Host templates

This section describes how to use templates to provision your elastic cloud-based hosts.

Host templates overview

Host templates are used for defining provisioning-related details, such as instance types, regions, hardware specifications, and software images. You create your own templates, and LoadRunner Enterprise uses the details of the selected template to provision your host.

All elastic cloud hosts are provisioned from host templates. When you provision a host, the details of the template are copied into the provisioned host.

  • If you are using an Amazon EC2 cloud account, an image is created for each cloud account by default. The template uses a custom image which you create with the recommended hardware settings, defined by instance type, for the load generator machine. For details, see Create custom image for cloud hosts.

  • For Microsoft Azure cloud accounts, you must create you own host templates. When using the host templates, the administrator can control and manage which machine's specifications are allowed and recommended for use.

Back to top

Considerations when creating a host template

When creating host templates, make sure to:

  • Create a template for each host configuration that your testers need. Testers can only provision cloud hosts from existing templates.

  • Clearly describe the type of host that is provisioned by each template so that testers can provision exactly the hosts they need.

Create an elastic cloud host template

This task describes how to create a cloud host template in LoadRunner Enterprise.

  1. Prerequisites

    To add a host template to LoadRunner Enterprise, you must have added at least one cloud account. For details, see Cloud accounts.

  2. In LoadRunner Enterprise Administration, select Configuration > Cloud.

  3. Select the Host Templates tab, and click the Add Host Template button .

  4. In the New Host Template dialog box, enter a name and description that clearly describe the type of host that is provisioned by the template so that testers can provision exactly the hosts they need.

    LoadRunner Enterprise automatically generates and ID for the host template at the time the template is created.

  5. Enter the following details for the new host template:

    UI Element Description
    Cloud Account The cloud account for which the template provisions a host.
    Type

    The installation type of the host. The following types are available:

    • Windows standalone LG. Indicates that this Windows host is used as a standalone load generator for performance tests.

    • Unix Load Generator. Indicates that this Unix host is used as a standalone load generator for performance tests.

    Note: Make sure that you select the correct installation type for the image. Incorrect settings cause the performance tests to run incorrectly.

    Location The region where the hosts are provisioned.
    Image

    The software image used for cloud hosts provisioned from the template. Machine images are managed on the website of your cloud provider, and are accessed automatically when creating host templates.

    Note: If the image value cannot be displayed, verify that you used the correct cloud account number.

     

    Instance Type

    (AWS accounts only)

    The hardware specs of cloud hosts provisioned from the template. Instance types can be viewed on the website of your cloud provider, and are accessed automatically when creating host templates.

    Note: While Amazon lists EC2 F1 instances for Windows, they are available for Linux/Unix operating systems only.

    Security Group

    Select a security group that allows the necessary access to your testing hosts. Security group specifies which inbound and outbound connections are permitted from the hosts, such as port 80 (HTTP) or port 3389 (RDP). Security groups are configured on your cloud provider's website, and must be created separately for each location. Only security groups configured for your selected location are displayed. For details, see Initial cloud settings overview.

    Key Pair

    (AWS accounts only)

     

    Select a key pair for which you have the private key. Key pair is used to generate the administrator password for Windows machines and to log in to Linux machines. Key pair is only relevant if you plan to remotely connect to your cloud hosts.

    Key pairs are managed on your cloud provider's website, and must be created separately for each location. Only key pairs configured for your selected location are displayed. For more details on key pairs, see Initial cloud settings overview.

    Note: You must have at least one key pair in order to provision a host.

    Virtual machine sizes

    (Azure accounts only)

    Size of the Azure virtual machine.

    Virtual Networks

    (Azure accounts only)

    Select a virtual network for virtual machines to use.

    Host Password

    (Azure accounts on Windows only)

    Enter a password to use as the administrator’s password for all virtual machines.

    The password must be between 8-123 characters long, and contain at least one character from three of the following categories: uppercase letter, lowercase letter, numeric digit, special character. Control characters are not allowed.

    SSH Public Key

    (Azure accounts on Linux only)

    This key is installed on the virtual machines.

    Use Elastic IP Addresses

    If you defined a pool of predefined IP addresses with your cloud provider, select this option to use those predefined static IP addresses to provision your host. For more details on elastic IP addresses, see Initial cloud settings overview.

    Note:

    • This option is automatically selected in multi-tenant environments and cannot be modified.

    • Make sure that your elastic IPs are tagged with a name and value as defined in the <LRE_server_installdir>\LRE_BACKEND\appsettings.defaults.json file. You can customize the value in the file.

      For Azure (the default value):

      "PublicIpsTag": {
"Key": "LRE_TEST_TAG",
"Value": "LRE_TEST_TAG_VALUE"

      For AWS:

      "ElasticIpsTag": { 
"Key": "LRE_TEST_TAG",
"Value": "LRE_TEST_TAG_VALUE"

    Use Private IP Addresses

    Use private IP addresses to provision your host with this template (public IPs are not assigned).

    Note:

    • If selected, you must provide the virtual private cloud (VPC) subnet ID for AWS, or subnet name for Azure.

    • This option is not available in multi-tenant environments.

    Enable IPv6 Addresses

    (Available in versions 24.3 and later)

    Use IPv6 to provision your host with this template. When selected, the host and the DNS must also be set with IPv6. For details, see Configure host details.

    Note: When this option is selected, you must provide the virtual private cloud (VPC) subnet ID for AWS, or the subnet name for Azure.

    VPC Subnet Id

    (AWS accounts only)

    ID of the virtual private cloud (VPC) subnet.

    Note: This option is not available in multi-tenant environments.

    Subnet Name

    (Azure accounts only)

    		 Name of the virtual private cloud (VPC) subnet.

  6. Click Save. The host template is created.

    Your new host template can now be used to provision cloud hosts.

Back to top

Export host template details to Excel

This task describes how to export information displayed in the host template grid to an Excel file.

  1. In LoadRunner Enterprise Administration, select Configuration > Cloud.

  2. Select the Host Templates tab, and then click the Export to Excel file button . Data from the grid is saved to an Excel file and downloaded to the Downloads folder of the client user.

Back to top

Create images for Microsoft Azure cloud accounts

To create images for Microsoft Azure cloud accounts, see Custom Azure (Windows) image and Custom Azure (Ubuntu) image.

Back to top

Modify host template details

To modify details for a host template:

  1. In LoadRunner Enterprise Administration, select Configuration > Cloud.

  2. In the Host Templates tab, select a template from the Host Templates list (click the link in the Template Name column). The Host Template details page opens.

  3. Make any necessary changes and click OK. For details, see Host Template details.

Back to top

Delete host templates

To delete a host template:

  1. Prerequisites

    Before deleting host templates, make sure there are no assigned projects with tests using the templates (deleting a host template that is used by a test causes the test to fail).

  2. In LoadRunner Enterprise Administration, select Configuration > Cloud.

  3. In the Host Templates tab, select the host templates that you want to delete, and click the Delete button .

Back to top

Next steps: