Service testing guidelines

 

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Overview

Before you can test a service, set up test environment and incorporate these guidelines in order to produce reliable tests.

Before creating service tests, you might need to perform some initial tasks. These tasks depend on the transport and security protocols that are implemented by the Web service under test.


Test generation

When the test is generated, message call envelopes are created according to the XML schema definition (XSD). During this process, mandatory fields are created, and default choices are assumed. You can modify these elements in the test editor.


Encryption and security

The JRE that the workbench uses must support the level of encryption required by the digital certificate that you select.

For example, you cannot use a digital certificate that requires 256-bit encryption with a JRE that supports only 128-bit encryption. By default, the workbench is configured with restricted or limited strength ciphers.

To use less restricted encryption algorithms, download and apply the unlimited jurisdiction policy files (local_policy.jar and US_export_policy.jar).

You can download unlimited jurisdiction policy files from this site: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/security/50/

Click on IBM SDK Policy files, and then log in to developerWorks to obtain the unlimited jurisdiction policy files. Before installing these policy files, back up the existing policy files in case to restore the original files later. Then overwrite the files in /jre/lib/security/ directory with the unlimited jurisdiction policy files.

If you are deploying tests to remote computers, these files must also be added to the JRE used by the IBM Agent Controller.


SSL Authentication

Service tests support simple or double SSL authentication mechanisms:

When recording a service test through a proxy, the recording proxy sits between the service and the client. In this case, configure the SSL settings of the recording proxy to authenticate itself as the actual service to the client (for simple authentication), and as the client to the service (for double authentication). This means that supply the recording proxy with the adequate certificates.

When using stub services, you can also configure the SSL settings of the stub service to authenticate itself as the actual server. This means that supply the service stub with the adequate certificate.


Digital certificates

You can test services with digital certificates for both SSL and SOAP security protocol. Digital certificates must be contained in Java Key Store (JKS) keystore resources that are accessible in the workspace. When dealing with keystore files, set the password required to access the keys both in the security editor and the test editor. For SOAP security you might have to provide an explicit name for the key and provide a password to access the private keys in the keystore.

If you are deploying tests to agent computers, these files must also be added to the JRE that the Agent Controller uses.


Web service attachments

The product enables you to send SOAP Messages with Attachments (SwA) and Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM) attachments.

To use Web service attachments, add the following Java libraries to the JRE that the workbench uses:

These files are provided with RPTv8. See Configure the environment for handling file attachments for more information.

If you are deploying tests to agent computers, the library files must also be added to the JRE that the Rational Agent Controller uses.


Limitations

Arrays are not supported.

Because of a lack of specification, attachments are not supported with the JMS transport. The envelope is directly sent using UTF-8 encoding.

All security algorithms are not always available for each JRE implementation. If a particular security implementation is not available, add the required libraries to the class path of the JRE that Rational Performance Tester uses.

The generic service tester displays the envelope as reflected in the XML document. However, security algorithms consider the envelope as a binary. Therefore, set up the SOAP security configuration so that incoming and outgoing messages are correctly encrypted but remain decrypted inside the test.


Performance

Virtual user performance depends on the implementation of the container application. For an HTTP transport, RPTv8 has been tested with a maximum of 900 concurrent virtual users under Windows and 600 under Linux.

For JMS, the maximum is 100 concurrent virtual users, although this number can vary due to the asynchronous implementation of JMS. Beyond these values, connection errors might occur and the transaction rate will decrease.


Related

  • Service testing overview
  • Verify WSDL syntax compliance for JMS services
  • Record a service test with the generic service client
  • Record a service test using an HTTP proxy
  • Create a service test from a BPEL model
  • Create a service test manually
  • Create a service test for WebSphere MQ
  • Create a service test for a plain XML call
  • Change service test generation preferences
  • Exporting and importing service tests