Load Runner
Load Runner is a software testing tool from Micro Focus. It is used to test applications, measuring system behavior and performance under load. LoadRunner can simulate thousands of users concurrently using application software, recording and later analyzing the performance of key components of the application.
Load Runner simulates user activity by generating messages between application components or by simulating interactions with the user interface such as keypresses or mouse movements. The messages and interactions to be generated are stored in scripts. LoadRunner can generate the scripts by recording them, such as logging HTTP requests between a client web browser and an application’s web server.
- Load Runner is now LoadRunner Professional 2020
- Performance Center is now LoadRunner Enterprise 2020
- Storm Runner Load is now LoadRunner Cloud 2020
Architecture
The key components of LoadRunner are:
- Load Generator generates the load against the application by following scripts
- VuGen (Virtual User Generator) for generating and editing scripts
- Controller controls, launches and sequences instances of Load Generator – specifying which script to use, for how long etc. During runs the Controller receives real-time monitoring data and displays status.
- Agent process manages connection between Controller and Load Generator instances.
- Analysis assembles logs from various load generators and formats reports for visualization of run result data and monitoring data.
Modules are available to enable LoadRunner to capture, replay and script different application and networking technologies. These include support for:
- applications using Microsoft .NET and Java
- database servers such as Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle
- internetworking protocols such as DNS, FTP and LDAP
- e-mail protocols including IMAP, MAPI, POP3 & SMTP
- remote client technologies such as Citrix ICA & RDP
Load Runner can be run standalone or multiple instances can pooled for use by several people under the control of Load Runner Enterprise, formerly known as HP Performance Center.
Major Releases
| Version | Service Pack | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | N/A | November 1993 | Load Testing for Windows applications |
| 2.0 | N/A | July 1994 | Windows support added |
| XL & RTE | N/A | December 1994 | LoadRunner/XL (for large tests) and LoadRunner/RTE (RTE protocol support) introduced |
| 3.0 | N/A | April 1995 | Added SQL Inspector (captures SQL statements sent from client applications to relational databases |
| 4.0 | N/A | May 1996 | Added Virtual User Generator, Controller, and Analysis tools |
| 5.0 | N/A | February 1997 | Added SAP R/3 support |
| 6.0 | N/A | July 1999 | Added Linux installation support |
| 6.5 | N/A | June 2000 | Added “TurboLoad” technology (i.e. Run users as threads) |
| 7.51 | N/A | June 2000 | Added Citrix ICA protocol support |
| 7.8 | Feature Pack 1 | September 2003 | Added support for Windows XP. |
| 8.0 | N/A | August 2004 | Added “Additional Attributes” to Runtime Settings. |
| 8.1 | N/A | August 2004 | Added Web Click and Script technologies |
| 11.0 | Patch 2 | February 22, 2011 | Added support for Visual Studio 2010 and Protocol Updates to Ajax TruClient, Citrix, Flex, Web. |
| 11.0 | Patch 3 | June 20, 2011 | Added support for IE9, Mobile protocols, GraniteDS. |
| 11.0 | Patch 4 | November 2011 | HP SV (Service Virtualization Integration) with Controller, GWT-DFE(Google Web Toolkit- Data Format Extension), RTMP Tunneled, Messaging support, Streaming support, Flex Correlations. |
| 11.50 | N/A | November 2011 | Added New VuGen IDE, Ajax TruClient for IE, Web Protocol Asynchronous Support, Flex, Mobile, .NET, Web Services, 64-bit applications recording, IPv6 support. |
| 11.50 | Patch 1 | July 20, 2012 | Added Ajax TruClient IE protocol. |
| 12.00 | N/A | March 18, 2014 | Added ability to instantiate instances on Amazon EC2 directly from LoadRunner UI. |
| 12.02 | N/A | January 21, 2015 | Added ability to instantiate instances on Microsoft Azure directly from LoadRunner UI |
| 12.50 | N/A | August 2015 | JavaScript as a new scripting language for the Web-HTTP/HTML protocol Chrome TruClient support added Google Compute Engine supported as cloud provider Ability to record a TruClient script with one browser and replay it with any Integrated Network Virtualization solution Docker based Linux installation Generating scripts from HAR files Major enhancements in .NET and Citrix protocols |
| 12.50 | Patch 3 | May 5, 2016 | Provides support for TruClient – Native Mobile protocol in HPE Mobile CenterAdds support for HPE Mobile Center 1.51Fix for Amazon Cloud provisioning |
