These release notes provide the most current information about the installation, features, documentation, and known issues for the Visual Studio® .NET Edition of Microsoft® Application Center Test (ACT).
1 Introduction |
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These release notes provide important information that you should read before installing ACT.
ACT is a testing tool for Web applications. It is designed to stress test the Web sever, Active Server Pages (ASP) pages and server-side components used in a Web application. Additionally, you can use ACT to test functionality and scalability as well as other types of testing.
2 Installing Application Center Test |
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ACT requires the following:
ACT is compatible with any Web server that is compliant with HTTP 1.1.
See the Visual Studio .NET hardware requirements.
If you are upgrading a pre-release version of ACT, see Section 2.6, "Upgrading from Beta Versions."
When installing Application Center Test, you must log on with an account that has local Windows administrator rights.
To install ACT, run the Visual Studio .NET installer. Under Setup Options, click the Application Center Test check box.
To add or remove Visual Studio .NET components, such as ACT, open Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs, and then click Visual Studio .NET.
If you remove ACT, existing ACT project files and log files are not changed or deleted. You can delete these files manually if you do not need them.
When running ACT, to view and record performance monitor counters for the Web server, you must be a local administrator on the server.
Similarly, to view and record performance monitor counters on an ACT client, you must have local Administrator rights on that computer.
Note that the Visual Studio .NET Edition of ACT does not support using more than one test client for running tests
Copy any dynamic tests that were created in beta versions of ACT before uninstalling the beta version.
ACT does not upgrading the MSDE database used in Beta 1.
Because of additions and changes to the schema in the release version of ACT, you cannot open XML projects that were created with Beta 2. You can copy the source code from Dynamic tests made with Beta 1 or Beta 2 into projects that you create with the release version of ACT. You will need to restore project and test settings manually. Additionally, you may need to make some changes to the source code to make the script compatible with the release version of the Test object model.
3 Sample Dynamic Tests |
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ACT includes several sample Dynamic tests which demonstrate how to use the Test object model. These tests are found in the sample project included with ACT. For more information on the files and their use, see "Sample ACT Project and Files" in the online Help.
Included are sample tests designed to stress test parts of the Fitch and Mather Web site and the Duwamish Books Web site. To run these test scripts, install the Fitch and Mather and Duwamish Books samples.
The online Help contains short examples in the topics for each object, and the object's methods and properties. There are also several examples of complete Dynamic tests and scripts that use the Application object model. For more information, see "Dynamic Test Samples" and "Application Object Model Samples" in the online Help.
4 About the Samples Folder |
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ACT includes several ASP files and graphics for tests to request. The default location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft ACT\Samples\TestFiles\.
Some of these files will be useful when learning how to create tests with the ACT user interface (UI). Others are required for running the Dynamic test examples included with ACT.
To install the test files, copy the TestFiles folder to the root virtual directory of the server that is running the Internet Information Server (IIS) default Web site.
The server files include:
| Path | Description |
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| /TestFiles/cookie.asp | Tests the way ACT stores and updates HTTP cookies. |
| /TestFiles/post.asp | Tests requests that use the POST method and shows you how the ACT querystring editor works. |
| /TestFiles/browser.asp | An ASP page for testing request header field values using the browser capabilities server-side object. |
| /TestFiles/fileacc.asp | An ASP that uses the file access server-side object. |
| /TestFiles/htmltest.htm | A static HTML page for testing HTML performance statistics. |
| /TestFiles/ad_test.asp | An ASP that uses the ad rotator server-side object. |
| /TestFiles/logo.gif | A .gif that is used with the ad rotator server-side object. |
The C:\Program Files\Microsoft ACT\Samples\ACTSamples\ folder contains the sample ACT project.
5 Features |
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ACT includes the Test object model, which was designed to meet the needs of complex tests that were difficult, or impossible to create or perform by using other test types. The tests that were programmed by using the objects in this object model are called Dynamic tests.
Dynamic tests are programmed with either Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) or Microsoft JScript. To run these tests, you must must use either the ACT user interface's script editor, or the Application Object Model Controller object. ACT does not support running Dynamic tests in other environments, such as the Windows Script Host.
ACT also includes the Application object model, for automating ACT. You can use the Application object model in any scripting or programming environment that supports COM.
6 Documentation and Support |
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ACT includes online help with conceptual information, procedural and how-to topics, and reference information and programming samples for the ACT object models.
To view the topics, from the main menu, click Help, and then point to Microsoft Application Center Test Help.
VBScript is used for all of the examples in the documentation. For more information about the VBScript language, see the Microsoft Scripting Technologies Web site at http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/
7 Known Issues |
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Testing a Web server via an intermediate proxy server is not recommended, since the proxy server can introduce a bottleneck that will make test results invalid.
If you cannot avoid this configuration, and you are using Microsoft Proxy Server, install the Microsoft Proxy Client (included on the Proxy Server CD) on the computer with ACT.
When setting a proxy server for use during a browser record session, do not use a prefix, such as "HTTP://", in the name.
