Rational Performance Tester

Script less Testing

No programming knowledge is necessary to create, comprehend, edit or execute a performance test. Tests are displayed as hierarchical list of the Web pages that will be visited during execution. While test complexity is masked by default, advanced testers have access to all transactional information such as underlying page elements and server responses.

Find and diagnose the cause of performance problems

Rational Performance Tester goes beyond problem identification to problem diagnosis. Using Root Cause Analysis features, you can identify both the source code and physical application tier that is causing the bottleneck. With the generated UML sequence diagrams you can trace all activity that occurred just prior to the bottleneck to truly enable you to address the root cause of your performance problem.

Integrated Resource Monitorng

Testers must be vigilant to detect performance and reliability problems that can be traced to hardware issues. IBM Rational Performance Tester can collect and display multiple resource statistics from any tier of the system under test, thereby exposing hardware related bottlenecks responsible for poor performance.

Real-time reporting for immediate performance problem identification

Rational Performance Tester generates performance and throughput reports in real time, enabling you to detect performance problems at any time during a test run. These reports provide multiple filtering and configuration options that can be set before, during, and after a test run. Users can also review performance trends from one build to another. Additional reports are available at the conclusion of the test run to perform deeper analysis on items such as response time percentile distributions.

Run large multi-user tests with limited hardware

Rational Performance Tester can be configured to generate user loads from remote machines using an easily deployed execution agent. This execution agent has been optimized for low memory and processor usage. As a result, teams with limited hardware resources are able to generate very high volume user loads for their tests.

Automatic identification of, and correlation of dynamic server responses

Server responses may vary according to what data the user enters. Often, these responses have a bearing on future information that will pass between client and server. IBM Rational Performance Tester can to detect these dynamic server responses and automatically make them accessible for re-use in tests involving subsequent server requests. This capability ensures that your tests virtual users will accurately emulate the system load of a real world user population.

Automated test data variation

For accurate load emulation, often individual users must submit unique data to the server. IBM Rational Performance Tester provides an automated “data pooling” capability that varies the test data set used by each emulated user. A spreadsheet interface is provided to enter this unique data, or pre-existing data can be imported from any text based external source.

Accurate user profile workloads

To ensure that your performance testing accurately mirrors your user population, IBM Rational Performance Tester provides a flexible graphical test scheduler where load is specified by proportional user groups. Performance Tester also provides synchronization points to create real world scenarios and allows for scheduling of those points for improved control of workflows and simulated conditions (stress points) on the Web server. This enables you to create a workload on your server that is truly representative of your user mix.

Rendered HTML view of Web pages visited during test recording

Users can review Web pages accessed during test recording using a browser-like window integrated with the test editor. This window shows you what the user would see when visiting a selected page, helping you make more informed decisions about how to modify your tests prior to execution.

Java code insertion for flexible test customization

Advanced testers have the option of inserting custom Java code into their performance tests to perform activities such as advanced data analysis and request parsing.

Linux-based user interface and test execution agents

The IBM Performance Tester recorder and editor can be used on both the Windows and Linux platforms. Test execution, which can occur both locally and on remote machines, includes support for Windows and Linux. Remote test execution allows teams to take advantage of additional hardware resources, enabling very large scale performance tests.

Entrust security protocol support

Performance Tester allows users to test applications that are secured with Entrust TruePass Technology.

Broad environment and platform support

IBM Rational Performance Tester Extension for Siebel Test Automation enables performance testing of Siebel 7.7 application. IBM Rational Performance Tester Extension enables performance and scalability testing of SAP Solutions. IBM Rational Performance Tester Extension for Citrix Presentation Server enables performance testing of applications deployed over the Citrix architecture. IBM Rational Performance Tester for z/OS enables the use of zSeries hardware as a load generation platform.