LoadRunner is a software testing tool from OpenText. It is used to test applications, measuring system behavior and performance under load.
LoadRunner can simulate millions of users concurrently using application software, recording and later analyzing the performance of key components of the application whilst under load.
LoadRunner simulates user activity by generating messages between application components or by simulating interactions with the user interface such as key presses or mouse movements. The messages and interactions to be generated are stored in scripts. LoadRunner can generate the scripts by recording them, such as logging HTTP requests between a client web browser and an application's web server.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquired LoadRunner as part of its acquisition of Mercury Interactive in November 2006. In Sept 2016, Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced it is selling its software business, including Mercury products, to Micro Focus. As of 01-Sept-2017, the acquisition was complete.
On Dec 12, 2019, Micro Focus announced newer names for LoadRunner package and started following CalVer.
LoadRunner is now LoadRunner Professional 2020 Performance Center is now LoadRunner Enterprise 2020 StormRunner Load is now LoadRunner Cloud 2020
Architecture The key components of LoadRunner are:
Load Generator generates the load against the application by following scripts VuGen (Virtual User Generator) for generating and editing scripts Controller controls, launches and sequences instances of Load Generator - specifying which script to use, for how long etc. During runs the Controller receives real-time monitoring data and displays status. Agent process manages connection between Controller and Load Generator instances. Analysis assembles logs from various load generators and formats reports for visualization of run result data and monitoring data.
Modules are available to enable LoadRunner to capture, replay and script different application and networking technologies. These include support for:
applications using Microsoft .NET and Java database servers such as Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle internetworking protocols such as DNS, FTP and LDAP e-mail protocols including IMAP, MAPI, POP3 & SMTP remote client technologies such as Citrix ICA and RDP.
LoadRunner can be run standalone or multiple instances can pooled for use by several people under the control of LoadRunner Enterprise, formerly known as HP PerformanceCenter.
History VersionService PackRelease dateNotes1.0—November 1993Load Testing for X Windows applications2.0—July 1994Windows support addedXL & RTE—December 1994LoadRunner/XL (for large tests) and LoadRunner/RTE (RTE protocol support) introduced3.0—April 1995Added SQL Inspector (captures SQL statements sent from client applications to relational databases)4.0—May 1996Added Virtual User Generator, Controller, and Analysis tools5.0—February 1997Added SAP R/3 support6.0—July 1999Added Linux installation support6.5—June 2000Added "TurboLoad" technology (i.e. Run users as threads)7.51—June 2000Added Citrix ICA protocol support7.8—September 20037.8Feature Pack 1September 2003Added support for Windows XP.8.0—August 2004Added "Additional Attributes" to Runtime Settings.8.1—August 2004Added Web Click and Script technologies9.0—August 2004Re-branded to HP LoadRunner9.10—February 2008Added Web Services, Adobe AMF, and RDP9.51—July 6, 20099.52—June 14, 201011.0—September 201011.0Patch 1January 6, 201111.0Patch 2February 22, 2011Added support for Visual Studio 2010 and Protocol Updates to Ajax TruClient, Citrix, Flex, Web.11.0Patch 3June 20, 2011Added support for IE9, Mobile protocols, GraniteDS.11.0Patch 4November 2011HP SV (Service Virtualization Integration) with Controller, GWT-DFE(Google Web Toolkit- Data Format Extension), RTMP Tunneled, Messaging support, Streaming support, Flex Correlations.11.50—November 2011Added New VuGen IDE, Ajax TruClient for IE, Web Protocol Asynchronous Support, Flex, Mobile, .NET, Web Services, 64-bit applications recording, IPv6 support.11.50Patch 1July 20, 2012Added Ajax TruClient IE protocol.12.00—March 18, 2014Added ability to instantiate instances on Amazon EC2 directly from LoadRunner UI.12.02—January 21, 2015Added ability to instantiate instances on Microsoft Azure directly from LoadRunner UI12.50—August 2015 JavaScript as a new scripting language for the Web-HTTP/HTML protocol Chrome TruClient support added Google Compute Engine supported as cloud provider Ability to record a TruClient script with one browser and replay it with any Integrated Network Virtualization solution (formerly known as Shunra) Docker-based Linux installation Generating scripts from HAR files Major enhancements in .NET and Citrix protocols12.50Patch 3May 5, 2016 Provides support for TruClient - Native Mobile protocol in HPE Mobile Center Adds support for HPE Mobile Center 1.51 Fix for Amazon Cloud provisioning12.53—May 2016 Git integration in VuGen Java 8 support, 64-bit replay support in Java protocols New PCoIP protocol HTTP Video Streaming (HTML5, HLS) support HTTP/2 support Enhanced SAPUI5 recording in TruClient REST step-builder editor in VuGen Support of Win 10 and recording using MS Edge browser Built-in Linux compatibility test in VuGen Improved performance of Linux Load Generators, support of additional Linux distributions12.53Patch 1June 15, 2016Fixes a memory allocation issue that can impact Web HTTP/HTML protocols.12.53Patch 2August 3, 201612.53Patch 3September 29, 201612.53Patch 4January 4, 2017LoadRunner 12.53 Patch 4 contains various enhancements, and provides support for the following:
