Planning Performance Tests
Planning Performance Tests
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You can write a test script using any scripting language. When you supply a test
script in this way, you must write an adapter so that TestManager recognizes the
test script type. For more information, see the
Rational TestManager Extensibility
Reference
.
Planning Performance Tests
Testing the performance of a server typically involves loading the server with many
virtual testers. The objective is to find out how the server performs under the
workload.
Some of the performance questions you might want to answer are:
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How many virtual testers can the server support under normal conditions?
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Are there any situations where server performance degrades suddenly under
normal conditions?
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How does the system perform when you exceed the normal conditions? In a
worst-case scenario, does the system degrade gracefully or does it break down
completely?
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How does the system perform under varying hardware configurations?
The following sections discuss the key steps that are involved in planning a test.
Testing Response Times
TestManager lets you measure various indicators of performance--for example:
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How long did it take for the action to complete?
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How quickly was the server able to respond under heavy workload conditions?
You can measure the client response time or server response time, or both.
Setting Pass and Fail Criteria for Performance Tests
Because performance can be subjective, it is essential that you identify the features to
be tested and the criteria that determine whether performance passes or fails. The
pass or fail criteria often involve a range of acceptable response times.
For example, you could define the following as an acceptable response time:
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For 100 virtual testers, 90% of all transactions have an average response time of 5
seconds or less. No response time can exceed 20 seconds.
