Baseline Tests

A baseline test enables you to determine your application's ideal performance baseline.

With a baseline test, a customized test is run with just one user per user type. And the results from this unstressed performance of the application form the basis for calculating the number of concurrent users per user type and for setting the appropriate boundaries for the HTML page response times and transaction response times. Additionally, the required bandwidth for running the load test is calculated from the baseline results. The measurements typical of a real load test are used, and report and output files are generated.

Additionally, a baseline test can serve as a trial run of your test script. A trial run can help you verify the following:

Customizations have not introduced new errors into the script.
The script can accurately and fully reproduce the interaction between the client application and the server.

Note: Baseline tests ignore the Random thinking time option. This makes it easier for you to compare the results of different baseline tests because the think times remain constant between tests.

For baseline test runs, the following settings are configured automatically:

A Baseline report file is automatically created.
The Stop virtual users after simulation time (Queuing Workload) option is enabled.
The Random thinking time option is disabled.
The Loadtest description text box is set to Baseline Test.
The Display All Errors Of All Users option in the Monitor window is enabled.
The Virtual user output files (.wrt) option is enabled.
The Virtual user report files (.rpt) option is enabled.