The Art of Application Performance Testing The Art of Application Performance Testing Ian Molyneaux Beijing ? Cambridge ? Farnham ? K?ln ? Sebastopol ? Taipei ? Tokyo The Art of Application Performance Testing by Ian Molyneaux Copyright ? 2009 Ian Molyneaux. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472. O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available for most titles ( http://safari.). For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or ******@. Editor: Andy Oram Production Editor: Adam Witwer Production Services: Newgen Publishing and Data Services Cover Designer: Mark Paglietti Interior Designer: Marcia Friedman Illustrator: Robert Romano Printing History: January 2009: First Edition. Nutshell Handbook, the Nutshell Handbook logo, and the O’Reilly logo are registered trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc. The Art of Application Performance Testing and related trade dress are trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and O’Reilly Media, Inc., was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. ISBN: 978-0-596-52066-3 [V] 1231608032 C ON T E N T S PREFACE vii 1 WHY PERFORMANCE TEST? 1 What Is Performance? The End-User Perspective 2 Bad Performance: Why It’s mon 5 Summary 10 2 THE FUNDAMENTALS OF EFFECTIVE APPLICATION PERFORMANCE TESTING 11 Choosing an Appropriate Performance Testing Tool 13 Designing an Appropriate Performance Test E