2/19/2017 RiverbedSupport:S20700HowdoIgeneratetrafficusingthecustomapplicationmodel&#x3f

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thecustomapplicationmodel?
Categories:RiverbedModeler
SolutionNumber:S20700

Issue

HowdoIgeneratetrafficusingthecustomapplicationmodel?

Solution

Ifyoudonotseeexpectedresultsusingthecustomapplication,readthefollowinglisttoidentify
commonconfigurationproblems,typicallyduetonetworkorserverbehavior.Descriptionsofthe
problemsandtheirsolutionsappearbelowtheProblemslist.

TypicalProblems:

1.NotrafficisflowingoutofaworkstationorLAN.
2.Notallapplicationsortasksareexecuting.
3.TheinitializationtimeforthephaseisdifferentfromwhatIspecified.
4.Thecorrectamountoftrafficisnotleavingthesource.
5.Thephasedoesnotcompleteandstopssendingouttrafficafterthefirstrequest.
6.HowdoIsetmyapplicationtoendafterallitstasksfinish?7.HowdoIconfiguremyphasesto
useserverCPUforinterresponsetimes?
7.HowcanIuseserverprocessingspeedforInterresponseTimethedelayincurredbyeach
responsecomingbackfromtheserver?

DetailedProblemDescriptions/Solutions:

Problem1:IsetupmytasksinaTaskConfigurationObject,however,thereisnotrafficflowingout
ofmyworkstation/LANandthesimulationrunsforseveralhundredeventsonly.

Solution:MakesurethattheSourcePreferencesattributeissetonyourworkstation.Thisattribute
isavailableinadvancednodemodelsonly,somakesurethatyourworkstation/LANisofanadvanced

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type.Settingthisattributeeffectivelymakestheworkstation/LANtheoriginatingnodeforyourtask.

Problem2:Ihavesetupseveralapplicationswithinmyprofiles,butIdonotseeallofthemexecuting.
Alternatively,Idonotseeanapplicationrepeatingwithinthespecifiedprofile.

Solution:IftheOperationModeofalltheapplicationswithintheprofileissettoSerial(Orderedor
Random)andtheProfileDurationissettotheEndofSimulationandthedurationofthefirst
applicationissettoEndofProfile,onlythefirstapplicationwillstartup.Therefore,youwillNOTsee
trafficfromthesecondapplicationonwards.Whenyourunapplicationsserially,makesurethatyour
configurationallowsalltheapplicationstostartwithinthespecifiedruntime.

Problem3:IhavesetInitializationTimeforaphasetobenseconds,however,Iseethattheactual
initializationtimeismore(orless)thanthetimethatIspecified.

Solution:ThedifferenceininitializationtimeiscontributedbythesettingsoftheCPUResource
Parametersattributeonthenode.ThisusuallyhappenswhentheattributeCPUResource
Parameters>TaskContentionModeissettoSimulateContention.Inthismode,CPUprocessing
timemightnotbethesameasthetimespecifiedintheTaskConfigurationObject.A.

Ifinitializationtimeismorethannseconds:IfaLANobjectwithmultipleworkstationsisused,
workstationsmayincurtheinitializationtimeatthesametimeandtheCPUontheLANwilladd
contentiondelaytotheinitializationtime.Thiscanincreasetheinitializationtimeforeachphaseand
decreasetheamountoftrafficcomingoutoftheLANobject.B.

Ifinitializationtimeislessthannseconds:makesurethatProcessingSpeedMultiplierisnotlarger
than1,sincethiseffectivelydecreasesthespecifiedinitializationbythemultiplierfactor.

Problem4:Isetupmycustomapplicationtogenerateaspecificamountoftraffic,however,Idonot
seetheexpectedamountoftrafficleavingthesource.

Solution:Severalfactorsaffecttheamountoftrafficleavingthesourceatanytime,whichare:

Thephaseconfiguration
Theamountofnetworktraffic
Theloadonthedestinationservers
Theunderlyingprotocols.

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Thefollowinglistgivespossiblereasonswhytheamountoftrafficleavingthesourceisdifferentfrom
theexpectedtrafficload:

A.Ifyouconfiguredatasktosendrequestsserially,forexampletheREQ/RESPPatternissetto
REQ>RESP>REQ>RESP(serial),andyouhavetheTaskContentionModeontheserver
settoSimulatecontention,multiplerequestsarrivingattheservercancausehugedelaysforthe
responses.Becausetheresponsetakeslongertoarrive,thenextrequestdoesnotgooutand
thetrafficstalls.Thisisnormalbehaviorwheremultipleusersexperienceaserverslowdownand
areunabletoperformthenextoperationuntiltheirmachineregainscontrol.

Note:thatthetotalamountoftrafficsentfromthenodeisthesamehowever,ittakeslongerto
sendthespecifiedamountoftrafficthismakesitpossiblethattheapplication/profileor
simulationwillfinishbeforethetaskfinishes.Ifthishappens,someoftheresultsofthecustom
applicationdonotgetcollected.
B.Sameaspoint(A),exceptthatyouhavealongnetworkdelayinsteadofaserverdelay.Ifthere
isanetworkbottleneckandtherequestresponsemodeisserial,theresponsesgetdelayedand
thenextrequestfailstoleave.
C.IfREQ/RESPPatternissettoREQ>REQ>REQ>RESP(concurrent)andTransport
Connection>PolicyissettoNewConnectionPerRequest,thenumberofparallelopen
connectionswillbelimitedtothenumberspecifiedintheLimitattribute.Therefore,ifthenumber
ofrequestsissetto100,andtheconnectionlimitis10,requestsaresentoutconcurrentlyand
theinterrequesttimeissmallerthanthetimeittakestofinishonerequest,onlythefirst10
requestswillbeabletoopenconnectionssimultaneously,andtheother90requestswillget
queued.Fromthatpointon,anewrequestwillbesentoutonlywhenapreviousrequest
finishesandtheconnectionbecomesavailable.Thus,thespecifiedinterrequesttimingwillbe
lost.Inthiscase,theamountoftrafficsentfromtheworkstationwillbedifferent.
D.Ingeneral,underlyingtransmissionprotocols,suchasTCP,influencetheamountoftraffic
leavingthesource.Ifanapplicationsendsout1000Mbytesoftrafficinstantaneously,itdoesnot
meanthatthiswillbetheinstantaneousamountofdataleavingthesource.Forexample,the
TCPcongestionwindowsizeorreceivebuffersizeswillinfluencetheamountofdatathatcanbe
sentoutinstantaneously.

Problem5:Ihavespecifiedaphase,butitdoesnotseemtofinishandstopssendingtrafficafterthe
firstrequest.

Solution:WhenyousettheDest>SourceInformationinatasktoNoResponse,makesurethat
youselecttheConcurrentmodefortherequestresponsepattern.Becausetherearenoresponses,

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youcannotusetheserialrequestresponsemode.

Problem6:Iwanttoendmyapplicationwhenthelasttaskfinishes,butIdonotwanttospecifyits
durationmanually.

Solution:Forcustomapplications,settheapplicationdurationtoEndofLastTaskintheProfile
ConfigurationObject.

Problem7:YoucansetInterresponseTimeexplicitlyorsetittoUseServerCPU,whichcalculates
interresponsetimebasedontheCPUspeedofthedestinationserver.

Environment

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