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tparikh's avatar
tparikh
Occasional Contributor
12 years ago

how to calculate Number of virtual users in case of 0 thinktime

I have ran the test which has 4 different scenarios in it.

Now my question here is how to know how many users are actually in the system when you are making thinkg min thinktime = 0 and max think time =0.

Whatever documentation I have read according to that when you avoid thinktime,

a user act as a super user

so my question is 

1 SUPER USER = _____?____ VIRTUAL USERS



Thanks

Tapan

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  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    12 years ago
    Tapan

    this would generally depend on specific user scenarios that you exercise.

    Why is this question important, let me ask?

    What are you really trying to measure?
  • MPunsky's avatar
    MPunsky
    SmartBear Alumni (Retired)
    12 years ago
    Some additional info re: running tests where the scenarios use zero think time:



    It has long been the practice of Performance Testing Engineers to set think time to zero and tell their customers that even though the test only used 200 virtual users, that the number of virtual users simulated was actually much higher because of the lack of think time.  In some sense, this does make sense as users running with zero think time will indeed put more stress on the tested server(s).   



    For a number of reasons, this practice is flawed:


    1. While the stress on the server will increase, it is not possible to determine what number of users would be represented by the zero think time tests.   There are too many factors.  Some of these involve the actual scenario's being run, the difference between natural think time and zero...etc.


    2. Removing think time can create artificial bottlenecks in your application.


    3. When striving for accuracy, you want to always try to do things MORE like actual users rather than LESS.   The only way to do this properly is to try to set all facets of a test to mimic real world traffic.


    Does this help?