Manage hosts

This section describes how to define, manage, and maintain the testing resources used for server-side testing from the Host Management pages.

Add a host

To add a host from your test lab to Performance Center:

Prerequisites.

Ensure the following:
- The required testing tools are installed on your hosts. Refer to the documentation for your specific testing tools for installation instructions.
- If a host you are adding is in a remote location, the location must be added in the Performance Center Administration > Maintenance > Hosts > Locations tab. For task details, see Manage host locations.
- If a host you are adding is over a firewall, the host must communicate with a Performance host through an MI Listener. Make sure that the MI Listener was added in the Performance Center Administration > Maintenance > Hosts > MI Listeners tab. For task details, see Specify MI Listeners.
- To provision hosts from the cloud for use in performance testing, see Provision cloud load generators.

Create a new host.

In Performance Center Administration, select Maintenance > Hosts.
Select the Hosts tab, and then click Create New Host .

Configure the new host:

UI Element	Description
Host Name	The name of the new host. Use the IP address or the fully qualified domain name. Click the host name link to display the host's details in the Main Details view. We recommend giving the host a meaningful name in the Domain\Windows level. Note: Do not use the `[Test]ElasticCont{ID}` host in a test.
Description	A description of the host.
Purpose	Select a purpose for the host: Controller, Load Generator, or Data Processor. If the host machine is located over a firewall, or is a UNIX machine, it cannot function as a Controller or Data Processor. If you selected Windows Standalone LG or Unix Load Generator as the installation option, Load Generator is automatically selected as the purpose for the host and the other options are disabled.
Source	Displays the host's source: Local if the host exists in your testing lab, or Cloud if the host was provisioned from a cloud provider. For details on provisioning a host on a cloud provider, see Provision cloud load generators.
Priority	Assign a priority to the host. The higher the priority you give the host, the more likely the host will be allocated to a test. There are a number of criteria to consider when assigning priority. The main considerations are whether the host is a dedicated machine or a shared resource, and the type of hardware installed on the machine.
Status	Indicates the current status of the host. You can also change the status of the host. The possible statuses are: Operational. The host machine is up and running. Non-operational. The host machine is down. Unavailable. The host machine is not available (there is no information available about the status of the host).
Location	Select the location of the host. Locations can be defined according to physical areas. The location also determines whether the host is located over a firewall. If so, you need to select an MI Listener that will enable data collection.
Installation	Select the installation type of the host: Windows Host. Indicates that this Windows host can be used for performance purposes (Controller, Load Generator, or Data Processor). Unix Load Generator. Indicates that this Unix host is used as a load generator for performance tests. Windows Standalone LG. Indicates that this Windows host is used as a standalone load generator for performance tests. Note: The load generator uses SSL to communicate with the Controller during runtime only. For non runtime functionality, such as including collating results, the load generator does not use SSL as the communication protocol. Relevant only for load generator hosts located over a firewall.
MI Listeners	If the host is located over a firewall, enter the IP address or name of the MI Listener that enables data collection.
Enable SSL	Indicates whether the load generator host will communicate with the Controller via SSL (Secure Socket Layer) or not. Note: The load generator uses SSL to communicate with the Controller during runtime only. For non runtime functionality, such as including collating results, the load generator does not use SSL as the communication protocol. Relevant only for load generator hosts located over a firewall.
Belongs to Pool	Select the host pools to which the host is assigned. Host pools enable you to control which hosts are allocated to which projects. When allocating hosts for a test, the system allocates hosts from the host pool of the project. Hosts must be assigned to at least one pool.
Host Attributes	Select the system attributes of the host, such as memory, strength, or installed components. Tip: You can customize the host attributes in Lab Management. For details, see the ALM Lab Management Guide.

Click Save to add the host to the Hosts grid.

In addition to the above fields, the following additional fields are displayed (or are available by clicking Select Columns ):

UI Elements	Description
ID	The host ID.
Host State	The current activity on the host. Idle. Indicates that the host is not being used. Installing. Indicates that a patch is being installed on the host. Rebooting. Indicates that the host is rebooting. <Run states>. Indicates the host state during a performance test run. <Data processing states>. Indicates the state of the host during a data processing task. <Provisioning states>. Indicates the provisioning status of a cloud host. Host State changes to idle once the host is provisioned.
Cloud Account	The name of the cloud account from which the host was provisioned.
Cloud Host Identifier	A unique ID for the host assigned by the cloud provider.
Cloud Image	The machine image applied to the cloud host.
Cloud Instance	The instance type of the cloud host.
Cloud Region	The region from which a cloud host was provisioned.
Cloud Template	The host template used to provision the host. Changing a host template does not affect existing hosts that were provisioned from the template.
Version	Lists the version of Performance Center hosts, standalone load generators, and patches installed on the host.
Active Timeslot ID	The ID of the timeslot for which this host is reserved, and which is now open.
Created By	The user who created the host.
Created in Project	The project in which the host was created.
Created on Date	The date and time the host was created.
LoadRunner Agent User	Displays the domain and user name of the agent that enables communication between the Controller, Load Generators, and MI Listeners. If the field is empty, the default LocalSystem user account is being used. For details, see Reconfigure the LoadRunner Agent user.

