Flex application performance testing

Question

What is the best way to test the performance of a Flex application with a BlazeDS / Java blade server. We are looking at JMeter, but can it be used with the amf protocol at a more complex level, where values ​​in the request can be processed?

Answer 1

My company (UBIK-INGENIERIE) distributes the commercial Flex / AMF Apache JMeter plugin.

You can easily record, modify and play a FLEX / AMF-based application with standard Apache JMeter knowledge.

See the tutorial on this subject:

• http://www.ubik-ingenierie.com/blog/load-testing-flex-with-jmeter-made-easy/

• http://ubikloadpack.com

Answer 2

The API "Java AMF API" can help you here. This is the Java API for creating and sending AMF requests to the server.

http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/blazeds/Java+AMF+Client

I have also heard good things about Gomez, but I consider this a paid service and will require some overhead to get up and running. But if you are looking for a more comprehensive solution, many people in my company have used it in projects with the Java / BlazeDS backend.

http://www.gomez.com/

Answer 3

We have the same problem. I will definitely look at www.gorillalogic.com for our site.

Another option (which we are losing sight of) chose LiveCycle Data Services ES2 instead of BlazeDS. While BlazeDS meets our functional needs, LiveCycle comes with a Load / Stress tool ... something we could really use.

Here is a comparison chart: http://www.adobe.com/products/livecycle/dataservices/compare.html

Answer 4

Try Neoload

http://www.neotys.com/

(I have not yet verified that I myself am honest, but I will do it soon)

Answer 5

Neoload will cover LCDS, BlazeDS, JBoss, WebLogic, WebSphere, PHP, .NET. We chose it as our tool for testing the Flex application after looking at several options. You can modify queries and pass any variables that you like. Very easy to use, but it is not free.

Answer 6

I tried both NeoLoad and LoadRunner. We had more success with LoadRunner. The only problem was that we had to manipulate the configuration of the LoadRunner generators (including the machine we wrote with vugen with) to provide enough memory to handle the massive requests made by Flex. We were able to run far fewer vusers on generators that test Flex than those that tested http, since each vuser used more memory. It was about 10: 1 or less.

Answer 7

There is currently no perfect solution for amf encode / decode in JMeter.

Something you can try:

• Finding a programmer (good in Java) to develop a JMeter plugin for amf to encode / decode, according to our experience, is not difficult, and our plugin works fine in the following projects. The plugin should be able to decode the AMF request when you write the request by proxy and it is easy to configure the parameters in the request.

• Use the charles amf request entry and attach the data packet to JMeter http sampler. It works when the application is not complicated.

• Use loadrunner or other commercial software if you can afford it.

Answer 8

The best answer for automatically testing your Flex application - FlexMonkey - www.gorillalogic.com

The tool is available with open source code, it can be used in CI environments, has more than 5,000 users and is supported by Gorilla Logic consultants (consultants Jave, Flex and mobile developers).

Check it out and if you need more info or a demo, let me know.

Chad S.

Gorilla Logic