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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.
Evaluating results
After the test or schedule run completes, the performance data is displayed in the results. The results include various reports. You can evaluate the results in the web analytic reports. Web analytics collect data using new technologies thereby providing better user experience.
Customizing reports
You can customize reports to specifically investigate a performance problem in more detail than what is provided in the default reports.
Correcting time offset - Legacy Reports
Response time breakdown and resource monitoring data is time stamped using the system clock of the host computer. If there are differences between the system clocks of the host computers that you include in a test, then response time breakdown and resource monitoring data are skewed in reports. The best practice is to synchronize the system clocks on all computers that you include in a test. When this is not possible, you can correct the time offset of each host computer after a test run. Typically, correct the time offset on all computers to match the system clock of the workbench computer.

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.
- 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.
  - Evaluating results
    After the test or schedule run completes, the performance data is displayed in the results. The results include various reports. You can evaluate the results in the web analytic reports. Web analytics collect data using new technologies thereby providing better user experience.
    - Comparing results among runs
      To analyze the difference between two or more reports, you can compare them. For example, to analyze the performance of the application at different time slots or different milestone builds, you can compare two runs.
    - Comparing schedule stages
      When you are running a schedule, in this context, is used to refer to both VU Schedule and Rate Schedule that contains stages, time ranges are automatically created for each stage. You can view a report that compares these stages, and you also can set preferences to display the report automatically at the end of a staged run.
    - Comparing results from various regions or agent locations
      When you run a schedule that includes agents from different regions, use the Web Analytic reports to compare the performance data from these regions.
    - Generating functional test reports
      You can generate functional test reports of your tests, which summarize the pass or fail verdicts of elements in the test log. Functional reports are generated from the test run as HTML files that use predefined report designs.
    - Publishing test results to the server
      The test results indicate the quality of the application under test. Different stakeholders might want to check the quality of the application but do not have the desktop client installed. As a desktop client user, you can publish test results to IBM® Rational® Test Automation Server so that others can view them from the web browser.
    - Publishing specific results to the server
      If you have a single test result or multiple test results that are not published to IBM® Rational® Test Automation Server, you can publish a single or all of them simultaneously.
    - Customizing reports
      You can customize reports to specifically investigate a performance problem in more detail than what is provided in the default reports.
      - Creating custom reports
        If the default reports do not address your needs, you can create your own reports.
      - Viewing trending reports
        To view the trend of response time for an application over a period of time, open the trend report for a run. In addition to the response time, you can view the trend for the loops, transactions, and performance requirements for the application.
      - Filtering data in test results
        You can filter the data in a test result that is displayed in a report so that you can remove the unnecessary data and focus on the data that is significant for the analysis.
      - Adding additional counters on a separate page
        You can add additional counters on a separate page without editing an existing report to investigate performance problems in detail.
      - Customizing the appearance of graphs in a report
        To display the data in a table, bar chart, or line chart in a manner that caters to your test requirements, use the controls that are available in the View Options of a report.
      - Changing the report displayed during a run - Legacy Reports
        Use this page to select the default report that opens during a run. Typically, you select Determine default report based on protocols in test, which determines the protocols that you are testing and automatically opens the appropriate protocol-specific reports.
      - Modifying counters in a graph
        To gather additional information for diagnosing performance problems, you can modify the counters that are displayed in a graph.
      - Correcting time offset - Legacy Reports
        Response time breakdown and resource monitoring data is time stamped using the system clock of the host computer. If there are differences between the system clocks of the host computers that you include in a test, then response time breakdown and resource monitoring data are skewed in reports. The best practice is to synchronize the system clocks on all computers that you include in a test. When this is not possible, you can correct the time offset of each host computer after a test run. Typically, correct the time offset on all computers to match the system clock of the workbench computer.
    - Export test results
      You can export the test result in different formats to share it with different stakeholders.
    - Viewing response time breakdown
      You can do detailed analysis of the response time to find bottlenecks in the HTTP traffic of the application.
  - Logs overview
    Rational® Performance Tester uses logs to store different types of information, which you can use to determine the reason for a test failure.
  - Reports and counters
    See the description of the counters for all of the performance reports.
- 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.

Correcting time offset - Legacy Reports

Response time breakdown and resource monitoring data is time stamped using the system clock of the host computer. If there are differences between the system clocks of the host computers that you include in a test, then response time breakdown and resource monitoring data are skewed in reports. The best practice is to synchronize the system clocks on all computers that you include in a test. When this is not possible, you can correct the time offset of each host computer after a test run. Typically, correct the time offset on all computers to match the system clock of the workbench computer.

Procedure

After you run tests with resource monitoring or response time breakdown enabled, follow these steps to correct the time offset:

In the Test Runs view, right-click the host where you want to correct the time offset; then click Correct Time Offset.
Select a Shift Direction of positive or negative. A positive shift moves the response time breakdown and resource monitoring data on the selected host to the right. A negative shift moves the response time breakdown and resource monitoring data on the selected host to the left.
Type the hours, minutes, or seconds of the time offset you want to use, and click OK.

Results

The response time breakdown and resource monitoring data on the selected host displays with a corrected time offset.