Level: Intermediate Dennis Schultz (dennis.schultz@us.ibm.com), Marketing Engineer, IBM
12 Mar 2007 This tutorial in the
Hello World series
introduces you to IBM® Rational® Performance Tester and highlights its
basic features. Practical, hands-on exercises teach you how to record automated
performance tests, use data-driven techniques to ensure randomization, play-back
tests, and evaluate real-time performance reports. Upon completing the tutorial you
will be able to use Rational Performance Tester to determine the cause of
performance problems in your applications.
Before you start
About this series
The
Hello World series
is for novice developers who want a high-level, hands-on overview of IBM
software products. Each tutorial in the series provides simple exercises and
step-by-step instructions to familiarize you with the components and use of a
particular product. Upon completing a tutorial in the Hello World series
you will know enough about the product to begin exploring and using it on your
own.
About this tutorial
This tutorial uses hands-on exercises to familiarize you with Rational
Performance Tester. Step-by-step instructions teach you how to record an
automated performance test, enhance the test using built-in data-driven
techniques, play-back the test as part of a performance schedule, and evaluate
real-time reports to determine the root cause of a performance problem. The
maximum estimated running time for the tutorial is three hours.
Objectives
After completing this tutorial you should understand the basic functions of
Rational Performance Tester and be able to use it to discover and analyze
performance problems in your applications.
Prerequisites
This tutorial is for testers new to test automation and unfamiliar with
Rational Performance Tester. As you are taking the tutorial, you can practice
the steps yourself if you have access to the environment the tutorial requires.
If you don't have access to the environment, you can still read the tutorial and
view the animated demos. You just won't be able to try the steps for yourself.
The easiest way to access the tutorial environment is through the
Rational Performance Tester online trial system
created for the tutorial. The trial system uses the Citrix Access Platform to
provide you with a connection from your workstation to a remote server running
Rational Performance Tester, WebSphere Application Server 6.0, and the sample
application to be tested. If you choose to set up the tutorial environment on
your own machine, please use the
Hello World: Rational Performance Tester (for
downloadable trial code)
version of this tutorial that is written for this purpose.
In order to view the animated demos for the tutorial you must enable
JavaScript in your browser and install
Macromedia Flash Player
6 or higher.
Animated demos
If this is your first encounter with a developerWorks tutorial that
includes animated demos you might want to know a few things about them:
- Demos are an optional way to see the steps described in the tutorial done
for you. To view an animated demo, click the given Show me link and the
demo will open in a new browser window.
- Each demo contains a navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. Use the
navigation bar to pause, exit, rewind, or fast-forward portions of the demo.
- The demos are 800 x 600 pixels. If this is the maximum resolution of your
screen or if your resolution is lower than this then you will have to scroll
to see some areas of the demo.
- You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser and
Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher
installed to view the demos.
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