Agent Controller Issue on Starting RAServer Process

By – http://www.qacampus.com

By Kuldeep Singh

Introduction: This document has been prepared in order to resolve the issue that might occur during Invocation of RPT- Agent Controller process on Linux Machine.

Requirement: Our requirement was to generate the load from Linux machine (client) on the application server

For this, we have installed Load Generating tool (Rational Performance Tool version – 7.0.2) on window machine (OS: Window XP 2000 Profession SP-2) and RPT-Agent controller Process (version-7.0.2.1) on Linux machine (OS-Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 4-Nahant).

Below are enlisted some of the issues which were encountered during the load distribution through load generating machine (RPT) to Linux machine.

On executing the performance schedule we were getting the following error “Connection failed on host 172.23.244.207”.

————————————————————

Security Message

Connection failed on host 172.23.244.207

Reason:
IWAT0284E The agent controller is not available on host 172.23.244.207
Make sure that:
*the agent controller is installed.
*the agent controller is configured to communicate with your machine
*you have the correct host name and port number for the agent controller.

————————————————————–

Possible reason: The above error might have occurred due to Agent Controller is not installed or is not running on Linux machine.
Since, on Linux machine Agent Controller process (RAServer) process is not started automatically. So, we have to start this process manually.

Starting and Stopping Agent Controller on Linux machine:
• To start the Agent Controller process (RAServer) on Linux machine, move to the Installation location’s bin directory (for e.g. /opt/IBM/AgentController/bin). Then execute the following command
./RAStart.sh

• To stop the Agent Controller process (RAServer) on Linux machine, move to the Installation location’s bin directory ( for e.g. /opt/IBM/AgentController/bin) and then execute the following command
./RAStop.sh

On trying to start the Agent Controller process on Linux machine we may get the following Errors. (Below section describe the Error description, reason and resolution for the same)

Error:
1) Starting Agent Controller
“RAServer: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++-libc6.2-2.so.3: cannot open shared object file: Error 40 No such file or directory.
RAServer failed to start.” Error

Possible Reason: Since the Agent Controller is compiled using libstdc++-libc6.2-2.so.3 shared library. Ensure that this shared library exists under the /usr/lib directory. If it does not exist, then you have to install the RPM package compat-libstdc++ that comes with the operating system installation media.
Note: – To make sure that libstdc++-libc6.2-2.so.3 shared library is available in the /usr/lib directory:
Move to the /usr/lib directory and execute the following command at the Shell prompt.
# ls –l libstdc*

Resolution:
The solution is to install the standard C++ compatibility libraries in order to satisfy this library dependency. The version of Linux on the client machine will determine what RPM or software package needs to be installed.
In our case, since we are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux As Release 4 (Nahant) Operating System on Linux machine, we need to install compat-libstdc++-296-2.96.132.7.2.i386.rpm package that is located on the Red Hat 4.0 Installation Disc 3.
Note: For more which rpm package required installing, browse the following link
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/267077.htm

We can also download required rpm package from the following link
http://rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=libstdc%2B%2B-libc6.2-2.so.3&submit=Search
http://rpmfind.net/linux/RPM.

How to Install Required RPM Package:
1) Insert the required disc in CD-ROM and change the directory Red Hat/RPMS from Shell command.
cd media/CDROM/Red Hat/RPMS/
2) Enter the following command and execute
rpm –ivh compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-132.7.2.i386.rpm
If installation is successful, you see the following message:
Preparing…   ########################################### [100%]
1:compat-libstdc++-296   ################################## [100%]
RPM prints out the name of the package and then prints a succession of hash marks as the package is installed as a progress meter.
Note: For more information on RPM package browse the following link
http://www.faqs.org/docs/securing/chap3sec20.html

Now we can start the Agent Controller Process (RAServer) on Linux machine. Following message should be displayed on successfully start the Agent Controller Process.

Starting Agent Controller
RAServer Started Successfully
RPM prints out the name of the package and then prints a succession

2) “RAServer failed to Start” Error
Possible Reason: This failure is usually caused when TCP/IP port 1002 is not free. Agent Controller listens on this port by default. Agent controller was just stopped and restarted before the port could be released.
• If Agent Controller failed to start. You can start it as follows:
If port 10002 is being used by another process, you can change the port number by editing the serviceconfig.xml file. Serviceconfig.xml file is located in Installation Location Config’s directory /opt/IBM/AgentController/Config/

• If Agent Controller was just stopped, wait a few minutes and try to start it again.

