Alexander Podelko's blog

Software Performance Engineering

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:34:31 -0600

Trying to make some suggestions for Building Responsive and Scalable Applications panel I contemplated for a while on this topic.

For a long time we have Software Performance Engineering addressing these issues. As it described in the books and papers of Dr. Connie Smith and Dr. Lloyd Williams, it looks rather as a methodology for me.

CMG Final Agenda

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:36:13 -0600

CMG Final Agenda (in pdf) is finally available. Online agenda is available too.

Looks like CMG'08 is one more step towards performance testing community. I believe that CMG was the best conference about computer performance for a long time, but now we have significantly more papers related to performance testing and performance engineering. Conference proceedings from 1976 through 2005 are available to the public – probably the largest collection of performance-related papers (and most of them are practical).

Trends, Papers, and SOA

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:56:53 -0500

I quickly found that my capacity of what I can do in addition to regular work is pretty limited: while I was writing a paper for the upcoming CMG conference and then helping a little with the conference organization as CPE (Computer Performance Evaluation) Subject Area Chair (CMG is a volunteer organization), I wasn't able to blog or update my site (probably more energy than time). Now this is mainly over: the CMG preliminary agenda was just published. It is time to summarize and move forward.

CMG News

Thu, 29 May 2008 14:42:12 -0500

It is still not late to submit a paper to the CMG conference. Although the abstract deadline passed, the enforced deadline is only the paper deadline – June 13.

I believe that it is the best conference about computer performance. Conference proceedings from 1997 through 2005 are available to the public – probably the largest collection of performance-related papers (and most of them are practical).

LoadRunner Certification

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:50:45 -0500

I looked through the new LoadRunner certifications.

Accredited Integration Specialist in HP Performance Center v9. Two Prometric exams, $150 each.

Accredited Systems Engineer in HP Performance Center v9. Two exams, look somewhat similar to what Mercury had before, $750 each.

Multiple Dimensions of Performance Testing

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:18:00 -0500

Almost all experts agree that pre-deployment "waterfall" performance testing (which, with the record/playback method, confused by many as the performance testing itself) is not enough - too little, too late. Actually it is just one very specific way of performance testing - with a full spectrum of other approaches, which are used so infrequently (at least as intentional performance testing techniques) that I don't recall finding any good classification. Thinking about it, I see several dimensions of performance testing which, although definitely correlated, probably might be considered somewhat independently - of course, just a raw idea for the moment, just an effort to order thoughts a little.

Pitfalls of the "Waterfall" Approach to Performance Testing

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:23:17 -0500

Looks like the pre-production validation approach to performance testing becomes typical for large corporations (if there is any at all):

-get the system ready
-develop all scripts requested (sometimes offshore)
-run them all together
-compare with the requirements provided
-allow some percentage of errors according to the requirements
-involve the development team if requirements were missed

Re: Performance testing and coverage

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 01:38:38 -0500

Can't leave Ainars Galvans' posting unanswered. I think that it touches very important issues I am fighting for long time with, so this post is going beyond just a comment.

It is very interesting that I completely agree with Ainars on most items except final conclusions – which I completely disagree with. I suspect that it is rather terminology difference. So let's start with what I disagree.

CMG'08 Call for Papers

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:22:28 -0600

See the message from the CMG Program Chair below. And yes: load and stress testing, benchmarking, performance optimization, software performance engineering, resource management, capacity analysis are among the major topics for the conference.

The CMG'08 conference committee is delighted to announce that they are now accepting abstracts for papers and workshops for the 2008 conference to be held in Las Vegas in December 2008.

Multi-User Functional Testing

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:11:17 -0600

In the February issue of Software Test & Performance read Karen Johnson's article about multi-user testing (pp. 20-23). Karen writes about a very rare subject – functional multi-user testing. Should admit that I started to read with a thought "one more article about performance testing" – but soon realized that it is about quite different subject. And yes, indeed, without functional multi-user testing, most of errors mentioned in article will slip through (won't re-tell the article – it is available on-line, you can read it yourself). Some may be found during performance testing (probably the most severe like deadlocks – if they are in the typical scenarios you included in performance testing) – and you will need to trace them down to the source, and probably it will be much later down the cycle.

Rights to Run LoadRunner

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:35:35 -0600

Where the myth that you can use LoadRunner with a regular user came from? I got a client who refused to give me admin rights and I should research this question again. I did it before – but, in my practice, I usually return to the same question after such period of time that the only thing I remember about it is that I researched it before.

Well, it took some time. Doesn't look like the new Mercury knowledgebase is a major search improvement.

CMG Opens Its Content to the Public

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:30:21 -0600

The Computer Measurement Group (CMG) is making its conference proceedings from 1997 through 2005 available to the public. I believe that CMG holds the best practical conference in performance analysis, capacity planning, and related areas. In addition to the areas listed below, I'd definitely add performance testing. Here is the official mail CMG sent:

Education

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 23:08:05 -0600

With great interest read Who Killed the Software Engineer? (Hint: It Happened in College) by James Maguire as well as the original article Computer Science Education: Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow? by Dr. Robert Dewar and Dr. Edmond Schonberg.

Performance Requirements

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:08:27 -0600

My performance requirements paper was published in the January issue of Software Test & Performance (pp.18-24).

It was simple: I just sent a draft – and now I am reading it printed. With a new name - or even two: it is referred as You Can Gauge Performance Without Requirements in one place and Gauging Performance in The Absence of Measures in another. Not to mention other minor improvement.

Good Advice

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 22:42:20 -0600

I like Good Advice by Graeme Simsion very much: it lists many real traps that you may fall into during consulting engagements (and, truly speaking, overall business communication). Actually, during performance engagements, I face all these issues again and again. While the issues are definitely generic, looks like they are more acute when you touch performance: usually too much egos and money involved, too much work may need to be done, etc.