Preface

Welcome to the Oracle Load Testing User's Guide. This guide explains how to get started using the features and options of Oracle Load Testing for load testing of Web-based applications.

Audience

This guide is intended for Web test engineers who will be conducting load and scalability testing of a Web site or application. The guide does require an understanding of software or Web application testing concepts. Test engineers using Oracle Load Testing should be familiar with Oracle OpenScript scripts and the concepts of Web application testing, load testing, scalability testing, and reporting.

Prerequisites

Oracle Load Testing does not require any programming experience to develop load scenarios. However, test engineers performing distributed load testing in a network environment should be familiar with networking concepts and how to verify communication between workstations in a network.

Using This Guide

This guide is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, "Introduction" provides an overview of the major features of Oracle Load Testing.

Chapter 2, "Planning for Load Testing" provides a basic methodology for testing scalability and performance of Web applications throughout the life cycle.

Chapter 3, "Basics" provides descriptions of the Oracle Load Testing main window features and menu options.

Chapter 4, "Managing Systems" explains how to define the systems that will be used to run Virtual Users for creating load on the application-under -test.

Chapter 5, "Creating Scenario Profiles" explains how to define scenario profiles based upon OpenScript scripts and Oracle Load testing profile properties.

Chapter 6, "Defining VU Rampup" eexplains how to specify the Virtual User ramp ramp rate for the curent scenario.

Chapter 7, "Setting Test Goals" explains how to test goals for the current scenario.

Chapter 8, "Defining ServerStats Monitors" explains how to use the ServerStats features of Oracle Load Testing to monitor systems and metrics during a load test of the application-under-test.

Chapter 9, "Running and Saving Scenarios" explains how to use the Ramp settings to specify start and stop times for scenario profiles and the rampup specifications for each virtual user.

Chapter 10, "Viewing Active Sessions" explains how to view runtime session data and graphs for currently runnning scenarios.

Chapter 11, "Using Graphs and Reports" explains how to view real-time performance, statistics, and error information in graphs and reports.

Chapter 12, "Working With Sessions" explains how to attach and detach from running sessions.

Chapter 13, "Managing Files and Databases" explains how to manage databases for use in Oracle Load Testing and how to import and export files to and from the Oracle Load Testing Server.

Chapter 14, "Setting Options" explains how to specify default options used by Oracle Load Testing.

Appendix A, "Internet Status Codes" lists the status codes and Internet error codes that can be returned from a server.

Appendix B, "Error Messages" provides a reference for error messages and codes generated by Oracle Load Testing.

Appendix C, "Command Line Reference" provides a reference for the parameters for running Oracle Load Testing scenarios from the command line.

Appendix D, "ServerStats Metric Descriptions" describes the default Oracle Load Testing ServerStats metrics. Use the Perfmon data source to add metrics that are not listed.

Documentation Accessibility

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Access to Oracle Support

Oracle customers that have purchased support have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support. For information, visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=info or visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=trs if you are hearing impaired.

Related Documents

For more information, see the following documents in the Oracle Application Testing Suite documentation set:

  • Oracle Application Testing Suite Release Notes

  • Oracle Application Testing Suite Installation Guide

  • Oracle Application Testing Suite Security Guide

  • Oracle Application Testing Suite Getting Started Guide

  • Oracle Functional Testing OpenScript User's Guide

  • Oracle Functional Testing OpenScript Programmer's Reference

  • Oracle Load Testing Load Testing User's Guide

  • Oracle Test Manager Test Manager User's Guide

Conventions

The following text conventions are used in this document:

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