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Client overview
The leading student information systems provider required us to investigate their desktop app and slow loading times.
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Background
The desktop app which was utilised by Further Education (FE) college users was accessed via Remote Desktop Service (RDS), also referred to as Terminal Services, was run on a session host server. Once the user got into the RDS session, he was allowed to access and login into the Desktop App to handle the Student Records System.
Process
Prolifics Testing performed a Tool Feasibility/POC to identify the right tool for simulating the desktop app scenarios. Micro Focus LoadRunner was chosen as open sources tools like JMeter was unable to simulate the desktop app scenarios.
Challenges
The client provided the RDS URL and logins to carry out the POC of the Desktop App. During the POC, different protocols like Web HTTP/HTML, Citrix, and web services were used, however, LoadRunner was unable to record any actions performed in RDS or the Desktop app due to the level of complexity. Even using multi-protocol (HTTP/HTML & RDP) in LoadRunner was not effective as it was unable to record any actions after connecting to RDS.
As an alternative, Prolifics Testing requested the client to provide direct access to the RDP machine where the desktop app was hosted. With direct access to the RDP machine, there were a lot of challenges during the RDP script recording.
This included issues with RDP machine access, account configuration, firewall, RDP security being able to connect from controller to RDP machine, controller and RDP machine OS compatibility... All of which were resolved by the Prolifics Testing team, making the POC more efficient and effective.
Apart from the configuration or environment issue, a major challenge was identifying the desktop app login pop-up. The RDP script was customised and devised to fix the issue. The RDP script was running successfully in VuGen but was showing some issues when running from the controller.
When the script was run from the controller, the response time was not as expected, therefore an alternative was placed in action to fix the issue.
Results
Desktop app RDP scripting was a challenge due to the complexity of the scenario but finally, Prolifics Testing managed to put together a LoadRunner framework to run the performance tests.
Scripts are running successfully from Controller with multiple users and are performing as expected.
The LoadRunner framework was a success and placed in action. Performance tests were run to identify performance issues in the RDS hosts and in the desktop app.
How can we help?
Whether you're building or upgrading a web application, mobile app, or desktop app, Prolifics Testing provides a comprehensive performance testing solution to test the application or platform to ensure the performance objectives are met before going live.
