Editing Think Times to Simulate Web Site Human Interaction Delays in Load Tests Scenarios

Think times are used to simulate human behavior that causes people to wait between interactions with a Web site. Think times occur between requests in a Web performance test and between test iterations in a load test scenario. Using think times in a load test can be useful in creating more accurate load simulations. You can change whether think times are used or ignored in load tests. You change whether think times are used in your load tests in the Load Test Editor.

The think profile is a setting that applies to a scenario in a load test. The setting determines whether the think times that are saved in the individual Web performance tests are used during the load test. If you want to use think times in some Web performance tests but not in others, you must place them in different scenarios. For more information about scenarios, see Editing Load Test Scenarios Using the Load Test Editor.

Initially, you set whether you use think times in your load tests when you create the load test using the New Load Test Wizard. For more information, see Editing Load Test Scenarios Using the Load Test Editor.

Requirements

• Visual Studio Ultimate

The Think Profile options are described in the following list:

Off

Think times are ignored. Use this setting when you want to generate maximum load to heavily stress your Web server. Do not use it when you are trying to create more realistic user interactions with a Web server.

On

Think times are used exactly as they were recorded in the Web performance test. Simulates multiple users running the Web performance tests exactly as recorded. Because a load test simulates multiple users, using the same think time could create an unnatural load pattern of synchronized virtual users.

Normal Distribution

Think times are used, but varied on a normal curve. Provides a more realistic simulation of virtual users by slightly varying the think time between requests.

Note
For a complete list of the load test scenario properties and their descriptions, see Load Test Scenario Properties.