Run a Rate Runner group at a remote location

To generate good amount of load, you need computers with enough processing capability and throughput. It is a good practice to install the workbench on your computer and the agents on remote computers. The agents on the remote computers help generate the load.

Before you begin

Before you run a user group at a remote location, verify that:
  • HCL OneTest™ Performance Agent is installed on the remote computer. The agent is configured and connected to the HCL OneTest™ Performance.
  • One transaction rate per second is equivalent to one Virtual Tester. From 9.2.0.1, to run a Rate Schedule with more than 5 transactions per second, you must have appropriate VT Pack licenses.
  • Firewall is disabled on the workbench computer or configured to allow incoming connections on the port number 7080.
  • A reasonable number of iterations will run at the remote location. When you assign a Rate Runner group to a remote location, do not overload the remote computer (agent). If you exceed the number of iterations that the remote computer can run, the performance measurements of the server will be skewed because they will be affected by the performance of the computer. The test results will reflect the load of the computer more than the load of the server. For best results on a computer with a 1 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM, do not exceed 1000 concurrent iterations.

About this task

Generally, you should run the groups at a remote locations. You must run a Rate Runner group at a remote location in these cases:
  • When a large number of iterations are running and the local computer does not have enough processor or memory resources to support this load. You can conserve resources by running the iterations on different locations, so that reasonable number of iterations run on each computer.
  • When a test requires specific client libraries or software. The Rate Runner group that contains this test must run on a computer that has the libraries or software installed.

Procedure

  1. From the Test Navigator view, double-click the Rate Schedule
  2. Select the name of the Rate Schedule and from the Rate Schedule Details section, select the Agents category.
    You can also select the agents at the Rate Runner Group level. Select a Rate Runner Group and click the Agents tab.
    Note: When the agents are declared for both Rate Runner Group and Rate Schedule, the Rate Runner Group agents take precedence.
  3. To declare a remote location:
    1. Click Add > Add New.
      The Add New wizard opens. On the first page of the wizard, you can specify general properties for the remote location.
    2. In Hostname, type the IP address or the fully qualified host name of the remote computer.
    3. In Name, type a descriptive name for the remote computer.
    4. In Deployment Directory, enter a fully qualified pathname of the directory, which is in the remote computer to store the test assets.
      Note: The environment variables such as %TEMP% are not supported in the Deployment Directory field.
    5. In Operating System, select the operating system of the remote computer, and then click Next.
    6. Specify the IP aliasing properties for this location. To make it appear as though each virtual user has its own IP address, click Enable IP Aliasing.
    7. To use IP addresses from all network interfaces at the remote location, click Use IP addresses from all network interfaces.
    8. To use addresses from a subset of network interfaces, click Only use IP addresses from the following network interfaces.
      Tip: Click Add to add the name of an interface and Edit to change the interface name. Specify network interfaces separated by commas, for example, eth0, eth1. If you do not use this form, the connection attempt fails.
    9. Click Next. On the third page of this wizard, you can specify file locations.
    10. In File name, type the name of the file to contain information about this computer, and then click Next.
      Note: The data stored in the file includes information such as the host name and deployment directory. You can change this information later by opening the Test Navigator and double-clicking the file.
  4. To add an already declared location:
    1. Click Add > Add Existing.
    2. In the Select Location window, select the computer on which the user group will run, and then click OK.
  5. Save the schedule.