Virtual Users
A virtual user is a simulation of a real user created by our software.
The virtual users created by Web Performance Load Tester™ emulate a browser in every way; the web server can not tell the difference between a real user hitting the web site and a software-generated virtual user. Your web pages are grouped into transactions we call "business cases" so you can get measurements that have meaning for your business. The illustration below shows how each virtual user can execute a totally different business case, creating a realistic load on your web site.
How Virtual Users Execute Business Cases
The license describes the number of simultaneous virtual users. How many simultaneous virtual users you need to simulate depends on a number of factors, starting with how you express your web site's capabilities. Please refer to the hardware requirements for more information.
One thing to keep in mind that performance testing starts with testing your individual back-end machines. Most large web sites scale by adding web servers and application servers. Setting up a large multiple server performance test takes significantly more time and resources than setting up a single server test. For that reason, you may want to start testing with a small number of virtual users on an individual test server.
For detailed background information about doing performance tests on a web server check out our mini book reviews, or call for more information.
