Systems & Software Talk 

Is Your Load-Generating Capability A Bottleneck?

How often do performance tests occur where the tool itself or the load generating equipment, or the network upon which the equipment resides, is in fact the bottleneck? I think if anyone knew the answer, we might be surprised at that answer. I would suggest that once is too much. I would also suggest that designing a load farm requires sizing and capacity planning. One never hopes to deliver false performance results to a customer. False results can create a huge expense; sending people scrambling to chase production performance issues that went undetected in performance testing, due to inability to impart proper load. The latter alone underscores the importance due load farm design.

How does one go about designing a load farm? I offer up general ideas only, given the amount of text required to deliver a comprehensive and robust answer. Many ideas can be gathered via a web search for sizing, capacity planning, and/or any other qualifying terms needed to narrow the result set. Additionally, one can get some good ideas right here at QA forums. Here is a link to a rather fruitful discussion about this topic:

http://www.qaforums.com/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000920

The tool vendors can also be helpful. If a tool purchase from a vendor is imminent, they can be really really really really helpful!

Now comes the hard part! Telling your boss you need ten dual-core ZigaGigaTriga Hertz-clock speedy Intel ** SeePeeYous with 20 PetaBytes of RAM and quad-GB NICs - on a SuperDuper DS3 network with liquid nitro-cooled wrap, will probably be career-limiting and earn you a pink slip. If you are a person of the right gender or a cross-dresser, you might be okay with a pink slip. If not: