Provision Docker hosts automatically

This section describes how to set up and manage elastic Dockerized load generator hosts, enabling users to dynamically assign them to performance tests. Setting up Dockerized hosts requires information from your Docker provider.

About using Dockerized hosts

You can run load generator hosts inside Docker containers. This is a quick and effective way to port applications across systems and machines, and run them within their own secure environments. Refer to the product documentation for more details.

Before you can use elastic Dockerized hosts, you need to configure the orchestrators and host images which are used for dynamic provisioning. Orchestrators are responsible for automating deployment and management of hosts running inside containers.

After the host image has been configured, the image can then be assigned to tests in the project from the LoadRunner Enterprise user interface or the LoadRunner Enterprise REST API.

Supported orchestrators and environments

Orchestrator	Supported Images	Supported API Version
Kubernetes	Linux	For the supported orchestrator versions, see the Integration with non-OpenText products section of the Support Matrix.

LoadRunner Enterprise currently supports Kubernetes orchestrators with Dockerized images.

Advantages of elastic provisioning

Benefits of using elastic hosts include:

Efficient allocation of resources on demand in response to dynamic workloads, without having to rely on load generators defined in the lab, or to reserve load generators in advance.
Automates the testing process by provisioning and de-provisioning load generators, and seamlessly adding them to performance tests.

You manage your orchestrators and host images from the Orchestration page. For details, see Set up Dockerized hosts and Deploy and manage Docker host images.

Note: For users to be able to assign elastic hosts to a test, the project must be linked to an orchestrator.

Deploy and manage Docker host images

You can create and manage load generator images that are used for elastic provisioning from the Docker Images tab.

Pull the Docker image from the Docker hub
1. Go to the LoadRunner Enterprise Dockers repository: https://hub.docker.com/u/performancetesting.
2. Locate your desired load generator Docker Image, and copy the pull command to your clipboard. For image details, see Manage Dockerized images.
3. On your Kubernetes node, paste the pull command from the previous step, and add the desired tag for a specific image version.
  
  You can modify Kubernetes configuration settings. For details, see Kubernetes configuration settings.
  
  For full instructions, see the Docker section in the LoadRunner Enterprise Installation Guide (available from Installation).
In LoadRunner Enterprise Administration, select Configuration > Orchestration and click the Docker Images tab. The Docker Images page opens.

To add a new image, click the Add Docker Image button , and configure the following:

Name	Enter the name of the image you pulled in the previous step.
Purpose	The purpose is set to Load Generator.
Type	Select an image type according to the image you pulled: Windows or UNIX.
Tag	Enter the appropriate tag version number for the image in the format `xx.xx` (for example, `24.3`), or leave empty to use the latest version.
Description	(Optional) Enter a description for the image.

Click Save. The image is added to the Docker Images grid.

Set up Dockerized hosts

This task describes how to configure elastic Dockerized load generator hosts on Windows or Linux containers.

Prerequisites.
- Pull the Docker image from the Docker hub as described in Deploy and manage Docker host images above.
- The following are key requirements for setting up an orchestrator which you need to obtain from your IT team (from your Docker provider):
  - Full orchestrator URL
  - Namespace
  - Authentication token (for details on obtaining the token, see Extract the Kubernetes token below)
  - CA certificate - When using client certificate authentication, you need to copy the Kubernetes client certificate to your LoadRunner Enterprise server. For details, see Obtain the Kubernetes client certificate below.
Extract the Kubernetes token
1. Run the following command:
  
  Kubectl describe sa <YOUR_SERVICEACCOUNT_NAME> -n <YOUR_NAMESPACE>
  
  Example of the results:
  root@k8sMaster:~# kubectl describe sa lreuser -n lre
  Name: lreuser
  Namespace: lre
  Labels: <none>
  Annotations: <none>
  Image pull secrets: <none>
  Mountable secrets: lreuser-token-kcxfb
  Tokens: lreuser-token-kcxfb
2. Copy the user token name from the results of the previous command.
3. Run the following command:
  
  Kubectl describe secret <COPIED_TOKEN_NAME> -n <YOUR_NAMESPACE>
  
  Example of the results:
  root@k8sMaster:~# kubectl describe secret lreuser-token-kcxfb -n lre
  Name: lreuser-token-kcxfb
  Namespace: lre
  Labels: <none>
  Annotations: kubernetes.io/service-account.name=lreuser
  kubernetes.io/service-account.uid=993e83f1-a9d7-11e8-84be-005056aa5d8f
  Type: kubernetes.io/service-account-token
  Data
  ====
  ca.crt: 1025 bytes
  namespace: 2 bytes
  token: eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJrdWJlcm5ldGVzL3NlcnZpY2Vhx4A
4. Copy the token from the results of the previous command and paste it into the Token box when configuring the orchestrator, For details, see Add and configure the orchestrator..
  
  Note: Make sure that you do not copy spaces at the beginning or end of the token.
Obtain the Kubernetes client certificate
1. Copy the CA certificate from Kubernetes (/etc/kubernetes/pki/ca.crt) to your LoadRunner Enterprise server using a secure file transfer utility such as WinSCP.
2. Import the root and intermediate CA certificates to the LoadRunner Enterprise server.
  1. Open Microsoft Management Console (MMC) on the LoadRunner Enterprise server by running the command "mmc".
  2. Add the Certificates snap-in for the Computer account and manage certificates for the Local computer.
  3. To import the root CA certificate, right-click the Trusted Root Certification Authorities folder, select All Tasks > Import, and browse for the root certificate on your machine.
  4. To import the intermediate CA certificate, right-click the Intermediate Certification Authorities folder, select All Tasks > Import, and browse for the intermediate certificate on your machine.

Add and configure the orchestrator.

In LoadRunner Enterprise Administration, select Configuration > Orchestration. In the Orchestrators tab, click the Add Orchestrator button .

Enter the following orchestrator details (all entries for Kubernetes must be in lower case):

Orchestrator Name	Enter a name for the orchestrator.
Full URL	Select the connection type (http/https), and enter the full URL, including port, in the format: `http(s)://<server>:<port>`. You can enter an IPv4 address host name or the fully qualified domain name of the server. Default settings: The default connection type is `https`.
Namespace	Enter the name for the namespace. This is a private space where your containers are created. Example: lre
Token	Enter the orchestrator bearer token to authenticate API requests. Note: After saving the orchestrator settings, the token is hidden (turns into asterisks). When migrating a project from Performance Center, the orchestrator bearer token is not retrieved (it is displayed as a combination of asterisks) and needs to be entered manually.
Description	Enter a description of the orchestrator.

Configure the following orchestrator settings, as required:

Use Repository

To enable using a private and secure registry for your Kubernetes images:

In the Main Details tab, select Use Repository.
In the Secret Name box, enter a secret value that is used to pull images from the private images registry.

Resource limits (Optional)

In the Main Details tab, specify how much of the available resources a container can use for load generators during a performance test run in the Resource Limits section.

Memory (GB). Available memory resources (in gigabytes) a container can use.
CPUs. Available CPU resources a container can use.

Note: When a user configures elastic host properties, they cannot enter values that exceed these limits. If the administrator reduces the project limits below the value configured by a user in the Assign Groups to Load Generators dialog box , the user's settings are automatically adjusted to be within the new limits. For details, see Distribute load generators among Vuser groups.

Assign host images to the orchestrator.
1. Select the Assign Images tab and click the Assign Images button .
2. In the Assign Images to the Orchestrator dialog box, select the load generator (LG) images to assign to the orchestrator and click Assign. The images are added to the Assign Images list.
  
  To unassign images from an orchestrator, select the images to unassign in the Assign Images grid, and click Unassign.
For details on creating host images, see Deploy and manage Docker host images.
Assign projects to the orchestrator.
1. Select the Assign Projects tab and click the Assign Projects button .
2. In the Assign Projects to Docker Orchestration dialog box, select the projects to assign to the orchestrator and click Assign. Projects linked to the orchestrator are listed in the grid.
  
  Note: You can assign multiple projects to an orchestrator, but only one orchestrator to a project.
  
  To unassign projects from an orchestrator, select the projects to unassign in the Assign Projects grid, and click Unassign.
Click Save to save the settings. The orchestrator is added to the Orchestrators grid.

Configure a test with Dockerized load generators

After configuring the orchestrator and adding the host image, you can configure the performance test from the LoadRunner Enterprise user interface or the REST API.

Note: When you assign elastic load generators, each load generator is consider as a group. Therefore, if you define a test with three elastic load generators under one Vuser group (script), three groups are displayed for each Docker container when the test runs.

Configure a test from the user interface

Select a test

In the top banner, click the module name or the dropdown arrow and select Test Management > Tests & Scripts. Select a performance test in the test management tree, and click Edit Test.
Assign Elastic Docker load generators to the groups for the test

Follow the steps in Distribute load generators among Vuser groups.

For more details, see Assign elastic hosts to a test.

Configure a test using the REST API

Create or update performance tests with elastic hosts, by selecting dynamic type hosts for your groups.

Add elastic load generator hosts named DOCKER1, DOCKER2, DOCKER<n+1> to the <Host> XML field, equivalent to the number of Docker hosts that you want to provision.
Copy code

Example:
```
<Hosts>   
   <Host>      
      <Name>DOCKER1</Name>      
      <Type>dynamic</Type>
   </Host>
   <Host>
      <Name>DOCKER2</Name>
      <Type>dynamic</Type>
   </Host>
</Hosts>
```
For API details, see test entity XML in the LoadRunner EnterpriseAdministration REST API Guide.
Continue from Run the performance test in Deploy hosts using Docker.

Customize timeout settings for Dockerized load generators

When provisioning elastic load generators, you can customize the timeout settings.

On the LoadRunner Enterprise server, open the pcs.config file located in <LRE_server_installdir>\dat\.
Enter a new timeout value in ElasticProvisionTimeoutInSeconds. The default timeout value is 300 seconds (5 minutes).

Export Orchestrator or image details

To export information displayed in the Orchestrator or Docker Images grid to an Excel file, click . Data from the grid is saved to an Excel file and downloaded to the Downloads folder of the client user.

Retain run results after a test ends

To ensure that run results are retained after a performance test ends, select Collate results as the Post-Run Action. For details, see View or edit project settings.

If you run a test without collating results, or if collation fails, the result data is lost, because elastic load generators are freed immediately after the run finishes

Notes and limitations

For notes and limitations on elastic Dockerized hosts, see Notes and limitations.