Performance Testing Tool Selection For Desktop Based Application

Question

There is a requirement to performance test the Desktop Based Application and servers are physical servers.

Server hardware configuration is processor: Dual Core Processor and RAM: 4GB.

The requirement is to run with below 50Vusers.

No one will log into the Performance Environment.

1. How to record this Desktop Based Application?
2. Which is the best tool to do performance testing?
3. Which protocol supports Desktop Applications?

Earlier we used LoadRunner Tool which uses the RDP protocol. A LoadRunner license is expensive, and I'm currently searching for any open-source tools.

Could anyone please help me

Answer 1

There are 2 approaches and you need to choose which one is suitable for your performance testing activities:

1. If you need to load test desktop application itself - you should go for a profiler tool.

2. Classic performance testing tools simulate hundreds/thousands of virtual users so if you want to simulate multiple desktop applications concurrently accessing the backend or database - in this case it is possible to simulate network footprint of the desktop application and replay it with increased load.

   With regards to network protocols - the performance testing tool needs to support all network protocols used by your application. If you don't know what protocols are under the hood you can use a sniffer tool to analyze which are being used and then choose the performance testing tool which supports them.

   With regards to recording: some of performance testing tools allow recording and replaying, at least for HTTP protocol. You can take a look at How to Do Desktop Performance Testing article for more details.