ACT was designed and optimized to test Web server and Web application performance by duplicating the high number of requests per second and concurrent connections Web servers must often handle.
ACT does not run or test client-side scripts or controls, nor duplicate many other tasks frequently performed by user agents, such as decompressing compressed response data or parsing the response body HTML and requesting linked files.
While you could simulate some of these tasks using custom Dynamic tests, ACT does not provide built-in or automatic support for them.
The recommended number of connections or threads to open when running a test varies with the speed of the test computer, the type of web application being tested, and the performance configurations of the Web server.
Try starting with two concurrent connections and gradually increase the number. Watch the % Processor Time performance counter on the ACT computer and stop increasing connections when the processor time approaches full use.
When sending large numbers of SSL requests per second and simulating a large number of users, the default settings for client-side credential caching may not be sufficient. Symptoms include increased amounts of memory being allocated to the lsass.exe process as the test runs. The solution is to increase the time that cached information is stored. This may decrease the performance of other applications.
The following registry key sets the client and server cache to 60 minutes (3,600,000 milliseconds, or 0036EE80 in hexadecimal notation).
REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL] "ClientCacheTime"=dword:0036EE80 "ServerCacheTime"=dword:0036EE80
Copy the text, and then paste it into an empty text file with a .reg extension. To add the value to your registry, right-click the file, and then click Merge.
When done running the tests, set the cache times back to their default values. For Windows 2000, the default for ClientCacheTime is 60 minutes (3,600,000 milliseconds, or 0036EE80 in hexadecimal notation), and the default for ServerCacheTime is 5 minutes (300,000 milliseconds, or 000493E0 in hexadecimal notation). The following registry file will set the values back to their defaults on Windows 2000:
REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL] "ClientCacheTime"=dword:0036EE80 "ServerCacheTime"=dword:000493E0
When starting tests from the ACT user interface, a Server Busy dialog box may appear if the test is taking a long time to start. You can either click Retry or wait until the tests starts.
To help debug logic errors in Dynamic scripts that will compile and run, use the Test.Trace(strText) method to write text to the ACTTrace.log file, found in the folder in which ACT was installed. Use the Test.TraceLevel property to set the amount of information that is logged.
For more information, see Debugging Dynamic Tests in the online Help.
The static and replay test types are not included in the Visual Studio .NET Edition of ACT.
To share project files located on a network, you must grant "Everyone" access to the folder. Everyone must be granted write privileges to save changes to the files, or to save reports created from a test run. If not set up correctly, the local account that the ACT program runs as (ACTUser) will not have sufficient rights to modify projects and report creation will fail at the end of a test run.
Microsoft Office XP installs the Office Web Chart Component (msowc.dll) to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\", while ACT installs the same file to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\". If Office XP and ACT (or any other products that include the older version of the Microsoft Office Chart Control) are installed on the same computer, and one of them is later removed, some registry entries for the control are also removed. This will cause errors for any remaining programs that use the chart.
If you remove Office XP, an error will occur the next time an ACT test is started. The Test status window will not be able to create an instance of the chart and act.exe will generate errors. You will also see these errors when attempting to view ACT report summary pages that include charts.
To fix this, open a console window and type the following command to register the DLL created by ACT:
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\msowc.dll"
If you remove ACT, Office XP programs that use the chart control will experience errors.
In this scenario, there are two possible solutions.
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\msowc.dll"
When using the Application object model, calls to the Controller.StartTest method can fail in some situations where the computer has the Microsoft WinSock Proxy Client installed. The script or program making the call will stop responding, even when the third parameter used with StartTest is False, and eventually time-out without sending any requests.
When SSL authentication is used by the Web application, the SSLSuccesses value in a report will be equal to twice the number of requests sent to the authenticated URL. This value is correct.
When sending the request, the SSL connection is established once at the start and counted as successful, but is closed by the server after the server sends back a response indicating that credentials are required. The connection is opened a second time when the client re-sends the request, with credentials included in the message header.
If authentication succeeds, SSLSuccesses is incremented a second time. If authentication fails, SSLFailures is incremented instead. Note that even when authentication fails, the initial SSL connection is counted as a success.
For information about getting the SSLSuccesses and SSLFailures from the Application object model, see "Report Data Values" in the online Help.
Recording will fail when certain directory and file permissions are configured and a request is redirected to the default page for the virtual directory. This occurs whether or not ACT is recording the Web browser.
The problem occurs when the virtual directory uses Anonymous and Integrated security, but the default page is set to use Integrated and Basic security. When requesting the virtual directory in Internet Explorer, for example "http://localhost/", the change in authentication schemes is not handled properly when the Web browser is redirected to "http://localhost/default.asp". The browser will stop responding and the page, or other resource, is never received.
To avoid the redirections, always request the full URL path, including the default page name.
While creating a test with the browser record feature, Microsoft Internet Explorer and ACT will use the proxy settings configured in the Control Panel/Internet Options. If a proxy server is used on your network, but has not yet been correctly specified in the settings on the Connections tab, recording of the test will fail. For more information, see "Specifying the type of LAN (Local Area Network) connection" in the Internet Explorer online Help.
