Which protocol to use?

Posted: April 23rd, 2008 | Author: TnT Admin | Filed under: Concepts | Tags: , | 21 Comments »

Typically for newbies, the question after getting their first copy of LoadRunner and installation of Vugen will be, “Which protocol to use?”. They post online or to the support to ask, “I’ve got a Java/.NET applicaton, and there are many protocols from the list of Vugen. Which Protocol should I choose ” or “…can you advise on the protocol to use?”.

The fact is that it doesn’t really matter the type of language that was used to developed the application, but rather the type of communication method or protocol that the application is talking to the server. Previously, in “What’s LoadRunner?”, we mentioned that the tool captures network traffic while recording which is the core understanding that we must align when using this tool.

For example, an application can be developed using .NET 2.0 framework, is window-based (Win32). This application can be part of a N-Tier architecture that utilizes HTTP or HTTPS to communicate to the middle-tiers or a 2-Tier architecture that talks to the database directly using ODBC, ADO or JDBC-ODBC.

Similarly, an application can be developed using Java, but it talks to the middle-tier using RMI-Java or HTTP, or to its database using JDBC.

Despite the language or the type of of Applications (Java or Win32, etc.), the Load Tester must understand the communication method in order to determine the protocol to be used. This is done by consulting the development team of the application (which usually the Load Tester do not have such knowledge).

To understand the protocol used by the application (client to server), you can do the following.

1. The easiest way, check with the application team or vendor, particularly the software architects and the developers. They should be able to provide such information. If they don’t, it ’s time to doubt the experiences of the application team.

2. Use WireShark Network Analyzer to sniff the traffic communication when the application is running. More details of the usage can be found in the provider’s site. You should be able to see the protocols under the protocol column after you start capturing the traffic.

3. Use netstat -a to determine the protocol and port number. For example, the protocol is TCP and port number is 80, it could signifies HTTP. The caveat for this is that netstat -a only display protocol in IP, IPv6, ICMP, ICMPv6, TCP, TCPv6, UDP, or UDPv6 (/? help for more information), which means you may need to guess the protocol according to the protocol (TCP) and port number.

4. Use Winsock protocol to determine the protocol via the data files. Winsock captures all traffic of any type at the socket level and writes it to the data file. From the data file, you will then find signatures of the protocol such as HTTP requests and responses in the context of HTTP.

Hopefully this methods are sufficient for you to determine the protocol used. Feel free to comment if you have a better method.

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21 Comments on “Which protocol to use?”

  1. 1 shital mukhedkar said at 12:37 am on August 13th, 2008:

    I am working on a social networking site. When I am creating group & trying to sent invitation to the members, some java script pop-ups are running. When I try to play back my test, it fails to the link & my members can not be invited. Can you please help me?

  2. 2 shital mukhedkar said at 12:37 am on August 13th, 2008:

    We are using HTTP protocol for communication between client & server.

  3. 3 TnT Admin said at 12:38 am on October 10th, 2008:

    Hi Shital,

    Javascripts are not recorded. There is no functional aspect that is being recorded. Javascript will be recorded as pure text in the HTML page. Vugen will not render the javascript but treats it as text. Can you provide more details of the problem? Can’t really make out on the “When I try to play back my test, it fails to the link & my members can not be invited.”

  4. 4 Deepak Gupta said at 12:38 am on October 10th, 2008:

    Hi,

    I used the loadrunner successfully for web application. Now I wonder if LR can be used for client server archtechture too. The application is desktop application with remote database on the same network or it may also be on wan. Please let me know, waiting eagerly for your response. Thanks, Deepak Gupta

  5. 5 TnT Admin said at 12:38 am on October 10th, 2008:

    Yes, it can be done. You may want to look up the Virtual User Generator Guide to find out more about the application and database that you are working in the 2-tier client-server architecture. You can see that there are alot of protocols that you can select from as well from Vugen. :)

  6. 6 shital mukhedkar said at 12:39 am on October 13th, 2008:

    Hi, When I add members to the group & send invitation to join the group by clicking on link ‘Send invitation’, one java script runs for validations on check boxes(Which users selected out of the list, what is the invitation status? etc) & alert pop-up gets displayed: “Members invited successfully.” While recording it works fine, but when playing it back, it fails on the link ‘Send invitation.

  7. 7 TnT Admin said at 12:39 am on October 14th, 2008:

    Javascripts are recorded as plain text (HTML) to Vugen. What I think is causing the problem is some expired session data being re-send back to the server. This you have to verify and perform correlation if necessary. :)

  8. 8 mathi said at 12:39 am on October 20th, 2008:

    What protocol need to be selected for Java pplication and It is using JDBC for talking to the data base?

  9. 9 TnT Admin said at 12:40 am on October 21st, 2008:

    You may want to read up on this document, Does LoadRunner 7.x support JDBC? from the Support site. From my understanding till date, JDBC is not supported and this require you to generate the script manually.

  10. 10 Jerome said at 12:40 am on October 22nd, 2008:

    Has anyone used Loadrunner to record SAP BEX Analyzer script? If yes, please share your knowledge.

  11. 11 TnT Admin said at 12:40 am on October 24th, 2008:

    I presume that it will still be going through the SAPGUI front-end right? In this case, SAPGUI vuser should be used.

  12. 12 Sridar said at 12:41 am on December 19th, 2008:

    how can we come to know that this is the wright protocol we need to use for any application? is it application specific? for eg: .NET application what is the wright protocol?

  13. 13 TnT Admin said at 12:41 am on February 23rd, 2009:

    It’s more on the protocol that this .NET application uses. Example a web page can be developed using ASP.NET but the protocol that the client transmit to the server is via HTTP, meaning protocol is Web (HTTP/HTML). :)

  14. 14 ruby said at 12:41 am on March 4th, 2009:

    For a client server architecture based application, where Client is a Java based Web Start GUI, Server is Sun Solaris UNIX, Transport is Web Services over SSL, RDB instance is Oracle 10. Which protocol should I use. Pls help

  15. 15 Leah said at 12:41 am on May 27th, 2009:

    Can I test loading of Crystal Report from an application in Loadrunner?

  16. 16 Pearl said at 12:42 am on June 26th, 2009:

    I have to perform loadtest on a cognos appliacation which has many reports. Each report has a feature to export report to excel and pdf. Can any one please tell me which protocol to use for this as this is not purely web-based activity i am trying, because when i click on the icon to export report to excel/pdf, a normal windows msg boz appears with options to save, open and close excel/pdf.

  17. 17 Karthik Balasubramanian said at 12:42 am on July 9th, 2009:

    I am working on spring (Web) application that will publish-subscribe messages to Tibco EMS Server. The application needs to be monitored for various performance measures using Load Runner. Can you please help on what protocol should I use for this scenario?

  18. 18 praveen said at 6:13 am on November 9th, 2009:

    This is ok but i am some doubts on this.where can i download that tool.My application is devoloped in ajax,web services,poratal application.so send me which is ur right protocol for this?

  19. 19 TnT Admin said at 5:52 am on December 24th, 2009:

    Hi Praveen,
    If the things you want to test is only client activity then there is no protocol to select from. If there is HTTP communiction from the AJAX and web-services, most likely is HTTP/HTML protocol. Hope that helps!

  20. 20 Harry said at 2:28 pm on January 20th, 2010:

    Hi,
    I am working for a company which is migrating from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007. Should I use LRunner to test the load of the servers? If yes, which protocol should I use? Please help

  21. 21 TnT Admin said at 1:52 am on January 21st, 2010:

    Hi Harry,
    Have you considered using MAPI protocol? It is used to test against Exchange and Outlook. You can ask for a demo from HP from your local sales office and determine if it suits your need. :)

    Regards
    TnT Admin

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