Provision cloud load generators

This section describes how to reserve (or provision) a load generator on the cloud with a specific configuration for running tests. It also discusses how to view provisioning progress of your load generators by location in the Hosts Provisioning report.

Alternatively you can specify an image that is included in a custom configuration. For details, see Create custom image for load generators on the cloud.

Provision cloud load generators

  1. Prerequisites

    • You must have at least one cloud account and at least one host template linked to your project. For details, see Cloud accounts and Host templates.

    • Your project must have enough cloud credits available to provision your desired hosts. See Define the total number of credits for your cloud account for more information. If you do not have permission to add credits to a project, contact your administrator.

    • When provisioning hosts, you need to supply the Security Group and Key Pair. For details, see Security group rules.

      Note: Note: Security groups and key pairs are created separately for each cloud location. Make sure that you have configured the necessary security groups and key pairs for the locations you will provision from.

    • Other considerations when provisioning hosts:

      Location The location where you provision hosts can impact the effectiveness of your testing. Make sure to select a cloud location that matches your testing needs.
      Host templates are created separately for each location, so a template that exists in one location may not exist in a different location. Make sure that you know which locations contain the templates you need or that you add your desired templates to the locations you intend to provision from.
      Remote Connectivity

      If you need to connect remotely to the provisioned hosts, make sure to select a key pair for which you have the private key and to select a security group that allows remote connections.
      Batches Hosts are provisioned in batches. All hosts provisioned in a single batch use the same account, location, and template, and have identical configurations. To provision different types of hosts, you must create different batches. A single provision request can include multiple batches of hosts.

  2. Provision load generators in a specific subnet in a VPC

    Performance Center supports provisioning load generators in Amazon default and custom virtual private cloud (VPC).

    If you are using a specific subnet in a VPC, you need to supply the subnet in a VPC in a host template. For details on how to set this up, see Provision load generators in a specific subnet in a VPC.

  3. Provision cloud load generators

    1. In Performance Center Administration, select Maintenance > Hosts. Select the load generators you want to provision in the Hosts grid, and select Cloud Hosts > Provision Hosts.

    2. In the Provision Hosts Dialog Box, enter the details for each batch of load generators to be provisioned and click Add Batch.

      Note: You must have at least one cloud credit to provision your requested load generators.

      UI Element Description
      Batch # Shows the number of the batch for which you are entering details.
      Hosts Amount Enter the number of load generators to provision in the batch. All load generators in the batch use the same account, location, and template, and have identical configurations.
      Account Select the cloud account to provision from.
      Location

      Select a suitable geographic location in which to provision the load generators. Make sure to select a location for which you have configured an appropriate host template.
      Template

      Specifies the hosts' purpose, hardware, machine image, and credits consumed per hour. Select a template that will match your testing needs. The list of available templates is based on your selected location.

      Current Account Balance

      Shows the number of credits available in your account.
      Template Price

      Shows the cost in credits per hour of the selected template.
      Daily Total

      Shows the total number of credits per day that the batch will consume.
      Security Group

      Select a security group that allows the necessary access to your testing load generators. Security group specifies which inbound and outbound connections are permitted from the load generators, 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 in the ALM Lab Management Guide.
      Pools Select the appropriate host pools to which the newly provisioned load generators will be added.
      Key Pair

      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 details, see Initial Cloud Settings Overview in the ALM Lab Management Guide.

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

      Select attributes that match the capabilities of the load generators. Attributes are used to identify suitable load generators when running tests.

      Note: The attribute list can be modified from ALM Project Customization. For details, see Customizing Project Lists in the ALM Lab Management Guide.
      Notification Date

      Enter the date to be notified if the load generators are still provisioned in the cloud provider. Load generators provisioned past this date will be listed in the cloud hosts daily digest report.

      Note: This is an optional field. However, it is recommend that you enter a value for better tracking of hosts that are past their due date. This value can be modified from the Host module.

      Elastic IPs

      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 details, see Initial Cloud Settings Overview in the ALM Lab Management Guide.
      Username

      The user name of the user who connects the RDP/SSH port to the provisioned machine. The user name must meet the user name complexity requirements of the operating system that you are using for this virtual machine.
      Password

      The password of the user who connects the RDP/SSH port to the provisioned machine. The password must meet the password complexity requirements of the operating system that you are using for this virtual machine.
      Confirm Password

      Re-enter the password of the user who connects the RDP/SSH port to the provisioned machine.

      RDP/SSH Port

      The port of the secure connection remote desktop.

      Add Batch Adds the selected batch to the cart. When you click Provision, all hosts in the cart are queued for provisioning.
      Added Batches Shows all batches that are to be provisioned. You can click the Delete Batch button to remove a batch from the cart.