HPE Mobile Center 2.20. For details, see the Mobile Center Help. HPE Network Virtualization (NV) 12.53 Patch 1 Google Web Toolkit (GWT) support: GWT Request Factory GWT 2.7.0 Verified for use with GWT 2.8.0 (full support to be added in a future version).12.55—August 17, 2017Added MQTT Protocol, support for JMeter tests, support for Windows 10 creators, Windows Server 2016, and Ubuntu 16.04. Also added support for Chromium 55 for TruClient protocol. LoadRunner 12.55 supports HTTP/2 64-bit record and replay and many performance improvements and enhancements.12.56—February 26, 2018LoadRunner 12.56 contains various enhancements, and provides support for the following:
Runtime Settings Search New supported technologies and platforms Protocol enhancements TruClient enhancements VuGen enhancements Controller and Analysis enhancements12.57—May 19, 2018LoadRunner 12.57 contains various enhancements, and provides support for the following:
New supported technologies and platforms Remote Terminal Emulator protocol compatibility with Windows 10 TruClient enhancements, including support for ChromiumOS version 63 VuGen enhancements Controller enhancements12.60—August 24, 2018LoadRunner 12.60 contains various enhancements, and provides support for the following:
A runtime setting to enable/disable HTTP/2 features New runtime setting that enables connecting to one or multiple IP addresses for Oracle NCA protocol Enhanced desktop pool support with the ability to sync on bitmap timeout per step for PCoIP protocol Dockerized Load Generators Network Virtualization is now free Save a graph as an image file12.63—May 28, 2019LoadRunner 12.63 contains various enhancements, and provides support for the following:
Significant reduction in the overall time for Analysis to process raw results Script Wizard added for MQTT Snapshot viewer supported for TruWeb scripts TruClient now includes a VTS API function that replaces a specific value inside a set of columns with a new value. Reduced memory consumption in load mode for TruClient browser2020—December 17, 2019LoadRunner 2020
New protocol called DevWeb has been added Webservices has new WDF toolkit Partial modern user interface and icons LoadRunner Enterprise Integration Online graphs in Controller with rich UI controls SAP - Web protocol now supports Recording Report, predefined DFE, Asynchronous communication, and HAR file generation after replay TruClient protocol has new search and toolbox with the latest Chromium and TruClient browser support TruClient has new client side performance measurements2020 Service Pack 1—April 2, 2020LoadRunner 2020 Service Pack 1
Enhancements have been done in DevWeb, TruClient, Web Services, Citrix ICA, VTS, and Integration with LoadRunner Enterprise.2020 Service Pack 2—July 1, 2020LoadRunner 2020 Service Pack 2
Enhancements have been done in DevWeb, TruClient, PCoIP protocol, PCAP recording, VTS, and Integration with LoadRunner Enterprise. This version introduces OneLG, a combined load generator installation for all of the LoadRunner family products. You select the relevant LoadRunner family product during installation, and can later swap to a different product if required. Support for the execution of Gatling performance testing assets as part of Controller scenarios. This feature is currently available as tech preview.2020 Service Pack 3—September 29, 2020LoadRunner 2020 Service Pack 3
Enhancements have been done in DevWeb, TruClient, .NET protocol. TeamCity Plugin Usage Analytics tool2021—January 12, 2021LoadRunner 2021
new DevWeb Engine DevWeb gRPC support DevWeb Correlation Candidates Dynatrace SaaS and Managed Integration Selenium scripts support2021 R1R1April 29, 2021LoadRunner 2021 R1
Full code completion in DevWeb CA certificate generation in DevWeb DevWeb gRPC support HLS Live Streaming Support in Web HTTP/HTML Java scripts support in Linux LGs Silk Performance support Round robin distribution of Vusers2021 R2R2October, 2021 Silk Performer integration Azure Insights monitoring LoadRunner Enterprise integration2022February, 2022 Kafka Protocol Support for Azure Key Vault Chaos testing with Gremlin LoadRunner Data Hub UTF-8 encoding for non-English character display2022 R1R1June, 2022 Prometheus integration Controller online dashboard modernization Citrix Workspace 2203 LTSR support SLA support for Selenium scripts2022 R2R2October, 2022 .NET Plus protocol PCoIP protocol support for VMware Horizon 8 VTS support for Docker Datadog integration IPv6 communication support Dynamic monitoring for Windows Resources monitor Smart Vuser allocation2023March, 2023 User experience Data and analytics VuGen, protocols, and LoadRunner Developer Load testing and modeling Cloud and SaaS Integrations and ecosystem Modernization Security and infrastructure PCoIP protocol support for VMware Horizon 8 VTS support for Docker Datadog integration IPv6 communication support Dynamic monitoring for Windows Resources monitor Smart Vuser allocation2023R1R1July, 2023 Window size and location Usage analytics report update SLA support for APDEX Load generator distribution for Vuser group scenarios Ubuntu Server Linux 22.04 LTS 64-bit. Load generators can now be installed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Chaos testing support for Steadybit on-premise server Online monitor graphs enhancements Automatic reconnect for load generators Installation of Gatling and JMeter is now optional for load generators VTS now supports LDAPS connection to the domain controller for NTLM authentication. TruClient protocols include the following updates:Upgraded browser version support Chromium: Version 113 TruClient Browser: Equivalent to Firefox version 110 This release introduces the new Cloud for AWS protocol. With this protocol, you can create Vuser scripts to monitor the usage of Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) DevWeb and Web protocol updates SAPGUI updates Kubernetes orchestrator updates The LoadRunner Enterprise Administration REST API enables you to un-assign a user, specified by ID, from a specific project24.124.1Feb, 2024 SteadyBit chaos integration New simplified masthead Redesigned module navigation menu. The load test Dashboard was replaced with a Home Page