Diagnostics

This topic describes how to drill down into Diagnostics data to pinpoint problem areas in any layer of the application.

In this topic:

About Diagnostics

The Diagnostics integration with Performance Center enables you to monitor and analyze metrics of Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), .NET-connected, and other complex environments in a performance test.

During a performance test, you can drill down into Diagnostics data for the whole test or for a particular transaction. After the test, you can use Analysis to analyze offline diagnostics data generated during the test.

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Monitor server requests

When configuring a performance test to use J2EE/.NET Diagnostics, you can instruct Performance Center to capture server requests which occur outside the context of a Vuser transaction.

The benefit of this functionality is that it can capture calls into a back-end virtual machine even when:

• The probe is not capturing RMI calls
• RMI calls cannot be captured (perhaps because an unsupported application container is being used)
• The application uses some other mechanism for communications between multiple virtual machines

For more information about working with diagnostics for J2EE and .NET, see the Diagnostics User Guide available on the Diagnostics installation media.

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Enable and configure J2EE/.NET diagnostics

The settings that you configure are per performance test. All scripts in the performance test run under the same diagnostics configuration.

1. From the Performance Center navigation toolbar, click and select Test Management (under Testing).

2. Select a performance test in the test management tree and click Edit Test.

3. In the Performance Test Designer window, click Diagnostics.

4. Select Enable the following diagnostics for X% of all relevant Vusers in the test and specify the percentage of Vusers for which you want to collect diagnostics data. This value determines how many of the transactions on the application server are reported to the Controller. Reducing this percentage will reduce the overhead on the application server.

   Example: If you enter a sampling value of 25% and run 12 Vusers in group1, 8 Vusers in group2, and 1 Vuser in group3, diagnostics data will be collected for 3 Vusers in group1, 2 Vusers in group2, and 1 Vuser in group3.

   The minimum percentage of Vuser sampling allowed is 1%, or 1 Vuser per group, whichever is more.

   The maximum percentage allowed is the lowest of the Max. Vuser Sampling values of all the selected diagnostics types.

   Max Vuser Sampling indicates the maximum percentage of the amount of Vusers specified in the Enable the following Diagnostics for X% ... that can be collected.

5. To configure J2EE/.NET Diagnostics settings, select the Enable check box, click the Configure button , and configure the following settings:

   UI Elements	Description
   Monitor server requests	Select to capture a percentage of server requests which occur outside the context of any Vuser transaction. For details, see Add a diagnostics server. Note: The server requests will be captured at the same percentage that was selected for the percentage of Vusers in the Diagnostics Distribution dialog box. Enabling this option imposes an additional overhead on the probe.
   Select Probes Table	. Selects a probe for monitoring. At least one probe must be selected. Name. The name of the probe. Group. The probe group. Host Name. The host the probe is running on (or the application server on which the probe is installed). Status. The probe's status. Either Available or Not Available. Note: If you upgraded your Diagnostics installation, probes from existing performance tests may appear with a red status. Clear any probes that appear in red.
   There is a firewall between the Mediator and the Controller. Use the MI Listener for collating results.	Select if the Diagnostics server (or a Diagnostics server in Mediator mode in a distributed environment) is located behind a firewall. Note: If there is a firewall between the Controller and the Diagnostics Server involved in a performance test, you must configure the Controller and the Diagnostics Server to use the MI Listener to enable the transfer of the offline analysis file. For details, refer to the Diagnostics Installation and Configuration Guide.
   Troubleshoot diagnostics for J2EE/.NET connectivity	Click to open the Diagnostics System Health Monitor to enable you to investigate any connectivity issues between the Diagnostics components.

   Note: The contents of the tab are disabled while the performance test is running. You must enable and configure the diagnostics modules before running the test.

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View diagnostics results

You view results for J2EE/.NET diagnostics in LoadRunner Analysis.

1. Open Analysis

   1. Navigate to <Performance Center Host directory > Applications > Analysis.

   2. Open the desired results file from the following location:

   <LTS installation>\orchidtmp\Results\<Domain Name+Project Name>\Run_<Run number>\res<Run number>\res<Run number>.lrr

2. View results in the Analysis diagnostics graphs

   You can use the Analysis diagnostics graphs and reports to view the performance data and drill down to pinpoint problem areas in any layer of the application.

   For information about specific diagnostics graphs, see the LoadRunner Help Center.

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