posted 10-01-2002 03:04 AM         

Our application is written in ASP and talks to a SQL Server 7 DB. We need to make sure there aren't problems with timeouts and everything ELSE possible. As a first attempt, I used Microsoft's WAST with a simple script that just involved logging into the application with about 75 simultaneous users.

Now, logging in just involves posting a username and password which is then searched against the database, however an UPDATE is done with that information at almost the same time. We started to get problems reported with multiple users doing this at one of our pilot sites, BUT I couldn't reproduce this in our testing 'lab' using WAST and looking at SQL Server Profiler.

I wonder if there is a better approach/tools for testing this sort of scenario? I mean there has to be because the test didn't show up the problems that real-life users found. They got errors on their screens and we looked really, really bad.

I'm thinking that maybe they encountered something further into the app that was hogging all the SQL resources but I don't know how to simulate 'real-use' with WAST. On the other hand, I have no guarantee, that it WASN'T that particular SELECT/UPDATE on the same table that was causing the problem. How can we fix something that we cannot reproduce in the lab?

Do I need a different/better tool? I've read a tiny bit about OpenSTA - I need something that will look at the back end SQL Server as well as the front end. And I'm not even sure that errors in ASP pages showed up in testing with WAST because timeouts and whatnot are actually handled by the ASP code so wouldn't that seem as an 'ok' to WAST?

Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

-- Theo

posted 10-01-2002 06:40 AM         

Check out my methodology and article series on www.perftestplus.com It's a good starting point conceptually - regardless of tool.

As far as modeling and error handling with WAST, I don't know - it is possible that WAST was calling any response at all a "pass" and only no-response a fail. Most performance/load tools default to this and the user has to write code to make it check for certain responses (other than things like 404, or 500, etc)

posted 10-01-2002 08:43 AM         

As stated the previous post, there's more than load testing in your issues I think, but for the load test, check out the supplier links to your left and see if they can point you to a load test lab/supplier in your area.

posted 10-01-2002 08:52 AM         

Since you're the moderator and brought up the outsourcing topic, does that mean that I can volunteer the services of my organization? Or would that still be tacky, even after it WAS your idea?

posted 10-01-2002 09:52 AM         

You say you are a programmer and you have used WAS to test asp based applications. Given your programming background, asp environment and budget I would advise the ACT test tool from Microsoft. The problem you are currently having may not be solved with ACT but the tool will create application specific traffic (url re-writing, allows full parsing of response etc.) unlike WAS, and it is more robust than OpenSTA (the other tool you mentioned).
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/techinfo/articles/developerproductivity/apptesting.asp

There is a forum on this site for MACT and it will handle both Functional and Load testing of Web Sites.

As already mentioned 'Out sourcing' would also be an option.

Regards

Ian

posted 10-02-2002 12:50 PM         

Your site is really cool. Lot of stuff is there. Thanks for sharing knowledge with us

govind

posted 10-02-2002 01:18 PM         

Make sure you write a solid script. If you record junk - you play back junk. Monitor your ASP Requests/Second and compare it to the User Connections on SQLServer. If there is a large difference in these two numbers then your script is probably not hitting the db as hard as you intended.

If time is running short, I suggest outsourcing to a remote service. Some are expensive, but others are very reasonable and can give you quick turnaround time due to the fact that they are Tool and Load testing experts. Not sure what your budget is, so I may be off base with this suggestions. Good Luck!!!

posted 10-02-2002 02:16 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by RSBarber:
Since you're the moderator and brought up the outsourcing topic, does that mean that I can volunteer the services of my organization? Or would that still be tacky, even after it WAS your idea?

---

Umm... did I say that? Actually what I wanted them to do was to check out the sponsors. Some of the suppliers of the tools can do it, or point them in the direction of where they can get some help.

I'm not real sure what the rule is on offering... I haven't checked the FAQ on that lately.

posted 10-02-2002 03:42 PM         

We are actually a Gold Level and TestBureau partner for Rational. Since they scalled back their professional services arm, we have been doing a significant amount of performance testing through referrals directly from Rational.

So have no fear. The sponsors won't be left out.

posted 10-03-2002 07:54 AM         

You may try a search on the site for the free/inexpensive tools.