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.

Load Runner

Major Releases

VersionService PackRelease dateNotes
1.0N/ANovember 1993Load Testing for Windows applications
2.0N/AJuly 1994Windows support added
XL & RTEN/ADecember 1994LoadRunner/XL (for large tests) and LoadRunner/RTE (RTE protocol support) introduced
3.0N/AApril 1995Added SQL Inspector (captures SQL statements sent from client applications to relational databases
4.0N/AMay 1996Added Virtual User Generator, Controller, and Analysis tools
5.0N/AFebruary 1997Added SAP R/3 support
6.0N/AJuly 1999Added Linux installation support
6.5N/AJune 2000Added “TurboLoad” technology (i.e. Run users as threads)
7.51N/AJune 2000Added Citrix ICA protocol support
7.8Feature Pack 1September 2003Added support for Windows XP.
8.0N/AAugust 2004Added “Additional Attributes” to Runtime Settings.
8.1N/AAugust 2004Added Web Click and Script technologies
11.0Patch 2February 22, 2011Added support for Visual Studio 2010 and Protocol Updates to Ajax TruClient, Citrix, Flex, Web.
11.0Patch 3June 20, 2011Added support for IE9, Mobile protocols, GraniteDS.
11.0Patch 4November 2011HP SV (Service Virtualization Integration) with Controller, GWT-DFE(Google Web Toolkit- Data Format Extension), RTMP Tunneled, Messaging support, Streaming support, Flex Correlations.
11.50N/ANovember 2011Added New VuGen IDE, Ajax TruClient for IE, Web Protocol Asynchronous Support, Flex, Mobile, .NET, Web Services, 64-bit applications recording, IPv6 support.
11.50Patch 1July 20, 2012Added Ajax TruClient IE protocol.
12.00N/AMarch 18, 2014Added ability to instantiate instances on Amazon EC2 directly from LoadRunner UI.
12.02N/AJanuary 21, 2015Added ability to instantiate instances on Microsoft Azure directly from LoadRunner UI
12.50N/AAugust 2015JavaScript 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
12.50Patch 3May 5, 2016Provides support for TruClient – Native Mobile protocol in HPE Mobile CenterAdds support for HPE Mobile Center 1.51Fix for Amazon Cloud provisioning
12.53N/AMay 2016Git 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
12.53Patch 1June 15, 2016Fixes a memory allocation issue that can impact Web HTTP/HTML protocols.
12.53Patch 4January 4, 2017LoadRunner 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).
12.55N/AAugust 17, 2017Added 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.
12.56N/AFebruary 26, 2018LoadRunner 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
12.57N/AMay 19, 2018LoadRunner 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
12.60N/AAugust 24, 2018LoadRunner 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
12.63N/AMay 28, 2019LoadRunner 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
2020N/ADecember 17, 2019LoadRunner 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 1N/AApril 2, 2020LoadRunner 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.

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