Tasks
Performance test conclusions
Performance meets the objectives. If the performance meets the objectives, make sure that we have planned for future growth and that we are meeting all of the performance goals. After that, we suggest documenting the findings in a performance tuning report and archiving it. Include all the settings that we changed to reach the objectives. This report is useful when we set up a new environment or when we have to duplicate the results somewhere else on a similar environment with the same app. This data is essential when adding additional replicas of some components in the system, because they need to be configured to the same settings used by the current resources.
Performance is slower than required. If the app performance is somewhat slower than expected, and we have already done all possible app and WebSphere parameter tuning, we might need to add more hardware (for example, increase memory, upgrade processors, and so forth) to the bottleneck components in the environment. Then, run the tests again. Verify with the appropriate teams that there were no missed bottlenecks in the overall system flow. Performance is significantly slower than required. In this case, start over with the sizing and ask the following questions:
- Did we underestimate any of the app characteristics during the initial sizing? If so, why?
- Did we underestimate the traffic and number of users/hits on the site?
- Is it still possible to change parts of the app to improve performance?
- Is it possible to obtain additional resources?
After answering these questions, we should have a better understanding about the problem that we face. Your best bet is to analyze the app and try to find the bottlenecks that cause the performance problems. Tools such as the Profiler that is part of Rational Application Developer Assembly and Deploy V7.5 and Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software V7.5 can help.