Stress testing tool?

Hi,

I want to stress test my dev box to see where the bottle necks in my
script might be.

I don't really need to test MySQL or Apache, (I have no doubt they are
working fine), but rather want to test what scripts might be slow under
stress.

I am developing on a windows machine but will be running the site on a
*nix machine.

Can you suggest any tool(s) that would have a few hundred anonymous
users clicking various links and give me a valuable report.

Thanks

FFMG


--

'webmaster forum' (http://www.httppoint.com) | 'Free Blogs'
(http://www.journalhome.com/) | 'webmaster Directory'
(http://www.webhostshunter.com/)
'Recreation Vehicle insurance'
(http://www.insurance-owl.com/other/car_rec.php) | 'Free URL
redirection service' (http://urlkick.com/)
------------------------------------------------------------ ------------
FFMG's Profile: http://www.httppoint.com/member.php?userid=580
View this thread: http://www.httppoint.com/showthread.php?t=22045

Message Posted via the webmaster forum http://www.httppoint.com, (Ad revenue sharing).

Re: Stress testing tool?

On Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:12:54 +0100, FFMG
wrote:
> I want to stress test my dev box to see where the bottle necks in my
> script might be.

Profile generated with the xdebug extention?

> I don't really need to test MySQL or Apache, (I have no doubt they are
> working fine), but rather want to test what scripts might be slow under
> stress.
>
> I am developing on a windows machine but will be running the site on a
> *nix machine.
>
> Can you suggest any tool(s) that would have a few hundred anonymous
> users clicking various links and give me a valuable report.

With a reasonable profile in xdebug you don't need 'hundreds of users'.
However, apply a standard apache stresstest to (some of you) PHP pages,
and profile them using xdebug might yield a more realistic result _for
that server_. Running something like this on your windows development
server might tell you which portions of the code take longest, that's
about it. For a reliable report on how your live server will actually
handle it you should run it on a comparable server with identical settings
and builds.
--
Rik Wasmus

Re: Stress testing tool?

On Nov 9, 10:12 am, FFMG wrote:
>
> I want to stress test my dev box to see where the bottle
> necks in my script might be.

Finding bottlenecks is usually called profiling, and it's a process
different from stress testing. There are many PHP profiling tools,
here are a few I can think of off the top of my head:

Advanced PHP Debugger: http://pear.php.net/apd
Benchmark: http://pear.php.net/benchmark
DBG: http://dd.cron.ru/dbg
Xdebug: http://xdebug.derickrethans.nl/

Additionally, if you have a professional-grade PHP IDE, it may have
built-in profiling capabilities (if memory serves, both Zend IDE and
NuSphere phpEd have built-in profilers).

> I am developing on a windows machine but will be running
> the site on a *nix machine.

So why do you want to stress-test the development machine then?

> Can you suggest any tool(s) that would have a few hundred anonymous
> users clicking various links and give me a valuable report.

There is a benchmarking utility called ab that comes with Apache:

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/programs/ab.html

Cheers,
NC

Re: Stress testing tool?

On 9 Nov, 18:48, NC wrote:
> On Nov 9, 10:12 am, FFMG wrote:
>
>
>
> > I want to stress test my dev box to see where the bottle
> > necks in my script might be.
>
> Finding bottlenecks is usually called profiling, and it's a process
> different from stress testing. There are many PHP profiling tools,
> here are a few I can think of off the top of my head:
>

Which is true, but I suspect the OP doesn't even know which page is
slow - IIRC apache does not log turnaround times by default - but can
be configured to do so (see %T in http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_log_config.html#for mats)

- also MySQL can be set up to log 'slow queries' - you specify what
threshold you want.

This may be helpful in narrowing down the problem.

C.

Re: Stress testing tool?

C. (On 9 Nov, 18:48, NC
> wrote:
> > On Nov 9, 10:12 am, FFMG wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > > I want to stress test my dev box to see where the bottle
> > > necks in my script might be.
> >
> > Finding bottlenecks is usually called profiling, and it's a process
> > different from stress testing. There are many PHP profiling tools,
> > here are a few I can think of off the top of my head:
> >
>
> Which is true, but I suspect the OP doesn't even know which page is
> slow - IIRC apache does not log turnaround times by default - but can
> be configured to do so (see %T in
> http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_log_config.html#for mats)
>
> - also MySQL can be set up to log 'slow queries' - you specify what
> threshold you want.
>
> This may be helpful in narrowing down the problem.
>
> C.

You suspect wrong.
None of my queries are slow and none of my pages are slow.

I just want to test for 'unexpected' behavior under stress, for example
if 500 users try to send me an email, can my email queuing class handle
it.
Are the queue handled in time.

Or, what might happen when 500 users want to download the same file.
Can my simple download counter handle it? does it store the correct
value?

FFMG


--

'webmaster forum' (http://www.httppoint.com) | 'Free Blogs'
(http://www.journalhome.com/) | 'webmaster Directory'
(http://www.webhostshunter.com/)
'Recreation Vehicle insurance'
(http://www.insurance-owl.com/other/car_rec.php) | 'Free URL
redirection service' (http://urlkick.com/)
------------------------------------------------------------ ------------
FFMG's Profile: http://www.httppoint.com/member.php?userid=580
View this thread: http://www.httppoint.com/showthread.php?t=22045

Message Posted via the webmaster forum http://www.httppoint.com, (Ad revenue sharing).