WAPT usage

How to analyze a load test report? Part 3: Errors.
Testing practice WAPT usage

How to analyze a load test report? Part 3: Errors.

If you see any errors after executing a load test, first of all you should check if this is a test design problem. I wrote about the most typical problems of that kind here.

Now let’s suppose that the test was designed correctly and any errors we see in the report are related to the load you created in the test. In other words, I would like to talk about errors that appear because of performance problems, not anything else. If you are not sure why an error takes place, try running the test with same profiles and a smaller number of users, and see if the same problem appears.

First of all I should note that there are different types of errors.

WAPT Cloud: New benefits of our load testing solution
General Testing practice WAPT usage

WAPT Cloud: New benefits of our load testing solution

In the last days of 2013 we released a cloud version of our load testing solution. It is based on WAPT Pro, all extension modules and x64 Load Engines, so it is the most feature-reach and powerful combination of all the components we have.

This on-demand load testing solution is offered through the Amazon EC2 Marketplace. This means that with few clicks you can get the full functionality of WAPT Pro running on a virtual system instance in the Amazon Cloud. To do this you need to have an AWS account, however it is also very easy to create one. We provide step by step usage instructions right from our web site.

Some experienced users already know that all our products can be used in any cloud or virtual environment. So, technically this release is not a big step forward. With new cloud version it is easier to start and configure the product, but this is not the actual benefit. What really makes the change is the pricing for the new solution, which is now based on the hour rates.

How to setup Oracle monitoring in WAPT Pro
WAPT usage

How to setup Oracle monitoring in WAPT Pro

WAPT Pro can monitor the performance of database servers during the test. This is useful in case your web application uses a database running on a separate server and you want to check if that database can be a performance bottleneck.

Each database has a special table with performance parameters (such as the number of transactions completed per second, number of threads, etc.). To retrieve any specific parameter you need to execute the corresponding SQL statement. So, this is done the same way as any other data retrieval. The only difference is that performance parameters are calculated by the database server itself. You do not need to create the performance table before using data from it.

How to analyze a load test report? Part 2: Test design problems.
Testing practice WAPT usage

How to analyze a load test report? Part 2: Test design problems.

When you start load testing a web site (especially if this is the first load test in your life) you may see a lot of errors in the report. Possibly you will even have to stop the test before it completes, because at some point in time it becomes clear that something goes wrong. If the problem is not so obvious, it is still recommended to check the report for the errors related to each virtual user profile (i.e. to each different type of virtual users) before looking at any performance data.

Usually you do not create a high load in the very first test of a web site, so if you see any errors in the report, most probably they appear because of the test design problems. In other words, the emulation of the real user activity is performed incorrectly. Your web application may produce errors and even refuse connections because it receives incorrect data from your load testing tool. Why this may happen?

New release: WAPT 8.1 and WAPT Pro 3.1
WAPT usage

New release: WAPT 8.1 and WAPT Pro 3.1

We are proud to announce the release of new versions of our products: WAPT 8.1 and WAPT Pro 3.1. This upgrade is free for all registered users of WAPT 8.0 and WAPT Pro 3.0 correspondingly. So, if you already have a license, you can download new versions and update your installation.

Note that load agents and x64 Load Engines should be also updated for use with the latest version of WAPT Pro.

Even though formally this is a minor upgrade, new versions have a number of features that really make the difference. Now I would like to mention couple technical details about the features that I treat as the most important.

WAPT 8.1 and WAPT Pro 3.1 beta versions
WAPT usage

WAPT 8.1 and WAPT Pro 3.1 beta versions

It has been a while since we last updated our products, and now we plan to do this very soon. This time we decided to provide beta versions to our users couple weeks before the official release, as there are several highly requested new features. So, I am happy to let you know that new versions are available for download.

These versions are fully functional and hopefully not too raw to try. However if you find a bug, you are welcome to report it as usual. We will do our best to provide a fix as soon as possible.

New versions are compatible with the current official builds of all extension modules [..]

Extreme online shopping with WAPT Pro
General Testing practice WAPT usage

Extreme online shopping with WAPT Pro

Recently we have discovered that our load testing solution can be applied in a quite unusual way. One of our users has shared his “success story” with us. It perfectly shows how widely you can apply the product if you know its features very well and have a good fantasy.

The story is actually about Cyber Monday online shopping. You know, some web sites run very special actions to attract customers. They sell limited number of items at exceptionally low prices. In theory you can make a very good deal if you participate. In practice this is almost impossible, because each new item is ordered by someone immediately after it becomes available. Here is where WAPT Pro appeared to be a great automation solution.

Cloud load testing with WAPT Pro
WAPT usage

Cloud load testing with WAPT Pro

Clouds are very popular these days, because they provide a convenient virtual environment for a number of tasks from web hosting to scientific computing. In a cloud you can get a fresh ready to use system with almost any predefined parameters in a matter of minutes without need to purchase hardware and setup the OS. Besides that, clouds usually provide very fast and wide Internet connection. That is why it is usually a very good idea to use clouds for load testing of a web site. This is especially useful if the target site is hosted in the same cloud.

Since WAPT does not require any unusual hardware, it can be easily setup on any virtual system. There is no special license for this type of use.

Module for GWT Testing
WAPT usage

Module for GWT Testing

We have recently released a new extension module for WAPT and WAPT Pro products. As its name suggests, it is targeted at handling web applications developed with help of GWT (Google Web Toolkit).

Till now we have had 4 extension modules. Two of them are optional (ASP.net and JSON), meaning that you can use them to facilitate testing (in many cases this means a significant improvement), but still there are no applications for which these modules are mandatory.

Two other modules (Flash and Silverlight) are used to convert binary data to XML and back again. So, if you have an application developed in Flash or Silverlight, you will not be able to load test it properly without the corresponding module.