From the Performance Center navigation toolbar, click and select Controller Options (under Applications).

The Controller is the manager of a performance test. The Controller receives the scripts, their runtime settings, and a list of the load generators to use. The Controller issues instructions to the load generators including which scripts to run, how many Vusers to run per script, and the time at which to start running the Vusers.

During the performance test, the Controller displays online monitoring information. At the conclusion of the test run, the Controller collates the data for analysis.

Before you run a performance test, you can configure load generator and Vuser options for all your performance tests in the project. Although the default settings correspond to most environments, you can modify the settings to customize the test behavior.

The settings apply to all future test runs in the project and generally only need to be set once. The settings apply globally to all the load generators in a performance test.

• ALM Lab Management Guide: How to Create an ALM Project

• Define project settings

Configures the behavior of data for the Transaction, Data Point, and Web Resource online graphs.

• Enable Transaction Monitor. Select this option to activate the online Vuser Transaction monitor to begin monitoring transactions at the start of a test run.

  Sample information at frequency <>. Select the frequency, in seconds, at which the online monitor samples the data to produce the Transaction, Data Point, and Web Resource online graphs.

  The higher the frequency, the less network traffic there is. The data is averaged for the frequency period defined, and only one value is sent to the Controller.

  Default value: 5 seconds.

  Example:  

  • For a small test, use a frequency of 1.

  • For a large test, use a frequency of 3 - 5.

Specifies how to send data back to the Controller.

• Summary. Sends a summary of the transaction data back to the Controller.

• Raw Data. Sends all the transaction data back to the Controller in raw form. Sending raw data saves time because the data does not need to be processed.

Configures the behavior of the Server Resource monitors.

• Data Sampling Rate. The period of time (in seconds) between consecutive data sampling. By default, the online monitor samples the data at intervals of three seconds. If you increase the sampling rate, the data is monitored less frequently. This setting applies to all graphs.

• Display Debug Messages. The online monitor provides debugging capabilities. Select this option to display the debug messages in the Output window.

• Debug level. For the Network monitor, you can indicate the debug (detail) level of messages sent to the log, ranging from 1-9.

Vuser quotas prevent your system from overloading. The Vuser quotas apply to Vusers on all load generators.

Number of Vusers that may be initialized simultaneously on all load generators. Limits the number of Vusers initialized at one time (when you send an Initialize command).

Default value: 999

Controls the way Vusers stop running when you manually stop a test run:

• Wait for the current iteration to end before stopping. (Default option) The Vuser completes the iteration it is running before stopping. The Vusers move to the Gradual Exiting status and exit the test run gradually.

• Wait for the current action to end before stopping. The Vuser completes the action it is running before stopping. The Vusers move to the Gradual Exiting status and exit the test run gradually.

• Stop immediately. The Vusers stop running immediately, moving to the Exiting status and exit the test run immediately.

• Use random sequence with seed. Enables you to set a seed number for random sequencing. Select this option if you discover a problem during the test run and want to repeat the test using the same sequence of random values.

• Use seed <#>. Each seed value represents one sequence of random values used for test execution. Whenever you use this seed value, the same sequence of values is assigned to the Vusers in the test.

This setting applies to parameterized Vuser scripts using the Random method for assigning values from a data file. It also affects the random percentage of recorded think time (see information about the Run-Time Settings dialog box in the Virtual User Generator Help Center.

Enable timeout checks. Enables load generator and Vuser timeout checks described below.

Load generator timeout limits:

• Connect operation (sec). The amount of time (in seconds) that elapses before connecting to any load generator. If a connection is not successful within this time, the status of the load generator changes to Failed.

  Default connection timeout: 30 seconds

• Disconnect operation (sec). The amount of time that elapses before disconnecting from any load generator. If the load generator does not disconnect within this time, the status of the load generator changes to Failed.

  Default disconnection timeout: 120 seconds

Vuser timeout limits:

• Init stage (sec). The timeout value for the Initialize action.

  Default time limit: 180 seconds

• Run stage (sec). The timeout value for the Start Vusers action.

  Default time limit: 120 seconds

• Pause stage (sec). The timeout value for the Duration action.

  Default time limit: 120 seconds

• Stop stage (sec). The timeout value for the Stop Vusers action.

  Default time limit: 120 seconds

The trace flags related to performance testing problems that you are encountering:

• General. Performs a general trace during the test run.

• File Transfer. Traces problems with the transfer of files during the test run.

• Incoming communication. Traces incoming communication during the test run.

• Outgoing communication. Traces outgoing communication during the test run.

The Controller can allocate an IP address one of the following ways:

• IP address allocation per process. Allocates IP addresses per process.

• IP address allocation per thread. Allocates IP addresses per thread, resulting in a more varied range of IP addresses in a test run.

• Add output.mdb to RawResults.zip if it is smaller than RawResults.zip size (MB). Collator process adds output.mdb to RawResults.zip only if it is smaller in size than the RawResults.zip file size specified.

• Always exclude output.mdb from RawResults.zip. Collator process always excludes output.mdb from RawResults.zip.

• Collate timeout in minutes. The maximum amount of time the collate process should continue running without progress.

• Diagnostics collate timeout in minutes. The maximum amount of time the collate process should continue running without progress when collating results with Diagnostics data.