OpenText Core Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Cloud) Reviews

In my daily use case for OpenText LoadRunner Cloud, I am using the LRE version R2 2023, utilizing four load generators, and while it is okay, sometimes I face issues with the script where the support team takes more time to resolve those issues.

The most useful features of OpenText LoadRunner Cloud include getting load through the Performance Center, which is part of the cloud version, where we can monitor CPU and memory utilization, and response times, but we do face configuration issues related to network discrepancies.

We are a banking institution, so the solution gets used for online banking and mobile banking services. 

In our organization, OpenText LoadRunner Cloud executes performance tasks, while Dynatrace is also used for performance testing and analytics. 

It supports business applications for performance testing across various domains, such as retail, financial services, and banking. They had already procured a tool, LoadRunner, for use in their environment, whether on-prem or in the cloud. I've worked on numerous use cases that vary depending on the sector, like banking or insurance, as each sector has its requirements.

This tool has specific components, like LoadRunner Virtual User Generator for scripting, and execution windows, such as LoadRunner Cloud or Performance Center. It’s divided into three parts: scripting and code development are handled by one component, execution by another, and analysis by a separate file. This makes it user-friendly and easy to understand. In comparison, JMeter, which is open-source, can feel a bit clumsy. NeoLoad, on the other hand, is a good alternative and performs well, as I’ve worked with both. However, due to customer requirements, I procured LoadRunner, and we continue to use it. So, there was no option but to go with LoadRunner. In terms of setup and usability, it’s straightforward. If I were to rate the leading tools in the market, LoadRunner comes first, followed by NeoLoad. Based on my experience and colleague feedback, these are the most commonly used project tools.

We do load testing with LoadRunner Cloud. LoadRunner itself is cloud-hosted, but we load test the applications that are hosted on-premises or in our application data center. 

By implementing LoadRunner Cloud, we wanted to make sure that our applications are stable when there is a peak load with 3,000 or 4,000 users. We wanted to make sure that our applications are stable at any given point. To validate that, we are using LoadRunner Cloud. We are putting our expected load through LoadRunner and making sure our applications are stable.

We can plan and run tests using LoadRunner Cloud without having to manage testing infrastructure. That is very helpful. One of the reasons why we moved to LoadRunner Cloud was that they manage the infrastructure, and it is up 99% of the time. We used to support Performance Center, which was on-premise, and we also support application servers and all the load generators. It is a lot of work to manage them. Migrations, security scans, and all the patching take a lot of time, whereas, with the cloud option, our work is reduced by 50% to 60%. We can now focus on testing instead of managing the whole infrastructure. LoadRunner Cloud has been very helpful. It is stable and user-friendly. They provide scalability. They have a flexible licensing model, so everything is great.

LoadRunner Cloud has partially saved us money by not having to maintain hardware and the power costs associated with that hardware. In my company, we are still using on-premise load generators, so in our case, the savings are a little bit less, but any other company that has all public-facing or hosted applications does not need to spend any money on on-premise infrastructure. Because we are using a hybrid version, we are still spending some money.

We are using it for web testing and mobile testing. I am sure we are going to do some API and microservice testing.

I love that we can plan and run tests using LoadRunner Cloud without having to manage testing infrastructure. That was a part of the reason we went to the cloud. It was not too bad to manage Silk Performer infrastructure, but it was still a pain. 

By moving to the cloud, I am hoping we can spend less time managing and more time testing. I also hope that LoadRunner Cloud will save us money by not having to maintain hardware and the power costs associated with that hardware, but only time will tell. I do not know it yet.