LoadGen Appliance - System Requirements

Overview

This article lists everything to prepare before you deploy the LoadGen Appliance, the virtual machine that runs the LoadGen Load Testing and Monitoring Platform: the virtual hardware, the hypervisor and image, the network, name resolution and certificates, internet access or an air-gapped setup, the license, the browsers, the Windows machine you work from, and the firewall ports.

When the appliance runs, its Home dashboard shows the setup checklist Finish setting up your appliance. The last section of this article maps each preparation to the checklist step that needs it.

Hardware Requirements

Minimum Requirements

Recommended Requirements

For production environments and larger test workloads:

Note: Actual requirements depend on the number of concurrent tests, test data volume, and result retention period.

Disk: the appliance image ships with a 32 GB disk. Grow the virtual disk in your hypervisor before production use or an offline update. The Disk tab of Infrastructure > Appliance then offers Extend Filesystem, which makes the new space usable. An offline update checks the free space before it starts: it needs about three times the size of the container images in the update bundle free for Docker, plus 1 GB free on the root filesystem and 150 MB free on /boot.

Supported Virtualization Platforms

ovf.zip holds two OVF descriptors for the same disk. VMware ESXi and vSphere reject loadgen-appliance.ovf, which is the VirtualBox descriptor: on VMware, deploy loadgen-appliance-vmware.ovf.

Supported Cloud Platforms

IP Address, Host Name and DNS

• Static IP address: give the appliance a static address with a gateway and at least one DNS server. The setup checklist counts only a static address; the DHCP address the appliance starts with does not complete the step. On a network without DHCP, sign in on the VM console as loadgen: the console menu opens, and Appliance settings sets a static IP address, DNS servers and hosts-file entries.
• Host name: choose the final host name before you configure HTTPS. A fully qualified name such as loadgen.corp.example is allowed.
• DNS record: create a DNS record for the name your users will type (the frontend domain), pointing to the appliance's IP address. Where your DNS cannot resolve it, each Windows machine that opens the appliance needs a line in its hosts file instead (setup checklist step W1).
• Use the name, not the IP address: once HTTPS is configured, open the appliance by its name. The appliance selects the certificate by the name the browser asks for, so https:// followed by the IP address fails.

Certificate

Choose how the appliance gets its HTTPS certificate before you run the HTTPS Setup Wizard (setup checklist step 5):

Behind a proxy, the wizard does not offer Let's Encrypt. A browser exception for a self-signed certificate is not enough: LoadGen Studio checks the certificate against the Windows trust store and cannot connect until the certificate is trusted there. Details: LoadGen Appliance - SSL Configuration (sign-in required).

Network Requirements

Required Ports

The following ports must be accessible for the appliance to function correctly:

The LoadGen API is not published on a port of its own (port 5000 is internal to the appliance): scripts reach it through the web port, at https://APPLIANCE_HOST/v1/ once HTTPS is configured.

On each Windows machine that runs a Core Agent, allow TCP 4850 inbound in Windows Firewall (setup checklist step W5). The port table for Launcher Appliances is in Add Launcher Appliances to your LoadGen appliance (sign-in required).

Outbound Connectivity

An appliance with internet access uses these destinations. An air-gapped appliance needs none of them: see Air-Gapped Installation below.

The appliance opens these connections itself. The LoadGen destinations use TCP port 443.

If the appliance reaches the internet only through a proxy, set it on the Proxy tab of Infrastructure > Appliance (Outbound Proxy). Under Apply to you choose what goes through it: license and agent downloads, Docker image updates, API tests, uptime checks and OS package updates. Proxy sign-in with Kerberos or NTLM, PAC files or auto-discovery, and SOCKS proxies are not supported. The complete list, including the optional hosts for LoadGen AI, the LoadGen Exchange and buying from inside the product, is in LoadGen On-Premises and Cloud - URLs and TCP Port numbers in use (sign-in required).

Air-Gapped Installation

The appliance runs without internet access. The container images of the platform, InfluxDB and Grafana are already part of the appliance image. The PostgreSQL image that the Service Levels module uses is not: ask LoadGen Support before you enable Service Levels on an air-gapped appliance.

• License: use an offline license. On LoadGen Cloud > Licensing, tab Offline License, generate a request file and send it to support@loadgen.com, then upload the .dat license files you receive on the same tab. The license is bound to this appliance, so request it after you deploy the appliance.
• Agent packages: upload the LoadGen Full Agent and Core Agent packages on the Updates tab of Infrastructure > Appliance before you install agents or the add-in from the appliance.
• HTTPS: Let's Encrypt needs internet access. Upload a certificate from your own certificate authority with the HTTPS Setup Wizard on the SSL tab of Infrastructure > Appliance, or use a self-signed certificate.
• Updates: newer releases are installed from an offline update bundle. LoadGen Support provides the bundle and its instructions on request.

License

• With internet access: store your LoadGen Cloud user name and password on LoadGen Cloud > Licensing and activate your license there (setup checklist steps 3 and 4). A cloud license is refreshed every month through the same account.
• Without internet access: request an offline license as described under Air-Gapped Installation.
• An appliance without a valid license has a 5-day grace period from the first start of the platform. During it you can sign in and set up the appliance: the sidebar shows a Setup section with Appliance and Licensing, and the rest of the platform waits for a license.

Browser Requirements

Access the LoadGen web interface using a modern browser:

The web interface keeps a live connection to the appliance over WebSockets on the web port (443 once HTTPS is configured): a proxy between your browsers and the appliance must allow WebSockets. The web interface loads no files from the internet, so it also works on an air-gapped network.

Windows Machine for LoadGen Studio and Agents

LoadGen Studio and the LoadGen agents run on Windows machines, not on the appliance. Download their installers from the Updates tab of Infrastructure > Appliance (setup checklist steps 9, W3 and W4).

Instead of installing the Core Agent and the Full Agent on your own machines, you can run them on Launcher Appliances. More: What are the minimum system requirements / prerequisites for the LoadGen Products?

Cloud-Specific Requirements

Microsoft Azure

• Storage Account: Required for VHD upload
• Resource Group: For organizing Azure resources
• Virtual Network: With configured subnet
• Network Security Group: Allow required ports
• VM Size: Minimum Standard_B2s, recommended Standard_D2s_v3 or higher

Pre-Deployment Checklist

Before deploying the LoadGen Appliance, ensure you have:

The setup checklist and every step are explained in Finish setting up your appliance: the setup checklist (sign-in required).

Next Steps

Proceed to the deployment guide for your platform:

• VMware ESXi Deployment
• Hyper-V Deployment
• VirtualBox Deployment
• Azure Deployment

Related Documentation

• LoadGen Appliance Overview - Introduction to the appliance
• Initial Setup - Post-deployment configuration