LOADRUNNER

Overview:
HP LoadRunner is a software testing tool from Hewlett-Packard. It is used to test applications, measuring system behavior & performance under load. HP acquired LoadRunner as part of its acquisition of Mercury Interactive in November 2006.
HP LoadRunner can simulate thousands of users concurrently using application software, recording and later analyzing the performance of key components of the application.
LoadRunner simulates user activity by generating messages between application components or by simulating interactions with the user interface such as key presses or mouse movements. The messages/interactions to be generated are stored in scripts. LoadRunner can generate the scripts by recording them, such as logging HTTP requests between a client web browser and an application’s web server.
Core Activities of performance testing
Key types of Performance testing
Non-functional requirements gathering
Load Runner Installation and Licensing policy discussion
Load runner components and Protocol discussion
Vugen Recording options
Vugen Runtime settings
Action files
Transactions
Checkpoints
Parameters (Parameterization)
Manual correlation
Automatic correlation
Controller
Manual scenario and goal oriented scenario
Scheduling Scenario
Adding monitors in Controller
Running load test in a controller
Analysis
Adding graphs in Analysis and Creating Reports
Performance Counters for O/S and database
Windows performance monitoring tool
Performance Center overview