Specifying Web Browsers Types in a Load Test Scenario

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The browser mix gives you a way to simulate load more realistically in a load test scenario. Load is generated by using a heterogeneous mix of Web browsers instead of one single Web browser. You create a closer approximation of the Web browsers that will be used with your applications.

The following are the Web browser types you can include in your load test:

  • Internet Explorer 7.0

  • Chrome 2

  • Firefox 2.0

  • Firefox 3.0

  • Internet Explorer 5.5

  • Internet Explorer 6.0

  • Internet Explorer 8.0

  • Netscape 6.0

  • Pocket IE 3.02

  • Safari 3

  • Safari for iPhone

  • Smartphone

A browser mix specifies the probability of a virtual user running a particular Web browser type in a load test scenario. When you create a load test, you might want to simulate that the load is generated through more than one Web browser. When you add a Web browser type to the mix from the set of Web browsers that are provided, a set of associated headers for the selected Web browser is added to each HTTP request that is submitted by a Web performance test.

The browser mix works like other mix options. A Web browser type is randomly associated with a virtual user, based on the browser mix. The tests of that user are run on a particular Web browser, based on the probability that you specified in the mix.

After you have specified a browser mix, you can later add and remove Web browser types to the mix. You can also change the distribution of the browser mix by using the mix control. The mix control lets you easily adjust the distribution of browsers in a scenario. For more information, see About the Mix Control for Load Tests.

Tasks

Tasks

Associated topics

Specify the browser mix for your scenario: You can specify a Web browser mix for you scenario, for example, 75% Internet Explorer and 25% on another browser type. A load test contains one or more scenarios, each of which can contain one or more Web performance tests. Each scenario contains one or more Web browsers, which are used to perform any Web performance tests in the scenario.

Add or remove a browser from your scenario: When you specify the browser mix for a scenario, you can add or remove Web browsers from your list.

See Also

Other Resources

Creating and Editing Load Tests