® IBM Software Group © 2006 IBM Corporation Introducing IBM Rational Performance Tester v7.0 A tool for measuring and tuning your application.

®

IBM Software Group

© 2006 IBM Corporation

IntroducingIBM Rational Performance Tester v7.0

A tool for measuring and tuning your application

IBM Software Group | Rational software

2

Agenda

Rational Performance Tester Overview

Demonstration


3

TheSWEATMethod

Mission Impossible: Test a Gazillion Users

We only have to prove that it

works for 20,000 users!

And just HOW are we

supposed to do that?


4

The SWEAT Method for Performance Testing

Steps

Workload

Equipment

Analysis

Tools

Five Essentials of Loadtesting:

Help!What have I gotten myself into?


5

Steps in the Process

1. Identify Testing Goals

2. Define the Workload Model

3. Build the Lab Environment

4. Build and Test the Workload

5. Analyze and Tune the System

6. Measure and Report the Results

Many important stepsneed to be taken

“It’s hard work!”


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Identify Testing Goals

Performance tests are designed to answer specific questions

Identify the key stakeholders for the test and its results

Work with the stakeholders to explicitly list the questions

Gain agreement on goals before scoping and planning the test

Negotiate project scope against the cost of the test

Write it down: testing goals, project artifacts, and criteria for project completion


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Workload (Model)

Document the test goals

Elaborate the user scenarios

List any specific emulated user characteristics such as think time

Identify input data variation needed to defeat optimistic server caching

Determine transaction rates during peak load (per user and aggregate)

Identify key measurement points

Sometimes it feels like…a hard hat zone


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Workload Definition Approach #1 – User Groups

Define each type of user in a workload and what they do

Concentrate on a “busy hour” definition with an analyst who knows the customer’s work flow

Transactions / Busy Hour (# in group) Telesales

(1500)

Cust Svc

(200)

Managers

(50)

Enter new customer data 3000 0 0

Take a customer order 6000 300 0

Check status on a customer order 1500 1000 100

Provide return # for a customer order 0 500 150

Adjust quantities on customer order 0 200 50


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Workload Definition Approach #2 –Transaction Rates

Get a monitored workload log from the customer’s production environment

Make sure you can isolate a peak workload period and separate out the transaction rates during that time

Transactions / Busy Hour

* daily batch reports running

10 AM

Peak

Noon

Rush

3 PM

Peak*

Enter new customer data 3000 1000 1500

Take a customer order 6300 8000 3000

Check status on a customer order 2600 3000 1500

Provide RMA for a customer order 150 50 120

Adjust quantities on customer order 150 25 50


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Equipment

Use a powerful workstation for your console (2GB main memory)

Use an array of identical servers as driver systems (Blade Center)

Plan on 10-20% spare driver capacity

Provide adequate network bandwidth between drivers and system under test

A maze of twisty little passages…


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What about Driver Sizing for RPT

Test Agent Equipment Sizing -- General Guidelines Dual processor systems (or better) where possible

> 2 GB main memory where possible

May get better performance running two engines on one agent box

Beware of running out of CPU before memory

Treat Windows and Linux as equivalent for sizing

Hot AIX (JS21) boxes could be the most scalable

As always, mileage may vary especially if you accelerate “per user” rates

Server Hardware CPU Speed Main Memory Capacity

xSeries 330 (2 CPUs) 800 MHz (PIII) 1 GB memory 800 VTs

xSeries 346 (2 CPUs) 3.4 GHz DualCore 3.2 GB memory 1500 VTs

AIX JS21 (2 CPUs) 2.7 GHz (64-bit) 16 GB memory 2500 VTs


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Analysis – Gain Access to the Right Expertise

Arrange for a Subject Matter Expert familiar with tuning WebSphere and any back-end databases involved

Set up system resource and network monitoring

Set up server logging with transaction timing enabled

Tune the subsystems first before trying to do a full capacity load test

The value of IBM Services


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Monitoring and Analyzing the Test Results

Make sure driver system run with <70% CPU utilization once in steady state to ensure valid response time data

Monitor CPU, memory, and I/O statistics on systems under test

Look for hot spots from a resource usage perspective

Tune multi-tiered and clustered systems on a subsystem basis first before looking at overall system performance

Evaluate system performance from an architectural perspective Login authentication servers

Front-end web servers

Web application servers

Database servers


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Rational Performance Tester v7.0 – The tool of choice

Visual test representation

Fully adaptable test execution without running wizards

Zero programming required for input data variation

Custom Java code environment for enhanced functionality

Highly scalable architecture with multiple agents

Customizable reports of real-time performance measurements

System monitoring and application breakdown data available

Support for statistical analysis for the steady state interval

Full support for all major packaged ERP applications


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Rational Performance Tester

New in v7 Benefits

Simplifies process for problem diagnosis by easily identifying performance bottlenecks in underlying application code

Simplify reports for faster interpretation and analysis

Root Cause Analysis Integrated IPOT Functionality

Agentless remote monitoring

Enhanced reporting

Resource Overlay

New Environment Support Firefox

mySAP (SAP HTTP Interface)

Client Side Digital Certificates

Expands the breadth of environments in which Performance Tester can be used

Execution within a Citrix environment

Enable remotely distributed resources to participate in functional testing process

Adoption of Process Advisor Provide guidance and expertise to enhance

tool experience


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Rational Performance Tester

New in v7 Benefits

Remove various objections and barriers to adoption for new users

Collectively improve overall tool experience for both new and experienced users

Various enhancements Time based reporting

Schedule cut/copy/paste

Added Test Save As…

Simplified IP Aliasing, Std Deviation, Test Stop

Startup and Scalability enhancements


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Solution: Root Cause Analysis

Benefits: Ability to perform detailed analysis and

breakdown of J2EE transactions when a system is under load.

Helps testing teams to pinpoint the component responsible for the bottleneck.

For IT organizations that use Tivoli ITCAM solutions, detailed performance data can be delivered directly to the developers desktop to help the developer pinpoint the source code causing the bottleneck.

Key Features: Problem Analysis Tools

Response Time Breakdown

Agentless Resource Monitoring

Resource Overlays with Response Times

IBM Tivoli Monitoring Collectors Additions

New!

IBM Rational Performance Tester decomposes poor response times identified during a performance test…

…into the amount of time spent within each application component.


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Challenge: Provide test automation support for

mission critical enterprise resource planning applications

New in this release: Functional Tester

SAP 6.2 and 6.4 support

Siebel 7.8 support

Performance Tester mySAP support (SAP HTTP interface)

Partner BSD offering for Oracle eBusiness Suite

Provides a comprehensive solution for all key ERP solutions

New!

Existing foundation Functional Tester Siebel 7.7 support

Performance Tester Siebel and SAP support

PeopleSoft support implicit with RFT and RPT support for HTML/HTTP environments

Packaged Application Support

® IBM Software Group © 2006 IBM Corporation Introducing IBM Rational Performance Tester v7.0 A tool for measuring and tuning your application.

Documents

ibm corporation

customer order020050

customer order1502550

value of ibm services

test goals

application slide

test results

project completion slide