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WebLOAD Quick Start

This section shows you how you can get started quickly using WebLOAD by designing and executing a performance test of the RadView Software test site at http://www.webloadmpstore.com. Then you can refer to the complete WebLOAD documentation set to learn more techniques for using WebLOAD.

Quick Start Steps

In this Quick Start, you perform the following steps:

  1. Create a script (see Creating a Script).
  2. Configure a Load Template using the WebLOAD Wizard (see Configuring a Load Template using WebLOAD Wizard ).
  3. Configure Session options (see Setting Session Options ).
  4. Run a test (see Running the Test ).
  5. Analyze test results (see Analyzing Test Results ).

Note: We recommend that you follow the steps in the order they appear. All examples are interrelated and dependent on earlier steps.

Creating a Script

The first step in creating a script is to record your actions as you interact with your Web application.

To create a script:

  1. Start WebLOAD Recorder by selecting Start > All Programs > RadView > WebLOAD > WebLOAD Recorder. WebLOAD Recorder opens.

    WebLOAD Recorder Dialog Box

  2. Select Create a new project, and click OK.

    The WebLOAD Recorder main window opens in Editing Mode for you to begin creating your script.

    WebLOAD Recorder Main Window in Editing Mode

  3. In the main window, in Editing Mode, click the Start Recording button in the Home tab of the WebLOAD Recorder ribbon to begin recording. The Recording dialog box appears.

    WebLOAD Recorder Recording Dialog Box

  4. Set the desired recording parameters, as described in the WebLOAD Recorder User’s Guide.

  5. Click OK.

    WebLOAD Recorder begins recording all of the actions you perform in the browser, as indicated by the recording notification in the WebLOAD Recorder status bar.

    Status Bar

    A browser window opens.

  6. In the address bar, enter the Web address http://www.webloadmpstore.com to go to the WebLOAD test site.

    WebLOAD Test Site Home Page

  7. Navigate through the site, performing the actions you want to test. For example:

    1. Click a product to view the product details.
    2. Click Add to Cart to add the product to your shopping chart.

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

  8. Click the Stop Recording button in the Home tab of the WebLOAD Recorder ribbon to stop the recording.

  9. Click the Save button in the Quick Access toolbar or in the File tab of the WebLOAD Recorder ribbon to save your script.

  10. Type QuickStart as the name of the script in the Save As dialog box and clickSave.

    The script is saved with the extension *.wlp.

    You now have a basic script that can be used in a WebLOAD test configuration. For complete information on creating, editing and modifying scripts, and adding functionality to your script, see the WebLOAD Recorder User’s Guide.

Configuring a Load Template using WebLOAD Wizard

Using the Quick Start, you will learn how to perform the following steps in order to configure a Load Template with the WebLOAD Wizard in the WebLOAD Console:

  1. Opening the WebLOAD Wizard.
  2. Selecting a script 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 Creating Load Templates with the WebLOAD Wizard .

Opening WebLOAD Wizard

The first step in defining a Load Template with the WebLOAD Wizard is defining the type of script to run. The script is the test script that defines the actions that the Virtual Clients perform during the test. WebLOAD supports both single scripts (lone test scripts) and Mix scripts (a group of scripts simulating groups of users performing different activities on the application simultaneously). In this Quick Start, we will create a template running a single script. For information on creating templates with multiple scripts or Mix scripts, see *Creating Load Templates with the WebLOAD Wizard.

To open WebLOAD Wizard:

  1. Start the WebLOAD Console.

    Select Start > All Programs > RadView > WebLOAD > WebLOAD Console.

    The WebLOAD Console opens, and the WebLOAD Console Startup dialog box appears.

  2. Select Create a new Template using WebLOAD Wizard, and click OK. The WebLOAD Wizard opens.

  3. On the Welcome screen, click Next. The script/Mix Type screen appears.

Selecting a Script

To select a script and a performance statistic to monitor:

  1. On the Test Type screen, select Single Script, and click Next.
  2. On the script/Mix Selection screen, click the button and browse to the location of the QuickStart.wlp script created earlier using WebLOAD Recorder. Select the script and click Open.
  3. On the script / Mix Selection screen, click Next. The Host Selection screen appears.

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.

