Skip to Content

Performance Test for VTAM Features (VTAM)

BMC's Performance Test for VTAM streamlines testing to help you improve the quality of your LU0 and 3270 business applications. Performance Test for VTAM can, among other features, record, play back, compare, and dub scripts.

These functions help you comprehensively test your applications including unit, concurrency, integration, migration, capacity, and load tests.

Performance Test for VTAM also provides many other online and unattended features to modify and customize existing scripts. For advanced testing, Performance Test for VTAM incorporates IBM’s REXX script language, allowing you to customize and enhance script creation, playback, and reporting.

Automated Testing Vehicle (ATV) manager

The ATV Manager provides a system in which you can compile the elements of your automated tests to organize and manage their use. The ATV Manager then reports on the execution of tests and can e-mail the reports to defined recipients.

The ATV Manager will build, execute, and manage regression and performance automated test vehicles.

See the Performance Test Automated-Testing-Vehicle-ATV-Manager-User-Guide or the online help for complete information on how to use the ATV.

Recording

Performance Test for VTAM provides the following recording options:

  • Interactive Recording through Domain Traveler captures single-user activity. Start and stop the recording at any time during the session.
  • End-User Recording automates capture of end-user activity. Recording automatically begins when you log on to a special TSO ID and terminates when you log off the domain destination.
  • Global Recording captures the activity of one or more users. This option writes the activity to a repository that generates testing scripts. It records LU0 and 3270 traffic to generate stress tests.

The rest of this section provides a description of each of these options.

Interactive recording (Domain Traveler)

Performance Test for VTAM’s record function saves all activity on a keystroke-by-keystroke basis during a session and stores it in a script as a data set member. You can select from several recording options to:

  • Replace an existing member with a member to be created.
  • Record a session as a normal script or as a hexadecimal data stream.
  • Stop the recording activity.

End-user recording

End-user recording allows individuals with no knowledge of TSO to create recordings or scripts for later use in regression testing. The user logs on to an ID established for end-user recording. When the user logs off the domain destination, the TSO session automatically logs off and returns the terminal to VTAM. The user will not see TSO screens after the initial logon. For more information, refer to the Performance Test Installation-and-Configuration-Guide.

Global Recording

Use Global Recording to record VTAM 3270 (LU2) and LU0 sessions. You can record while groups of users perform their daily routines and choose the exact terminals, applications, and time frames to record.

You can include or exclude certain messages from recording based on a predefined list of messages. Message filtering provides a script that contains a subset of the messages from the 3270 session. You can also create and reuse lists of user IDs, logical unit (LU) names, or applications that can be included or excluded from a session.

Playback

You can:

  • Play back scripts online in either interactive or batch mode without manually rekeying transactions.
  • Play back previously recorded scripts in interactive or non-stop (full-speed) modes.
  • Play back scripts in a batch environment using unattended playback.

Interactive playback

In interactive mode, Performance Test for VTAM stops the script at each screen to allow you to review the input and output data. Interactive playback allows you to change input data, so you can modify the script without re-recording it. In addition, you can:

  • Insert new transactions in the script
  • Delete input messages in the script
  • Skip selected parts of the script
  • Play back the script
  • Terminate the session
  • Purge current transactions.

Non-stop playback

In non-stop playback mode, you see each screen as it occurs in the script. The keyboard is locked to prevent data input. Three non-stop playback options are provided:

  • Full Speed: Transactions are replayed as quickly as the system can play them.
  • Recorded Think Time: Think time (the amount of time between each recorded user action) is simulated using the think-time value recorded in the script.
  • Chosen Think Time: You set a think-time value for each transaction — in seconds or as a percentage of the recorded value.

In non-stop playback, when Performance Test for VTAM encounters a mismatch, script playback stops. When you resume playback, it continues in non-stop mode. In this mode, you see screens only when a mismatch occurs. This eliminates the need to review screens that have not changed.

Unattended playback

In unattended playback, you can play back scripts containing the recorded activity of multiple terminals in a batch environment. Unattended playback can play back multiple scripts on one or more virtual terminals. These virtual terminals can be signed on to one or more VTAM-based domain destinations.

Unattended playback eliminates the need for weekend and after-hours testing. By running a batch job, you can perform regression, concurrency, and stress tests. You can also perform tests with multiple online regions for capacity planning and performance tuning. If your script contains REXX logic, you can use data from an external file to generate additional input data to populate your database.

Comparison

You can compare current test results with previous benchmarked results. When you play a script, Performance Test for VTAM automatically compares each current session output (actual screen) with each original recorded session output (expected screen).

During playback setup, you can set the conditions under which Performance Test for VTAM stops processing when a mismatch occurs.

Performance Test for VTAM also allows you to ignore numeric differences during playback. This option is useful for screens with date and time fields.

Unattended comparison

Using unattended comparison, you can compare two 3270-based scripts independent of playback. It uses the same statements as unattended playback with an additional COMPARE statement.

Editing, masking, and dubbing

After a script has been recorded, you can use ISPF edit capabilities to add or delete screens from the script. You can also edit the script to:

  • Imbed REXX logic
  • Change input data to different values
  • Document script flow
  • Add comments.

