> I'm looking at the ColdFusion Performance Tuning class and
> was wondering where to get info/pricing on load test tools.
There are three big players in the load-test tool market: Segue, Mercury and
RSW. There aren't any side-by-side comparisons of their products that I've
seen. Your best bet is to evaluate each one; buying one of these isn't a
trivial purchase, and you might find that you prefer the options or
interface of one over the other. Segue SilkPerformer is best overall, in my
opinion, but RSW is more willing to give you a deal with E-Load.
SilkPerformer has the richest environment for creating and editing test
scripts, and handles reporting very well. Those two tasks are a big part of
what you pay for with a load-test tool.
You might also want to spend some time with Homer, Microsoft's free
load-test tool. It doesn't provide the feature set of any of the
above-mentioned products, but it's free. Did I mention that it's free?
http://homer.rte.microsoft.com/
> I was also wondering if anyone has taken the Performance
> Tuning (vis a vis the Advanced Developement class) class
> and what their opinion was on it.
I teach the class, so my opinion might not be what you're looking for, but
I'll give it anyway. The class is good from the perspective of system
administrators and QA testers, as it focuses heavily on Allaire's testing
methodology and server maintenance. This methodology is the key to the
course; how to best determine application bottlenecks through load testing.
There is very little CF-specific content, such as how to write applications
that perform well, which is a disappointment for students who are expecting
a more programming-centered course. What is covered, CF-wise, is query
caching and template caching. A large amount of the course is spent on how
to use SilkPerformer, which isn't always popular but is unavoidable - you've
got to use a load-test tool to learn a load-test methodology. Also covered
are how to use NT Performance Monitor and CFSTAT to read CF Server
performance data, but this isn't covered in great depth.
Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software
http://www.figleaf.com/
voice: (202) 797-5496
fax: (202) 797-5444
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