Updates about QTP 10 (I)

By – http://www.qacampus.com

QTP 10 revolves around 3 pivotal features, alongside several minor features (which turned out to be quite revolutionary):

I. QC integration – which (mostly) boils down to Resource Management and Source Control:

Resource Management: Although you could keep saving your resources as attachments (for backward compatibility), you can upgrade to a new, fuller mode of work. This includes a whole new Resource module in QC, and allows for some very neat tricks on Function Libraries, Tests, Object Repositories etc.

It should be noted, though, that other types of files (external excel / XML files, for example), remain as unmanaged attachments.

1. Resources have full meta-data, and have a special view pane – you can view Object-Repositories, data-tables, and function libraries code right from QC.

2. Resources are aware of their dependencies – Who relies on them, and who do they rely on. This enables a very strong warning system – when changing / deleting a resource, you’ll be alerted to the repercussions – namely, which tests, if any, might break. Also, the ability to immediately know who uses a share object repository is very useful, nearly revolutionary.

3. A very neat trick is a live, automatically updated path system – When moving a function library between folders, QC will automatically update all the tests which depend on it, so they will use it at its new location. This makes the once critical problem of hard-path-link a non-issue. Very impressive.

4. A word about the user interface – when opening a QC resource / test from QTP, the file dialog shows the items with large, crisp icons, very similar to Word’s save dialog. Everything is very clear and intuitive, as is the ability to revert back to saving / opening a test from the File-System.

5. And what about your existing projects? Well, when upgrading to QC 10, a wizard will automatically transform all you unmanaged attachments to managed resources (if you’d like it to).

Source Control: This includes a very rich line of features which are very well executed, and effectively allow you to manage a QTP project as any other code project:

1. First, the basics – QTP and QC 10 introduce a new Check-in/Check-out ability. It works similar to what you’d expect – a checked out item will be locked to all other users, and you can immediately know an item’s status by looking at its icon (green/red locks).

2. An interesting twist regards manner in which a test / resource is locked – it’s at the user level (not the local machine level). This means that if you log into QC from a different machine, you’ll have access to all your checked-out items, even if they were originally checked-out on a different local machine. The ability is implemented very well, both from QTP’s end, as well as from QC’s end.

A major enabler for source control is the new versioning feature of QC. It manifests both with a kind of instant versioning for a single resource, and with a project-wide “base-line version”, which allows you to revert your entire test framework to a previous version. Both types of versioning are supported by a surprisingly robust comparison mechanism. You can select two versions of a resource / test, a see a very detailed comparison of their respective changes. For function libraries this amounts to a “simple” text comparison, but this feature truly shines in full test comparisons.

It will present changes in the different actions and their resources (data-table, object repositories, inner code), as well as in the global test-settings, associated function libraries, recovery scenarios, and pretty much anything you could think of. The ability to drill-down into the data is very impressive; and the effective, concise manner in which the data is presented in the top level view is downright unbelievable. A nice touch is a small screen capture of the change, in case you don’t remember what “Run all rows –>Changed into-> Run a single iteration only” means (for example).

Now to the versioning mechanism itself: Whenever you check and item in, a new “version” will be created, and you’ll be able to revert back to it with ease. The snapshots are visible both from QC and QTP, and you can very easily choose which one to open. This allows you a kind of an instant undo to a single file which worked in the past, but is broken in the present.

The second mechanism presents the ability to select several folders, and create a full blown “base-line version” of them and everything they relate to. Defects, inner-connections, tests, history data, resources – all these and more will be “frozen” and preserved as a base-line. You can then choose to revert back to an old baseline, and truly regain all the abilities that were present at that time. As all the resources, attachments tests and reports will be restored, you don’t have to worry about forgetting anything, or leaving some minor resource at the wrong version. This is versioning with a vengeance – it allows you to track the AUT’s versions with your own automation versions, enabling, among other things, running automation efforts on several AUT versions at once.

For conclusion – The new abilities inherit in the connection of QTP and QC Atlantis are (or at least seem to be) revolutionary. At last, QTP projects can be natively managed as code projects; and some of the supporting infrastructure is surprisingly robust and useful.

Application Security | PCI DSS Overview

By – http://www.qacampus.com

As the number security breaches has increased, regulatory and industry requirements have become more stringent. One of the most popular compliance standard is PCI DSS. It was developed by the major credit card companies as a guideline to help organizations that process card payments prevent credit card fraud, cracking and various other security vulnerabilities and threats. A company processing, storing, or transmitting payment card data must be PCI DSS compliant or risk losing their ability to process credit card payments and being audited and/or fined. Here is brief overview of what PCI DSS is all about.

What is PCI- DSS?

· PCI stands for Payment Card Industry.

