Claims
- 1. A system that provides functionality for remotely load testing target server systems over a wide area network, the load testing system comprising:
a plurality of load testing servers connected to the wide area network, said load testing servers hosting a load testing application that provides functionality for applying a load to a target server system over the wide area network and for monitoring response times of the target server system during application of said load; a controller that provides functionality for controlling the plurality of load testing servers over a network connection to execute load tests of the target systems; a database that is accessible to the plurality of load testing servers, the database storing test scripts that specify user transactions for load testing specific target server systems, and storing target system performance data generated by the load testing servers during execution of load tests; and a web site that provides secure access to at least some of the data stored in the database to enable users to remotely participate in load testing of the target server systems.
- 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller provides functionality for a human operator to specify load testing operations to be performed by each of the plurality of load testing servers.
- 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller implements a load balancing algorithm that assigns load testing tasks to individual load testing servers so as to distribute a processing load.
- 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller runs on a computer that is remote from the plurality of load testing servers.
- 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the web site hosts a collaboration application that allows users to remotely participate in the development of load tests.
- 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the web site hosts a registration application that provides functionality for users to register to use the plurality of load testing servers to load test target server systems.
- 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the web site provides user access to said target system performance data to allow users to remotely analyze load test results data.
- 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of load testing servers are interconnected by a local area network.
- 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of load testing servers are arranged within a common server farm.
- 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the database stores load testing data for each of a plurality of customers of a load testing service associated with the plurality of load testing servers, and the web site provides each such customer secure access to the load testing data of that customer.
- 11. A method of providing load testing services to each of a plurality of business entities that operate transactional servers, the method comprising:
providing a web site through which the business entities upload data regarding specific transactional servers to be load tested; generating load tests for each of the transactional servers using data uploaded by the corresponding business entities; running each of the load tests from a server farm that is located remotely from the corresponding transactional server, such that request messages and responses thereto are passed between the server farm and each of the transactional servers over a wide area network; storing performance data resulting from running the load tests in a database, said performance data indicative, for each transactional server, of how the transactional servers responds under load conditions; and providing web-based access to the performance data over the wide area network to allow said business entities to evaluate results of load test runs; whereby computing resources used to conduct load tests are shared by the plurality of business entities, and the transactional servers of such business entities are load tested without a need for the business entities to set up load testing servers.
- 12. The method of claim 11, wherein running each of the load tests comprises ramping up a number of virtual users over time to increase a load applied to a transactional server.
- 13. The method of claim 11, wherein running each of the load tests comprises ramping up a load applied to a transactional server over time while monitoring associated server response times.
- 14. The method of claim 11, wherein running each of the load tests comprises running a load test against a staged implementation of a transactional server.
- 15. The method of claim 11, wherein running each of the load tests comprises running a load test against a staged implementation of a transactional server.
- 16. The method of claim 11, wherein running each of the load tests comprises using a load balancing algorithm to assign load testing tasks to individual servers of said server farm.
- 17. The method of claim 11, wherein at least some of the transactional servers are web site systems.
- 18. The method of claim 11, wherein generating the load tests comprises using a hosted collaboration tool remotely collaborate in load test generation.
- 19. A method of load testing a web site, the method comprising:
providing a staged implementation of the web site that is remotely accessible via the Internet; running a load test against the staged implementation of the web site from a server farm that is remote from the web site and coupled to the web site by the Internet, wherein running the load test comprises ramping up a load applied to the staged implementation of the web site over time; and providing web-based access to performance data measurements taken during running of the load test to permit users to remotely analyze results of the load test.
- 20. The method of claim 19, wherein running the load test comprises using a load balancing algorithm to assign load testing tasks to individual servers of the server farm.
- 21. The method of claim 19, wherein running the load test comprises using a controller component to assign load testing tasks to individual servers of the server farm.
- 22. The method of claim 19, wherein providing a staged implementation of the web site comprises placing the staged implementation at an Internet address that is not generally known.
- 23. The method of claim 19, wherein ramping up a load comprises ramping up a number of virtual users accessing the staged implementation of the web site.
- 24. The method of claim 19, further comprising using a hosted collaboration tool to specify user transactions to be executed to load test the staged implementation of the web site.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of allowed U.S. application Ser. No. 09/484,684, filed Jan. 17, 2000, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09484684 |
Jan 2000 |
US |
Child |
10192816 |
Jul 2002 |
US |