How to Design a Performance Test

This task describes how to design a performance test.

To learn more about performance test design, see Performance Test Design Overview.

1. Prerequisites

   • Make sure the relevant scripts/tests have been uploaded/saved to Performance Center. You can use VuGen scripts for performance testing, as well as UFT GUI tests and UFT API tests.

   • VuGen scripts: For details on uploading VuGen scripts, see Upload VuGen Scripts Dialog Box.

   • UFT GUI tests: For details on saving UFT GUI Tests, see the HP Unified Functional Testing User Guide.

   • UFT API tests: For details on saving UFT API tests, see the HP Unified Functional Testing User Guide.

   • Under Lab Resources, select Testing Hosts and make sure that there is at least one Controller, one load generator, and one data processor in the host pool of your project. If not, contact your administrator to add them.

   • For optional pre-design best practices, see Performance Test Design Best Practices.

2. Create a new performance test
   

   1. On the My Performance Center navigation bar, select Test Management > Test Plan.
   2. In the Test Plan Tree, select the Subject root folder, click New Folder . Type folder name and click OK.
   3. Select the folder from the tree.
   4. Click New Test . Fill in the fields in the Create New Performance Test dialog box. For more details, see Test Plan Module.

   Tip: To simplify the process of creating, designing, and running performance tests, you can use Test Express Designer. This tool guides you through each step, including selecting scripts for a test, scheduling how many Vusers to run in each script and for how long to run them, and selecting a post-run action. During test run, you can view the performance test initialization steps performed by Performance Center and the status for each step. If each step is completed successfully, the performance test continues running and the Performance Test Run page opens. For user interface details, see Test Express Designer.

3. Design a workload for the test

   Designing a workload involves creating Vuser groups, distributing Vusers among the Vuser groups, assigning hosts to the Vuser groups, and defining a run schedule for the test. For task details, see How to Define a Performance Test Workload.

   Note: Non-English national characters are not supported in group names.

4. Integrate virtualized services - Optional

   Configure and integrate virtualized services into the performance test. For task details, see How to Add Virtualized Services to Performance Tests.

   You can start adding projects that contain virtualization services to your performance test from the Performance Test Designer at any point in the design process, but we recommend adding projects after you have added relevant scripts to the test.

5. Select a topology for the test - Optional

   Note: Before you can select a topology for a test, you must design the topology. To design topologies, see How to Design Topologies.

   In the Performance Center Designer's Topology tab, click Select Topology and select a topology for the test. For user interface details, see Performance Test Designer > Topology .

6. Select monitor profiles to monitor the test - Optional

   Note: Before you can select monitors for a test, you must configure monitor machines and create monitor profiles. For details, see How to Create and Configure Monitor Profiles.

   Similarly, you must define monitor-over-firewall agents in the system before you can select them to monitor a test.

   In the Performance Center Designer's Monitors tab, click Add Monitor Profile or Add Monitor OFW. The respective tree opens on the right. Select a monitor, and drag and drop it into the left pane.

   For user interface details, see Performance Test Designer > Monitors .

7. Enable and configure diagnostics - Optional

   Enable and configure diagnostic modules to collect diagnostics data from the test run.

   • For ERP/CRM diagnostics, see How to Enable and Configure ERP/CRM Diagnostics.

   • For J2EE/.NET diagnostics, see How to Enable and Configure J2EE/.NET Diagnostics.

8. Define service level agreements for the test - Optional

   Define service level agreements to measure performance metrics against performance goals. For details, see How to Define Service Level Agreements.

9. Results

   When you save the test, it goes through a validation process. The test is valid only if it contains no errors. The result of the validation is stated at the bottom of the Test Designer window.

   

   Click the link to open the Test Validation Results dialog box and view the details of the validation results. For user interface details, see Test Validation Results Dialog Box.

   Note: If you make changes to the test, and the test is linked to a timeslot, the timeslot is updated with these changes automatically.