Frequently Asked Questions

Forecast is licensed by protocol (Virtual User type) and the number of simulated Virtual Users. For example, 500 Web Virtual Users.

Yes. We offer a flexible rental model.

Yes. For example, your standard licence is for 1,000 Web Virtual Users but for a limited period you want to stress test your system with more than 1,000 Virtual Users. Our flexible licensing model allows for spike licenses in such circumstances.

Forecast will run on all Windows desktop and server plaforms since XP +SP3. Including 64bit platforms and Virtual Machines.  Please contact us for Linux and Unix load injectors.

There are few IT systems that cannot be tested using Forecast. The list includes Web based applications, intranet and database applications, Citrix hosted applications, mobile applications, command and control systems and many others.  Where there is no suitable protocol level interface, Forecast .Net, Java or C++ can generate load over programming APIs. WinDriver can be used to generate load by driving instances of the client application at the GUI level.

We have an ambitious product development plan, so a currently unsupported protocol may well be on the roadmap. ForecastTM has been designed for extensibility so adding support for new protocols, data formats and application frameworks is relatively easy. We are happy to discuss creating an extension to support technology that is not supported "out of the box" by ourselves or other tool vendors.

The answer is almost certainly "no". Most ForecastTM test scripts are created automatically. We have designed ForecastTM to minimise the amount of manual scripting and the need to modify generated scripts in the majority of circumstances. See below for more details.

In addition, virtually all of ForecastTM's functionality is accessible via its GUI. There is an API for the integration of ForecastTM with other tools or to script ForecastTM for instance to perform regression tests as part of an automated build process. These aspects are optional and will be used by advanced users or programmers responsible for a project's development infrastructure.

Most scripts are created automatically from a recording of user interactions with the System Under Test but this depends on the technology of the target application. For instance Web scripts are usually generated from traces of HTTP traffic between the browser and the server. An exact replay would be useless for most applications where session information, user identity and input data need to be varied for each VU and during the execution of the scenario. ForecastTM tackles this by providing intelligence both in the test execution runtime and script generation.

ForecastTM scripts are written in standard programming languages. Because ForecastTM runs on and targets many platforms a choice of languages is provided. The main principle followed is "when in Rome do as the Romans" so Java thick client test scripts are written in Java (Groovy will be a future option ) and .Net thick clients, WinDriver and Citrix tests are in C# (other CLR languages to follow).

A naive replay of recorded interactions between the client part of an application or a Web Browser and a server or a Web Site would be useless for testing in most circumstances. Firstly Virtual Users need variable user identity and input data for realistic testing. Setting values such as username and password is an example of parameterization. Parameterized data may be set per Virtual User or per VU and iteration and ForecastTM has a rich set of features to automate the process.

"Data correlation" is where dynamic data received from the server is used as input data for a subsequent request. A simple and common example is where a unique session identifier is created by the server, returned to the client and then is input as part of subsequent requests. Again, ForecastTM has powerful runtime and script generation features to automate data correlation.

This will depend both on the nature of the changes and the client-side application technology. ForecastTM tries to minimise the changes required. For instance the intelligent handling of Forms for Web testing can often accommodate the addition or removal of  fields. In most circumstances Forecast is used to target interfaces below the GUI level which tend to be less volatile. Even when driving the application GUI (WinDriver) Forecast is optimised for load testing and avoids unnecessary sensitivity to minor changes.

Yes. Forecast integrates with Visual Studio,  Eclipse and Netbeans.

There is no fixed upper limit (subject to licensing), customers have run many tens of thousands of users simultaneously. Forecast is efficient and has a low run-time footprint and you can add more load injectors as needed.

Yes. You can use multiple load generators to either generate high load, or to access the System under Test from multiple network locations. Customers using WinDriver (which requires a seperate injector per Virtual User) have deployed as many as 700 load injectors. Forecast automatically manages injector software and test data.

Yes. You can run tests via an API to allow integration with scheduling tools and automated test (continous build) infrastructures. Tests started directly from Forecast Studio will also normally run to completion without user intervention.

ForecastTM has built in functionality to export and import workspaces. Individual projects and resource types can be included or excluded. Scripts can be managed using content versioning tools.

ForecastTM is not licenced "per seat" so multiple individuals within an organisation can use a tool installation. Facilities exist to exchange scripts, test results and other resources between projects. Injector machines can be easlily shared between ForecastTM installations.

Experienced users of LoadRunnerTM find moving to ForecastTM a straightforward experience. The principles of operation are similar between ForecastTM and LoadRunnerTM and other "high end" tools. Knowledge and experience of generic load testing techniques and the target tehnology (e.g. HTTP/Web) are the most crucial factors to ensure success.

ForecastTM gathers and displays a comprehensive range of information during test execution and even more comprehensive data is available after a test has completed. It is possible to fine tune data collection to void unnecessary overheads.

In addition to common data such as response times and erroneous server responses technology, specific metrics are also supplied. Forecast integrates with external sources of metrics such as WindowsTM PerfMon.

At runtime there is a configurable display of tabular and graphical information which integrates test and individual Virtual User status, response times, errors, metrics measured by ForecastTM and metrics integrated from external sources.

Analyzer, the post run analysis tool, is used to create reports. It has available all the information from the runtime display plus highly detailed test logs and can import data from other sources such as System Monitoring tools.

Yes. Full details are available on our training page.

The majority of email support requests to our UK support team are answered within one hour.

Trial versions are available on request. Select the “Request a trial” option from the Quick Links menu.