· PCI-DSS actually stands for PCI Data Security Standards (DSS), currently at version 1.2. PCI DSS is a set of comprehensive requirements for enhancing payment account data security. It was developed by a council (PCI SSC) which includes American Express, Visa International, MasterCard Worldwide, Japan Credit Bureau (JCB). The council is responsible for developing and managing the PCI DSS standards, establishing and maintaining Qualified Security Assessors (QSA) and Approved Scanning Vendors (ASV).

Who must comply with PCI?

Any company that stores, processes or transmits cardholder data must comply with PCI. Compliance to PCI is assurance to the organization that IT infrastructure and business processes are secure. It can serve as great marketing tool for company and instill greater confidence in customer’s and stakeholders’ minds.

Scope of PCI –DSS

All systems that store, process or transmit Cardholder’s data.

a) Applications processing Cardholder’s data ( e.g. e-commerce application, sales processing application)

b) Network Infrastructure

c) Storage Area Networks

d) Data Extracts including Cardholder’s data.

e) Backups

f) Log Files

g) Paper records

h) People

i) Org wise processes and structure

j) Third parties that stores or transmit Cardholder’s data on Organization’s behalf such as suppliers and dealers.

Who can help you get PCI DSS?

a) Consulting Agencies: Consulting agencies can help you find gaps, implement processes to fill the gaps and do a pre audit to make you prepare for final audit by QSA.

b) QSA: A security company qualified by PCI SSC to assess compliance to the PCI DSS standard. QSA’s are certified by PCI SSC to perform on site security assessments for verification of compliance with PCI DSS.

A list of QSA’s can be found at

http://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/pdfs/pci_qsa_list.pdf

Bridging the Gap between Open Source & Commercial Tools

By - http://www.qacampus.com

These opinions are strictly my own based on my own observations and experiences with both kinds of software and trying to understand the dynamics at play in each environment. I’m sure others share similar opinions. Also note that these are sweeping generalities and caricatures, but I think provide a good starting model for critiquing both.
The main Gap between Open Source and commercial tools is licensing. Using the Open Source Edition (under the GPL license) obligates you to share your source code without restrictions with the users of your program. Using the GPL also means you may not demand compensation for or limit subsequent re-use and re-distribution of the source code. You need the commercial license if you want to avoid these obligations.

Open source Functional Tools

The reason many users originally try an open source solution (myself included) is price. An open source functional tool will be significantly cheaper than a commercial functional tool. As with many open source programs, because the code is “open,” the opportunities for customization are also greater than they are for a commercial functional tool. Depending on your functional tool needs, there may very well be an existing open source functional tool that will fulfill your requirements.

The arguments against implementing an open source functional tool are numerous, but are generally tied into one key concern: uncertainty. Product support, documentation, and user training are often subject to the whims of volunteer (read: unaccountable) developers. As a result, there is often no brand name or customer service department to offer assurances or assistance in maintaining functional tool stability and security. Enterprise-level workflow management may therefore be difficult to achieve, and product implementation may take considerably longer than with comparable commercial functional tool products.

Commercial Functional Tools

Buying a commercial functional tool offers a number of distinct advantages, not the least of which is commercial support and well-defined service level agreements. A commercial functional tool may already be ready-built for your needs and will likely be faster to implement than an open source functional tool. Documentation and training for commercial functional tool products are usually significantly stronger than for an open source solution. Your average person also associates a certain degree of safety with commercial software as opposed to open source. If you or your client has the resources to purchase and appropriately license a tool, it can often be the safest bet.

Arguments against buying a commercial functional tool come down to one issue: cost. Commercial functional tool license costs can be prohibitively expensive, and customization/integration expenses can send these prices even higher. Commercial functional tools rarely represent a “budget” solution.

On top of that commercial software needs to demonstrate that they have solved a hard problem that no one else has solved or make competitors solutions to problems seem hackish. So the marketing folks will use words like “You want to solve the problem the right way, don’t you?” which often means “The hard way that only we know how to do.” A corollary to that is if a problem is really hard and you have solved it or can convince people you have solved it, make sure everyone knows that and make sure everyone thinks they have the same problem. That actually holds true for both commercial and open source but is generally easier to pull off for commercial software.

Comparison Parameters

Tools => Record and Play Back => Language support => Application support
Watir => Support with WET => Ruby => Web Based Application
Sahi => Inherently Supported => JavaScript => Web Based Application
AutoIT => Inherently Supported => BASIC-like syntax => Windows Application
QTP => Supported => VB Script,Java script => Windows/Web Application
RFT => Supported => Java,HTML,VB.NET => Windows/Web Application

After Thoughts

In the end, I would just like to say that it’s a trade off between how uncertain is the uncertainty of a free Open Source solution with how costly is the cost of a commercial reliable solution. Many companies are trying to bridge the gap between the two by providing software with the reliability and user friendliness of a commercial solution for an open source tool price. Well my team is also working on the same, so keep looking out for my blog people if you are someone needing that Bridge ….

