Table of contents
2. Using Microsoft VSTS .loadtest
|David W. Johnson|
VSTS .loadtest basics
VSTS .loadtest is a performance/load/ stress testing tool. Performance Test and Load/Stress Test determine the ability of the application to perform while under load.
During stress/load testing the tester attempts to stress or load an aspect of the system to the point of failure -- the goal being to determine weak points in the system architecture -- the tester identifies peak load conditions at which the program will fail to handle required processing loads within required time spans.
During performance testing the tester designs test case scenarios to determine if the system meets the stated performance criteria; i.e., A Login request shall be responded to in one second or less under a typical daily load of 1000 requests per minute. In both cases the tester is trying to determine the capacity of the system under a known set of conditions. The same set of tools and testing techniques can be applied for both types of capacity testing - only the goal of the test changes.
The primary components of any .loadtest are the .webtest (s) that simulates the behavior of the business. The .loadtest packages these .webtest (s) into scenarios and then allows you to change the load profile of the group of .webtest (s) contained within that scenario. Within the test project that contains your .webtest (s) you can add a new .loadtest this request invokes the .loadtest wizard. The .loadtest wizard walks you through the process of Instrumenting the Scenario, Counter Sets, and Run Settings.
Construction Tip 1: Wizard
The .loadtest wizard is extremely useful when constructing a .loadtest the first few times, and does an excellent job of describing the various instrumentation options available but, I found it more useful to view the .loadtest as a whole using the standard tree view.
Instrumenting a Scenario
Scenarios act to package .webtest (s) into user groups that share a common load profile. Each scenario can be instrumented in terms of: think-time, load pattern, test mix, browser mix, and network mix. Once again, the .loadtest wizard will walk you through the actual instrumentation of the scenario and all instrumentation can be adjusted once the scenario exists.
Instrumenting Scenario Think time
In terms of .loadtest the think time is the time taken to navigate to the next web page. Each scenario can use the actual think time recorded by the .webtest, you can set the normal distribution of the think time between the requests, or you can choose not to use the think times between the requests. Certain types of test mix preclude (override) any think time instrumentation.
Instrumenting Scenario Load pattern
In terms of .loadtest the load pattern is one way of controlling user load during .loadtest execution the other is the test mix. The scenario can be instrumented to use a constant load or a step load. Constant load begins, executes, and ends with the same number of concurrent users. Step load starts with a minimum number of users, increases that number of concurrent users based on the step duration and count, and eventually reaches the specified maximum concurrent user count if the duration of the execution run allows for it.
Instrumenting Scenario Tip 1: Load pattern
Step pattern usually gives a more realistic load on the architecture and will allow you to observe the impacts of a growing load during one test execution especially useful if you have a limited timeframe for performing the load test.
Instrumenting Scenario Test mix model
The .loadtest test mix model is the second component that controls user load during .loadtest execution the first being the load pattern. There are three test mix models: "Based on the total number of tests", "Based on the number of Virtual Users", and "Based on user pace".
Instrumenting Scenario Tip 2: Test mix model
The "Based on user pace" option runs each test for the specified number of times per hour. This, in conjunction with the Step Load Pattern seems to deliver the most predictable number of user events per hour very useful when you want to simulate a particular production or stress load pattern.
Instrumenting Scenario Browser mix
The .loadtest Browser mix simulates the behavior of various browsers it must be noted that this is a simulation not the invocation of any particular browser. I have not found a way to verify the accuracy of the browser simulations beyond the fact that certain browsers, such as Firefox) seem to have a faster response time than other browsers, such as Internet Explorer 6.0 which coincides with my functional test automation experience with these browsers.
Instrumenting Scenario Tip 3: Browser Mix
For most situations, a browser mix that consists of 80% IE 6.0, 15% IE 7.0, and 5% Firefox 2.0 simulates the "normal" browser mix. These ratios will change based on the type of user community, corporate versus consumer.
Instrumenting Scenario Network mix
The .loadtest Network mix simulates the type of network the end-user uses to access the architecture. The Network landscape should be well understood by the Network administrators - .loadtest allows you to simulate this network mix and therefore the actual network speed of the users.
Instrumenting Scenario Tip 4: Editing Scenarios
The scenarios contained within any .loadtest can be modified / edited at anytime. The .webtest(s) that make-up the scenario can also be edited at anytime all of these changes will take affect once the .loadtest is re-built or compiled.
Instrumenting a .loadtest
The overall analysis and execution profile of a .loadtest can be controlled by selecting appropriate counter sets, setting counter thresholds, and selecting appropriate run settings.
Instrumenting .loadtest Counter sets
The counter sets define the values / counter that will be captured by VSTS during the load test run - there are default counters that are always captured. These can be observed during execution and can be viewed under the counter sets within the load test. More importantly you can add machines / counters to the counter sets. This can be incredibly useful for observing the characteristics of architectural components under load.
Instrumenting .loadtest Tip 1: Counter sets
The number and variety of counter sets can be a somewhat overwhelming focus on counters that will best address the architecture under load test. Partner with development, database administrators, and the architecture group when attempting to interpret the meanings behind these counters.
Instrumenting .loadtest Threshold rules
Threshold rules monitor the activity of counters within any given counter set and will raise an error when a particular threshold has been exceeded. VSTS comes with a predetermined set of thresholds (i.e. .NET garbage collection) and the ability to add additional threshold rules. Threshold rules either compare against a constant value (milestone value) or against other counter values.
Instrumenting .loadtest Run settings
VSTS supports several run settings, in fact one load test can have more than one configuration but only one configuration is active at any one time. The run settings for the .loadtest contain the counter sets selected for each system and the common run settings provided in the last wizard section. The purpose of these settings is fairly self evident but there are a few "surprises" of which you should be cautious around
VSTS executes .loadtest the same way it does .webtest (s) - the most significant difference being the type of real time information being supplied during execution. In the case of a .webtest the results focus on the request / response sequence while in a .loadtest the focus is on the metrics being captured and the load being applied. The test editor will show the progress during the test run and the results of the run can be opened anytime after the run is complete.
Analyzing .loadtest results
The results of a .loadtest run can be observed during execution and after execution is complete. These data can be viewed as a Graph, as Tables, and in and overall summary report.
The graph gives a high-level view of the test result, but I find the supplied graphs to be somewhat misleading and difficult to read. If you are going to use Graphs to communicate the load test results, keep them simple and ensure the scales are clearly understood.
The table view of the load test results is much clearer and more precise than the graph view but the amount of information can be somewhat overwhelming. I suggest using the table view to identify specific performance issues to support but not directly communicate performance test findings.
The summary view gives an overall performance report for the current .loadtest run. It reports on Test Results, Page Results, Transaction Results, and System under Test Resource consumption, Controller Resource consumption, and finally Agent Resource consumption.
Analyzing .loadtest Tip 1: Exporting to Excel
Many of the tables, all of the summary report, and the content of the graphs can be exported to excel. This gives you the option of creating a "smart" spreadsheet that displays the results of the load test in a single document that can be used to communicate to both technical and non-technical audiences in a consistent way.
VSTS Closing Comments
As you can see, with a little training and experience VSTS can become a useful performance testing tool. I anticipate with the continued evolution of this toolset and the growth in the Visual Studio User community that organizations moving toward development with visual studio will make this part of the overall performance assurance solution.Back to Microsoft VSTS 2008 .webtest how-to
About the author: David W Johnson "DJ" is a senior test architect with over 22 years of experience in information technology across several industries having played key roles in business needs analysis, software design, software development, testing, training, implementation, organizational assessments, and support of business solutions.