Web Application Load, Stress and Performance Testing Using WAPT

Why do most manual testers fail while testing websites for performance? Given below are a couple of reasons for the failure:

• They don’t have the proper tools to test the website for performance and
• They don’t have the skills required for performance testing.

Does that mean you should wait until your stakeholder reports the performance glitches in a web application you developed? Definitely not! Many testers are good at testing websites manually and they report almost every defect while testing against standard test cases.

BUT, when the same tester performs load or stress tests, they get stuck either at resource (required tools) level or at the skill level.

=> Click Here For Complete Performance Testing Tutorials Series

We suggest that you do not take any risks if you are committed to defect-free service. Ask for the required tools and train your staff for necessary skills.

WAPT – Introduction

Today, we are going to review a load, stress, and performance testing tool for websites. The tool is called WAPT – Web Application Load, Stress, and Performance Testing – a cost-effective and easy to learn Web Load Testing tool.

WAPT allows you to perform website load and performance testing by creating a heavy load from single or multiple workstations. You can set and run your tests with this tool within a matter of minutes and you can quickly get the performance reports of your website or web application.

WAPT uses powerful virtual users (which are the same as real-world users) with full control over how to customize these virtual users.

Measuring Website Performance

Have you ever wondered?

– How many users can work simultaneously on your website with an acceptable quality of service?
– How many visitors can your website handle in a day or an hour?
– What is your website response time under load?

These questions are nothing but the measure of website “performance characteristic”.

Using WAPT, you can get answers to all of the above questions.

Watch the video below for a quick introduction about WAPT:

Getting Started with WAPT

(Note: Click on any image for an enlarged view)

WAPT – website performance tool performs the test by emulating the activity of many virtual users. Each virtual user can have their own profile settings. You can have thousands of virtual users acting simultaneously on your website by performing any activity like reading or writing with your web server.

Once you set the number of virtual users to act on your website, you have the option to run your tests for a specified time or specified user sessions.

Click here to view the Quick Start Guide for Load testing using WAPT.

Testing with WAPT in simple 5 steps

Record -> Configure -> Verify -> Execute -> Analyze

WAPT uses inline Microsoft Internet Explorer, which is used to record your interaction with the website. When you record your test, all dynamic parameters are recorded as static values that can be configured later during test execution.

You then need to configure each user with different settings like unique sessions, the number of virtual users, values for dynamic parameters, etc.

Once you are done with the recording and configuration, just verify if your test is ready to run and then execute performance tests to see if everything looks ok. Finally, analyze reports to determine website performance tests as accepted or failed against your set of defined standards. That’s it.

How To Record Tests

Each session is recorded on a virtual user profile as a sequence of HTTP requests. You can browse profiles in the left view as shown in the screen-print below:

WAPT works like any other record or playback tool, but the real strength is behind its parametrization, where you can configure any parameter from a website URL or user session to act as a real user:

Analyzing WAPT Test Report

The final comprehensive report is provided at the end of the tests.

The test result also consists of charts updated in real-time which you can monitor when your tests are running.

Numbers 1, 2 and 3 mentioned in the above screenshot represent the things below:

1. The test results are represented in the form of a Summary report, summary graphs and graphs corresponding to each user profile. You can select the view of your choice.
2. Shows several parameters against which the graph is viewed.
3. You can save the test report – either as HTML or as WPR.

Here are the important parameters to be monitored in the test report:

Error Rate: Failure rate against the total number of tests run. This error may be due to a high load on the server or due to network problems and timeouts.

Response Time: Obviously a great parameter to check when you run tests for website performance. This response time indicates the time required by the server to provide a correct reply to the request.

Number of pages per second: Number of page requests successfully completed by the server per second.

How to Conclude Performance Tests?

These performance criteria changes during each test undergoes different load conditions. You need to conclude what is your acceptable load limit and whether your server can serve this load.

For example, Suppose you expect your server to handle 100 requests successfully per second. Now, anything below this benchmark will be a failure of your server which needs to be tackled.

WAPT is Available in Two Versions

– Standard version (Latest WAPT 9.7)
– A professional version of this Stress and Performance Testing tool (Latest WAPT Pro 4.7)

What can WAPT Pro do for you?

• Use several computers to generate loads on the website.
• Switch to test agents and change the test load on the fly.
• WAPT Pro can use WMI and SNMP interfaces to collect performance counter values directly from one or more servers.
• It can also monitor database performance using WAPT Pro.
• Measure web server performance in terms of CPU, RAM or network usage
• You can include the execution of JavaScript code into virtual user profiles.

Extension Using Modules

If you don’t want to specify every parameter manually, you can use technology-specific modules to significantly improve your test experience.

To provide better support, the following additional modules can be downloaded and installed along with the standard or professional version of WAPT:

• Module for ASP.NET testing
• Module for Adobe Flash testing
• Module for JSON format
• Module for Silverlight Testing
• Module for GWT Testing
• Module for binary formats
• Module for SharePoint Testing

Finally, no review can be completed without a list of pros and cons.

WAPT Pros

• Easy to install – Takes only 5 minutes to install.
• Easy to use with a very short learning curve.
• You get run-time reports so that you can decide whether to continue the test or not, thereby saving you big time.
• Detailed test report with graphical representation.
• Supports secure HTTPS protocol.
• It provides scalability for large tests.
• Emulation accuracy.
• No programming background is required to use WAPT.
• Great level of technical support.
• 30 days of free trial available!

WAPT Cons

• Only Windows Platform is supported to install this tool. (But you can test your website running under any OS and technology)
• No scripting ability
• It’s not free 😉

How to Try This Tool?

You can download the 30-day trial versions of WAPT and WAPT Pro from here.

WAPT makes website Load, Stress, and Performance testing super easy.

Further Reading:

• The Beginner’s Guide to Web Application Performance Testing using WAPT Pro
• Want to Stress Test Website with 10,000+ Users? Use WAPT Pro x64 Load Engine
• What is Performance Testing? Difference Between Performance Testing, Load Testing, and Stress Testing – With Examples
• Web Testing: A Complete guide to testing web applications

Over to you!

What performance testing tool are you using? Raise your queries related to the WAPT tool or performance testing in the comments section below.

=> Visit Here For Complete Performance Testing Tutorials Series