You can run
a user group at a remote location (also called an agent computer),
rather than on your local computer, to prevent your workbench activity
from affecting the ability to apply load.
Before you begin
Before you run a user group at
a remote location, verify that:
- IBM® Rational® Agent Controller is
installed on the remote computer.
- Firewalls on both the local computer and the remote computer are
disabled or configured to allow connections between the computers.
- A reasonable number of virtual users will run at the remote location. When you
assign a user group to a remote location, do not overload the remote
computer (agent). If you exceed the number of virtual users that the
remote computer can run, the performance measurements of the server
will be skewed because they will be affected by the performance of
the computer. The test results will reflect the load of the computer
more than the load of the server. For best results on a computer with
a 1 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM, do not exceed 1000 concurrent virtual
users.
About this task
Generally, you should run user groups at a remote locations.
You
must run a user group at a remote location in these cases:
- You are running a large number of virtual users, and your local
computer does not have enough processor or memory resources to support
this load. You can conserve resources by running the users on different
locations, so that fewer users run on each computer.
- A test requires specific client libraries or software. The user
group that contains this test must run on a computer that has the
libraries or software installed.
To run a user group at a remote location:
Procedure
- In the Test Navigator, browse to the schedule and double-click
it. The schedule opens.
- In the schedule, click the user group that you want to
run on a different computer.
- In the Schedule Element Details area, click Run
this group on the following locations.
- To declare a remote location:
- Click . The Add New Wizard
opens. The first page of the wizard lets you specify general properties
for the remote location.
- In the Hostname field, type the
IP address or the fully qualified host name of the remote computer.
- In the Name field, type a descriptive
name for the remote computer.
- In the Deployment Directory field,
type the directory on the remote computer that will store the test
assets. The directory, which will be created if it does
not exist, stores the temporary files that are needed during a schedule
run.
- In the Operating System field,
select the operating system of the remote computer, and then click Next. The second page of the wizard lets you specify the IP aliasing
properties for this location.
- Select Enable IP Aliasing: to
make it appear as though each virtual user has its own IP address.
- Select Use IP addresses from all network
interfaces: to use IP addresses from all network interfaces
at the remote location.
- Only use IP addresses from the following
network interfaces: Click to use addresses from a subset
of network interfaces. Click Add to add the
name of an interface and Edit to change the
interface name. Specify network interfaces in the form eth0, eth1.
If you do not use this form, the connection attempt fails.
- Click Next. The third page of
this wizard lets you specify file locations.
- In the File name field, type
the name of the file that will contain information about this computer,
and then click Next.
Note: The data
stored in the file includes information such as the host name and
deployment directory. You can change this information later by opening
the Test Navigator and double-clicking the file.
- To add an already declared location:
- Click .
- In the Select Location window, select the computer on
which the user group will run, and then click OK.