| Acknowledgements | xiii |
| Introduction | xv |
| 1 Laying the Performance Analysis Groundwork | 1 |
| Why Is Performance Testing and Tuning Important? | 1 |
| Effects of Current and Emerging Architecture Technologies | 3 |
| What Is .NET? | 4 |
| The .NET Platform | 4 |
| Standard .NET Protocols | 6 |
| Web Service Description Language (WSDL) | 7 |
| Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) | 7 |
| What Is an XML Web Service? | 7 |
| Devices Drive Demand for Web Services | 8 |
| Web Services Will Increase Importance of Web Performance Testing | 9 |
| Performance Goals | 9 |
| Computer Interaction Behavioral Patterns | 10 |
| Performance Testing Your Application | 11 |
| Planning Performance Analysis | 12 |
| Creating Effective Stress Scripts | 13 |
| Executing Stress Tests | 13 |
| Analyzing Performance Results | 13 |
| Conclusion | 15 |
| 2 Preparing and Planning for the Performance Test | 17 |
| Identifying Performance Goals | 18 |
| Response Time Acceptability Goals and Targets | 18 |
| Throughput Goals and Concurrent User Targets | 19 |
| Performance Growth Analysis | 20 |
| User Activity Profile | 22 |
| Backend Activity Profile | 23 |
| Identifying a Web Application's User Activity | 23 |
| Identifying a Web Application's Backend Performance Bottlenecks | 24 |
| Key Performance Metrics Criteria | 24 |
| Mirroring the Production Environment | 26 |
| Putting It Together in a Performance Test Plan | 27 |
| Conclusion | 28 |
| 3 Stress Testing with Microsoft Application Center Test (ACT) | 29 |
| Getting Started | 29 |
| What is ACT? | 30 |
| Installing Microsoft ACT | 30 |
| Core Concepts of ACT | 32 |
| Dynamic Tests | 32 |
| Concurrent Users and ACT Simultaneous Browser Connections | 33 |
| Users and Groups | 34 |
| Cookies | 35 |
| Headers | 35 |
| Authentication and Encryption | 36 |
| Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) | 38 |
| Using SOAP with ACT | 38 |
| Parsing Viewstate within ACT | 39 |
| Protecting your Web Site from Inadvertent Stress Testing | 40 |
| Running ACT | 40 |
| Overview of the ACT User Interface | 41 |
| Creating a Test Script | 44 |
| Executing a Performance/Stress Test | 60 |
| Conclusion | 62 |
| 4 Monitoring Application Performance with System Monitor | 63 |
| Using System Monitor | 63 |
| Viewing Real-Time Performance Data | 65 |
| How Often Should You Collect Data? | 69 |
| Logging and Viewing Logged Data | 70 |
| Monitoring Remote Computers | 76 |
| Monitoring Objects, Counters, and Instances for Performance Bottlenecks | 77 |
| Processor Bottlenecks | 77 |
| Typical Processor-related Problems and Solutions | 79 |
| System Object | 80 |
| Disk Bottlenecks | 82 |
| How the ACE Team Discovered a Disk Bottleneck | 83 |
| Disk Architecture Matters to Performance | 85 |
| Memory | 86 |
| How the ACE Team Discovered a Memory Leak | 87 |
| Create and Configure Alerts | 89 |
| Conclusion | 94 |
| 5 Application Network Analysis | 95 |
| Conducting an Application Network Analysis | 95 |
| Network Latency | 96 |
| Network Round Trips | 98 |
| Reducing Network Round Trips | 98 |
| Data Transferred | 99 |
| Reducing the Quantity of Data Transferred | 100 |
| Processing Delay | 102 |
| Reducing Processing Delays | 103 |
| Response Times | 104 |
| User Scenarios | 105 |
| Using Microsoft Network Monitor | 106 |
| Capturing Network Traffic | 112 |
| Using Compuware's Application Expert | 115 |
| Interpreting Network Captures with Application Expert | 119 |
| Conclusion | 124 |
| 6 Analyzing and Performance Tuning the Web Tier | 125 |
| Getting Started | 125 |
| Understanding Configuration and Performance | 126 |
| ASP.NET File Extensions | 126 |
| Authentication in ASP.NET | 127 |
| Configuration Files | 128 |
| Understanding Your Web Application | 130 |
| Profiling a .NET Web Application | 130 |
| IIS Log Files | 131 |
| Tracing Problems to the Code Level | 137 |
| System Monitor Counters | 142 |
| Performance Tuning Tips | 145 |
| Application and Session State | 145 |
| Caching in ASP.NET | 146 |
| Disabling ViewState | 149 |
| ADO.NET Tips | 149 |
| Common Web Tier Bottlenecks | 155 |
| Scaling the Web Tier | 158 |
| Scale Out, Scale Up, or Performance Tune? | 158 |
| When to Scale your Web Tier? | 159 |
| How to Scale Out your Web Tier? | 160 |
| Conclusion | 161 |
| 7 Performance Analysis of Managed Code | 163 |
| CLR and Performance | 163 |
| Microsoft Intermediate Language | 164 |
| The Just-in-Time Compiler | 164 |
| The Pre-JIT Alternative | 165 |
| The Life and Times of a .NET Web Application | 166 |
| Load Time—AppDomains | 166 |
| Run Time—Interoperability | 166 |
| Run Time—Garbage Collection | 167 |
| Run Time—Exceptions | 171 |
| .NET Performance Counters | 172 |
| .NET CLR Memory Object | 173 |
| .NET CLR Loading | 175 |
| .NET CLR LocksAndThreads | 176 |
| .NET CLR Exceptions | 177 |
| .NET CLR Security | 178 |
| Profiling Managed Code | 179 |
| Using Compuware DevPartner Studio | 179 |
| Using AppMetrics to Monitor .NET Enterprise Services Components | 184 |
| Pre-Production Monitoring in AppMetrics | 185 |
| Production Monitoring | 187 |
| Conclusion | 190 |
| 8 Analyzing the SQL Tier | 191 |
| Getting Started | 192 |
| Identifying Bottlenecks | 192 |
| Tools We Use | 193 |
| Blocking Problems | 200 |
| Index Tuning | 207 |
| Analyzing the Execution Plan | 207 |
| Understanding Indexes | 214 |
| Choosing Right Indexes | 215 |
| Conclusion | 229 |
| 9 Estimating IIS Tier Capacity with Transaction Cost Analysis | 231 |
| Concurrent Users: A Loosely Defined Term | 232 |
| Concurrent Server Request Processing | 233 |
| TCA Concurrent Users | 233 |
| Benefits of Completing a TCA | 234 |
| TCA In Five Steps | 235 |
| Step 1—Create A User Profile | 237 |
| Step 2—Stress Test for User Operation Costs | 238 |
| Step 3—Calculate the Cost per User Operation | 241 |
| Step 4—Estimate Site Capacity | 245 |
| Step 5—Verify Site Capacity | 247 |
| Conclusion | 249 |
| 10 Performance Modeling: Tools for Predicting Performance | 251 |
| Predicting and Evaluating Performance Through TCA | 252 |
| Advanced Performance Modeling | 252 |
| Performance Modeling Technology | 253 |
| Modeling Scenarios | 253 |
| Performance Modeling Methods | 255 |
| Performance Modeling Tools | 258 |
| Indy: A Performance Technology Infrastructure | 258 |
| Indy Concepts | 258 |
| Indy Architecture | 259 |
| IndyView | 261 |
| TCA vs. Performance Modeling Conclusions | 271 |
| Building What-if Scenarios Using Indy | 272 |
| Conclusion | 273 |
| INDEX | 275 |
