Run the Controller Service from the CLI

The Controller Service provides a modernized version of Controller, using a completely new engine. The engine is currently run from the command line interface, enabling you to run and manage load tests, load generators, and virtual users.

In this topic:

About the Controller Service

The Controller Service uses a new, lighter, and more streamlined Controller process to perform Controller functionality. After installing the Controller Service package, you can run commands from the CLI to initiate a load test and invoke various tasks, without accessing the Controller UI.

You can use existing scenario files (.lrs) for your tests; or use .yml files where you manually configure your scenario, including the scripts and load generators to use, and other configuration settings. You can also run simple commands, such as starting and stopping Vusers.

The test can be monitored during runtime in the new online dashboard. The generated Results folder has the same structure as in the older Controller, and can be opened in Analysis.

The Controller Service provides the following functionality and benefits:

• A command-line interface to control and monitor load tests, including managing load generators, Vusers, and test execution.
• Support for YAML files, enabling fast and convenient performance engineering activities.
• Integration with new, modernized monitoring and licensing engines (running in the background).

Back to top

Controller Service actions

Using the Controller Service CLI, you can perform the following actions. The commands for performing these actions are supplied with the Controller Service package.

Run tests:

• Configure a load test scenario from a specified file path.
• Start a configured load test scenario.
• Stop a load test gracefully.
• Stop a load test immediately.

Manually run test components:

• Start a specific number of Vusers for a given group.
• Send a command to a specific Vuser. The Vuser commands are: Pause, Resume, Release, Softkill, and Kill
• Connect to specific load generators.
• Disconnect from specific load generators.
• Collate the results after running a load test on remote load generators

Get information:

• Check the service state: Ready, Collating, Running, or Ended
• Get the status of the load generator: HostConnecting, HostConnected, HostDisconnecting or HostDisconnected
• Get the names and states of the load generators in a scenario.
• Get the Vuser ID, group name, Vuser state, and load generator name for each Vuser in a scenario.
• Get the current states of Vusers with specified IDs.

Set configuration options:

• Set the result directory path.
• Register a client as a listener to receive real-time updates during the load test execution.
• Set a configuration file path.

Back to top

See also:

• Run scenarios using the CLI tool
• Run scenarios in Controller