Performance Tuning Guide - EMC Community Network

Measuring Performance
Figure 33. Sample Load Runner testing scripts for Webtop
Limit key operations — A few key operations typically characterize system workload. Restrict your
scripting to include this small set of key operations, preferably below 10. As user volume rises to
10,000, the number of recorded metrics increases. Recording metrics for many operations and users
can result in an uninterpretable volume of metrics.
Pre-load your test environment — Prepare and implement your data loading strategy before
running multi-user tests. Populate system data to simulate target user volume and queued tasks
during various state of the business process. Populate the repository with documents that are ready
for viewing by the application.
Backup and restore your test environment — Prepare and implement a backup and restore strategy
before running the multi-user tests. Create a backup of your pre-loaded test environment so that
multiple rounds of multi-user testing can be executed from the same starting point by restoring the
backup image. Restoring an image saves time because you do not need to repeat your data loading or
perform any data cleansing after each multi-user test.
Use an isolated near-production like environment — Conduct load tests on an isolated
near-production like environment. An isolated environment makes analysis of performance metrics
more valid as there are no confounding variables to deal with. Using a near-production like
environment increases the likelihood of finding the right level of configuration parameters for
production use.
Slowly ramp-up user volume — Slowly ramp-up user volume during multiple test runs. Data
captured during the slow ramp up process provides important information for calculating and
projecting capacity utilization. Ramp-up user load in a realistic fashion; such as one user per second.
EMC Documentum xCP 1.0 Performance Tuning Guide 81