Synchronization Functions

A number of Silk Performer functions allow you to either serialize or synchronize transactions in your testing scripts in order to better control the timing of loads in your simulation. Serialization enables you to test the effects of transactions executed one at a time. For example, this could be useful to serialize logging into a Web application if the application is not able to handle a huge number of concurrent logins. Synchronization is useful in testing the effects of a large number of simultaneously called transactions. This allows you to create stress on your system in order to test specific concurrency issues.

The following functions maintain information across agents. Each call to one of the functions initiates a call from the local user to the local agent and finally to the controller. Since each call produces network traffic, these functions should be used carefully.

The following functions can be used to serialize and synchronize user actions on a particular agent computer.
  • WaitFor
  • CreateMutex
  • ReleaseMutex
  • CreateEvent
  • PulseEvent
  • WaitForSingleObject
  • CreateEventEx
  • CloseHandle
  • CreateMutexEx
  • CreateSemaphore
  • ReleaseSemaphore