Note: The cloud settings are relevant only for hosts provisioned from a cloud provider.

To display only those hosts that meet the criteria that you define, use the Filter button to select the parameters to include. For details, see Filter.

Add dockerized and/or elastic hosts to a test

You can run Controller and 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.

You can configure dockerized hosts, in two different ways:

Automatically. You can configure elastic host provisioning, which enables users to allocate host resources on demand in response to dynamic workloads. For details, see Manage elastic hosts.
Manually. You can configure and assign dockerized hosts to a performance test from the REST API, or manually create them from Performance Center Administration, which users can then assign to tests. For details, see Manually configure dockerized hosts.

View or edit host details

In Performance Center Administration, select Maintenance > Hosts.

Under the Host Name column, click a host name. Use the following tabs to view or edit host details:

Tab	Details
Main Details	Describes the currently selected host. For user interface details, see Add a host above.
PC Runs	Displays the test runs performed on the selected host, including the state of the test run, the start, end time and duration of the test run, the number of Vusers that were initialized at least once during the run, and the maximum number of concurrently running Vusers during the run.
Event Logs	Displays detailed information about the tasks performed on the selected host, including the event type (an indication of the event's severity: error, warning, or info), a description of any errors, and the category of action where the event occurred. Note: The time interval in days that deletable events remain in the EVENT_LOG database table is determined by EVENT_LOG_PURGE_PERIOD_DAYS. For details, see Setting ALM Configuration Parameters in the ALM Lab Management Guide.
Check Host Status	Displays the checks performed on the selected host, including the areas (Configuration, Connectivity, Installation, Performance) and sub-areas (Processor, Memory, System) that were checked, the expected and actual value resulting from the host check, and the host check status (Passed or Failed).
Installations	Lists all of the software programs installed on the selected host, including the version, publisher, and date the software was installed.
Components	Lists the Performance Center components installed on the host machine, including versions and patches.
Services	Lists all the services on the selected host, including service status (Running or Stopped), and the way the service is set to start up (automatically, manually, or if the service is disabled).
Processes	Displays information about the processes and resource usage of the selected host, including the percentage of processor time and memory used by the process, and the amount of elapsed time since the process started. Note: Performance Center is unable to display processes and resource usage information for UNIX machines or Windows Standalone Load Generators.
Over Firewall	Displays communication settings between the Performance Center load generator host and the MI Listener, and enables configuring over-firewall settings for the selected load generator host. For details, see Configure over-firewall settings below. Note: This tab is only displayed if the location of the host is defined to be over a firewall.

Check host connections to testing hosts

In Maintenance > Hosts, select the hosts that you want to check in the Hosts grid, and click Check Host.

Note: If the load generator connection verification fails during the host check, any hosts in the idle and operational state will become Non-Operational.

Based on the purpose and location of the host, the following checks are performed:

Check Performed	Load Generator Host				Controller Host	Data Processor Host
Check Performed	Regular*	UNIX	Standalone	OFW	Controller Host	Data Processor Host
Ping to Host	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Yes	Yes
Installed Patches	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes	Yes
Services	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes	Yes
Performance	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes	Yes
Over Firewall Status	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes	N/A	N/A
* This is the Performance Center Host for Windows installation. After performing the installation, the host can be configured as a load generator from the Performance Center Administration site.

Reconfigure hosts

Reconfiguring a host resets the host license, the Performance Center system user (IUSR_METRO), the Communication Security passphrase, and the host status on the host machine.

To reconfigure hosts, in Maintenance > Hosts, select the hosts you want to reconfigure in the Hosts grid, and click Reconfigure Host.

Reboot hosts

To remotely reboot host machines, in Maintenance > Hosts, select the hosts in the Hosts grid that you want to reboot, and select Maintenance > Reboot Host.

The Reboot Host dialog box opens, displaying the overall result for each reboot performed on the host, including the reboot start and end time, the administrator who performed the reboot, and the reboot progress (, , or a progress bar).

Note:

You can only reboot Controller and Load Generator hosts when the host state is idle.
You cannot reboot a UNIX Load Generator host.