| 12.53 | N/A | May 2016 | Git integration in VuGen Java 8 support, 64-bit replay support in Java protocols New PCoIP protocol HTTP Video Streaming support HTTP/2 support Enhanced SAPUI5 recording in TruClient REST step-builder editor in VuGen Support of Win 10 and recording using MS Edge browser Built-in Linux compatibility test in VuGen Improved performance of Linux Load Generators, support of additional Linux distributions |
| 12.53 | Patch 1 | June 15, 2016 | Fixes a memory allocation issue that can impact Web HTTP/HTML protocols. |
| 12.53 | Patch 4 | January 4, 2017 | LoadRunner 12.53 Patch 4 contains various enhancements, and provides support for the following: HPE Mobile Center 2.20. For details, see the Mobile Center Help.HPE Network Virtualization (NV) 12.53 Patch 1Google Web Toolkit (GWT) support: GWT Request FactoryGWT 2.7.0Verified for use with GWT 2.8.0 (full support to be added in a future version). |
| 12.55 | N/A | August 17, 2017 | Added MQTT Protocol, support for JMeter tests, support for Windows 10 creators, Windows Server 2016, and Ubuntu 16.04. Also added support for Chromium 55 for TruClient protocol. LoadRunner 12.55 supports HTTP/2 64-bit record and replay and many performance improvements and enhancements. |
| 12.56 | N/A | February 26, 2018 | LoadRunner 12.56 contains various enhancements, and provides support for the following: Runtime Settings Search New supported technologies and platforms Protocol enhancements TruClient enhancements VuGen enhancements Controller and Analysis enhancements |
| 12.57 | N/A | May 19, 2018 | LoadRunner 12.57 contains various enhancements, and provides support for the following: New supported technologies and platforms Remote Terminal Emulator protocol compatibility with Windows 10 TruClient enhancements, including support for Chromium OS version 63 VuGen enhancements Controller enhancements |
| 12.60 | N/A | August 24, 2018 | LoadRunner 12.60 contains various enhancements, and provides support for the following: A runtime setting to enable/disable HTTP/2 features New runtime setting that enables connecting to one or multiple IP addresses for Oracle NCA protocol Enhanced desktop pool support with the ability to sync on bitmap timeout per step for PCoIP protocol Dockerized Load Generators Network Virtualization is now free Save a graph as an image file |
| 12.63 | N/A | May 28, 2019 | LoadRunner 12.63 contains various enhancements, and provides support for the following: Significant reduction in the overall time for Analysis to process raw resultsScript Wizard added for MQTTSnapshot viewer supported for TruWeb scriptsTruClient now includes a VTS API function that replaces a specific value inside a set of columns with a new value.Reduced memory consumption in load mode for TruClient browser |
| 2020 | N/A | December 17, 2019 | LoadRunner 2020 New protocol called DevWeb has been addedWebservices has new WDF toolkitPartial modern user interface and iconsLoadRunner Enterprise IntegrationOnline graphs in Controller with rich UI controlsSAP – Web protocol now supports Recording Report, predefined DFE, Asynchronous communication, and HAR file generation after replayTruClient protocol has new search and toolbox with the latest Chromium and TruClient browser supportTruClient has new client side performance measurements |
| 2020 Service Pack 1 | N/A | April 2, 2020 | LoadRunner 2020 Service Pack 1 Enhancements have been done in DevWeb, TruClient, Web Services, Citrix ICA, VTS, and Integration with LoadRunner Enterprise. |
Load Runner Cloud 2020
From 2010 HP started to offer on-demand versions of LoadRunner available by cloud computing services such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud and later Microsoft Azure. Version 12.50 added the use of Google Compute Engine. Selected HP partners are also able to provide LoadRunner in the Cloud as an on-demand service from their SaaS platforms.
StormRunner Cloud has been renamed as LoadRunner Cloud 2020.
Scripting Languages
LoadRunner client emulation scripts are usually created using the ANSI C programming language. However, Java and .Net programs can also be run by LoadRunner. Version 12.50 added the use of JavaScript for Web-HTTP/HTML scripts.
Scripts from other testing tools such as JMeter, NUnit and Selenium can be run by LoadRunner by declaring an interface library. This enables scripts to send key-value pairs to the Controller as the script runs, enabling response times to be associated with specific conditions such as the number of items displayed in the User Interface.
LoadRunner scripts can also be called from within Jenkins.
Support for JMeter Tests in Load Runner
Load Runner 12.55 enables testers to run Apache JMeter scripts from Controller, alongside Vuser scripts can view the results to LoadRunner measurements. This feature is provided as beta version.