Note that this issue is not related to the proxy server settings used when running the test after it is created. During a test run, proxy settings from the General tab of the ACT project's Properties dialog box are used.
In addition to the code pages already listed in "Supported Code Pages" in the online Help, RAW_UTF16 is also supported.
Also note that the CP_SYMBO codepage should read CP_SYMBOL.
When using the ACT standalone user interface, you can modify or remove cookies associated with ACT users, but you cannot add cookies. There are three methods for adding cookies to ACT users prior to a test run:
If setting the Test.Tracelevel property to -1 is not providing enough information, add one of the following registry entries to get additional internal diagnostic information. To view the information in a debugger:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Tracing\ACS] "AlwaysODS"=dword:00000001 "Level"=dword:00000003 "ControlFlags"=dword:00ffffff "Active"=dword:00000001
To save the output to a file:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Tracing\ACS] "AlwaysODS"=dword:00000001 "LogFileName"="c:\\logfile.evm" "LogSessionName"="ACS" "EnableTracing"=dword:00000001 "Level"=dword:00000003 "ControlFlags"=dword:00ffffff "Active"=dword:00000001
ACT performance will decrease slightly when this additional diagnostic information is enabled. To disable the output, remove the registry keys or set Level to 0.
When recording a Web browser session on a Web site with Microsoft Passport authentication, recording will intermittently fail. If possible, disable Passport authentication before recording the test.
Tests that create a large amount of report data may cause the standalone ACT user interface to experience timeout errors. If this occurs, close the ACT program without saving the project. The controller.exe process will continue to run in the background, and will eventually create a report. You can open the project a few minutes later to view the report.
Tests created using the Browser Record feature will not automatically follow HTTP redirects, and response code values of 302 can appear in the ACT reports. There are two ways to enable HTTP redirects:
<FollowRedirects type="bool" value="True"/>
The Find command in the standalone ACT program will not successfully find a substring of ASCII characters within a non-ASCII string unless there is space character between the adjacent words.
The Tests.RemoveAll method is not supported in dynamic tests for the Visual Studio .NET Edition of ACT. To removing all items from a Tests collection, you must call the Tests.Remove method multiple times.
The browser record feature will not work when you are connected to the Internet using a Remote Access Service (RAS) connection. Each request is sent to the server, and the server's response is loaded in the Web browser window, but the request is not saved in the generated test.
When you create a dynamic test using the browser record feature, the generated VBScript source code does not send the correct Content-Type HTTP header for requests that use the POST method. To correct the problem, you must manually move all calls to the Request.EncodeBody property from their original position, which is just after the HTTP headers are set, to a position just before the HTTP headers are retrieved and cleared. You must make this change to all generated procedures with POST requests.
This example shows both the original and the modified position of the EncodeBody property:
Sub SendRequest2()
...
oRequest.Verb = "POST"
oRequest.HTTPVersion = "HTTP/1.0"
' add the following line
oRequest.EncodeBody = False
set oHeaders = oRequest.Headers
oHeaders.RemoveAll
oHeaders.Add "Accept", "image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/x-comet, application/msword, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/vnd.ms-excel, */*"
oHeaders.Add "Referer", "http://localhost/test/login.asp"
oHeaders.Add "Accept-Language", "en-us"
oHeaders.Add "Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
oHeaders.Add "User-Agent", "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.0.2914)"
'oHeaders.Add "Host", "localhost"
oHeaders.Add "Host", "(automatic)"
oHeaders.Add "Pragma", "no-cache"
'oHeaders.Add "Cookie", "ASPSESSIONIDQGGQQLFG=CEMGFIFABGGBOHICAGPKKDIK"
oHeaders.Add "Cookie", "(automatic)"
oHeaders.Add "Content-Length", "(automatic)"
' comment or remove the following line
' oRequest.EncodeBody = False
...
End Sub
To use the ACT controller object within an ASP page, you must give the Launch IIS Process Account, or IWAM_[COMPUTERNAME], permissions to the ACT WMI namespace:
By default, a dynamic test created by recording a browser session will use HTTP 1.0 for all requests that are sent through a proxy server.
A web resource secured so that only specific Windows user accounts have access to it must be requested by ACT using version 1.1 of the HTTP protocol. If not, authentication will fail when running the test.
To change the HTTP settings for IE:
To manually correct a dynamic test that already contains these HTTP 1.0 requests, open the source code for the generated test and set all occurrences of the Request.HTTPVersion property to use the string value "HTTP 1.1".
Warning The ACT browser recorder might not function properly after setting Internet Explorer to use HTTP 1.1 over proxy connections. If the ACT browser recorder does not function properly, switch back to HTTP 1.0 and manually correct the dynamic test.
ACT will not honor the Robots Exclusion standard for servers that are accessed over a proxy. This means that for servers that are accessed over a proxy, the Robots.txt file will not be checked regardless of whether or not you have disabled checking.