THE METAWAYS PROFILER: LOAD AND FUNCTION TESTS IN ACTION

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1 THE METAWAYS PROFILER: LOAD AND FUNCTION TESTS IN ACTION The starting point Darkness spreads through the Hamburg Speicherstadt, stray shapes scurry through the narrow streets between the tall historic buildings. The lights in a single office in the second story of Pickhuben 2 are still on. Chief Inspector Marc Heisterkamp, System Engineer at Metaways, warms his hands at yet another cup of coffee. His investigations will not let him sleep any time soon, not when he can feel the breakthrough is near. Another look in his notes... all indications show into one direction. One more examination and he will have the proof! Load and function tests are similar to detective work. This way Metaways is seeking for answers on behalf of the customers: Is there enough processing power to ensure a high-performance operation of an e-commerce platform? Does the system allow enough simultaneous access? Is the hardware sizing sufficient to withstand special promotions with high access rates? Do protective mechanisms take effect? Is the software in use optimized and adjusted to the server systems? The Metaways load tests have the answer. 1

2 The solution Metaways developed its own load and function tests which run almost automatically in the Amazon Cloud. Depending on the specific issue, several different sorts of tests can be run. Load and performance tests have been an important tool for our internal quality assurance for quite some time now, e.g. when testing new e-commerce platforms. To provide the accumulated knowledge and experience for our customers was then the next logical step. Marc Heisterkamp, System Engineer at Metaways For Globetrotter Ausrüstung Metaways examined if a shop system based on Magento can reach predetermined response times, which conditions have to be met therefore and how many simultaneous users the system can tolerate. Metaways started extensive quality assurance tests with special focus on performance and flexibility of a shop system. With automated load and function tests, PHP profiling, and database monitoring an extensive analysis was generated and evaluated. In the line of the incremental testing of the online shop on Magento basis, Metaways found out that very much CPU power would be needed for the operation of the shop if Globetrotter s requirements of performance and flexibility are to be met. Response Times Distribution This graph displays the response time distribution of the test. The X axis shows the response times grouped by interval, and the Y axis the number of samples which are contained in each interval. Response Time Over Time This graph displays the response times in milliseconds of every sample over time. This is an important graph to monitor the application performance while increasing the number of threads. 2

3 After analysis and evaluation of the results, Metaways set, through detailed consultation and several workshops, the basis for the decision of Globetrotter Ausrüstung to dismiss the Magento software and to develop their own application: Even after quite some efforts, this way we could not accomplish our high standards regarding the performance of our web presence. Relatively high license costs, very high hardware requirements and the necessity to further adjust the software core to our needs brought us to the decision to develop our own software solution, says Philip von Melle, Business Management Globetrotter Ausrüstung. Mondelez International was planning a promotion for the brand Jacobs where many additional simultaneous requests were expected. In the run-up, Metaways performed several load tests to examine the applications running on the servers if there are any bottlenecks. Especially with promotions, there is always the risk of particularly high peak loads, because of increased simultaneous queries. If it comes to very long load times or even timeouts, user, customer and service provider will not be content, says Peggy Hötzel, Project Management at Metaways. To identify bottlenecks early and run optimizing measures, a prior load test is always worth it. The big advantages of our solution are that on the one hand we can simulate several thousand visitors with help of the Amazon Web Services and on the other hand we automated the test to the greatest possible extent, so that they are less time-consuming and thus come with an attractive price. Marc Heisterkamp, System Engineer at Metaways The first performance test then showed that the website would not withstand the expected rush of visitors. One bottleneck was found fast: a third-party shop-application had some invidious configurations. In this case, one adjustment was enough to decrease the response time by remarkable 60%. In the next step, a waiting queue, designated to channel the order process under high load comprehensible for the visitors, was examined. Metaways identified some functional errors which were then corrected by the developers, so that in the end a successful promotion was executed - without groaning servers. The Competec Service AG engaged Metaways to do various performance tests to identify the maximum operational capacity of the software stack and of the applications running on the web servers. The detected weaknesses and errors were rectified with simple measures. For instance, Metaways suggested to adjust several limits of system resources and to optimize the PHP application, inter alia by activating the byte code cache. A bottleneck was discovered and Metaways was able to deliver precise details for a sizing of the component to allow the defined number of simultaneous users at a given response time. 3

4 CPU Usage This graph displays the aggregated CPU Usage for all cores in percent during the test. Single metrics like idle, system, user, iowait are combined. These are just a few examples how load and function tests can work. Depending on the question and test composing, numerous answers about servers and software can be found. Metaways takes over the consulting to find the right questions, the composition of the tests to keep track and the interpretation of the data to find the correct answers. Case examples: Detection of load induced errors Testing of system behaviour under a given load Determination of possible load while keeping given response times Disclosure of bottlenecks or resources working to full capacity Tuning / optimization of system Determination of resource requirements to reach a given performance Gain of knowledge about operation and maintenance under load Determination of system resources (e.g. hardware resources, sizing test) for operation of software for a given specification Testing of HA mechanisms: load balancer, failover, cluster 4

5 The customers Globetrotter Ausrüstung For more than 30 years, Northern Germany s first special store for expeditions, safari, survival and trekking satisfies with a diligent chosen range of outdoor equipment and is one of the biggest European outdoor distributors by now. Whether via shipment or at the stores Globetrotter Ausrüstung stands for profound counsel and quality in the range of outdoor and travel gear. In the eight branches and the shipment department, the Hamburg based company has 1,500 employees from more than 60 countries, who form the foundation for the company with their enthusiasm for foreign countries and traveling. With stationary trade in adventure stores across Germany and shipment trade based on catalogue and online shop, Globetrotter Ausrüstung distributes more than 35,000 items from roughly 1,000 brands. The catalogue had a run of 700,000 copies in Mondelez International Mondelez International, formerly known as Kraft Foods, is the third largest food operator worldwide and distributes a spread of products in more than 150 countries. The portfolio of Mondelez International includes many internationally well-known and beloved brands. Most of them are also presented online. In Germany, Milka, Philadelphia, Jacobs and TASSIMO are among those. Also Mondelez International operates a large number of international web presences (exceeding 100). Competec Parts of the Competec group are the online distributor Brack Electronics AG, the IT/CE/ electronic/telco distributor Alltron AG, the logistics service provider Competec Logistik AG and the central services combined under the roof of the Competec Service AG. The group has 391 employees and had a turnover of around 445 million Swiss francs in The companies of the Group Competec deliver carbon neutral. About Metaways Metaways Infosystems GmbH Pickhuben Hamburg Tel.: +49 (0)40/ Fax: +49 (0)40/ [email protected] Metaways Infosystems GmbH started with classical IT Consulting around its core business Hosting. Today, Metaways provides the full range of portfolio of services for Internet and Open Source and serves notable customers from different industries. This involves the planning and implementation of custom-fit solution concepts as well as their operation. Our own Open Source products, our application development and content management complete our portfolio. 5