Load Testing - WebLoadUI Pro

LoadComplete 2.5 - Load Generation from Amazon EC2

New Features

Below is a summary of updates and enhancements that have been included in LoadComplete version 2.50. For information on features introduced in earlier releases, see What's New in LoadComplete 2.

Cloud Testing Support

LoadComplete 2.50 introduces support for cloud testing. You run LoadComplete on your computer and use cloud machines to simulate virtual users. This functionality is available for both Node-Locked and Floating User licenses.

LoadComplete 2.50 makes cloud testing really easy. All you need for this is an Amazon account and Internet connection.

SmartBear offers a publicly available Amazon machine image for launching cloud computers (instances), so you do not have to spend time and efforts on creating and configuring the image yourself.

Test creation is easy as 1-2-3: in your test project, you specify the Amazon machine image to be used for launching cloud computers, and in your load test you specify virtual users to be simulated in a cloud. That’s all. When you run a test, LoadComplete automatically starts cloud computers, simulates virtual users on them, gets results and terminates the cloud machines when they are no longer needed. Again, all these actions are done automatically, without additional questions and without asking you to write any script code.

Validating Response Data

To check whether a request was simulated successfully, LoadComplete checks the response code it receives from the server with the response code that was recorded for that request.

In addition to checking response codes, LoadComplete version 2.50 also supports verifying the response contents against some baseline data. This feature greatly improves the possibilities of Flash and Flex testing as these applications typically use the 200 (OK) HTTP response codes for requests and pass information about errors within the response body.

LoadComplete 2.50 also includes a new Failed Validations graph that provides summary information on validation failures that occurred during the test run. You can find the graph on the Pass/Fail page of the test log’s Report panel.

Also, version 2.50 includes a new Failed Validations counter that you can use to monitor the number of validation failures during the test execution on the Runtime Graphs page of the LoadTesting editor. By default, the counter is hidden. You have to add it to the graphs, if you are interested in it.

Enhanced Request Parameterization

In earlier versions of LoadComplete you could modify request parameters passed either in the request URL, or in the request body. In version 2.50 you can also parameterize the URL path. This allows you to create load tests for web sites that use user or session IDs in web pages’ URLs.

Version 2.50 also introduces support for parameterizing request header fields. This is especially useful if your tested web application passes data to the server using custom header fields. Now you can change the fields’ values on-the-fly and create more flexible and powerful tests.

Test Log Improvements

• Usability improvement. The Warnings and Errors graphs have been combined into one graph, so you can easily analyze these relative characteristics using one chart. The integrated graph is called Warnings and Errors and is shown on the Pass / Fail page of the load test’s results.

• Generating custom graphs. Since version 2.50, LoadComplete allows creating custom graphs that may include several predefined metrics shown on one chart. This feature lets you easily compare the needed metrics visually using one chart. To create a custom chart, use the Custom Chart page of the test log’s Report panel.

• In earlier versions of LoadComplete, the project editor contained a list of test results. It duplicates the list that is displayed under the “Project_Name Log” node in the Project Explorer panel. In version 2.50 the project editor has been removed. To work with test results, use the log items that are displayed in the Project Explorer.

More Enhancements

• Support for the AMF protocol has been improved (this protocol is used mainly by Adobe Flash and Flex applications). In earlier versions LoadComplete did not support objects that implemented the IExternalizable interface and displayed them as [Binary data] objects in the Scenario editor. Version 2.50 introduces support for typical classes implementing this interface, so you can view objects’ contents and modify their data in your tests.

• Improved behavior of the /exportlog command-line parameter. Now, LoadComplete lets you specify the name of the file that will hold the exported results without specifying the name of the target folder. In this case, LoadComplete will save the exported log in the current LoadComplete folder (by default, it is the project folder) under the specified file name.

• Now, LoadComplete allows specifying a custom delimiter for CSV variables. For this purpose, the wizards used for creating and modifying CSV variables include the new Delimiter field that lets you specify a character that will be treated as a separator for the values loaded to a CSV variable.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed: LoadComplete could hang while performing find/replace operations.

• Fixed: Verification of a complex scenario caused the "Out of memory" error.

• LoadComplete no longer replaces parameterized request data with the name of the CVS variable used for parameterization if the corresponding CSV file from which the parameterization data should be retrieved is missing. If the required file is missing, LoadComplete displays an error message upon the test start.

• Now, LoadComplete can record, verify and simulate the traffic correctly if the Generic Security Services Application Program interface (GSSAPI) is used.

• The error message, which is posted to the test log when LoadComplete fails to parse the contents of binary XML responses returned by Silverlight applications, has been improved.

• LoadComplete no longer throws an exception during scenario verification and traffic simulation if the column names in the Excel file from which data is retrieved for scenario parameterization contain spaces.

• LoadComplete no longer freezes while searching for text if the sought-for text is not found.