NeoLoad® Documentation

2.0

All right reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher and the copyright holder.

01  2006


Table of Contents

I. Getting Started
1. Overview
Welcome to Neoload Help
Contents
Formats
Legal issues
About Load Testing
Why load test web applications ?
Load testing with NeoLoad
2. Installation
Requirements
Operating system
Disk space
CPU & memory
Installation
Installing the Controller
Installing a Load Generator
License Key Management
Installing the license key
Activating the license key
Transferring the license key
Running NeoLoad
Running the Controller
Running the Load Generator
Advanced Installation
Using a firewall between the Controller and Load Generator
Increasing available memory for Load Generators
Increasing available memory for the Controller
3. Quick Start
Recording the Test Scenario
Running the Test
Test Results
II. Reference Guide
4. Preferences
HTTP Recorder Settings
Proxy Settings
Browser Settings
Skins
5. Variables
Creating a Variable
Value change policy
The Variable Extractor
Testing a Variable
Using Variables
6. The Results Manager
Generating a Report
Deleting a Test
7. Design
Recording a Test Scenario
Set-up
SSL support
Starting recording
Automatic browser management
Manually configuring the recording proxy settings
The Recording Completed wizard
Filtering out unwanted requests
Troubleshooting
The Repository
Servers
Web pages
HTTP requests
Link and form extractors
SOAP requests
Virtual Users
Creating a Virtual User
Validating a Virtual User
Logical actions
Populations
Percentage
Bandwith
Browser
Use cookies
Connection
8. Runtime
Test Settings
Scenarios
Duration policy
Load policy
Load Generator hosts
Advanced
Monitors
Monitor types
Server connections
Defining a monitor
HTTP monitors
BEA WebLogic monitors
IBM WebSphere monitors
RSTAT monitors
SNMP monitors
Telnet/SSH monitors
WIN monitors
Runtime
Stopping the test
Runtime information
Real-time graph
Load Generators
Real-time Monitors
Real-time errors
9. Results
General Information
Selecting a test
Deleting a test
Filtering by Population or Virtual User
Web page vs. HTTP request statistics
Test Summary
Selecting a summary
Test summary
Statistics summary
Hot spots
Errors
Page results
Container results
Graphs
Plotting a statistic
Plotting a monitor
Deleting a curve
Graph features
Comparing test results
Using multiple graphs
Percentile graphs
Exporting data
Values
Displaying web pages or HTTP requests
Results table
Plotting curves
Exporting data
Errors
General error information
Selected error details
Previous request
Generating a Report
Launching the Report Wizard
Report settings
Exporting customized graphs
III. Troubleshooting Guide, F.A.Qs and HOWTOs
10. Best Practices
Defining Objectives
Types of objective
Defining criteria for success or failure
Producing a Realistic Test
Defining the number of Virtual Users.
Defining several types of Virtual Users
Using different user accounts and values
Testing load balancers
Simulating actual user bandwidth
Tips
Making your Results Talk
Producing informative results
Using results
11. NeoLoad F.A.Q
12. Troubleshooting Guide
13. Neoload HowTos
Running a Test from the Command Line
Scheduling a Test
Increasing Available Memory for the Load Generator
Logging in With Multiple Accounts Using a CSV File
Creating and Linking a CSV Variable to Login Information
Multiple Accounts Using the Post-recording Wizard and a CSV file
Creating Virtual Users
Creating a Virtual User Using the Post-recording Wizard
Creating and Configuring a Virtual User
Creating Virtual Users that Behave Differently
Creating Realistic Populations
Extracting a Dynamic Hidden Field from an HTML Form
Understanding the Problem
Extracting and Reinjecting the Hidden Dynamic Value
Going a Little Further with the Form Extractor
Related Links
Extracting and Following a Dynamic URL Generated by your Application
Understanding the Problem
Extracting and Reinjecting the Dynamic URL
Related Links
Extracting Data from an HTTP Request and Using it Later in the Scenario
Understanding the Problem
Extracting Contents and Assigning it to a Variable
Using the Variable
Related Links
Analyzing Errors in the Error Panel
Understanding the Context
Checking a Virtual User
Analyzing Errors on a Scenario Run
Related Links
Comparing Several Test Results
Understanding the Context
Displaying and Comparing Graph Results
Comparing Container Results
Related Links
Creating Business Transactions
Understanding the Context
Example Overview
Adding Dynamic Behavior
Constructing the Virtual User and the Associated Business Transaction
Building a population and a scenario
Analyzing Business Transaction Results
Related Links
Monitoring an Application Server or a Database
Understanding the Context
Adding and Defining Monitors
Related Links
Using Regular Expressions in NeoLoad
Understanding the Context
Related Links
Validating a Server Response
Understanding the Context
Adding Validations to an HTTP response
Related Links
IV. Appendix
A. Regular Expressions
Overview
Introduction
Using regular expressions
Quick Reference
Special character definitions
Character classes
Pre-defined character classes
Examples
Extracting a URL parameter value
Extracting a Form Parameter Value
Extracting HTTP headers
Extracting miscellaneous values
Common Errors & Tips
Use of the question mark '?'
Brackets
Spaces
Links to Regex Resources
Links to Regex Testers
B. Status Code Definitions
Informational 1xx
100 Continue
101 Switching Protocols
Successful 2xx
200 OK
201 Created
202 Accepted
203 Non-Authoritative Information
204 No Content
205 Reset Content
206 Partial Content
Redirection 3xx
300 Multiple Choices
301 Moved Permanently
302 Found
303 See Other
304 Not Modified
305 Use Proxy
306 (Unused)
307 Temporary Redirect
Client Error 4xx
400 Bad Request
401 Unauthorized
402 Payment Required
403 Forbidden
404 Not Found
405 Method Not Allowed
406 Not Acceptable
407 Proxy Authentication Required
408 Request Timeout
409 Conflict
410 Gone
411 Length Required
412 Precondition Failed
413 Request Entity Too Large
414 Request-URI Too Long
415 Unsupported Media Type
416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable
417 Expectation Failed
Server Error 5xx
500 Internal Server Error
501 Not Implemented
502 Bad Gateway
503 Service Unavailable
504 Gateway Timeout
505 HTTP Version Not Supported
C. NeoLoad Status Codes
Glossary
Index