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Rational® Performance Tester
Test Execution Specialist Guide
This guide describes tasks that you can perform on schedules, test execution with custom code, and Extending Rational® Performance Tester to support other protocols. This guide is intended for testers or test execution specialists.
Running schedules with performance testing
After you have added the user groups, tests, and other items to a schedule, and you are satisfied that it represents a realistic workload, you run the schedule.
Controlling execution of web analytic reports
When a schedule is in the running state, you can perform the following actions from the web analytics reports to cater to your need.
Changing the rate during a run
Typically, you specify the desired rate for the Rate Runner group in the Rate Schedule. However, due to various reasons, you might want to change the rate when the Rate Schedule is running.

Rational® Performance Tester
- Release Notes
  This document contains information about what's new, installation instructions, known issues in IBM® Rational® Performance Tester and contact information of IBM Customer Support.
- System Requirements
  This document includes information about hardware and software requirements for IBM® Rational® Performance Tester.
- Getting Started
  This guide provides an overview and describes the task flows to get you to start with Rational® Performance Tester. This guide is intended for new users.
- Tutorials
  This section contains the tutorials which explains the main features of Rational® Performance Tester.
- Samples
  This section describes about the sample project which can be used with Rational® Performance Tester to test the functionality of an application.
- Administrator Guide
  This guide describes how to install Rational® Performance Tester. After you install the product, you can perform administration tasks such as license configuration and integration with other products. This guide is intended for administrators.
- Test Author Guide
  This guide describes how to create test scripts in Rational® Performance Tester and enhances tests by applying different test elements such as dataset, variables, and verification points. This guide is intended for testers.
- Test Execution Specialist Guide
  This guide describes tasks that you can perform on schedules, test execution with custom code, and Extending Rational® Performance Tester to support other protocols. This guide is intended for testers or test execution specialists.
  - Running schedules with performance testing
    After you have added the user groups, tests, and other items to a schedule, and you are satisfied that it represents a realistic workload, you run the schedule.
    - Running a local schedule or test
      You can run a test locally or a schedule, in this context, is used to refer to both VU Schedule and Rate Schedule on remote locations with a default launch configuration.
    - Running a long run mode SAP GUI test
      When running a SAP GUI test that could last for many hours and could use up the operating system resources, you can choose to run the test with the Long Run Mode process. It is an external process that restarts automatically after the specified number of SAP sessions are over. So, tests of longer duration tests are more likely to finish.
    - Running long duration Citrix tests
      When tests exceed many hours, resource consumption issues can cause problems for the Citrix clients. The long run mode increases the reliability of long duration tests with the Citrix protocol by running the test using multiple processes.
    - Testing with Docker images
      IBM® Rational® Performance Tester, IBM Rational Functional Tester, and IBM Rational Performance Tester Agents are available for download as Docker images. You can use them to fulfill the continuous testing aspects of your DevOps lifecycle.
    - Testing with IBM Cloud Private
      You can automate your testing environment by using Docker container images of the workbench and agents on top of IBM® Cloud Private.
    - Adjusting delays in HTTP tests
      You can configure HTTP tests to use client-side processing delays. Client-side processing delays wait for the first character or last character that is received in a response for a previous request in order to better emulate the work done on the client computer. You can also scale the recorded delays in HTTP tests to change the rate at which a test runs.
    - Setting a launch configuration
      Instead of using the default launch configuration, you can specify the file name for the execution results, the name of the folder for the execution results, and, for a test, the number of users.
    - Running a configured schedule
      If you do not use the default launch configuration, you can configure the schedule and then run it.
    - Configuring multiple host names for a location
      You can run several locations on the same computer by configuring multiple host names for a location. This configuration affects all tests running at that location; all tests will run with the configured port.
    - Automating tests from command line
      You can run a schedule from the command line. You can also set preferences to export results after the run completes from the command line or from the workbench. Together, these features let you run tests and analyze results without opening the workbench. You can even write scripts to process the exported results.
    - Controlling caches size
