Knowledge Base

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SOASTA Conductor is an agent application that runs on a client machine. You will need to install a SOASTA Conductor on a machine for any one of the following purposes: To record HTTP network traffic. To record HTTPS network traffic. To run tests through a browser (e.g browser recorded tests are driven by Conductor using one or more specified browsers). To monitor machine statistics (CPU usage, for example).
Downloading SOASTA Conductor SOASTA Conductor is available from the Central > Welcome screen, Downloads section in CloudTest for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux users. The Operating System-specific link (detected from the browser you used to login to CloudTest) is shown by default. Click Other Operating Systems to access other Conductor versions.
CloudTest will auto-detect your operating system when you access the Welcome page and an OS-specific link is provided for you in the Downloads section. If you'd like to download a Conductor for another OS, click "Other Operating Systems…". Conductor versions are available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. OS-specific downloads are provided in a single ZIP archive that can be easily installed across platforms (e.g. Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux). Only the Windows version of Conductor now includes an install wizard. Conductor is provided as a ZIP archive in all operating systems. Only the Windows version uses an install wizard.
Installing SOASTA Conductor on Mac OS X and Linux For Mac OS X and Linux users, the install media consists only of the Conductor application in a ZIP archive. Unarchiving and clicking the enclosed file will launch the app. Mac OS X and Linux users may wish to copy or move the file to a typical applications location (for example, /Applications on Mac OS X). The Conductor Setup screen presented for initial configuration is identical to the screen that appears whenever Conductor Preferences are accessed at a later time. No install wizard is included or necessary. Configuration requires only that the following fields have valid values: Conductor Name, CloudTest URL, CloudTest user name, and password. In most cases, all but Password are pre-populated (for security reasons).
The Conductor Setup screen is divided into General, Proxy Configuration, Conductor Capabilities, and Advanced sections. The SOASTA Conductor Capabilities section (on the right), allows you to enable or disable specific capabilities and express options relating to port and other settings. Unless you have a specific reason to change one of the default settings, In most cases, it is probably best to leave these settings as they are. For more information about changing Allow options in this box, see the topic SOASTA Conductor Capabilities.
Whenever the Conductor name is changed, or one of its features is enabled or disabled, the Conductor prompts the user to restart the Conductor. The given change will not take effect until restart occurs. After restart, the Conductor will appear in relevant lists in CloudTest only if that feature is enabled. For example, disabling a Conductor’s Allow recording checkbox as shown above will prevent that Conductor from being listed in the Recording Editor’s list of Available Conductors. Only enabled and actively running Conductors are listed in the CloudTest user interface. For information about Advanced options, see the topic SOASTA Conductor Connectivity Options.
Installing Conductor on Windows When the install media is launched on Windows, the Welcome screen for the SOASTA Conductor Setup Wizard appears. Click Next to continue.
The next screen, Select Destination Directory, allows you to select an application directory different from the default. Again, leave this setting as the default unless you have a specific reason to change it. Click Next to continue. The SOASTA Conductor directory will be created and files installed as soon as you do so. Click Next to continue and installation begins with progress indicated by the status bar.
The final screen, Completing Your SOASTA Conductor Setup Wizard, allows you to select whether or not you want to run SOASTA Conductor immediately. Click Finish to complete the installation.
Run the Conductor Application The Conductor can be run directly from the unarchived folder on Mac OS X and Linux, but most users will prefer to copy it to a standard location used to store Applications. For Linux: To run SOASTA Conductor from the Main Menu, open up the menu (or sub-menu) and click the application listed in the menu bar. To run Conductor from the command line, run it with "console" as an argument. For Windows: Click Start Menu > All Programs > SOASTA Conductor > SOASTA Conductor For Mac OS X: Go to Applications in Finder and double-click SOASTA Conductor (for Mac, enter the Admin password when prompted) If you haven’t already done so, start the Conductor now using the preferred method for your operating system. The Conductor status box launches to indicate that the Conductor is running.
In some cases, when contacting customer support the Conductor Log will be requested by SOASTA staff. The Conductor.log file contains information that may be pertinent to Technical Support. This file can be accessed via the View Log contents command in SOASTA Conductor for the given OS. Refer to Retrieving the Conductor Log for Support.
You can also verify the Conductor state when logged on to SOASTA Concerto by navigating to Central list > Conductors.