Detailed analysis of the latest server Test Method

In our daily work and life, there are an increasing variety of servers and server detection methods. This article aims to give readers a detailed introduction to the latest server testing methods. Here, the server testing method is divided into two major aspects: Performance Testing and functional testing.

We have adopted a new test method for performance testing, which includes file testing, database performance testing, and Web performance testing. Among them, the file performance and database performance adopt the Benchmark Factory load test and capacity planning software of Quest software company, and the Web performance test uses the Caw WebAvalanche tester provided by Spirent.

I. Performance Testing

1. File Performance Testing Method

The Benchmark Factory software can customize transactions based on key indicators of file read/write. The software supports up to 1000 virtual customers.

This test environment includes 10 clients configured with PIII800/MB memory/20 GB hard disk or above, which are used to simulate virtual users. The console is an Acer laptop with PIII 850/128 MB memory/40 Gb hard drive. The switch is Cisco 10/100 with two GBIC interfaces and 24 2950 M Adaptive ports. The client and the console are connected to the switch through a M Nic, the tested server is connected to the vswitch through a Gigabit Optical Fiber Nic.

The tested Server is installed with a Windows 2000 Advanced Server Operating System with SP4, And the RAID level is 5 in all three performance tests.

In terms of specific test scheme settings, the test software sets the key factors that determine file read/write operations to read/write, random/sequence, Operation block size, and object size. In this test, considering that we have a separate database and Web test project, in the file test, we set the target to test the Basic I/O performance of the server, this is mainly determined by the network interface, system bandwidth, disk subsystem, and so on. At the same time, the function of reading and writing large object files in large operation blocks and small operation blocks to read and write small object files can reflect the most basic I/O performance of the server, that is to say, the "large block reads and writes large files" Inspection of system bandwidth and cache, and the "small block reads and writes small files" Inspection of disk subsystems and network interfaces. The final four transactions are as follows:

◆ Large file sequential read/write operation blocks 8 KB, object files 80% 500KB, 20% 1 MB)

◆ Large file random read/write operation blocks 8 KB, object files 80% 500KB, 20% 1 MB)

◆ 1 kb for random reading of small files, 80% 1KB, 10% 10KB, and 10% 50KB for object files)

◆ 1 kb for sequential write operations on small files, 80% 1KB, 10% 10KB, and 10% 50KB for object files)

The number of users of each transaction increases gradually with a fixed step, and the maximum number can be increased to 1000 virtual users. Among them, the number of users of the "large file sequential read/write" transaction increases from 1 to 400 test Xeon servers in the step of 40) or 200 test TUALATIN servers ), other transactions increase the number of users from 1 to 100 at the step of 1000. We expect the performance of the server to be tested when the number of users is different. The overall trend and peak value reflect the performance of the server. Each transaction runs three times, and the tested server restarts each time. The final result is the three average values.

2. Database Performance Testing Method

The Benchmark Factory software is also used for database performance testing. The testing environment is like file performance testing. During the test, Install SQL Server 2000 on the tested Server to use the Enterprise Edition. First, create a new Database on the tested server, and use the Database Spec project predefined by Benchmark Factory to create tables in the Database and load data. Create a storage process based on CPU computing on the server. Use 10 clients to simulate users and increase the number of users to 400 according to the step of 40 virtual users. The result is the number of transactions per second (TPS) measured by the server's database transaction processing capability. The entire test is divided into three times. Restart the tested server between each time, and the average value of the three times is taken as the evaluation result.

3. Web Performance Testing Method

The Web performance testing tool is Caw WebAvalanche provided by Spirent. WebAvalanche simulates the actual user to send an HTTP request and provides detailed test results based on the response. It has the following features: it can simulate hundreds of thousands of clients to send requests to the server; it can simulate real network application conditions, such as the dynamic maintenance of website access during peak hours, with the addition of new clients and the departure of original customers, the access volume is not fixed. 20000 connections/second requests can be generated, which is sufficient to meet the test requirements. A wide range of test projects, there are successful request failures, URL and page response times, network traffic, and HTTP and TCP Protocols.

During the test, both the server and WebAvalanche are equipped with Gigabit Optical Fiber NICs, which are directly connected through optical fiber. The monitoring end is configured with PIII 1 GHz/2000 m memory/20G hard disk) and a Windows Server with SP4 is installed. The monitoring end and WebAvalanche are directly connected through a crossover. On the monitoring end, configure WebAvalanche through a Web browser, Install SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition on the tested Server, and create a Web Server with Microsoft IIS.

The test is divided into two parts: Static Performance and dynamic performance. This is mainly because some websites have a majority of static content in actual Web applications, and most of the services they provide are static. Therefore, they are particularly concerned with server static performance. Similarly, most websites provide interactive services, so they are more concerned with the dynamic performance of servers.

According to the actual website, the proportion of the page size and static and dynamic pages in the tested website is obtained. The static and dynamic pages of the entire website account for 70% and 30%, and ASP is used as the dynamic page type. The file size distribution ratio of the Request page sample is the same as that of the entire website.

Static Performance Testing simulates static page requests. When dynamic performance is tested, 20% of dynamic page access requests and 80% of the remaining are static page requests. We have established a Server Page request model based on the actual Web server's daily running situation. This model consists of four stages. The first stage is the push phase, the number of requests sent by WebAvalanche has gradually increased from 0 to 200. The second stage is the gradual pressurization stage, and the Request volume is gradually accumulated to the maximum value of 8200. The third stage is the dynamic maintenance stage, and the fourth stage is the descent stage, the number of requests rapidly decreases from the maximum to 0. The maximum number of requests is slightly greater than the transaction processing capacity that the actual server can provide.

The static and dynamic tests of the tested servers are tested three times, and the tested servers and testers restart each time. The average value of the three tests is obtained. It can be seen that this server testing method is determined by the accuracy of the final result.

Ii. Function Testing

In terms of function testing, we have comprehensively evaluated the scalability, availability, and manageability of the tested servers. The scalability includes the scalability of hard disks, PCIe slots, and memory, availability includes support for hot swapping, redundant devices such as hard disks, power supplies, fans, and NICs. manageability refers to the management software random on the server.

In our overall evaluation of the server, we combined the performance, function, and price factors. Based on the user survey results in the online world, we assigned different weights, with performance accounting for 50%, features account for 40%, while prices account for 10%. During performance analysis, database performance accounts for 50% of the total, file performance accounts for 30%, and Web performance accounts for 20%.

To sum up, this new server testing method is more accurate and more direct to test the server, and the data is more accurate. Hope to help readers and friends who need it.

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