Oracle Tunning

By -http://www.qacampus.com

There are several parameters to look for bad performing oracle. If you are lucky then for most of the DB related problems you will receive some kind of ORA errors, else it’s up to you to find the culprit.

Mostly sessions, processes, and memory allocation to different pools and cache of DB are some of the areas to tune.

If the database is in shared server mode then look for number of Dispatchers available. (Optional background processes, present only when a shared server configuration is used. At least one dispatcher process is created for every communication protocol in use (D000, . . ., Dnnn). Each dispatcher process is responsible for routing requests from connected user processes to available shared server processes and returning the responses back to the appropriate user processes)

For setting up the optimal values for all the best way is to use Automatic Shared Memory Management feature of oracle.

Oracle DB consists of SGA (system global area). SGA comprises several memory areas, including the buffer cache, shared pool, Java pool, large pool, and redo log buffers.

These pools occupy fixed amounts of memory in the operating system’s memory space; their sizes are specified by the DBA in the initialization parameter files (pfile and spfile).

Alternatively SGA is a group of shared memory structures that contain data and control information for one Oracle database instance. If multiple users are concurrently connected to the same instance, then the data in the instance’s SGA is shared among the users. Consequently, the SGA is sometimes referred to as the shared global area.

Values of different parameter can be changed in pfile and then spfile needs to be created from the changed pfile, as DB reads from spfile not from pfile.

Setting up Automatic Shared Memory Management

Let’s see how this works. First, determine the total size of the SGA. You can estimate this value by determining how much memory is allocated right now.

SQL> select sum(value)/1024/1024 from v$sga;

SUM(VALUE)/1024/1024
——————–
500

The current total size of the SGA right now is approximately 500MB, which will become the value of SGA_TARGET. Next, issue the statement:

alter system set sga_target = 500M scope=both;

This approach obviates the need to set individual values for the pools; thus, you’ll need to make their values zero in the parameter file or remove them completely.

shared_pool_size = 0
large_pool_size = 0
java_pool_size = 0
db_cache_size = 0

Recycle the database to make the values take effect.

This manual process can also be implemented via Enterprise Manager 10g. From the database home page, choose the “Administration” tab and then “Memory Parameters.” For manually configured memory parameters, the button marked “Enable” will be displayed, along with the values of all manually configured pools. Click the “Enable” button to turn Automatic Shared Memory Management on. Enterprise Manager does the rest.

After the automatic memory allocations are configured, you can check their sizes with the following:

SQL> select current_size from v$buffer_pool;

POOL MBYTES
———— ———-
java pool 4
large pool 4
shared pool 148

Which Pools are Not Affected?

Some pools in SGA are not subject to dynamic resizing, and must be specified explicitly.
Examples of these pools are block size and log buffer. Their sizes will remain constant; they will not shrink or expand based on load. (In 10g, a new type of pool can also be defined in the SGA: Streams pool, set with parameter streams_pool_size. This pool is also not subject to automatic memory tuning.)

Copywriting

Copywriting plays an important role in business. It is the knowledge of proper usage of words to promote a person, idea and business. Therefore copywriting is an art. To understand copywriting the person should know the very basic difference of writing a simple content with that of copy write content.

Copy write content always has an attractive and persuasive writing tend. It eventually brings the reader close to the product and persuades the customer to act upon it.

Content Disha expertise in copy writing and have delivered some of the finest copy write projects.

The content disha team consists of experienced professionals who have a creative bend of mind and MNC professional background. They abide with the responsibility for the advertisement’s textual and verbal substance. The job requires information from the client about the vision and mission of the product.

We provide expertise service in:

• SEO copy writing
• Ad copy writing
• Publicity material copy
• Commercial Emails
• Brochures Content

Content Disha helps you promoting your business with excellent Copywriting.