      Delete Batch

      		 Deletes the selected batch and removes it from the cart.
      Provision Queues all batches in the cart for provisioning and opens the Host Provisioning report.

  4. After adding all necessary batches, click Provision. The load generators are queued for provisioning and the Cloud Provisioning Report opens. For details, see Provisioning report.

  5. Post provisioning

    The Host Provisioning Report shows you provisioning progress, and automatically refreshes to show updates. If there are any errors during provisioning, you will see them here. For details, see Provisioning report.

    Once your cloud hosts are provisioned, you can begin to use them for running tests.

    Note: There may be a delay of a few minutes between the time that a cloud host's status changes to Operational and the time that the host is ready for use.

    After provisioning is complete, the hosts begin to consume credits from your project.

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Provision load generators in a specific subnet in a VPC

If you are using a specific subnet in a VPC, you need to supply the subnet in a VPC in a host template.

  1. Create a VPC from Amazon Web Services.

    1. In the subnet configuration, set Auto-assign Public IP as required.

      Note: If Auto-assign Public IP is set to Disable, the load generators will not have a public IP. They will have a private IP only, and will need to establish a trust between the corporate network and the AWS VPC.

    2. Create a relevant security group for the VPC.

  2. Create a host template.

    Create a host template and set the subnet ID in the VPC Subnet Id field of the template.

    For details, see Create a host template.

  3. Provision a load generator from Performance Center using one of the templates created for the VPC using the required subnet ID.

  4. Select a security group that was created for the selected VPC.

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Provisioning report

The Provisioning report enables you to view provisioning progress of your hosts by location. The report guides you through the provisioning steps. Details of this process are displayed in a log file. Once your cloud hosts are provisioned, you can begin to use them for running tests.

  1. Prerequisites

    You must have at least one cloud account and at least one host template linked to your project in order to provision hosts.

  2. On the Performance Center Administration sidebar, select Maintenance > Hosts.

  3. In the Hosts grid, select the load generators for which you want a report, and click Cloud Hosts >  Provisioning Report.

    Note:  

    • There may be a delay of a few minutes between the time that a cloud host's status changes to Operational and the time that the host is ready for use.

    • After provisioning is complete, the hosts begin to consume credits from your project.

    User interface elements are described below:

    UI Elements

    Description
    Started

    This section contains the following details:

    • The date and time that the provisioning starts.
    • The name of the user running the report.
    • The processing status of the report.
    Number of hosts provisioned and checked Indicates the number of hosts queued for provisioning and their status.
    Refresh

    The report automatically refreshes to show updates. Click the arrow to change the automatic refresh rate in seconds. Possible values: 1, 10, or 30.

    Indicates the number of hosts queued for provisioning and their status in the specified location. Click the indicator to open the report details pane.

    The possible states are:

    • Provisioning. The host is in the process of being provisioned.

    • Checking. The host is in the process of being verified.

    • Done. The host was provisioned and verified.

    • Done - Failed. The host failed to reach a provisioned state.

    Opens the report details. The report displays the following elements:

    • Show All Locations. If you have more than one location running at the same time, you can view details for all locations.
    • IP/Name. The name or IP address of the host.
    • Instance Type. The hardware specs of the host.
    • Image. The software image used for the host.
    • Status. Indicates the provisioning status of the host.
    • Log . Displays a log of events related to the host.

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Terminate cloud load generators

You terminate cloud hosts from Lab Management. For details, see How to Provision and Terminate Cloud Hosts in the ALM Lab Management Guide.

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Troubleshooting cloud load generators

This section provides information on troubleshooting cloud host provisioning issues.

  • Provisioning load generators in AWS fails

    This can occur if Auto-assign Public IP is set to Disable in the VPC subnet configuration, and you have not set the ALM site parameter and specified the subnet ID.

    Troubleshooting: In ALM Site Administration, add the SHOW_VPC_SUBNET_ID parameter with value Y and specify the subnet ID in the host template. For details, see Provision load generators in a specific subnet in a VPC.

  • Provisioning load generators in AWS with an invalid image

    When you add an AWS cloud account to Performance Center, the available images are retrieved from AWS, and default templates for provisioning Load Generators are added in the Host Templates page.

    If any of the AWS images in the templates subsequently become invalid (for example, if Micro Focus updates an image), and you try to provision Load Generators using a cloud template that points to an invalid AWS image ID, the operation will fail.

    Troubleshooting: Identify the template that points to an invalid AWS image, and create a custom template with a valid AWS image.

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See also: