An Authentication object was not found in the SecurityContext error in load runner fix

In web-services applications, during recording of it  VuGen doesn't record the authentication object and while replaying the script throw the error "An Authentication object was not found in the Security Context"

The reason for the SOAP fault is An Authentication object was not found in the SecurityContext of that page or request. The application is mostly launched via a web-link where the run time jars / dlls are downloaded locally and application will be launched. During launching itself the application takes the authentication credentials from local system and authenticates the user. While replaying in VuGen this authentication information won't be available, this can be done by sending the authentication information in the header before the first web-service request. The following code can help you on that. If your web service method has property for sending authentication object then you can do same in the request itself.

How can we handle captcha in Load Runner?

CAPTCHA (an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart") is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether or not the user is human. The term was coined in 2003 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas J. Hopper, and John Langford.

The purpose of the CAPTCHA is to defeat the automation. CAPTCHA are based upon the turning test and as such the main purpose is to differentiate human from machine. Pattern recognition, vocal, visual (dynamic/static) has been broken several time. Much of the time it become a pain for the end-user, because they are a pain to decipher. Cultural reference or social pattern could be proven useful, achieve the same purpose and be less annoying for your customer

If you want to script the application which has CAPTCHA with the load runner you have to get the below things from the DEV.

• To disable CAPTCHA validation
• To make the CAPTCHA as static
• To remove the CAPTCHA
• To send the CAPTCHA value in server response(So that you can correlate)
• Provide the CAPTCHA details which are comes in the data base sequentially.

SSL received a weak ephemeral Diffie-Hellman key. (Error code: ssl_error_weak_server_ephemeral_dh_key) resolved

while recording any application with the load runner,or some times running in to manually we may get the below error in mozilla firefox.

Secure Connection Failed
An error occurred during a connection to consoleeset.soges-tech.ca:8443. SSL received a weak ephemeral Diffie-Hellman key in Server Key Exchange handshake message. (Error code: ssl_error_weak_server_ephemeral_dh_key)
The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

Solution for the above problem:

• Type about:config in the address bar of mozilla firefox
• search for security.ssl3.dhe_rsa_aes_128_sha and security.ssl3.dhe_rsa_aes_256_sha
• Set them both to false by double clicking on it.

WHAT IS A REVERSE PROXY SERVER?

A proxy server is a go-between or intermediary server that forwards requests for content from multiple clients to different servers across the Internet. A reverse proxy  server is a type of proxy server that typically sits behind the firewall in a private network and directs client requests to the appropriate back-end server. A reverse proxy provides an additional level of abstraction and control to ensure the smooth flow of network traffic between clients and servers.

Reverse proxy server benefits:

1.Load balancing: A reverse proxy server can act as a “traffic cop,” sitting in front of your back-end servers and distributing client requests across a group of servers in a manner that maximizes speed and capacity utilization while ensuring no one server is overloaded, which can degrade performance. If a server goes down, the load balancer redirects traffic to the remaining online servers.

2.Web acceleration:Reverse proxies can compress inbound and outbound data, as well as cache commonly requested content, both of which speed up the flow of traffic between clients and servers. They can also perform additional tasks such as SSL encryption to take load off of your web servers, thereby boosting their performance.

3.Security and anonymity :By intercepting requests headed for your back-end servers, a reverse proxy server protects their identities and acts as an additional defense against security attacks. It also ensures that multiple servers can be accessed from a single record locater or URL regardless of the structure of your local area network.

nslookup for multiple servers with a single click.

Nslookup is a command testing and troubleshooting the DNS servers.

Nslookup can be run in two methods.They are interactive and noninteractive. Noninteractive mode is useful when only a single piece of data n eeds to be returned.

Syntax: nslookup [-option] [hostname] [server]

some times it may need to get the dns details for the large number of servers at that time we need to run the command multiple times and capture the values each and time we hit the command.

To simplify this situation i have found an interesting too named as dnsdataview tool.
You can nslookup multiple number of servers at a single click with the clean GUI.

Download the tool here:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/dnsdataview.zip

Reference: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/dns_records_viewer.html

Perceiver Monitoring tool

Perceiver is the new monitoring tool.This is introduced because Companies invest in enterprise applications and infrastructure to deliver optimal service to their end-user community. IT organizations are asked to manage more systems with fewer resources, while reducing costs. Performance Analysts and Capacity Planners are often asked to create volumes of custom charts and graphs for different audiences, instead of focusing on high value capacity planning and performance engineering responsibilities that provide a greater return on investment for the company.For this it is the best solution to use the BMC perceiver tool. 

KEY BENEFITS :
User interface allows non-experts to easily access actionable data 
Ad hoc queries to track, view, and relate performance metrics to business applications 
Common interface for enterprisewide systems and applications
Out-of-the-box value with BMC best practices view

FEATURES :
1.Enhances decision-making capabilities by providing direct access to relevant performance data through a dynamic Web interface
2.Provides ad-hoc queries to track, view and relate detailed performance metrics to business applications 
3.Increases the visibility and success of the performance organization by providing a consumer viewing tool for internal customers
4. Simplifies training and use via an easy-to-use web interface, eliminating the need for expert users and additional in-depth training
5. Maximizes the investment in BMC Performance Assurance by greatly increasing the number of direct users
6. Delivers out-of-the-box value with pre-loaded BMC Software Best Practice views including an online drag and drop editor for customization
7. Protects your performance investment by providing a performance viewing tool available across multiple platforms 

ABOUT BMC SOFTWARE BMC Software delivers the solutions:
IT needs to increase business value through better management of technology and IT processes. Our industry-leading Business Service Management solutions help you reduce cost, lower risk of business disruption, and benefit from an IT infrastructure built to support business growth and flexibility. Only BMC provides best-practice IT processes, automated technology management, and award-winning BMC Atrium technologies that offer a shared view into how IT services support business priorities. Known for enterprise solutions that span mainframe, distributed systems, and enduser devices, BMC also delivers solutions that address the unique challenges of the midsized business. Founded in 1980, BMC has offices worldwide and fiscal 2008 revenues of $1.73 billion. Activate your business with the power of IT. www.bmc.com

Source: http://discovery.bmc.com/

CPU of Load Generator Exceeded 80%

Recently i ran in to a load test and i saw the CPU of Load Generator Exceeded 80% and here are the ways to find out the root cause:

There could be several things, but using 2008 machines on VMs is common. If you are using web vusers should be a small footprint.

• Check if you have admin rights on the system or not?
• Is CPU consumption above 80% during the entirety of the test
• Check for any mismatch in versions in patch version
• Try to run the agent using "Run as administrator"
• Check for the mdrv process in the htask manager of the controller and the load generator machines while running the test
• make sure to have the same patches level on every component, having a version mix is a real problem.
• Please check if you have the following components installed on your LG machine McAfee Antivirus or  Symantec NetBackup

"Error -27778: SSL protocol error when attempting to connect with host" in load runner | SSL handshake with remote server Failed error

When i run the scripts in LRE i am facing 

"Error -27778: SSL protocol error when attempting to connect with host",

Error: Action.c(44): ssl_handle_status encounter error : SSL_ERROR_SSL, error message : error:1409442E:SSL routines:ssl3_read_bytes:tlsv1 alert protocol version [MsgId: MMSG-26000]
Action.c(44): Error -27774: SSL protocol error when attempting to connect with host "XXXXX" [MsgId: MERR-27774]

Write the below functions at the start of of script:


web_set_sockets_option("SSL_VERSION", "TLS"); or

 web_set_sockets_option("SSL_VERSION", "TLS1.2"); or
web_set_sockets_option("SSL_VERSION", "1");

This forces the SSL connection to the server to use version 1 of the SSL protocol rather than letting the server suggest a version during the connection handshake. If it is not work talk with Developers to get the exact SSL_VERSION USED for communication by your Application.
If this doesn't works try to change the registry.

In the Registry change [HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Mercury Interactive/LoadRunner/Protocols/WPlus/SSL/OpenSSL] "ReuseSSLSession" value to 1

Run-Time Settings -> Preferences -> Select "WinInet Replay Engine instead of Sockets (Windows Only)."

"HttpSendRequest" failed, Windows error code=12002 - Perf Center Error_load runner error

While running an internal application using the load runner Controller i was getting the "HttpSendRequest" failed, Windows error code=12002 - Perf Center Error .I solved these by following the below steps:

1.Check Vugen runs script as a process or running  vusers asa  thread?

You can check this in Run time settings-General-Miscellaneous-Multithreading then uncheck the value

2.Are you working with WinInet, and the error itself comes from WinInet API not specifically Vugen.We can see in part of the replay  errors comes from resources during the replay where they were timed out.

If we are forced to use WinInet then this will occur, but if you can use Sockets you may want to try that option instead or a Click and Script protocol.

you can uncheck the WinInet replay instead of sockets (Windows only) in the runtime settings-preferences.This will solve the problem.

3.And the another option is to use web_set_max_retries ("X") to increase the limit of 30 sec.You can place this before the action which is failing but  I wouldn't recommend that.

HttpSendRequest time out only occurres when any transaction takes more than 30 sec to connect to server. This default 30 sec time is because of the use of WinInet Replay engine. Thus this error pops up when you are running script with winInet replay and transactions are taking more than 30 sec. Only thing to get rid of this error is to fine tune the whole system and check the backend and servers to see any request que has formed up.