If you have a big user load or workload to test, typically
a single computer might not be able to process the load efficiently.
You need to distribute the load across multiple computers, also called Rational® Performance Tester agents.
The agents are installed on computers to generate the load on the
application.
You use the Rational Performance Tester workbench
to distribute the user load. When you distribute the load among agent
computers, you should remember the load each agent computer can take
efficiently. For information about capacity planning, see the Capacity planning topic.
Rational Agent Controller is used to gather data for the Response
Time Breakdown feature and in support of the startup and control of
web services stubs in the SOA protocol. The Load Generation Agent
is used to generate load for the application under test by using the
virtual users.
When installing
Rational Performance Tester Agent,
you can specify the hostname of the workbench to poll. After the installation,
the agent automatically connects to the workbench. If you want to
share the agent with multiple workbenches, you can either manually
add them to the
majordomo.config file located
at
installationDir/Majordomo or
use the
Share Agent with New Workbench option
mentioned in the
Checking status of agents topic.
Note: - You can install Rational Performance Tester and Rational Performance Tester Agent
on any of the supported platforms mentioned in the Software requirements topic.
It is not necessary that both are installed on the same platforms
or the bitness of the platform must be same.
- If you creating load on the Rational Performance Tester Agent
machine, ensure that, in the workbench, you clicked Run
user group at a remote location and pointed to the agent
machine.
- If you are using Rational Performance Tester workbench
8.3 or later, you must use Rational Performance Tester Agent
8.3 or later. Also, it is recommended to use the same release version
for both.
The Rational Performance Tester workbench
automatically deploys test assets required for execution to participating
agents. For more information about the deployment directory, see Managing
deployment directory.
A typical set up of Rational Performance Tester workbench, Rational Performance Tester agents,
and the system under test is shown here: