Welcome

[#1]

SOASTA CloudTest Lite™ provides fast, effective performance, load and functional testing of any modern Web application, Web service, or mobile application in a lab, staging or production environment. CloudTest Lite™ is a single user edition of CloudTest allowing you to build and run tests with up to 100 concurrent virtual users. See the Introduction to CloudTest Lite demo video for a quick tour of its powerful features.

 

Working with Virtual Machine Images

• CloudTest Lite is provided as a ZIP archive (CloudTest Lite.vmwarevm.zip) that contains a single virtual machine image file (.vmwarevm) that can be run on VMWare desktop software including:
• On Microsoft Windows and Linux, use VMWare Player (free) or Parallels Desktop.
• On Mac OSX, use VMWare Fusion, or Parallels.
• Like any virtual machine, the CloudTest Lite image encapsulates its complete environment into a single file (e.g. JVM, services, and database are all included).
• Virtual machine desktop software users can simply unzip the downloaded archive, and then double-click the CloudTest Lite .vmwarevm. and CloudTest Lite will automatically install itself.
• Parallels users may use Parallels Transporter to convert the CloudTest Lite VMWare image (.vmwarevm) into a Parallels virtual machine.

It may be desirable to export a VMWare image as one way to back up your CloudTest Lite app and its data. For systems with thorough backup routines in place (such as a Mac OS X Time Machine or other method) this may be unnecessary.

 

Installing CloudTest Lite

Once you have your VMWare desktop software ready to go, use the following steps to install CloudTest Lite:

Step 1.  Ensure Minimum Hardware Requirements

Regardless of your virtualization decisions, ensure that your computer meets the following CloudTest Lite™ minimum requirements:

• Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent
• 2GB RAM
• 20GB free disc space

Step 2.  Download and Install Virtual Machine Desktop Software

To speed up the installation and configuration process, CloudTest Lite™ requires vir tual machine desktop software. Both VMWare and Parallels desktop software runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X computers. If a virtual machine is not already installed on your computer, please install a version appropriate for your operating system, and then install the CloudTest Lite™ Virtual Machine.

• On Microsoft Windows and Linux, use VMWare Player or Parallels.
• On Mac OSX, use VMWare Fusion, VirtualBox or Parallels.

Step 3.  Download CloudTest Lite™

Download the CloudTest Lite virtual machine image. An email will be sent to the address provided for your CloudTest Lite™ download. This email will include your license activation key, user name, and CloudTest Lite password. Please save this email for future reference.

Step 4.  Join our Community

CloudTest Lite™ is a powerful introduction to the emerging world of automated web testing. SOASTA experts are here to assist you and answer your questions along the way to building and running great tests.

• Join other testers and interact with SOASTA experts in the SOASTA CloudLink Forum.
• Review the CloudTest Load Test Creation Tutorial for an introduction to building performance and load tests.
• Review the CloudTest WebUI Testing Tutorial for an introduction to functional and Web UI testing.
• Search for answers using CloudTest’s Knowledge Base site.

More CloudTest Editions to Meet Your Ongoing Needs

CloudTest editions deliver access to the SOASTA CloudTest Platform, the world’s largest platform for testing the performance of consumer-facing Web and mobile applications at scale. The CloudTest Platform is available in range of editions that meet the needs of any individual or organization.

CloudTest Standard Edition – Agile, affordable internal web performance testing and analysis.
CloudTest Professional Edition – Integrated internal and external testing in the hands of your team.
CloudTest Enterprise Edition – Global access for large, multi-division organizations.
CloudTest On-Demand – Turnkey testing services delivered by the SOASTA team.

Building Tests using CloudTest Lite

CloudTest Lite™ is a multi-tier testing application that automates every step of the test creation process from creation to execution to analysis using a powerful mixing board metaphor. To get started, first run CloudTest Lite on your virtual machine, and then point your browser at the URL indicated by CloudTest Lite.

Search CloudTest’s Knowledge Base whenever questions about specific tasks arise. 

Most test-building tasks in occur in CloudTest Lite full-featured editors:

 

Recording Editor

This editor is used along with the SOASTA Conductor agent to capture traffic from the site you’re testing. Your recordings can be used to create one or more test cases, which are called Clips.

Clip Editor

Use this editor to revise, parameterize, and examine both recorded requests and responses in your Clips. Create and use session templates that will do token and other replacements whenever your tests require it. Manually edit messages such as logins and create custom properties to extract and replace parameters.

Composition Editor

One or many Clips can be added to Compositions, mixed and matched, parameterized, and repeated in parallel or serially. Create monitors for any ancillary servers in use on your test site (e.g. middleware, databases, etc.). Set repeats at the track or clip level and use play modes (General for smaller tests and Load for larger ones).

CloudTest Lite supports up to 100 Virtual Users (parallel repeats) in a Composition at one time.

 

From Recording to Clips

Record your unit and test cases with the SOASTA Conductor agent (installer available from the Welcome page).

• Install and then run Conductor on your desktop. You’ll need to log into CloudTest a second time after running Conductor.
• Open a second browser to use to click your site.

TIP: Clear your cache for the best recording results.

• In CloudTest, click Recording > New  to open the Recording Editor.  Select your running Conductor and click Record.
• In the second browser, perform the actions you’d like to capture and the Recording Editor will capture them. Stop the recording when you’re done.
• You can inspect and filter your recording before taking additional steps. When ready, click Convert to Clip and follow the wizard steps.

For more about WebUI testing using the Firefox Browser Recording add-in, see Browser Recording

From Clips to Compositions

Once you’ve converted a Clip, open it in the Clip Editor to review it.  

Alternately, open it in the Session Template Package Wizard to use CloudTest’s powerful parameterization feature. For example, session templates can insert a property to replace tokens captured by your recording when you click Play.

Examine details from the Recorded Response in the Clip Editor lower panel. Create custom properties and
when you’re ready to test, click the Open in Composition Editor icon on the toolbar.

Mix and match one or more Clips in a test organized by the Composition Editor’s mixing board, which provides multiple Tracks. Use Composition

From Play to Analytics

When you Play a test, state of the art “live data” analytics start with it and the Composition Editor automatically switches to the Play tab., Test results are always at your fingertips both during and after a test.

CloudTest Analytics provide metrics about the test itself, as well as monitors that track the impact on your server(s). Use our out-of-the-box dashboards including Result Details, Load Test Summary, and many others, or build custom dashboards from CloudTest’s assortment of chart and tabular widgets.