Creating a Private Location

A Private Location (formerly known as a harbor) is a logical container on the BlazeMeter end. A private location contains one or more agents (formerly known as ships). Private locations are servers with our BlazeMeter agent installed on your end. You can have multiple private locations in your account; each will define a unique “location” to choose when running tests and deploying virtual services. You need to be a workspace manager to create Private Locations.

Create a Private Location

Follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your BlazeMeter account as a workspace manager.
  2. Navigate to Settings > Workspace > Private Locations.
  3. Click + to add a new private location.
    The Create a private location window opens.
  4. Fill out the Setup section.
    setup section
    • Location name - Give your private location a meaningful name that helps you team members choose the most appropriate location in the Location list when configuring tests.
    • Parallel engine runs - Enter the number of separate parallel tests each agent is allowed to run in this private location.
      If using Kubernetes to create agents, enter a value greater than 1.
  5. (Optional) Toggle the Agent Log.
    When creating a new private location, the Agent Log is ON by default.
    agent log section
    To investigate agent failure or diagnose any agent connectivity issues, enable the agent log. You can view the logs and debug issues in real time. For more information, see Enabling and Downloading Agent Log.
  6. (Optional) Toggle the Advanced slider.
    To learn how to configure hardware overrides, see Set Up the Advanced Configuration.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Select at least one functionality that you would like this private location to install on the agents that are added.
    To learn which functionalities you can choose from, see Set Up Functionalities.
  9. Click Create.

You have created a Private location. The Private Location page opens and you can continue with the installation process for installing an agent.

Continue with one of the following installation procedures:

Verify that you see your Private Location in your Private Locations list, which is found in the Settings > Workspace > Private Locations section.

private locations list

 

Set up advanced configuration

In the Create a private location wizard, you can optionally customize CPU and memory consumption if your use case requires it. Toggle the Advanced slider on the Setup tab of the wizard.

advanced settings

Customize CPU and memory settings

By default, containers created by the agent use the Docker Memory and CPU settings. These settings override the Docker maximum settings. If you enter a value greater than the maximum Docker settings, the agent uses the maximum settings instead. This option is available to help ensure that large containers designed for performance testing or Service Virtualization can later be reduced for less demanding tests or virtual services. To learn more about memory settings, see Run virtual services on private locations.

Engine hardware consumption

  • Override number of CPUs
    This will override the default number of CPUs to the whole number value of CPUs you want the engines to run with (i.e. 2 for 2 CPUs).
  • Override memory (MB)
    This will override the default memory use for each engine in MB (i.e. for 8 GB of memory, set the number to 8192).

Customize JVM settings and users per engine

Performance testing configuration

  • Users per engine
    The number of virtual users that can be run on each individual test/engine.
  • JVM Parameters XMX
    XMX specifies the maximum memory allocation pool for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
  • JVM Parameters XMS
    XMS specifies the initial memory allocation pool for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

By default, the virtual service container will have an initial Java heap size (XMS) of 16 GB and a maximum Java heap size (XMX) of 3 GB.

The following is the recommended override number of CPUs and override memory for using GUI Functional Tests:
  • The current suggested configuration for this test type is 1 CPU and 2048 MB RAM per selected browser.
    For running several browsers in parallel your machine should have ~(N+ceiling[N/20]) CPUs (where N - is the number of browsers, and ceiling[N/20] is the number of Taurus engines, with 1 Taurus engine per 20 browsers). For calculating the memory please, use the formula ((N+ceiling[N/20])*2048).
  • For example, if your test uses 2 browsers (Chrome and Firefox), the calculations will be the following:
    • CPUs: (2+ceiling[2/20]) = 2+1 = 3
    • RAM: (2+ceiling[2/20])*2048 = (2+1)*2048 = 6144
    • Thus the machine should have at least 3 CPUs and 6144 MB of RAM.
  • We recommend using SSD storage on the machine as it will speed up GUI test execution.
  • For more than 8 parallel browsers, it's mandatory to have SSD storage.

Set up functionalities

In the Create a private location wizard, click Next to proceed to the second page to select one or more functionalities to install in the private location. To learn more about recommended storage sizes (50 to 68 GB), see Private Location system requirements.

  • Performance
    Downloads all the images related to running Performance tests from BlazeMeter (using our docker registry, https://gcr.io/verdant-bulwark-278). This list includes taurus-cloud, apm-image, blazemeter/crane, and blazemeter (Legacy JMeter users ONLY) images.
  • Proxy Recorder
    Downloads all the images related to creating and running the proxy recorder from BlazeMeter (using our docker registry, https://gcr.io/verdant-bulwark-278). This list includes blazemeter/proxy-recorder and blazemeter/crane images.
  • Secrets Private Vault
    Downloads all the images related to managing and storing confidential data from BlazeMeter (using our docker registry, https://gcr.io/verdant-bulwark-278).
  • Vault Access Controls
    Downloads all the images related to Vaults from BlazeMeter (using our docker registry, https://gcr.io/verdant-bulwark-278).
  • Service Virtualization
    Downloads all the images related to creating and running Service Virtualization from BlazeMeter (using our docker registry, https://gcr.io/verdant-bulwark-278). This list includes blazemeter/service-mock and blazemeter/crane images.
  • GUI Functional (Shared run type only)
    Downloads all the images related to GUI Functional test from BlazeMeter (using our docker registry, https://gcr.io/verdant-bulwark-278). This list includes taurus-cloud, apm-image, blazemeter/crane, blazemeter/charmander/firefox, and blazemeter/charmander/chrome.
    The following options are available for the GUI Functional options:

    • Default Firefox, Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Safari - Installs the latest Firefox, Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Safari versions on the agent
    • Select Version - Gives you the choice of the currently supported Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari versions:

      • Chrome (latest 6 versions)
      • Firefox (latest 6 versions)
      • Microsoft Edge (latest 6 versions)
      • Safari (latest 6 versions)

    • All Firefox, Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Safari - Installs all Firefox, Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Safari versions on the agent

      As soon as new versions of browser images become available, the private location will automatically be updated. Please be aware that this will cause network traffic and might consume additional disk space

  • Data Orchestration
  • Delphix Integration - Downloads all the images related to the Delphix integration from BlazeMeter (using our docker registry, https://gcr.io/verdant-bulwark-278).
At the bottom of the pop-up page, you will see the recommended storage settings (based on the number of functionalities you want to install), and if there are any restrictions on what you can do with the private location type you are using.

Example for Shared type:

example dialog functional