Chapter 2. Introduction to Loadrunner

In the previous article we discussed what is performance testing and its importance.
We came to know about the need of software tool for Performance testing.
In this article series we will discuss about one Performance tool 'Loadrunner'.

Loadrunner - 

Also known as HP Loadrunner is the Performance testing tool by HP, developed previously by
Mercury Interactive and now part of HP Enterprises. This tool is widely used in industry having around 80% of market share. I would recommend you to learn Loadrunner as your first performance testing tool. Let's see some of Loadrunner pros and cons.

Pros:

• Industrial standard. Widely used and well documented. There are many online resources both by HP and other Performance experts.
• Easy to use , yet powerful enough to build complex scenarios.
• Supports wide variety of applications and protocols.
• Regularly updated to support latest technologies like Cloud ( AWS, AZURE) and Continuous integration (Jenkins).
• Supports variety of scripting languages.
• Can be integrated with other HP tools like ALM (QC, Performance center, QTP).

Cons:

• High pricing.
• Heavy weight tool.
• Controller machine can be installed only on windows machine.
• Scripting seems complex to beginners.

Loadrunner Architecture:

Below diagram shows the Loadrunner architecture and includes only crucial components

Components of Loadrunner:

Loadrunner consists of several components. Lets see the important four components.

Virtual user generator: This tool is used to write/record the real user action into script.
The script automates the real user action and hence called Virtual user.

Controller: The script generated in Virtual user generator is loaded into Controller to simulate load on the server. The controller controls how much load to put in how much time. It also collects server and client stats from multiple load generators.

  Load generator: Even though the controller controls the load, it is actually the Load generator that puts load on Server. Each load generator consists multiple scripts and each script simulates multiple virtual users.

    Analysis: Once the test is complete, Analysis tool is used to view the test results and this tool will help in finding performance issues during the test.

Loadrunner approach for Performance testing:

Loadrunner Installation.

HP Loadrunner can be downloaded from below link:

http://www8.hp.com/in/en/software-solutions/loadrunner-load-testing/try-now.html

Minimum Requirements:

Requirement	Value
Processor speed	1.6 GHZ or faster
Operating system	·        Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 64-bit ·        Windows Server 2012 R2 64-bit ·        Windows 7 SP1 32 (supported) or 64-bit (recommended) ·        Windows 8.1 64-bit
Memory (RAM)	Minimum: 2 GB Recommended: 4 GB or higher
Screen resolution	Minimum: 1024 x 768
Browser	Microsoft IE (Internet Explorer) 8, 9 , 10, or 11 (It is recommended to keep the default IE settings)
Available hard disk space	Minimum: 40 GB