How To Install and Use the Web Application Stress (WAS) Tool (313559)

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article describes how to install the Microsoft Web Application Stress (WAS) tool and how to use WAS to create and run scripts to test your Web programs.

The WAS tool is a simulation tool that you can use to place your Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 Web server under a simulated load. The tool is designed to reproduce realistically an environment in which multiple browsers request pages from a Web site. Use WAS to gather performance data about your Web programs and to evaluate the performance and stability of your Web server. WAS uses scripts to simulate a large number of requests by using a relatively small number of clients; therefore, it creates a scenario that is as close to a production environment as possible. You can analyze the data that you collect to understand how your Web program responds under stress and to identify and eliminate any issues in your program before you deploy it.

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How to Install the Web Application Stress Tool

NOTE: You must perform the following procedures on client computers. WAS is supported on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 (SP 4) and later and Microsoft Windows 2000. Do not install WAS on the Web server that you are testing. If you do so, the WAS installation may affect the performance of the Web server and may interfere with your test results.

1. Log on to your computer as an administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
2. Download WAS. To do so, start your browser and go to the following Microsoft Web site:

   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e2c0585a-062a-439e-a67d-75a89aa36495&DisplayLang=en

   For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   119591 How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services

3. In the left pane of the Web page, click Download.
4. Click Download Web Application Stress tool, x86 version, click Save this program to disk, and then click OK.
5. Specify a location where you want to save the Setup.exe file, and then click Save.
6. Copy the Setup.exe file to each of the client computers from which you want to perform the test.
7. On each client computer, start Microsoft Windows Explorer, and then double-click the Setup.exe file that you saved in step 5.
8. Click Yes to accept the license agreement, either accept the default installation location or specify where you want to install WAS, and then click Next.
9. Click OK, and then click Finish.

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How to Create Test Scripts

To create scripts to test your Web program, use one of the following methods.

How to Create a Script Manually

To create a script manually:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool, and then click Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool.
2. Point to Create on the Scripts menu, and then click Manual.
   
   The script is displayed as "New Script" in the left pane. To change the name of your new script, click New Script, and then type a new name for the script.
3. In the Server box in the right pane, type either the name, the fully qualified domain name (FQDN), or the Internet protocol (IP) address of your Web server.
4. Type a description in the Notes box.
5. Under Verb, click the down arrow in the first cell, and then either click the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) verb that you want to use (for example, GET) or type the verb that you want to use in the cell.
6. Under Path, type the name and the path of the Web page, for example, /scripts/test.asp.
   
   NOTE: Do not include the server name.
7. If you want to use page groups, make the appropriate changes under Group.
8. If you want to specify a wait time between script items, type a delay value (in milliseconds) under Delay. The default value is 0 (zero).
9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 to add additional items to your script.

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How to Create a Script by Recording Browser Activity

To create a script by recording browser activity, use the procedure described in this section.

NOTE: If you are using a proxy server, you must configure the Microsoft WebTool service to log on to your user account first. If you are not using a proxy server, go directly to the Step 2: Record Browser Activity section of this article.

How to Configure the Microsoft WebTool Service

If you are using a proxy server, configure the Microsoft WebTool service to log on to your user account. To do so:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Services.
3. Double-click WebTool, and then click the Log On tab.
4. Under Log on as, click This account, and then type your user name using the following format:

   \\Domain\UserName

5. Type and confirm your password in the appropriate boxes, and then click OK.
6. Right-click WebTool, and then click Stop.
7. Right-click WebTool, and then click Start.
8. Close the Services dialog box, and then close the Administrative Tools dialog box.

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How to Record Browser Activity

1. Start Microsoft Internet Explorer.
2. Click Internet Options on the Tools menu, and then click the General tab.
3. Under Temporary Internet files, click Delete Files.
4. Click the Connections tab.
5. In the Dial-up settings box, click your dial-up networking connection, and then click Settings.
6. Under Automatic configuration, click to clear the Automatically detect settings check box (if it is selected).
7. Under Proxy server, click to select the Use a proxy server check box, type localhost in the Address box, and then type 8000 in the Port box.
8. Click to clear the Bypass proxy server for local addresses check box (if it is selected).
9. Click OK twice, and then quit Internet Explorer.
10. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool, and then click Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool.
11. Point to Create on the Scripts menu, and then click Record.
12. Click to select the check boxes next to the settings that you want to record, click Next, and then click Finish.
13. After Internet Explorer starts, type the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the Web site that you want to test in the Address bar, and then press ENTER.
14. Browse to the pages on the Web site that you want to test.
    
    The paths of the pages that you browse to are listed in the WAS recording window.
15. When you are finished, click Stop Recording.
    
    The script is displayed as "New Recorded Script" in the left pane. To change the name of your new script, click New Recorded Script, and then type a new name for the script.

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How to Create a Script from an IIS Log

To create a script from an IIS log:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool, and then click Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool.
2. Point to Create on the Scripts menu, and then click Log.
3. In the Log file box, click Browse to locate the IIS log that you want to use to create the script, click Open, and then click Next.
4. Click the options with which you want to parse the log file, and then click Finish.
   