To select a host:

  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 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. Enter 10 in the Concluding number of Virtual Clients field and accept the defaults for the Total time in minutes and Starting number of Virtual Clients fields.

    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. The Performance Measurements Manage screen appears.

Selecting the Performance Measurements

The Performance Measurements Manage screen enables defining which 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.

  1. In the Performance Measurements Manage page, click Add Monitors. The Performance Measurements Manager window appears.

    Performance Measurements Manager (Untitled)

  2. Click the Add data source toolbar button.

    The Performance Measurements Manager Wizard opens.

  3. On the Welcome screen, click Next.

    The Selecting a Data Source window appears.

  4. Click the plus sign ("+") adjacent to System to expand the tree, select Windows platform, and click Next.

  5. Click Browse to browse available hosts. In the Host selection dialog box, highlight the name of your computer in the list, and click Select.

  6. Click Next.

    WebLOAD attempts to connect to the selected host and collect data. A tree of all available measurements to monitor appears.

  7. Expand the tree to select the measurement you want. Click Processor † _Total, select the checkbox adjacent to % Processor Time, and click Next.

  8. Click Finish.

    The Performance Measurements Manager

  9. Click the Close & update toolbar button to save the configuration with the template and return to the WebLOAD Wizard.

  10. Click Next.

  11. Clear the To run this Load Template immediately, select this checkbox and then click Finish checkbox, and click Finish.

    You have now created a Load Template using WebLOAD Wizard.

Setting Session Options

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

  • 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 http://www.webloadmpstore.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. For example, 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 Current Session Options in the Tools tab of the ribbon.
  2. Select the Functional Testing tab.
  3. Under Automatic Data Collection, select the All Pages checkbox.

  4. Under Page Time, check 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.

    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.

  6. 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.

To run the test:

  1. Select Start Session in the Session tab of the ribbon or in the Quick Access toolbar.

  2. At the prompt, click Yes to save the template. Type the filename QuickStart.tpl, and click Save. You can now reuse this template, with its script, schedule and options at a later time.

    The test begins.

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 appears in the Results window.

The WebLOAD Console – WebLOAD Default Report

Viewing the Results in Real Time

Data on load size, hits per second, round time (one run through the script) 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 is 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. You can access several kinds of test details:

  • Hover over any data point to see actual values.
  • Select Dashboard Window in the Session tab of the ribbon to view a quick overview of the 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 Open Statistics in the Session tab of the ribbon. 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. 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 Integrated Report Manager in the Session tab of the ribbon.

    The Integrated Reports dialog box appears.

  2. In the Integrated Reports dialog box, click New.

  3. In the tree, expand the QuickStart::Total branch.

  4. Click the plus sign ("+") adjacent to Hit Time to expand the branch. Then expand the Current Slice branch in the same way. Check 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. Check the checkbox adjacent to Sum (Current Value).

  6. Expand Successful Connections and then expand Current Slice. Select the checkbox adjacent 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 adjacent plus sign ("+") to expand the branch. Expand Processor:%Processor Time:_Time and then expand Current Slice. Check the checkbox adjacent 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 MyReport as 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 Stop All in the Session tab of the ribbon.

  12. Select Save in the File tab of the ribbon to save the data from the test along with the template information (script, options and schedule). Specify a filename (QuickStart) and location and click Save.

Viewing Results with WebLOAD Analytics

WebLOAD Analytics 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 Analytics:

  1. Select WebLOAD Analytics in the Tools tab of the ribbon.

    Data for the last session saved is automatically selected and imported into the WebLOAD Analytics sessions database.

    WebLOAD Analytics automatically creates a new report based on the Summary Portfolio and generates the report. You can optionally perform any of the following:

    • Modify the report – Select the Report Settings tab and edit the parameters you wish to change.
    • Print the report – Select the Report View tab from the Reports area. Click to open the Print dialog and print the report.
    • Publish the report – Click to publish your report as the default format specified in the Preferences window. Select a location and name for your report and click Save. The report is published in the format chosen and saved to the location specified in the Preferences window.

  2. Close WebLOAD Analytics.

  3. Close the WebLOAD Console.

    This concludes our Quick Start guide for WebLOAD. For additional information, refer to RadView’s website at http://www.radview.com/support.