predefined Report, and click OK. The new report is added to the list of Predefined Reports. 10. To open the newly created report, select MyReport in the list of Predefined Reports, and click Open. In the WebLOAD Console Results window, the MyReport tab appears displaying the report data. The name of the tab is the name of the report you selected. 11. If the test is still running, select Session Control | Stop All. 12. Select File | Save Load Session to save the data from the test along with the template information (Agenda, options and schedule). Specify a filename (NetizenBanking), and location and click Save.

Viewing Data Drilling Reports

The Data Drilling report shows all transactions for each web page tested, categorized by the following:

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Total Successful Failed Marked counts (indicates how many children of the transaction failed.) Data Drilling provides both a global and detailed account of hit successes and failures, letting you verify the functional integrity of your Web application at the per-client, per-transaction, and per-instance level. To view Data Drilling reports: 1. Click on the Data Drilling icon on the Console toolbar.

A Transactions tab appears in the Results window. 2. On the Transaction tab, transaction failures are noted in the Failed Count column. For any transaction that has an entry in this column, click the page name in the Transaction Name column to see the reasons for the transaction failure. A reason failure row will appear in the bottom half of the screen. 3. To discover which transactions failed, double-click the reason failure row to open the Instance Grid. This grid lists the individual instances of transaction failure. Note: You can continue exploring the reasons for the transaction failure by double-clicking grid rows. For example, double-clicking a row in the Instance Grid opens a Parent Transaction Instance Tree, which provides a detailed breakdown of all sub-events that occurred as part of the selected transaction. You can return to these test results to track progress as you tune performance and reopen the session at a later point to perform more analysis on the data gathered. You can also export the results.

Viewing Results with WebLOAD REPORTER

WebLOAD REPORTER creates analysis reports based on your session data. Even after you complete a session, you can use this data to create both predefined reports and custom reports of your own. You can create portfolios, which are collections of custom reports to run on other sessions. You can also export reports to PDF, Excel, RTF, HTML, or TXT formats to share with others, store with test plans, or mail to team members. To view results with WebLOAD REPORTER: icon on the Console toolbar or select Test View | Open 1. Click the WebLOAD REPORTER WebLOAD Reporter from the Console menu. Data for the last session saved is automatically selected.
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Analyzing Test Results

2. Double-click the Ten Slowest Transactions icon at the far left or the Ten Slowest Transactions link in the Report List tree or select the Ten Slowest Transactions item from the Reports menu. The report will be generated in the main window. Ten Slowest Transactions is an example of the many standard reports available. Reports are displayed in separate windows. Use the Windows menu to move back and forth among reports that you create. 3. Create a custom report by selecting Reports | Custom Session Report or Reports | Custom Agenda Report, name the report, click the Save checkbox to save the report, select an axis metric and statistics (from the tree), and click OK. You can create both session and Agenda reports. Session reports display a higher level of information for the entire session, including all the Agendas that were run. Agenda reports display detailed data pertaining to one Agenda. In the steps outlined in this Quick Start, you ran one Agenda so the only difference in these reports is the level of detail. Each generated report can be either printed or exported to one of the formats that appear on the Export toolbar. 4. Close WebLOAD REPORTER. 5. Close the WebLOAD Console. This concludes our Quick Start guide for WebLOAD. For additional information please refer to the WebLOAD User's Guide or to RadView's web site at http://www.RadView.com (http://www.radview.com/support).

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A
Analyzing Test Results 6, 14

C
Configuring a Load Template using the WebLOAD Wizard 6, 9 Creating an Agenda 6 Creating Integrated Reports 15

H
How WebLOAD Works 5

O
Opening the WebLOAD Wizard 10

Q
Quick Start Steps 6

R
Running the Test 6, 13

S
Scheduling the Test 12 Selecting a Host 11 Selecting an Agenda and a Performance Statistic to Monitor 10 Setting Session Options 6, 12

V
Viewing Data Drilling Reports 16 Viewing Results with WebLOAD REPORTER 17 Viewing the Results in Real Time 15

W
WebLOAD Quick Start 5

WebLOAD Quick Start

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