      If you use an infinite loop and the number of cached responses in a test increases exponentially, you can set a limit to cache for a user group in the schedule.
    - Increasing memory allocation
      The virtual users that access your web server require memory to prepare requests, send requests, and receive responses. Because the amount of memory is not automatically set on remote computers, you might receive an out-of-memory error. To correct this situation, increase the memory allocation for that computer.
    - Controlling execution of web analytic reports
      When a schedule is in the running state, you can perform the following actions from the web analytics reports to cater to your need.
      - Changing the number of virtual users during a run
        If the number of virtual users that was defined initially is incorrect, you can correct the number of users, and apply the change to one stage or to all of the remaining stages in the schedule.
      - Changing the rate during a run
        Typically, you specify the desired rate for the Rate Runner group in the Rate Schedule. However, due to various reasons, you might want to change the rate when the Rate Schedule is running.
      - Releasing virtual users from synchronization points
        To record the response time of the system under test at different points, you can release virtual users either all together or in staggered intervals. You can release virtual users from synchronization points during a run.
      - Changing the stage duration during a run
        Increase or decrease the duration of the current stage during a schedule run. You can change the duration of a stage that is set to run for a specified time, but not for a stage that is set to run until the work is complete. You can change the duration of a stage when the status is Running, but not when the status is Ramping or Settle Time.
      - Changing the log level during a run
        You can change the log level to determine problems during a run. By default, only warnings and severe errors are logged. Typically, you change this level only when requested to do so by IBM® Software Support.
      - Stopping test runs
        You can stop a test run before it is complete. For example, you might detect serious problems in the run and not want to wait for it to finish. When stopping the test run, you can choose to save the results and the test log of the run.
    - Debugging HTTP tests
      If a test does not behave as expected during playback, you can use the protocol data and test log to assist in debugging the test.
    - Debugging Citrix tests
      The Citrix dashboard is an optional panel that displays detailed information and control commands for each virtual user during the run of a schedule. This is useful for debugging your tests and allows you to pause, interact, resume, or stop the execution of individual virtual user sessions.
  - Extending test execution with custom code
    You can extend how you run your tests by writing custom Java™ code and calling the code from the test. You can also specify that results from the tests that are affected by your custom code be included in reports.
  - Extending Rational® Performance Tester to support other protocols
    The Rational® Performance Tester Extensibility Software Development Kit (SDK) enables you to create extensions to support testing new protocols without modifying the core product code. You can create an extension that provides functionality for testing other protocols in addition to the HTTP protocol support that is standard in Rational Performance Tester.
- Test Manager Guide
  This guide describes how to keep track of the performance of the application by evaluating the test results. This guide is intended for test managers.
- Troubleshooting Guide
  This guide describes how to analyze and resolve some of the common problems that you might encounter while you work with Rational® Performance Tester.
- Reference Guide
  This guide describes, additional topics to gain more knowledge about Rational® Performance Tester.
- All Guides (PDFs)
  You can find the link to view or download the content of the release notes, system requirements, and persona guides of Rational® Performance Tester as a PDF file.
- Security Considerations
  You can take certain actions to ensure that your installation is secure, customize your security settings, and set up user access controls.
- Notices
  This document provides information about copyright, trademarks, terms and conditions for the product documentation.

Changing the rate during a run

Typically, you specify the desired rate for the Rate Runner group in the Rate Schedule. However, due to various reasons, you might want to change the rate when the Rate Schedule is running.

About this task

For example, you apply the load iteratively. Therefore, in the Rate Schedule, you specify a moderate rate. If the run is progressing steadily and there is scope to apply more load, you can increase the rate. When you change the rate, the changed rate is applied to the remainder of the current stage. The next stage will automatically select the rate defined in the schedule editor.

Procedure

To change the rate during a run:

From the Test editor, click Run Rate Schedule. The execution report is opened either in the internal or external browser, and the state of the run is shown as Running.
During the run, click Running > Change Rate.
The Change Rate dialog box displays all the Rate Runner groups that are defined in the Rate Schedule.
To specify another rate for the Rate Runner group, in Target Rate, specify the rate.