Masking information

Masking instructs Performance Test for VTAM to ignore certain screen information, such as date and time fields, during comparison. Performance Test for VTAM can also generically mask selected alphanumeric characters on a screen. You can mask when recording or dubbing a script or with ISPF edit. You can also globally mask screen information for the entire script.

There are two basic mask types:

  • Row masks are characters inserted in a script to mask an entire screen row or selected columns within the row.
  • Generic masks use a parsed string to allow you to make conditional masking decisions based on screen content.

Dubbing

With dubbing, you can create new test scripts using previously recorded sessions. This is useful when adding new transactions to an existing script or re-recording screen images to a new script.

Performance Test for VTAM can be set to automatically record the new script while playing back the existing script. You can also instruct Performance Test for VTAM to record the new script only when a mismatch occurs. Dubbing provides many ways for you to customize scripts, allowing you to:

  • Combine multiple scripts into a single script.
  • Update an existing script with new screen images.
  • Append transactions to the middle or end of a script.
  • Update an existing script with new or additional input.
  • Update masked data.

Unattended dubbing

With unattended dubbing, you can dub 3270-based scripts during unattended playback. You can combine scripts for a single group into one script or create a dubbed script for each script in a group.

Customizing scripts using script processors

With script processors, you can customize tests by taking previously recorded scripts and creating customized output scripts. Available script processors include:

Message filtering

With message filtering, you can create a new script by taking an existing script and removing certain transactions or messages. Using REXX code, you choose which messages to include and exclude in the new script. You can filter messages from Global Record or from the unattended (batch) message filter program. With message filtering, you can:

  • Simplify testing by producing scripts that contain a single message, allowing you to test one message at a time.
  • Remove messages that contain confidential data.
  • Reduce script size by eliminating messages of no interest.

Advanced testing using REXX

Performance Test for VTAM uses IBM’s REXX language to significantly enhance script playback in ISPF and in unattended playback. Performance Test for VTAM’s REXX utility can:

  • Extract data from external data sets to be used as input data.
  • Generate random numbers.
  • Perform integer, decimal, and floating point arithmetic.
  • Make internal and external function calls.

Following are some other uses of REXX in Performance Test for VTAM scripts.

Substituting terminal input

Terminal input substitution allows you to substitute or assign constants and variables to the input of a Performance Test for VTAM script. In stress testing, where multiple terminal sessions are involved, systems often require unique user ID and password data for each session. Performance Test for VTAM’s table processing and variable substitution allows a table of users to be read in and substituted based on criteria such as the session’s terminal ID or port number.

Creating modular scripts

You can use REXX’s conditional logic and CALL statement to create a fix-up script based on the output of a particular transaction. For example, if a batch job tries to close a database while users are attached to it, Performance Test for VTAM can issue a message and reschedule the job. The CALL statement lets you dynamically include:

  • Other Performance Test for VTAM recorded scripts.
  • Additional script logic implemented as REXX internal procedures.
  • Programs in REXX, Assembler, C, or other high-level languages.

Using REXX, you can create scripts to perform tasks with control returned to the original script. For example, a CICS installation needs to use the CEMT transaction to open and close databases during nightly backups or reorganizations. Using Performance Test for VTAM, you can create special operator scripts to perform tasks that normally require a terminal operator.

Creating script reports

The REXX SAY statement provides a way to create reports from a running script. The results are written to the Performance Test for VTAM log. In unattended playback, this is the SYSPRINT data set. In ISPF playback, this is the log defined by Performance Test for VTAM’s RLOG command.

Additional management features

Several management functions, including Transaction Journal, Autodoc, and Session Demo, help ensure the integrity of your testing process.

Transaction journal

The transaction journal records all inputs and outputs of a user session in screen-image format for easy reference. It also shows the user’s think time, the system’s response time, and the session’s elapsed time. The journal is recorded on DASD for online review or subsequent printing.

Autodoc (Automated Documentation)

Automated documentation (autodoc) helps you produce documentation for online systems. Autodoc automatically creates document skeletons or boilerplates consisting of document format characters, a running title, screen images, user input data, and short titles leading to the screen’s description. You can print autodoc-created data sets or transfer them to a PC for use as word-processing input.

Session demo

Session Demo is a script demonstration tool. It plays 3270 scripts without initiating the application from which the scripts were derived. Use it to:

  • Inspect a script’s contents
  • Train personnel — create a script, use ISPF Edit to insert instructional pop-up messages, then view the training script with Session Demo
  • Demonstrate the screen flows of application prototypes

Session Demo supports interactive and non-interactive demonstration. Use Session Demo commands to move backward and forward through the screens in the script, locate a specific screen, and copy and paste screen images into an ISPF Edit session.

Online help

Performance Test for VTAM provides online help text that describes the product’s screens, fields, and commands. Press PF13 for help when viewing the Domain Destination screen. On all other Performance Test for VTAM screens, press PF1 to obtain help information.

DBCS support

Performance Test for VTAM supports DBCS (Double Byte Character Set) used primarily to display Japanese Kanji characters during 3270 testing.

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*

BMC AMI DevX Performance Test 17.02