Load testing for web apps

Last year Oracle bought e-Test (a software testing suite) from Empirix. This was in order to add load and functional testing capabilities to Oracle Enterprise Manager. The e-TEST suite was aimed at testing websites and web-enabled software applications.

Since then Oracle have rebranded the suite as the ATS (Application Testing Suite) and included it as part of the SAM portfolio (Systema and Application Management).

The performance testing tool of the suite has been rebranded from e-load to Oracle Load Testing for Web Applications. What the name change loses in brevity it gains in clarity. As the product sheet from Oracle states:

"Oracle Load Testing for Web Applications is the easiest way to validate theperformance and scalability of your Web applications and Web services. It can simulate thousands of virtual users accessing the application simultaneously and measures the effect of the load on application performance without requiring a substantial hardware investment.

The realistic usage scenarios in Oracle Load Testing for Web Applications canhandle even the most complex Web applications. By utilizing a unique virtual users capability that encompasses many parameters (including configurable browser types, connection speeds, and think times), testers can interact with the Web application just like real users will to understand exactly how the application will scale under peak load conditions. The solution’s virtual users can generate multithreaded browser requests while performing rigorous functional validationunder load conditions—validation that protocol-based legacy client server testing tools cannot provide.

Oracle Load Testing for Web Applications can also be used to test the performance of Web service interfaces by simulating thousands of concurrent clients accessing SOA-based applications.