Kill a host process

In Performance Center Administration, select Maintenance > Hosts.
Under the Name column, click a host name, and then click the Processes tab.
Select the process you want to end in the grid, and click Kill Process.

Click to refresh the grid so that it displays the most up-to-date list of processes.

Note: A user with Viewer permissions can end the selected process.

Install patches on hosts

Prerequisites.

To install patches on a host, you first need to have uploaded the patches to Performance Center. For details, see Upload patches.
Note:
- The install patch mechanism supports installing .msp patch files only. If the patch you want to install is in an .exe file, you must first extract all the files from the .exe, and then upload the .msp file to Performance Center.
- To install a patch remotely, you must disable User Account Control (UAC) on the installation machine.
In Maintenance > Hosts, select the hosts in the grid on which to install the patch, and select Maintenance > Install Patch.
Note:
- Before installing a patch, check that the patch has not already been installed on the selected hosts since Performance Center does not validate this.
- Patches can only be installed on Performance Center host and Load Generator standalone machines when the host state is Idle.
Select the patch you want to install, and click Install.

To view the status and progress of the patch installation tasks run in your project, click the Task Manager button in the masthead.

The Task Manager opens.

UI Elements	Description
Overall Progress	Displays the overall status of patch installation tasks run in your project. Tasks are removed from the Task Manager after 24 hours.
	Search. Enables you to search hosts by host name. Type the name of a host (or part of the name) in the box. Performance Center displays all hosts that contain the search string.
Filter By	Enables you to display only those hosts on which the patch installation process is running, failed, or was successfully installed.
Reinstall	If a patch installation fails, enables you to select the hosts on which the installation failed, and rerun the installation process.
Host name	The name of the host on which the patch is or was installed.
Status	The installation status of the patch.
Start Time	The start date and time of the patch installation.
End Time	The end date and time of the patch installation.
Message	The status and message for the last patch installation task.

Reconfigure the LoadRunner Agent user

The LoadRunner Agent is an application that can be run either as a process (magentproc.exe) or as a service (magentservice.exe). The service is required to enable a load testing script to be run remotely, without having to physically log on to the load generator machine to activate the agent as a process.

Alternatively, you can run Vusers in an interactive RDP session while the agent remains as a service. For details, see Run Vusers in an interactive RDP session.

Note: For details on manually configuring the agent user on each Performance Center host or standalone load generator machine, see the Performance Center Installation Guide.

When run as a service, it is run by a service named “LoadRunner Agent Service” on a Load Generator Standalone machine, or “Performance Center Agent Service” on a Performance Center Host machine. (The service is created either during the installation phase, or post-installation from the menu added to the operating system.)

If you encounter issues with TruClient IE Vusers/scripts, you need to reconfigure the agent with user credentials that have the necessary privileges to interact with Windows desktop.

These credentials are used to impersonate all processes that are created to run the different testing scripts on the testing machine. You can create or configure the service in Performance Center Administration from the Hosts tab, or in My Performance Center from the Hosts module.

Required security group policies for the user the LoadRunner agent is using to run TruClient IE Vusers/Scripts

By default, the LoadRunner agent user is configured to spawn new processes (mdrv) to impersonate and run under the IUSR_METRO Windows account. If you change the Windows account for the LoadRunner agent user, it will still run under the System account, but it will impersonate the modified/reconfigured user.

For TruClient IE to run successfully, the Windows account used should have the following security group policies enabled:

Act as part of the operating system (SeTcbPrivilege). Required to log on as a user (authenticate like a user) and gain access to the same resources that the user is authorized to access.
Replace a process level token (SeAssignPrimaryTokenPrivilege). Allows a parent process to replace the access token that is associated with a child process.

To reconfigure the service in Performance Center Administration or Performance Center:

In Performance Center Administration > Maintenance > Hosts, select the hosts in the Hosts grid that you want to reconfigure, and select Maintenance > Configure LoadRunner Agent.

In Performance Center > Hosts, select the host in the Hosts grid that you want to reconfigure, and click Maintenance > LoadRunner Agent Configuration.
In the LoadRunner Agent Configuration dialog box, select Use another account, enter the host account credentials, and click OK.
The task progress window displays the overall result for each configuration performed on the selected hosts (and restoration task if the configuration fails), including the configuration start and end time, and the configuration status (, ).

Note: If Performance Center is unable to configure the host using the credentials supplied, it automatically attempts to recreate the service using with the LocalSystem user account.
For hosts where the change is successful, the agent user configuration data is added to the LoadRunner Agent User column in the Hosts grid.

Run Vusers in an interactive RDP session

You can run Vusers in an interactive RDP session to support testing UI-based protocols.

Prerequisites

Note: The following prerequisites should be applied on the load generators used for running the test in RDP mode.