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Comprehensive Silk Performer

Comprehensive Silk Performer
Course Code : CTBSP 602 Source : CresTech Course Length : 3 days

Prerequisites to Attend Silk Performer Training:

You are a QA Project leader, tester, or engineer who needs to develop a working knowledge of a load testing methodology
You are familiar with the Windows environment
You can navigate in an Internet or Intranet environment
You are familiar with scripting or structured programming
You are familiar with basic concepts related to load testing, Web architecture, and protocols
You have experience in testing applications manually
Course content

Load Testing Fundamentals
SilkPerformer Overview

Adjust Workload & Run Test

Finding & Confirming the Baseline

Test Plans & Project Definitions

Exploring Results

Modeling the Script

Introduction to BDL Scripting

Trying the Script

More about BDL Scripting

Customizing the testReviewing the Basics
Using the Performance Explorer
Understanding the Quantified Data
Analyzing Client-Side Data
Analyzing Scenarios
Analyzing Server Side Data

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How to Access Command prompt from QTP

How to Access Command prompt from QTP

If You Have Any Query Please Visit US – http://www.qacampus.com

We can even access Microsoft Windows command prompt also known as MS-DOS from QTP interface.cmd.exe is a 32-bit command prompt used in Windows NT, 2000 and XP and offers disk and file maintenance functions as well as network functions. It can be found under System32 folder.

To launch cmd.exe from QTP write :

SystemUtil.Run  “cmd.exe”, “”, “c:\WINDOWS\system32”,”open”

Once DOS window launches, this window can be leant and added to object repository

To write on command prompt window use the following code:

Window( “object class:=ConsoleWindowClass”).Type “Ping crestechsoftware.com”

Window( “object class:=ConsoleWindowClass”).Type micReturn

Using WshShell object

The WshShell object gives your scripts the ability to work with Windows shell .Your scripts can use the WshShell object to perform a number of system administration tasks, including running programs, reading from and writing to the registry, and creating shortcuts.

Following are the list of few methods used with wcript object:

1)The Environment property helps in getting  environment variables

2)The Exec method returns a WshScriptExec object, which provides status and error information about a script run with Exec along with access to the StdIn, StdOut, and StdErr channels. The Exec method allows the execution of command line applications only.

3)Pop Up Method Displays text in a pop-up message box.

4)RegRead Method helps in reading from registry

Example

The following example demonstrates the basics of the Exec method.

Dim WshShell, oExec

Set WshShell = CreateObject(”WScript.Shell”)

Set oExec = WshShell.Exec(”calc”)

Do While oExec.Status = 0

WScript.Sleep 100

Loop

WScript.Echo oExec.Status

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Descriptive Programming in QTP

Descriptive Programming in QTP

If You Have  Any Query Please Visit US – http://www.qacampus.com

What is Descriptive Programming?

QTP can perform some action on objects at run time only when it is able to uniquely identify the object. In order to identify the object at run time (play back), QTP learns some physical properties of the object at the time of recording and stores them in object Repository (OR). When QTP runs the script, it compares these properties and values to the actual objects appearing in the application, and performs the action on the object if it finds it.

Thus, it is not possible for QTP to perform action on objects during run time if the objects are not there in OR. But descriptive programming provides a way to perform action on objects which are not in Object repository. We can instruct QTP to perform methods on the objects that are not there in object repository with the help of programmatic description or descriptive programming.

When and Why to use Descriptive programming?

When using Descriptive Programming (DP), we’re bypassing the native object repository (OR) mechanism which may have many advantages. Let’s examine the situations in which the OR’s advantages are outweighed by the DP.

Suppose we are testing the site that displays the list of users whose details matches with the search criteria that is entered in search text field. With the names, the application also displays checkboxes against each name. Now, we want to test the scenario where application sends mail to all the users whose names are displayed in the list. But we are not sure  how many check boxes will be displayed on the page as the search criteria can differ . In this situation, you can use a programmatic description to instruct QuickTest to perform a Set “ON” method for all objects that fit the description: HTML TAG = input, TYPE = check box

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A Beginner’s Blog to Performance Testing

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Class 12th Board results were out and I ran to my PC to check the result. The anxiety level was rising every moment as it was taking time for the result page to open. Why is this page taking so long to open…?? Have I scored less…or perhaps I have failed in Chemistry..?? Oh god……!!!! What is going to happen… ?? Finally after 7 minutes and a few seconds, I rested in peace when the internet page opened and highlighted PASS on the screen. I just kicked my PC for taking the life out of me in those 7 minutes.

It’s just been a few days that I have stopped cursing my poor machine for those worst 7 minutes of my life when I came across a term called “Performance Testing”. I felt like sharing the definition of this term with you people and got up to writing this starting blog.

Performance testing is an emerging science in the field of Software testing. When we talk about effective development of an application that makes life easy, we cannot neglect its high performance as one of the major factors contributing to its quality. Performance testing is done to test a specific behavior of the application. But is there any specific criterion to define performance?

To define performance of any system software or any application (web/system), we can define a phrase “meeting of requirements with the timeliness” of the application. A well running application will always meet its requirements under the benchmark indicators. We map these benchmarks to the actual performance counters, which help us to judge, how the application is performing under the current environment.

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