Calculating Sessions per hour: For this discussion, we will be focusing on a session as the total time for the user group to finish one complete set of transactions. We may wish to know the number sessions that will be completed for any given number of virtual users.
Example 1:- If a baseline test shows that a User Type takes a total of 120 seconds for a session, then in an hour long steady state test this User Type should be able to complete 3600 / 120 = 30 sessions per hour. Twenty of these users will complete 20 x 30 = 600 of these session in an hour. In other cases, we have a set number of sessions we want to complete during the test and want to determine the number of virtual users to start.
Example 2:Using the same conditions in our first example, if our target session rate for sessions per hour is 500, then 500 / 30 = 16.7 or 17 virtual users. A formula called Little's Law states this calculation of Virtual Users in slightly different terms.
Example 1:- If a baseline test shows that a User Type takes a total of 120 seconds for a session, then in an hour long steady state test this User Type should be able to complete 3600 / 120 = 30 sessions per hour. Twenty of these users will complete 20 x 30 = 600 of these session in an hour. In other cases, we have a set number of sessions we want to complete during the test and want to determine the number of virtual users to start.
Example 2:Using the same conditions in our first example, if our target session rate for sessions per hour is 500, then 500 / 30 = 16.7 or 17 virtual users. A formula called Little's Law states this calculation of Virtual Users in slightly different terms.
Using Little's Law with Example 2:
V.U. = R x D
where R = Transaction Rate and
D = Duration of the Session
If our target rate is 500 sessions per hour (.139 sessions/sec) and our duration is 120 seconds, then Virtual Users = .139 x 120 = 16.7 or 17 virtual users.