You install the WAST on client machines.

These machines then simulate requests for webpages from a server. As a
general rule, you don't install the WAST on the server, as the server then
has to devoted resources to generate the page requests, as well as serving
them up, leading to misleading statistics.

After installing WAST on your client(s), you create a new script. On the
main script properties tab you specify the server - this should be the
server that you want to test. Underneath that you write out the pages that
you want to GET/POST. Some basic knowledge of HTTP, or how browsers request
pages from servers would help here.

Also, remember to follow the instructions about setting up a robots.txt file
for your product sites that excludes stress-agents - otherwise people can
use WAST as a DOS tool against your server.

Cheers
Ken


----- Original Message -----
From: <melody
To: "How To" <proasp_howto@p...>
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2000 1:00 PM
Subject: [proasp_howto] Web Application Stress Tool


> Hello All,
>
> Has anyone ever used Microsoft's Web Application Stress Tool? I downloaded
> it (it's free) and have been playing around with it. You can record your
> web surfing session and then simulate multiple concurent users accessing
> your site. It seems to be exactly what I need to test my application, but
I
> am having a hard time figuring everything out. For one thing the help
> section tells you to set the Internet Explorer options to localhost and
> port 8000. Also it says not to install the WAS tool on your server
machine.
> I followed these instructions but I am not sure if I should change the
> server to my IIS when i run the test. If anyone has any experience using
> this tool I would appreciate any feedback. I found a few tutorials on-line
> but they did not answer my questions. I have been looking for a book to
buy
> that has detailed explainations but to the best of my knowledge, none is
> available.
>
> Thanks in advance for any tips!
> Melody