Abstract figures

Welcome! This tour is a quick overview of what you can do with Rational Performance Tester.

People working on different computers

Rational Performance Tester guides you through the easy creation and modification of performance tests against Web applications.


You work on performance tests from within the Performance Test perspective in the IBM Rational Software Developer platform.

Eclipse menu

To create a performance test, you start the recorder, provide a name for the performance test, and then navigate through your Web application as a typical user does.

Naming the performance test

Closing the browser ends recording; the resulting test is then displayed.

The performance test as it appears after recording ends



In the test editor, you can optionally customize any performance test.

Modifying performance tests





Data-driven testing uses data from an external file as input to a test. Variable data is provided to performance tests from datapools.

Using an external file to supply test data


Using datapools, you can substitute a value in the recorded test with specific stored values when the test runs.

Datapool creation

You run a performance test by setting up a schedule.

Running a schedule

A schedule is a controlled, flexible way to create workloads that closely model workloads on your site. For example, you can start tests at different times.

One of the options available in a schedule



A schedule can be as simple as one virtual user running one performance test . . .

Image to represent simple schedule

. . . or as complex as hundreds of virtual users running multiple performance tests concurrently or at different times.

Image to represent complex schedule




Rational Performance Tester provides a Performance report for analyzing your test data. This report is updated during a run and is available after a run. The next few slides introduce you to this report.

Introduction to reports
Summary section















The Summary section shows the final results at a glance.

Page Performance section

The Page Performance section provides the average load time of all pages accessed during a run.

Response vs. Time section

You can see how your application is performing across time in the Response vs. Time section.


Your next step is to explore the tutorials and other learning aids found in the Welcome page. Enjoy!

Good bye!