# Cloud Hosts Overview

Testing your software application can be a very resource intensive process. Performance testing in particular can require an extensive lab environment, using multiple load generating hosts and a controller, and requiring collating capabilities for processing test results. There may be times where you need more hosts than are available in your testing lab, or you may have decided that you do not want to maintain your own lab environment at all. In either of these cases, you may have turned to a cloud provider such as Amazon EC2 or Microsoft Azure who can provide you with on-demand testing hosts to meet your testing needs. ALM integrates with your cloud accounts in order to help you get the most out of your cloud resources.

Note:

- ALM supports provisioning of LoadRunner Enterprise load generators only.
- ALM only integrates with Microsoft Azure and Amazon EC2 cloud accounts.
- Cloud-based load generators are best suited for testing externally available AUT.

In this topic:

## Benefits of Using Cloud Hosts

By using cloud hosts in ALM, you can:

- Provision testing hosts only when you need them.
- Manage cloud provisioning on a per-project basis, with each project having access only to the cloud resources it needs.
- Allow QA testers to provision pre-approved testing hosts without the need for direct access to your cloud accounts.
- Regulate cloud host usage by assigning credits to projects.
- View cloud host usage reports to manage cloud resource consumption.

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## Using Cloud Hosts in ALM

Using cloud hosts in ALM involves:

Phase | Description | For details:
--- | --- | ---
Defining Initial Cloud Settings | Set up an account with a cloud provider and obtain the cloud provider credentials. Afterwards, you set up communication from ALM to your cloud provider, and define network settings for communicating with your cloud-based load generators. | Initial Cloud Settings Overview
Adding Cloud Accounts | After establishing an account with a cloud provider, you must also establish a cloud account in ALM. When defining a cloud account in ALM, you enter your cloud provider credentials, associate projects to the account, and define the total number of cloud credits allowed for consumption by your provisioned hosts. |
Defining Host Templates | Host templates are used for defining provisioning related details, such as instance types, regions, hardware specifications, and software images. You can use default host templates or create your own templates. ALM uses the details of the selected template to provision your host. Note: You cannot use default templates for Microsoft Azure accounts. you must create your own templates. | Host Templates Overview
Provisioning Cloud Hosts | Provisioning is the process of requesting the cloud provider to create a machine on the cloud. It uses the selected cloud account and host template to define the machine. You can choose the number of machines and their locations. You can also check credits balance for the selected account. | Provisioning Hosts Overview
Monitoring Resource Consumption | After provisioning your cloud hosts, you can analyze and monitor your cloud resource consumption by generating usage reports, and by sending alerts and notifications. | Cloud Resources Monitoring Overview

For details about how to set cloud hosts in ALM, see .

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