By simulating a massive load, you can perform stress, load and scalability testing of your web server. These types of load testing have much in common and are often confused. The common thing is that all of them simulate HTTP(S) traffic recorded previously. However, the goals of these testing approaches are different:

Load testing is aimed at checking the web server behavior under a massive load, that is, at simulating the expected load prior to opening the web server for real users.
Stress testing is aimed at verifying the web server’s behavior under an extremely heavy load.
Scalability testing is aimed at determining whether the web server’s productivity can be increased by adding more hardware or software resources.

In This Section

Load Testing: Determining Server Performance at Different Loads

Describes a general sequence of test steps and explains how to interpret load testing results.

Load Testing: Checking Whether Server Supports a Certain Number of Users

Explains how to check whether the tested web server supports a certain number of concurrent virtual users.

Stress Testing: Finding the Server's Crash Point

Explains how to organize stress testing and how to determine the web server’s crash point.

Scalability Testing: Checking Whether a Site Performance Can Scale Up

Describes the typical stages of web server scalability testing.

Knowing Request Processing Time

Describes how to determine how long it takes a web server to process requests during test runs.

Load Testing: Measuring Server Hardware Performance

Describes how to determine the web server’s hardware performance during test runs.

Testing ASP.NET Applications - Specific Server Metrics

Describes server performance counters that will help you estimate the behavior of ASP.NET applications under test.

Measuring SQL Server Performance

Describes server counters that will help you estimate performance on SQL Server databases.

"Do"-s and "Do not"-s While Testing Performance

Describes some best practices for performance testing.

Setting Reasonable Goals for Service Level Agreement

Provides tips for defining service level agreement thresholds for your website performance.

Specifying Appropriate Request Data

Explains why it is important to use appropriate test data and describes typical cases when data modification is needed.

Viewing Virtual User Data

Describes how to log and view data that a virtual user sent to and received from the web server during the test run.

Verifying Server Responses

Describes how to check web server responses to simulated requests in LoadComplete.

Checking Whether a Server Response Contains Specific Text

Describes how you can create a validation rule to perform this kind of check.

Running Single-User Tests

Describes typical use cases of single-user tests.

Using LoadComplete on Cloud Computers

Describes how to run load tests in a cloud environment.

Creating Load Tests Based on Functional Tests

Explains how to create a LoadComplete load test based on an existing functional web test.

Typical Use Cases

In This Section

Related Topics of Interest

See Also