Load Generation Capabilities for Effective Performance Testing

To carry out performance testing of Web applications, you must ensure that sufficiently powerful hardware is available to generate load levels. At the same time, you need to avoid investing in unnecessarily expensive hardware "just to be sure." A valid model for estimating the load generation capabilities of performance testing tools on different hardware configurations will help you generate the load you need with the minimum hardware. Rajeev Joshi believes the models provided by most tool vendors are too simplistic for practical use. In fact, in addition to the hardware configuration, the load generation capabilities of any tool are a function of many factors: the number of users, frequency and time distribution of requests, data volume, and think time. Rajeev presents a model for the open source load generator tool, Jmeter, which you can adapt for any performance testing tool.

• Model the load generating capabilities of your performance test tools
• Experimental designs to verify a load generation model
• How to purchase or allocate just the right amount of hardware for a performance test