Set rendezvous policies

This topic describes how to set rendezvous policies that determine how the Controller handles Vusers at a rendezvous point, and how to manually release Vusers from a rendezvous.

Rendezvous points

During a test run, you can instruct multiple Vusers to perform tasks simultaneously by using rendezvous points. A rendezvous point creates intense user load on the server, enabling you to measure server performance under load.

Rendezvous points are inserted in the Vuser script when creating the script in VuGen. For information, see the Virtual User Generator Help Center.

Example:  

Suppose you want to measure the performance of an application when 10 Vusers perform a given task simultaneously. To make sure that multiple Vusers act simultaneously, you create a rendezvous point in the Vuser script. When Vusers arrive at a rendezvous point, they are held there by the Controller. The Controller releases the Vusers from the rendezvous either when the required number of Vusers arrives, or when a specified amount of time has passed.

For each rendezvous point, you can set Policy attributes. During the test run, you can manipulate the Vuser behavior at the rendezvous points.

For example, to test an online bank, you could create a test that contains two rendezvous points. The first rendezvous ensures that one thousand Vusers simultaneously deposit cash. The second rendezvous ensures that another thousand Vusers simultaneously withdraw cash. To measure how the server performs when only 500 Vusers deposit cash, you can set the release policy so that the Vusers are released when 500 Vusers arrive at the rendezvous.

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Configure rendezvous policies

You can configure rendezvous policies when defining the test workload. This determines how the Controller handles Vusers at a rendezvous point. You can also enable or disable rendezvous points defined in the Vuser scripts.

  1. In the Groups & Workload view, click View Rendezvous. The Rendezvous dialog box opens, displaying any Rendezvous points defined in the script.

  2. The rendezvous grid displays the details about the rendezvous points in the scripts:

    UI Element Description
    Name

    The name of the rendezvous point as given in the VuGen script.
    Status

    The status of the rendezvous point: Enabled or Disabled.
    Contained in Scripts

    The names of the scripts in which the rendezvous point was defined.

    You select a rendezvous point by clicking it.

    Click to select all rendezvous point, to clear the selection, or to invert the current selection of rendezvous points (the non-selected rendezvous points are selected, and the selected rendezvous points are cleared).

  3. Set the following policy attributes for each rendezvous to determine how the Controller handles Vusers at a rendezvous point:

    Attribute Description
    Release when

    Sets how many Vusers are released from a rendezvous point at a time.

    • X% of all Vusers arrive at the rendezvous. Releases the Vusers only when the specified percentage of all Vusers have arrived at the rendezvous point.

      Note: This option interferes with the scheduling of the test. If you select this option, your test will not run as scheduled.

    • X% of all running Vusers arrive at the rendezvous. Releases the Vusers only when the specified percentage of all Vusers running in the test have arrived at the rendezvous point.

    • X Vusers arrive at the rendezvous. Releases the Vusers only when the specified number of Vusers have arrived at the rendezvous point.
    Timeout between Vusers

    The timeout value (in seconds). After each Vuser arrives at the rendezvous point, the Controller waits up to the maximum timeout period specified for the next Vuser to arrive. If the next Vuser does not arrive within the timeout period, the Controller releases all the waiting Vusers from the rendezvous. Each time a new Vuser arrives, the timer is reset to zero. You set a timeout for each rendezvous point.

  4. To disable or enable rendezvous points, select the points you want to enable or disable and click Enable or Disable. Enabling or disabling a rendezvous point influences the level of server load.

For details, see Define a performance test workload.

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Release Vusers from a rendezvous

You can manually release Vusers waiting at a rendezvous point during a run before the Controller releases them.

  1. On the Performance Test Run page, click Rendezvous. For details, see Manage Vusers during a test run.

  2. Click Release to releases the Vusers at the selected rendezvous points.

For details on running a performance test, see Run performance tests.

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See also: