Release Notes - IBM Rational Performance Tester, Version 8.7

This document contains information about the known limitations and problems for IBM® Rational® Performance Tester.

Contents

Description

Rational Performance Tester is a scripting-free environment for automating load and scalability testing of web, ERP, and server-based software applications. Rational Performance Tester provides rich and customizable reporting to help you identify the presence and cause of system bottlenecks. It captures the network traffic that is rendered when the application under test interacts with a server. This network traffic is then emulated on multiple virtual users while playing back the test. With Rational Performance Tester, you can test applications that use the following protocols or domains:
  • HTTP
  • SAP (GUI)
  • Citrix
  • Socket
  • TN3270
  • Service (SOA)
To scale up the load for tests without investing money in computers, you can create a schedule that runs in a cloud location. You can specify the number of agents require for a run. The cost of the cloud run is based on the number of virtual users and the number of hours.

The information in this file applies to IBM Rational Performance Tester.

Note: Translated versions of this file are also available in the Rational Performance Tester Knowledge Center.

System requirements

For information about hardware and software compatibility for Rational Performance Tester, see the Software requirements and Hardware requirements document.

What's new in version 8.7

  • Support to run a schedule in a cloud location. See Cloud schedule overview.
  • Support to initiate the test runs from IBM UrbanCode Deploy. See Testing from UrbanCode Deploy.
  • Support to stop a schedule run after the specified number of stages fail successively. See Setting user loads.
  • Support to view an Errors report that displays the error conditions and behavior encountered during a test run by a page.
  • Support to specify whether an error condition affects the health of a page, transaction, or a loop. You can also view the reports. See Specifying error-handling behavior.
  • Support to send email notification for the status of a test or schedule run. See Running a local schedule or test.
  • Support to configure the method to add attachments to HTTP endpoint requests in a service test. See Sending HTTP endpoint requests.
  • Support to skip authentication failures in a service test.
  • Support to use a datapool for requests with certificates in a service test. See Creating SSL configurations.
  • Support to remove empty XML elements from requests in a service test. See Adding a service request.
  • Support for WADL 2009 for a service test.

Known limitations for version 8.7

The known problems are documented in the download document. Select a download document from http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27036136. Known problems are also documented in the form of individual technotes in the Support Knowledge Base.

Contacting IBM Rational Software Support

IBM Rational Software Support provides you with technical assistance.

For contact information and guidelines or reference materials that you will need when you require support, read the IBM Software Support Handbook.

For product information about Rational Performance Tester, visit the product home page at www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/tester/performance/.

For FAQs, lists of known problems and fixes, and other support information, visit the product support pages at www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/tester/service/support/index.html.

For personalized support, including notifications of significant upgrades, register at http://www.ibm.com/support/mysupport/.

For Rational software product news, events, and other information, visit the IBM Rational Software Web site.

Before you contact IBM Rational Software Support, gather the background information that you will need to describe your problem. When describing a problem to an IBM software support specialist, be as specific as possible and include all relevant background information so that the specialist can help you solve the problem efficiently. To save time, know the answers to these questions:
  • What software versions were you running when the problem occurred?
  • Do you have logs, traces, or messages that are related to the problem?
  • Can you reproduce the problem? If so, what steps do you take to reproduce it?
  • Is there a workaround for the problem? If so, be prepared to describe the workaround.

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