Install the Media features component (if it is not installed by default)

The Media Feature pack is required to ensure that FreeRDP has all the necessary codecs to render the remote desktop session (otherwise it will not work).

Download the Media Feature Pack from the Microsoft Download Center.
Enable Media Features

Perform the following to enable Media Feature on your Windows operating system.

Windows Desktop:
1. Select Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off. This opens the list of Windows features.
2. Scroll down and select Media Features.
3. Click OK, and wait until Windows turns on Windows Media Player and other media features.
Windows Server:
1. Select Start > Server Manager.
2. In Server Manager, select Manage > Add Roles and Features. Click Next until the Features page appears.
3. In the Features page, select Media Foundation (on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 select Desktop Experience).
4. Assign permissions to allow the agent to be configured in the Remote Desktop Users group.
  1. Open the Group Policy Management editor focused on an appropriate Group Policy object.
  2. Navigate to Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies and select the User Rights Assignment node.
  3. The agent should be run with user in the Remote Desktop Users group. If Remote Desktop Users group is not listed in the policy, click Add User or Group and add it manually. By default, Remote Desktop Users are allowed to log on through Remote Desktop Services.
5. Set RDP timeout policies
  
  We recommend removing the time limits for RDP sessions to prevent sessions being disconnected before the performance test has finished.
  1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor for the specific users.
  2. Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Session Time Limits.
  3. In the right pane, right-click Set time limit for active Remote Desktop Services sessions and click Edit.
  4. Select either Not Configured or Disabled.
  5. Repeat for the End session when time limits are reached policy.

Configure the LoadRunner Agent account

Select the hosts you want to use in RDP mode and insert your domain user, or local user for non domain joined machines, and password as described in Reconfigure the LoadRunner Agent user above.

Configure a performance test with RDP mode

From the Performance Center navigation toolbar, click and select Test Management.
Select a performance test in the test management tree and click Edit Test.
In the Performance Test Designer window, click Groups & Workload, and on the Groups pane toolbar, click LG Management.
Select the load generator types on which you want to enable RDP, and click Enable RDP. For details, see Load Generator Management dialog box.

Tip: We recommend setting RDP mode for specific load generators. If you use it for automatch load generators, you must verify your LoadRunner Agent is configured correctly on all load generators in the pool when the load generators are assigned.
Click OK, and then save and run the test. The load generator setting with RDP mode is persistent for the specific test only.

Notes and limitations

RDP mode is not supported for a local system user account. While a performance test with a system account will run for a load generator set to RDP mode, it will not open an interactive RDP session.
If the LoadRunner Agent is running as a process, you must kill the process (magentproc.exe).
Local accounts on domain machines cannot be used to run the LoadRunner Agent.
When you log off an RDP user session running the LoadRunner Agent, it will terminate FreeRDP.
Makes sure you use the default RDP port, 3389, when running Vusers in an interactive RDP session.
RDP mode is not supported when a Performance Center host is used simultaneously as a Controller and load generator.
RDP mode is not supported with IP Spoofing.
RDP mode is not supported with Docker.
When running a performance test with Citrix protocol on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, you might get the following popup message:

Solution: You should disable or stop the Interactive Services Detection process.

Assign hosts to host pools

You can populate host pools in one of the following ways:

From the Hosts tab. You can link a host to one or more host pools.
From the Pools tab. You can link one or more hosts to a particular host pool. For details, see Manage host pools.

To link a host to one or more host pools from the Hosts tab:

Select the hosts you want to assign in the Hosts grid, and click Assign Hosts to Pool .
Under Belongs to Pools, select pools in which to include the hosts, and click Assign.

Define general host settings

In Maintenance > Hosts, click the PC Host Settings button.
To configure Controller settings, click the Controller tab, and set the following:
- Connectivity. Enter the timeout for checking load generator connectivity (in seconds). The default is 30 seconds.
- Offline Results.
  - Set the maximum size of the offline results folder. When the size limit is exceeded, the files that were least used are deleted until the folder size is within its limits. The default size is 10 GB.
  - Set the number of days that a result file was not opened before the file is deleted. The default time limit is 30 days.
To configure data processor timeout settings, click the Data Processor tab, and set the following:
- Data Processor Timeslot minimum length (minutes). The minimum amount of time, in minutes, that a data processor timeslot should be allotted. The default is 1 minute.
- Timeout for pending Data Processor task (minutes). The amount of time a data processing task should be allowed to remain in a pending state. The default is 30 minutes.

Configure over-firewall settings

Use the Over Firewall tab to view communication settings between the Performance Center load generator host and the MI Listener, and configure advanced over-firewall settings for the selected load generator host.