Testing Citrix Applications: How to Create a Load Test Scenario on Citrix

 

Citrix Application Testing

Citrix Systems are a great addition to your company because they allow your employees to access applications remotely that are hosted by the Citrix Systems. Before you go live with the new application on your Citrix Systems, is a good idea to do a little bit a testing first. This is especially so if we are talking about a critical application. The last thing you want is for your accounting program to run slowly and for your employees to lose a lot of valuable time waiting around and banging their heads against the wall in frustration!

An important test to run on your application before going live on your Citrix Systems is a load test. These tests will allow you to see how your application will perform under different levels of usage. You need to know this before launching application if you want to have any kind of confidence in your application’s ability to perform the way you want it to perform.

Load tests, especially when performed with traditional testing tools, can be a huge drain on money and time. To avoid this frustration, you need to properly set up and execute your load test using the right application. Here are the steps that you need to take create and execute a successful load test on your applications on your Citrix Systems.


Step 1: Select Your Testing Application.

When selecting a load testing application for the applications on your Citrix Systems, you want to select an application that gives you quality data in an efficient manner. This program needs to be capable of testing multilayered Citrix applications from the end-user’s point of view. One program that does this is AppLoader. AppLoader test your application from the end user’s perspective. This gives you valuable data that can reveal in the most realistic way possible how your application will run. It also performs tests quickly and can be adjusted to test for different loads.

Step 2: Make a Plan.

Before you begin testing, you need to know what you are looking for. Take the time to determine the exact results that you are testing for, how you will run the test, and what you will do with the results. If your Citrix servers are in-house, then be sure to involve your IT team in this planning phase. Be sure to ask about the kind of data that they need.

Step 3: Prepare Citrix for Your Test

Once you have your load testing application and a comprehensive plan in place, you need to set up Citrix so that you can run your test most efficiently. Some best practices are to create dedicated test user accounts for your tests, disable all warnings, close down all background programs, and do not disturb the application while the test is running.

Step 4: Execute Your Load Test on Normal and High Loads.

It is important to test not only for your expected load, but for an unexpectedly high load as well. If your application performs well under these conditions, then you can be sure that when your colleagues access your Citrix applications that they will not have to deal with inadequate performance.

These four steps are straightforward but have a lot of depth to them. Of course none of them work out very well if you neglect step one, which is to select a good load testing application. If you select a program like AppLoader, then you will avoid many of the problems that traditional load testing methods bring with them, such as a high cost and a lengthy time of execution.

The rewards of properly creating and executing a load test for your applications on your Citrix Systems are well worth the time, energy, and resources that are put in. You will be able to launch your application with confidence and your employees will be very satisfied with the ability to properly use those applications at will.

 

 

Ready to Automai your business?

Find and focus on the right issues, quickly. No coding required.