Options dialog box

Defaults

Defaults

To prevent your system from overloading, you can set quotas for Vuser activity. The Vuser quotas apply to Vusers on all load generators.

Number of Vusers that may be initialized at one time - all load generators. The maximum number of Vusers the load generator can initialize at a time (when an Initialize command is sent).

Sets the way the Vusers are loaded in a manual scenario. There are two methods available:

• Round-robin mode. Uses a round-robin algorithm to route client requests to the available load generators on a cyclical basis.

  This load method ensures that Vusers are distributed evenly, preventing an overload on any one load generator. It can also help improve performance, if the initialization stage of a script uses a lot of resources.

  In Vuser group mode, the Vusers in a group are routed using the round-robin method between all load generators, or the load generators allocated to the group, depending on the load generators selected.

• Sequential mode. (Default mode) Load Vusers sequentially on the load generators.

  Controller calculates the number of Vusers per load generator, and ramps up all Vusers, one load generator after another.

Controls how Vusers stop running when the Stop button is clicked:

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

• Stop immediately. The Vusers stop running immediately. The Vusers move to the Exiting status and exit the scenario immediately.

Use a seed number for random sequencing. 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 scenario.

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. For more information, see the Runtime settings documentation in the VuGen Help Center.

Enable this option if you discover a problem when running the test and want to repeat the test using the same sequence of random values.

Default: 0

Enables you to define a command that Controller will run directly after it collates the results of a scenario run.

Example: You can define a command to run a customer application that runs the Analysis API to extract data.

Defines the method for allocating Vusers to the load generators used for the scenario:

• Standard distribution. (Default) The Vusers are distributed among all load generators used for the group or scenario, without checking load generator status or machine load. If any load generators are failed, the Vusers allocated to that machine will not run.

• Standard distribution, ignore failed load generators. The Vusers are distributed among all active load generators used for the group or scenario. Vuser distribution starts only after Controller has checked load generator status, and failed load generators are ignored.

  Note: This method works only when Network Virtualization is disabled.

• Smart distribution. The Vusers are distributed among the load generators used for the scenario based on CPU load. For details, see Smart Vuser distribution.

  Smart distribution is available for manual scenarios.

This only applies to scripts and groups added from this point onward—it does not affect scripts or groups that have already been added to the scenario. To exclude .dat files for these scripts, open the Files tab in the Script Information dialog box dialog box, and manually deselect the check boxes adjacent to these files.

If you want to include a specific .dat file, you can do so by manually selecting the file in the Files tab of the Script Information dialog box dialog box. Manually selecting a file overrides this global setting.

Instructs the Controller to transfer the runtime files to each load generator that will run that script, before running the scenario. This means that the Vusers are initialized only once the scripts have been downloaded to the load generator, and the scenario timer starts when the first Vuser actually begins.

This option avoids the backup of Vusers in Pending state, and allows correct ramp-up time (without including the file transfer time).

Defaults

• Send errors to the Output window.

• Pop-up an error message box.

• Summary. Sends a summary of the collected data back to Controller. Use this option if the speed at which the data is transferred is significant to you.

• Raw Data. Sends all of the data in raw form back to Controller. Sending the data in raw form saves time because the data does not need to be processed. However, since all of the data is being transferred to Controller, it may cause more network traffic.

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

• Enable Transaction Monitor. Enables the online Vuser Transaction monitor to start monitoring transactions at the start of a scenario.

• Frequency. The frequency, in seconds, at which the online monitor samples the data to produce the Transaction, Data Point, and Web Resource online graphs. For a small scenario, use a lower frequency, for example, 1. For a large scenario, use a higher frequency, for example, 3 - 5. The higher the frequency, the less network traffic there will be. The data is averaged for the frequency period defined, and only one value is sent to the Controller.

  Default value: 5 seconds

For information on enabling and disabling the Transaction monitor and Web Page Diagnostics, see Runtime and Transaction monitoring.

Note:

• Disabling this option conserves resources.

• You cannot modify these settings during scenario execution; you must stop the scenario before disabling the monitor or changing its frequency.

Indicates the sampling rate for resource monitors.

Data Sampling Rate. The sampling rate is the period of time (in seconds) between consecutive samples. Enter the rate at which the scenario is sampled for monitoring data. If you increase the sampling rate, the data is monitored less frequently. The default rate is 3 seconds.

Notes:

• This data sampling rate is applied to all server monitors that are subsequently activated. It is not applied to server monitors that have already been activated. To apply the new data sampling rate to activated server monitors, save your scenario and reopen it.

• While many monitors use the value provided in this field, some monitors may use a different sampling rate than provided here. For example:

  • Minimum rates. Some monitors limit the minimum sampling period. For example, the Windows Resource monitor, limits the minimum sampling period to 3 seconds. If you set value to less than 3, the monitor still uses a 3 second interval.
  • Custom settings. Other monitors ignore Controller's settings and use a sampling rate defined in their own configuration files. For example, the minimum sampling rate for the Oracle monitor is 10 seconds. If the sampling rate is set here at less than 10 seconds, the Oracle Monitor continues to monitor data at 10 second intervals.

Allows you to choose an IP spoofing mode for selecting IP addresses from the IP pool. You add IP addresses to the IP pool with the IP Wizard. This option is only available if the IP Spoofer is enabled.

• Use IP addresses sequentially. Instructs Vusers to choose an IP address from the IP pool, in sequential order.

• Use IP addresses randomly. Instructs Vusers to choose an IP address from the IP pool, randomly.

Defaults

When selected, clears all messages in the Output window when you reset a scenario.