Assigning Agents to Workload

This task can only be performed after you have configured workload for your project.

  1. Click Run Test on the workflow bar. The Workflow - Workload Configuration dialog box appears.
  2. Click the Agent Assignment tab.
  3. Select the Assignment type:
    • Static assignment to project agents : Use this method to statically assign specific agent computers (rather than clusters of agents) to your project. No agent-availability check is performed with this method and agent locking is disabled. Select this method if you want to use Agents deployed in the cloud.
    • Dynamic assignment to project agents : With this method, workload is delivered using dynamic agent-assignment at execution time against the project's agents. Workload delivery is enhanced with agent-capability specifications to create optimized workload-to-agent assignments based on the capabilities of each agent. Agent locking at execution time is enabled with this method. Only responding agents that are not currently used by another controller are used with this method.
    • Dynamic assignment to Silk Central agent cluster : Silk Performer workload delivered by way of Silk Central can also use dynamic workload-to-agent assignment. Within Silk Performer you choose the name of the agent cluster (from the drop list) that should deliver your test's workload. Silk Central then provides the list of agent computers that are assigned to the cluster. Workload is then assigned to specific agents at the moment of execution based on the capabilities of the individual agents. After you connect to Silk Central, you are presented with the list of available agent clusters. In the right-most window, you can view the agents that are currently associated with the selected agent cluster.
  4. Define the agents that are to deliver the workload for your test.
    • If you selected Static assignment to project agents , you can check the Even user distribution check box to distribute all existing user types evenly across all agents, depending on each agent's general replay capabilities. To use agents that run as virtual machines in the cloud, check the Use cloud agents check box. Click Cloud Agent Manager to manage your agents in the cloud.
    • If you selected Dynamic assignment to project agents , workload is delivered automatically using dynamic agent-assignment at execution time against the project's agents.
    • If you selected Dynamic assignment to Silk Central agent cluster , you are asked to log in to Silk Central. When you are logged in, you can select the available agent cluster.
    The Agents list box displays the available agents.
  5. Check the Agent resource utilization check box to assign a maximum percentage of total virtual users that each agent can run based on the agent's replay capabilities.
  6. Check the Balance load across agents check box to apportion workload across agents.
  7. If you selected Static assignment to project agents , use the lower window of the Agent Assignment page to define workload assignments for user groups.
    Note: Available options vary depending on the selected workload model.
  8. Click User Distribution Overview to view the assignment of virtual users to the agent computers that are currently available and then click Close.
  9. Click OK to save your settings.

Workload will be assigned to agents based on the agent-assignment settings you have configured. If there are not enough agents with the required capabilities to deliver the required workload, you will be presented with an error message and details regarding the user types that did not receive an agent assignment.

Parent topic: Assigning Agents
Parent topic: Assigning Agents