Knowledge Base

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In many cases, SOASTA staff will configure servers on your behalf based on information you provide. The following instructions specify the necessary information for a user with Administrative privileges to configure a new server or a given server in the Servers list. Creating a New Server All of the components of the SOASTA CloudTest architecture are services-based and can be installed on different physical servers to maximize scale and performance. While most SOASTA CloudTest installations use the same server for all SOASTA Web services—it is possible to have the SOASTA CloudTest user interface, the SOASTA Coordinator (the server side of SOASTA Conductor), and the SOASTA CloudTest Repository on different servers.
Creating a New Server Select Central list > Servers .
Click New. In the New Server dialog box, define the following settings: Location Specify a SOASTA CloudTest location for this server from the list of configured locations. This server will respond to test compositions specifying that location. See Using Locations. Name Type a name for the Server. For example, QA Server Lab 1 might be one in a series of servers. Description Optionally, provide a description that identifies the server. Host Name/IP Address Specify a host name or IP Address for the server. Enabled Specify whether this server is enabled, or active, by checking or unchecking the box. Services Specify the SOASTA CloudTest services for this server. To use the default location for SOASTA CloudTest, simply tick the box for each. Click "Specify additional URLs outside of the location" if the additional services are not installed on this physical server. Test Server Test Server is a test engine, implemented as a massively multi-threaded service, which executes all or parts of a complex test composition. A single Test Server node is capable of sending and validating responses to thousands of http messages per second. Multiple Test Servers can be combined to each execute parts of a large load test that can scale out to tens and hundreds of thousands of virtual users. Test Servers can be geographically distributed and single test compositions can run geographically distributed while still producing a single integrated set of test results and analytics. Repository The Repository is the underlying database layer for SOASTA CloudTest. Results The Results Service generates all of the analytic data presented via the Analytic Dashboard widgets. Coordinator The Coordinator is vital for those tests that involve the use of: Browser actions HTTP recording HTTPS recording Monitoring sessions Specifically, those monitoring sessions that involve the use of the Conductor (you can monitor without the Conductor which would also mean without the Coordinator). Monitor This service provides resource monitoring (hardware, network, load balancer, firewall, Web server, database, application server, content management system, etc.).
Viewing and Editing Server Settings To view server settings for a given item, select Central > Servers, and then select the server in the list. The server settings are displayed in the sub-panel with the General tab displayed.
The General tab settings include the server name, description, host name, IP Address, and location.Make changes, if necessary, and then click the Services tab to proceed.
The Services tab displays the currently configured service locations for this server. Make changes, if necessary, and proceed to the Settings tab.
The Settings tab defines additional settings based on the values defined within the Server Classes per service. For example, select the Test Server service from the Services drop-down. HTTP.MaxReceiveContentLength has a default value of -1. Change this setting as described in How do I limit response size in a large Test Composition?. For a complete list of Server settings, see Server Classes. Make changes, if necessary, and proceed to the Dependencies tab.
The Dependencies tab displays those objects currently dependant on this server. The server cannot be deleted while dependent objects use it. For example, a test composition that uses this server.
Using Check Servers You can check the connectivity of your Servers by clicking the Check Server tab. Error conditions for check servers include: Incorrectly configured Server List (i.e. user error). Network issue outside of our control (i.e. hardware failure or unreliable network connectivity) One of the servers is not running.
Alternately, select a Server in the Server list and then click the Check Servers tab in the sub-pane. Check Servers can also be accessed from the Server Instances list sub-pane.
Terminate, Reboot, and Replace Servers (Cloud Only) You can terminate (shut down), reboot, and replace servers from the Servers list sub-pane while in cloud-based environments. This UI is hidden in a physical appliance setup. You can select Central list > Servers and then select the server from the list that you want to perform an action on.
Once the server sub-pane appears, click the Check Server(s) tab.
From the sub-pane, select one or more servers in the list, and then access the context menu by right-clicking.
When you apply an action to selected server(s), a prompt appears to confirm the action before it is completed.
Orphaned Servers The Orphaned Servers tab appears in the sub-pane for Servers and Server Instances. The Orphaned Servers tab allows you to manage servers that, for any reason, CloudTest is no longer aware of. For example, when working with Amazon EC2, the Orphaned Servers list may include servers that were not launched by SOASTA CloudTest at all. You can right-click any server in this list to terminate it.