Loadrunner Course

LOAD RUNNER

Load Runner: One of the best automated performance testing tool.

Uses ANSI C as the default programming languageand other languages like Java and VB.

No need to install it on the server under test. It uses native monitors.

Supports all types of protocols (HTTP, FTP and SMTP).

Easy to analyze the results and creating scripts.

As we know Load Runner was acquired by Hewlett-Packard organization. One of the best and most used tool by many organizations. Though it's a paid tool, for perfect and easiness in use this tool is the best.

For every tool, there is a testing process to test an application. For the Load Runner , the best process to follow is:

The above model is the best model to follow for the performance test.

Let's discuss much about the tool now.There are main components of Load Runner. They' are:

Components of Load Runner:

• Vuser Generator
• Controller
• Analyzer

Let's discuss about each component briefly with related examples.

VUser Generator:

The first component and the basic component is "Vuser Generator". In Load Runner tool, humans are replaced by Vusers who are the replica of humans. More number of Vusers can be worked on a single work station with different scenarios. Load runner can accommodate hundreds or even thousands of Vusers with different scenarios.

With the help of Vuser script, users can perform the tests. User can record and playback the application for script generation.By modification or editing the scripts, user can create different scenarios for different Vusers. With this load test can be made simple and easy with one workstation.

Load runner supports scripting languages like ANSI C, VB Script, JAVA etc.. C and VB scripting are the most used ones in load runner. In recent versions of load runner JAVA scripting has been implemented, which can be widely used.

Controller: In Load Runner ‘Controller’ is used to control the VUsers with single work station with different scenarios assigned to VUsers.

Analysis: After the performance test the user can view the results of the test in graphs.More into the concepts of Load Runner. As we discussed, we start with 'Vuser Generator'.

Vuser scripts are created by Virtual User Generator with the recording of activities between client and server. It records the scripts. These scripts are used to emulate the steps of real human users. Using Vugen, we can also run the scripts for debugging.

VuGen can be used for recording in windows platforms. But, a recorded Vuser script can also be run on Unix platform.