   The script is displayed as "LogFile.log" in the left pane, where LogFile.log is the name of the IIS log file. To change the name of your new script, click LogFile.log, and then type a new name for the script.

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How to Create a Script from Web Site Content

To create a script from files on your Web site, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool, and then click Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool.
2. Point to Create on the Scripts menu, and then click Contents.
   
   The script is displayed as "New Script" in the left pane. To change the name of your new script, click New Script, and then type a new name for the script.
3. Click the plus sign (+) next to the script to expand the tree (if it is not already expanded).
   
   The script items are displayed in the script tree.
4. Click Content Tree.
5. In the Content location box in the right pane, either type the path to your content folder or click Browse to locate the folder, and then click OK.
6. If necessary, type a virtual root placeholder in the Virtual root box.
7. Click Apply.
   
   WAS creates a content tree based on your Web content. Click to select the check boxes next to the files that you want to include in your test.

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How to Configure Your Scripts

To configure settings for your scripts:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool, and then click Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool.
2. In the left pane, double-click ScriptName, where ScriptName is the name of your script, to expand the tree (if it is not already expanded).
   
   The script items are displayed in the right pane.
3. Double-click the row header of the script item (the blank button on the left side of the Verb column) that you want to configure.
   
   When you do so, the script Details view is opened. You can use this view to edit querystring name-value pairs, customize Post data, modify HTTP headers, enable Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, or format your script as a Remote Data Service (RDS) query.
4. Click the appropriate tab to specify the settings that you want, and then click OK.
5. In the left pane, click Settings.
   
   Specify the settings that you want to set for the script options that are displayed in the Settings dialog box. For example, you can modify the stress level values, set the test run time, or turn on bandwidth throttling.
6. To add performance monitor counters to your script, click Perf Counters, click Add Counter in the right pane, click the object and the counters that you want to add, click Add, and then click OK.
7. To view a list of page groups that are defined for that script or to change page group distribution, click Page Groups.
8. To add and to remove users from the default population or to create a new population, click Users, double-click Default in the right pane, and then perform one of the following steps:
   • To add new users, type the following information in the appropriate boxes, and then click Create:
     • The number of users that you want to create
     • The user name prefix
     • The password
   • To add a new population, right-click Default in the left pane, and then click Add.
     
     The new population is displayed as "New Population" in the left pane. To change the name of the new population, click New Population, and then type a new name.
9. Click Scripts on the View menu to return to the Scripts view.
10. To add and to remove client computers from the current group or to add new groups of client computers, click Clients, and then click Default in the right pane.
    • To add a client computer, type the name of the computer (or its IP address) in the Machine name box, and then click Add.
    • To add a new group, right-click Default in the left pane, and then click Add. The new group is displayed as "New Group" in the left pane. To change the name of the new group, click New Group, and then type a new name.
11. Click Scripts on the View menu to return to the Scripts view.
12. To view cookies that are stored with each user, click Cookies.

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How to Test Your Web Program

To run a test using a script, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool, and then click Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool.
2. In the left pane, click the script that you want to use, and then click Run on the Scripts menu.

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How to View Reports of Your Tests

To view reports of your tests, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool, and then click Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool.
2. Click Reports on the View menu.
   
   Reports for each test that you perform are displayed under its associated script in the left pane. The title of a report is the date and time when you started the test.
3. Double-click a report to expand the tree (if it is not already expanded).
4. Click the item in the report tree in which you want to view more information, for example, Page Summary.
   
   Detailed information about that item is displayed in the right pane.

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Troubleshooting

• You are unable to start WAS.
  
  This behavior can occur if the WebTool service is not running. To resolve this behavior, make sure that the WebTool service is running. To do so:
  1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
  2. At the command prompt, type net start webtool, and then press ENTER.
  3. To display a list of services that are currently running, type net start, and then press ENTER.
     
     Verify that WebTool is displayed in the list.
• You are unable to add or connect to client computers.
  
  This behavior can occur if any of the following conditions are true:
  • The client computer is not a Windows NT 4.0-based or a Windows 2000-based computer. To resolve this behavior, install WAS on a Windows NT-based or a Windows 2000-based computer.
    
    -or-
  • WAS is not installed on the client computer. To resolve this behavior, install WAS on the client computers to which you want to connect.
    
    -or-
  • The WebTool service is not running on the client computer in which WAS is installed. To resolve this behavior, start the WebTool service on the client computers to which you want to connect.
    
    -or-
  • You are not a member of the local Administrators group on the client computers to which you want to connect. To resolve this behavior, log on by using a user account that is a member of the local Administrators group on each client computer to which you want to connect.

For additional information about how to troubleshoot WAS, refer to the "Troubleshooting" section in WAS Help. Click Web Application Stress Help on the Help menu, click the Contents tab, and then double-click Troubleshooting.

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