Bluecurve extends its Dynameasure testing
tool with file-serving tests
Demand for increased capacity, speed, and resources plagues every
systems administrator. Network response time can slow to a crawl just because
you add a few workstations to your network. Unexpected side effects (e.g., slow
response times, incompatibility with existing software, a system crash) can pop
up after you introduce a new software product. When you deploy new hardware, you
face issues such as whether the hardware will perform as advertised and whether
everything in your network will work properly once you deploy it.
Dynameasure Enterprise 1.5 by Bluecurve replaces guesswork with hard data
so that you can deploy new hardware and software applications with confidence.
Bluecurve's software measures end-to-end system performance from the application
layer by applying controlled stress to the system. Systems administrators can
use this flexible tool for server benchmarking, capacity planning, stress
testing, and network analysis. Bluecurve geared Dynameasure 1.0 (see John Enck,
"Dynameasure by Bluecurve: Born to Measure," November 1996) toward
performance testing a Microsoft SQL Server environment using client/server
hardware and software components. Bluecurve's Dynameasure 1.5 product line
includes Dynameasure for SQL, Dynameasure for File Services, and Dynameasure
Enterprise.
Dynameasure for SQL applies stress to the network via simulated OnLine
Transaction Processing (OLTP) and SQL decision support workloads. This test
service is an updated version of the SQL test service that Bluecurve provided in
version 1.0. Dynameasure for File Services, new in version 1.5, measures Windows
NT file services performance. This test service lets you apply copy workloads,
which simulate copying files to and from a server; backup and retrieval
workloads, which simulate backing up a client machine to a server and retrieving
files from a server; and network application workloads, which simulate loading
apps onto a client machine from a server and uploading and downloading files.
Dynameasure Enterprise provides both test services, but because the Lab reviewed
the SQL component in Dynameasure 1.0, I'll primarily report on the new File
Services component in this review.
Dynameasure for File Services lets you create what-if scenarios of
real-world network file operations. From more than 50 predefined file operations
that clients typically perform, you choose one or more operations and create a
simulated workload to meet your test objectives. (You can even model new users
to gauge how they will affect network performance.) Each file operation uses one
or more data, text, image, or binary file to perform tasks such as copying
images to the server, backing up a client machine, and loading a client program.
Dynameasure uses your existing network client configuration to run motors
that generate client load. The motors coexist with resident client applications,
so you can test your everyday operating environment while end users keep
working.
Putting controlled stress on the network and assessing performance let you
pinpoint server, network, and client bottlenecks. You can (and should) customize
the workloads to construct scenarios that provide meaningful information
specific to your network. Tailoring the file operations and analyzing the
results can help you decide whether you need more CPUs, memory, disk space, or
network bandwidth.
Dynameasure Preliminaries
To run Dynameasure tests, you must conFigure four components: a control
client, a control server, at least one test client, and at
least one test server. The control client, running either Windows NT or
95, executes an agent program known as the Manager. The Manager is the interface
through which you set up, run, monitor, and analyze the tests. The control
server hosts databases that contain the test data and store the test results.
Test clients obtain the test parameters from and record their results to the
control server. For most tests, you will use several test client systems. Each
test client, running Win95 or NT, executes an operator program. Each operator
can start 25 motors (or 100 motors with an additional licensing agreement); each
motor generates the workload of one user. The final component, the test server,
is the focal point of the test: On the test server, you load the test data
set, the data that the test clients access during the test run.
Bluecurve (and the Windows NT Magazine Lab) recommends that you use
separate computers for the control server and the test server. Dynameasure
stores the transaction results from the tests in a database on the control
server. With separate machines, the I/O load of updating the transaction results
database does not influence the I/O load on the test data set.
Bluecurve supplies a well-written user manual that takes you through a
logical progression of what the product is and how to use it. Screen shots and
diagrams that describe the architecture and components of Dynameasure supplement
the discussion of concepts and definitions. You can find complete instructions
for the installation and use of the different components, even step-by-step
instructions for running a File Services sample test. I highly recommend you
thoroughly study Chapter 9, "Testing Strategies," before you try to
use the product. The chapter details how to locate bottlenecks, the
characteristics of workloads, and how to select the data set and tests to
provide a meaningful performance evaluation. Another must-read chapter is
Chapter 8, "Analyzing Test Results." Once you've run a test, this
chapter will help you sort, filter, and view the results. You'll also find out
how to print reports to help you zero in on network problems.
The software includes online Help files that follow Microsoft's format. The
Dynameasure Demo CD-ROM contains technical data and a new user tutorial, which I
found useful. The tutorial provides an excellent explanation of the software
components, and it steps you through configuring and running a successful test.
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