I wanted to share something with some of the newer users of HPE's LoadRunner that us old guys know: The ReadMe file is pretty important. In fact, when the LoadRunner certification first came out, it was a 20+ page, open book exam that Mercury Interactive gave you weeks to work on and turn in. Some of the questions could only be answered if you knew where to look in the documentation - and many answers were ONLY found in the ReadMe in some discreet location. With the new 12.53 release of LoadRunner, there are a lot of new enhancements, which I intend to cover over the next few weeks. However, there are a few deprecated features to take note of.
I recently had a client wanting to know how to record against an older client/server application that utilized SQL Server DBLIB for the transport protocol. In 12.53 they didn't see an option for that protocol. What gives?
LoadRunner is a software testing tool from Micro Focus.It is used to test applications, measuring system behaviour and performance under load.LoadRunner can simulate thousands of users concurrently using application software, recording and later analyzing the performance of key.
Here is the URL for the very latest LoadRunner manual for version 12.53 online. There is a breakdown of the protocol types in the Vugen section of the manual. In the section for Database virtual users, page 489 states: 'VuGen supports the following database types: CtLib, DbLib, Oracle, ODBC, and DB2-CLI. ' Why is the protocol missing when they go to record? Because the support for RECORDING has been deprecated. This information is not in the user guide. How do I know? Wait for it......
Here is the online URL for the LR 12.50 ReadMe that shows what's new and the changes to the product over time. In the section toward the bottom, called 'Deprecated Protocols and Features', it states: 'For the following protocols, replay is supported, but recording is no longer supported...' Dblib andSQL Server are part of that group. It goes on to say there are a list of protocols that will eventually be totally removed from future releases of LoadRunner. You might want to review this section yourself to see if any of your licensed protocols will be affected.
Loadrunner 12 Download
- Oct 23, 2016 Correlation in LoadRunner nothing but identifying the dynamic values in the script and saving the values in separate parameters in order to works your test scripts successfully.
- Nov 19, 2019 Loadrunner from Micro Focus is the most widely used Load Testing tool. Performance Test Results produced by Loadrunner are used as a benchmark against other tools. This online course is geared to make you a Loadrunner pro.
- LoadRunner’s command line interface tool allows for fully DevOps-oriented flows so users can pull scripts from any source control, dynamically allocate dockerized load generators, or run scenarios from any CI tool. The NV (Network Virtualization) Insights report can help you improve the performance of your application by identifying.
- HP Loadrunner Tutorial provides complete performance Testing concepts. Existing Stopped From Running in Loadrunner,While working with Loadrunner Controller you.
- Aug 20, 2017 Unboxing HPE LoadRunner 12.55 – Update. New Recording Summary Report is a boom to performance testers. Unboxing HPE LoadRunner 12.55 – Recording Summary Unboxing HPE LoadRunner 12.55 – Recording Summary. If the LoadRunner is installed in one machine, multiple users can log in and work on their own instance of LoadRunner.
Playback for most of those protocols is still supported, but you will have to code your own scripts with version 12.53 on. You could install an earlier version of LoadRunner (just the Vugen module) to record with and then move the the scripts to a 12.53 machine for playback. It is possible there may be some additional tweaking needed, but it should work. If you intend to go back to an older version of LoadRunner, be aware of the committed support for the version. For example, LR 11.5x ends September 30, 2016 according to this knowledge base article.
HPE has to move on with LoadRunner as IT changes. Before everything went to the web, there were a lot of client server apps to test and lots of people paying Mercury Interactive to support the protocols that they were using. It's just not practical to keep supporting a bunch of protocols that hardly anyone is using anywhere. Unfortunately, there are no other products with a very wide range of protocols in the market for fall back on when they are totally removed from LoadRunner. On the other hand, when was the last time you needed to load test a COM/DCOM application directly? Other than LoadRunner, what would you use?
Depending on the application, there may be other ways to generate load on the back end using some of the existing protocols LoadRunner offers. This might include:
- RDP/Citrix - Publishing the client as an app and recording with these procotols instead.
- REST API - create your own REST calls that do the same thing as the client and use the HTML/WEB protocol
Don't get hung up on the creation of the automation code. The value of LoadRunner is also in the Controller and Analysis engine modules, not just the automation.
There are some additional features missing in 12.53 that people may notice. The Protocol Advisor introduced in version 9.5 is now gone. Let's face it though, it never really worked that well when the protocol wasn't easily detected. It would default back to very low level protocol suggestions like COM or Winsock when it could not figure the protocol out - and that recommendation only made James Pulley happy. If you are a performance engineer worth your hourly rate (<cough>), you know how to use network tools that will tell you what the transport protocol is. If you can't figure it out between Wireshark and a brief conversation with the developer or lead architect, you should probably just go back to bed.
The Test Results report and the corresponding Generate report during script execution option is now gone. I will miss this. Every now and again I would pull up the test results to get a visual. But I can just as easily figure it out with the output log.
I would recommend that you go back and look at the protocols you are licensed for with LoadRunner and/or Performance Center and review your software maintenance agreement. You may want to review and re-negotiate the current support contract, removing deprecated protocols you once needed that aren't there any longer.
Have you been using 12.53, and if so, are you missing anything?
Unboxing HPE LoadRunner 12.55 Wait is over. HPE LoadRunner 12.55 has been released with many features and enhancements. I am going to cover all the new and noteworthy of HPE LoadRunner 12.55 in this article. Also, over next couple weeks, I am going to publish video series about HPE LoadRunner 12.55 in my YouTube channel. Please subscribe now to get instant notification. Let us unbox HPE LoadRunner 12.55 Community Edition.
I have already published a detailed video about how to do clean uninstallation of HPE LoadRunner 12.55. It is much important to uninstall previous versions of LoadRunner before you upgrade to HPE LoadRunner 12.55. Here is the video:
Pro Tip : Make sure that you are restarting your laptop after the clean uninstallation of the previous version of LoadRunner
I have also published a step-by-step guide about how to install HPE LoadRunner 12.55 in my YouTube channel. Please watch that as well.
Pro Tip: Always Run as Administrator while installing the executable file. Also, launch HPE components with administrator privileges.
Let us start with what’s new in the technologies and platform. HPE LoadRunner 12.55 now supports Windows 10 (Creators update), Windows Server 2016, and Ubuntu 16.04. Also, it supports 64-bit version Eclipse and Visual Studio, Neon 2 version, NUnit 3.2 Test Adapter. TruClient now supports Chromium 55.
Pro Tip: Here is the link to see detailed System Requirements previously known as Product Availability Matrix.
JMeter tests support
This feature comes as a surprise. Believe it or not, now you can execute JMeter tests in HPE LoadRunner. Cool, isn’t it? Do not ask me, why we need LoadRunner to execute JMeter tests. May be it is a selling point to attract the buyers.
Pro Tip: JMeter tests feature is in beta version.
Protocol Update
Hp Loadrunner 12.53 Download
HPE LoadRunner 12.55 shipped with a new protocol called MQTT. If you are into IoT (Internet of Things) or machine-to-machine (M2M) stuff, you can leverage this protocol to the performance test.
What is MQTT?
The long form of MQTT is Message Queue Telemetry Transport; a publish-subscribe-based lightweight messaging transport. If you have a home automation devices, then it (might) uses this MQTT protocol. E.g. Amazon Echo, EVRYTHNG etc.
Web-based Protocol Enhancements
HPE LoadRunner 12.55 now supports HTTP/2 64 bit record and replay, HTTP/2 replay on Linux, the correlation in the HTTP headers, a new set of correlation rules, attribute-based correlation, and web_reg_save_param_ex in Flex protocol.
REST API editor is now available in all web-based protocols. VuGen now supports Google Web Kit 2.8.0.
Automation Dynatrace headers generation. Proxy recording using NTLM authentication and privilege to select the NIC. HAR file export in the Replay Summary pane.
Web-Services now supports MTOM attachments and security improvements. There are lots of enhancements done in other web-based protocols as well.
TruClient Enhancements
Tech preview of Actions to Code. Now, you can see the code of your TruClient steps. TruClient Lite edition has the ability to import client-side certificates. New API – AUT.window and AUT.document have been introduced.
Improved ability to record SAPUI5 applications. The TruClient IDE got a new look, and icons. Larger scripts can be created without any performance issues.
VuGen Enhancements
You can check for the updates right from the Help menu. Marketplace icon has been added to the toolbar and in the Help menu.
New Recording Summary Report is a boom to performance testers.
If the LoadRunner is installed in one machine, multiple users can log in and work on their own instance of LoadRunner.
Controller and Analysis Enhancements
As new protocol and features got introduced, Controller and Analysis also reflects the same. It got a new report for JMeter tests, Dynatrace dashboard metrics, New Relic graphs, and MQTT graphs and monitors.
Network Virtualization Enhancements
Now you can run NV in Linux load generators and the report now displays Latency compensation. NV Insights displays HTTP/2 protocol metrics, client-side breakdown, TruClient steps, transaction status and resources analysis.
Jenkins Integration
HPE LoadRunner 12.55 now supports Jenkins 5.2 which includes the Build Pipeline. AMD Marketplace replaces HPLN integration.
Apart from above features, there are a lot of performance improvements, fixes, enhancements have been done. It is an overkill if I list everything. As I mentioned, over next few weeks, I will publish a video series about HPE LoadRunner 12.55.
Have you downloaded HPE LoadRunner 12.55? If yes, what is your opinion about this newer version? If no, watch above two videos and get started.