Ideal Runtime Settings in HP LoadRunner

Many of the software test engineers who are just started their career in performance might be skeptical in choosing runtime settings during unit testing and in controller. There is a big difference in the settings in VuGen and controller.

VuGen runtime settings is only for one user i.e. for testers, but in Controller runtime settings is for the actual real-time scenario. Care must be taken in each and every aspects of runtime settings in LoadRunner. In correct settings will leads to simulate unreal-time scenario and it will impact the performance of the application.

In this blog, you are going to see about ideal runtime settings in HP LoadRunner in detail. In HP LoadRunner 12.50, you can export/import the runtime settings in *. JSON format just like in HP UFT.

Assumption:

  • Protocol is HTTP/HTML

I use the shortcut F4 key to open runtime settings. HTTP/HTML runtime settings has five different sections: General, Browser, Network, Internet Protocol, and Data Format Extension as shown below. Each section has various options to configure.

Runtime Settings
Runtime Settings

General > Run Logic

Below is the setting which is ideal for unit testing and in controller.

Run Logic
Run Logic

Make sure that the action order is correct and the run logic type. Usually one iteration is perfect for the load testing.

General > Pacing

Pacing enables to control the time between iterations. There are three different options as shown below. Usually start new iteration at fixed interval of ‘n’ seconds is perfect in controller. For unit testing, as soon as the previous iteration ends.

In Scenarios

Pacing in Scenarios
Pacing in Scenarios

Unit Testing

Pacing in Unit Testing
Pacing in Unit Testing

General > Log

Log view enables you to configure what type of logging information to write it in the output. For unit testing, it is important to use below settings.

Log
Log

But in scenario, it is not required to log everything. If you enable, it will clog up your performance center disk space. Below is the setting I prefer in controller.

Log Settings in Controller
Log Settings in Controller

General > Think Time

Think time enables you to configure the time between the transactions. It emulates like a real user. For unit testing you can ignore think time.

Think Time
Think Time

But in the scenario, I prefer to add constant/random think time as shown below.

Think Time in Controller
Think Time in Controller

General > Additional Attributes

If you want to configure additional attributes such as computer name, server name, ipv4/ipv6 etc., you can add it in this view as shown below.

Additional Attributes
Additional Attributes

Sample Snippet

Action()
{

char * server;
server = lr_get_attrib_string(“computername”);
lr_output_message(“%s”,server);

return 0;
}

Output

Starting iteration 1.

Maximum number of concurrent connections per server: 6           [MsgId: MMSG-26989]

Starting action Action.

Action.c(6): yourcomputername

Ending action Action.

Ending iteration 1.

General > Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous enables you to set various settings as shown below. Below settings are perfect for unit testing as well as in scenarios.

Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous

Browser > Browser Emulation

I prefer below settings for unit testing and in scenarios. But again it varies case to case. If you do not want to simulate the browser cache, you can disable. Also, I selected simulate prefetch and prerender, if you do not want it, you can uncheck it. I always prefer to use default user-agent string; you can change it if you want to simulate other browsers or mobiles.

Browser Emulation
Browser Emulation

Network > Speed Simulation

Always use maximum bandwidth for unit testing and in scenario unless you are test cases are focusing the bandwidth.

Speed Simulation
Speed Simulation

Internet Protocol > Content Check

Always enable content check and add all the relevant rules which will validate the rules on all the HTML returned by server.

Content Check
Content Check

Internet Protocol > Proxy

It is ideal to use default browser’s proxy for your testing unless your application under test configured in different zone.

Proxy
Proxy

Internet Protocol > Preferences

Leave the default settings in preferences and only enable image and text checks for unit testing and in scenarios.

Preferences
Preferences

Internet Protocol > Download Filters

If you want to exclude the resources which VuGen download, you can add the rules in Download Filters. E.g. if your website has Google/Facebook references and you do not want it when you replay, add the filter types as shown below.

Download Filters
Download Filters

Data Format Extension > Chain Configuration

If you enabled Data Format Extension (DFE) during code generation, you can enable it in runtime settings. DFE helps you to correlate/parameterize the encoding/decoding responses from the server.

DFE
DFE

About the Author

1 thought on “Ideal Runtime Settings in HP LoadRunner”

  1. Hi NaveenKumar ,

    I’m a begginer with perf center, loadrunner etc…
    I understand that for pacing, when I choose “start new iteration at fixed interval of ‘n’ seconds” the new iteration will start ‘n’ seconds after the start of current iteration. But it seems that if the current iteration is not over, the next iteration will not start.

    There is a solution (configuration maybe) to start each iteration at fixed interval even if the current iteration is not over yet ?

    Thanks & sorry for my english

    Best regards
    Yacine

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hamster - Launch JMeter Recent Test Plans SwiftlyDownload for free
+
Share via
Copy link