Testing: Active Test
Overview
Use this page to monitor and control a running test in real time. Active Test is the live command center for a test execution: the single run of a load profile simulating users or traffic against your System Under Test. Without it, you would have no way to see concurrency, throughput, or errors build up, or to intervene, before the test finishes on its own.
A test execution appears here only after you launch it from Run Test using a load profile from Load Profiles. While you watch the run, the agents assigned to that profile generate the load and report utilization back to this page. Once the test finishes or is stopped, its results move to Test Runs for full review.
On this page you track concurrency, throughput, phase, and agent utilization through live charts, watch simulated users and their login outcomes in the User Fleet, follow a Live Event Stream of actions as they happen, and triage Error Hotspots. You can pause, resume, or stop the execution, and when nothing is running, start a new one.
Key concepts
- Load Profile - A saved definition of the simulated users, scenarios, and ramp pattern a test executes. (related: Testing: Load Profiles)
- Test execution - A single run of a load profile, from start through its phases to completion or an early stop. (related: Testing: Test Runs)
- Phase - A time-boxed stage of a test's lifecycle, such as ramp-up or steady state, shown on the Phase Timeline.
- LoadGen Agent - The worker process that generates load against the System Under Test and reports utilization and metrics back to Active Test. (related: Configuration: LoadGen Agents: Full Agents)
- Error Hotspot - A cluster of errors grouped by the step or action causing them, surfaced live so you can triage the most frequent failures while the test is still running.
When to use it
- To watch concurrency, throughput, and error trends while a test is running.
- To pause a test so a dependent system can recover, then resume it without restarting the run.
- To stop a test early once you have confirmed a failure in the System Under Test.
- To confirm no test is currently active before starting a new one.
Before you begin
- A load profile is configured on Testing: Load Profiles; Active Test has nothing to monitor until a profile has been started.
- A test has either already been launched from Testing: Run Test, or you plan to use Start New Test to go configure and launch one.
- The agents the load profile needs are online, checked on Configuration: LoadGen Agents: Full Agents (or the Core Agents / VDI Agents pages for other session types).
Common workflows
Start a test from the empty state
Persona: load-test operator
- Confirm the panel shows No Test Running.
- Expect: The empty-state message and Start New Test button confirm no execution is currently active.
- Select Start New Test.
- Expect: The browser navigates to the Run Test page, where you choose a load profile and launch an execution.
Verify: Active Test replaces the empty-state panel with live concurrency, throughput, and phase information once the new execution begins.
Pause and resume a running test
Persona: operator monitoring a long run
- Select Pause while the test is running.
- Expect: The test's phase changes to paused, concurrency trends flatten, and Resume becomes available.
- Select Resume once the test should continue.
- Expect: Load generation restarts and the live charts resume updating.
Verify: The Phase Timeline shows a paused interval followed by a resumed run, and the elapsed timer continues counting toward the test's configured duration.
Stop a test early
Persona: operator responding to a failure
- Select Stop on the running test.
- Expect: A Stop Test confirmation dialog asks you to confirm, warning that the action cannot be undone.
- Confirm the stop in the dialog.
- Expect: The test execution ends immediately and Active Test returns to the No Test Running state.
Verify: The stopped execution appears in Test Runs with its partial results, and Active Test shows the empty-state panel again.
Steps
Step 1
Open Active Test.
Expected result: Since no test is currently running, the page shows a No Test Running heading with explanatory text and a Start New Test button, instead of live charts.
This confirms whether a test is already active before you decide to start a new one.
- Start New Test is the only control available until a test execution begins.
- The heading reads No Test Running, with text explaining that starting a new test will make it appear here.
Field reference
| Field | Purpose | Format / Validation | Required | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search user or agent... | Filters the User Fleet list to the user or agent name you type, so you can find one session quickly in a large run instead of scrolling the full fleet. | free text | No | empty (shows all users) |
| Filter action... | Narrows the Live Event Stream to events whose action matches the typed text, useful for isolating one type of step while the stream keeps moving. | free text | No | empty (shows all actions) |
| Filter user... | Narrows the Live Event Stream to events raised by a single user, so you can follow one session's activity without the rest of the fleet interleaved. | free text | No | empty (shows all users) |
| Has screenshots | Toggles the User Fleet list between showing every user and showing only users for whom a screenshot has been captured; turn it on to jump straight to sessions you can visually inspect. | toggle | No | off (all users) |
| Auto-scroll | Keeps the Live Event Stream scrolled to the newest event as it arrives; turn it off to read older entries without the list jumping while new events keep coming in. | toggle | No | on |
Column reference
| Column | What it shows | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Login Outcome | Shows the result of each simulated user's most recent login attempt against the System Under Test. | A failing outcome marks a user who could not log in during the run; check it first when overall concurrency is lower than expected. |
Controls reference
Start New Test
Opens the Run Test page so you can select a load profile and launch a new test execution.
When to use: Use when the panel shows No Test Running and you are ready to start the next test.
Side effects: Read-only navigation; it does not start a test by itself, you still configure and confirm the run on Run Test.
Pause
Suspends a running test's load generation without ending the execution.
When to use: Use when a slow System Under Test or dependent service needs to recover mid-test without losing the run's accumulated results.
Side effects: Mutating: the test's phase changes to paused, concurrency drops toward zero, and Resume becomes available.
Resume
Restarts load generation on a paused test from where it left off.
When to use: Use once the condition that required pausing has cleared and the test should continue toward its configured duration.
Side effects: Mutating: concurrency ramps back up and live charts resume updating.
Stop
Ends the test execution immediately.
When to use: Use when a test must be terminated early, for example after confirming a critical failure in the System Under Test.
Side effects: Mutating and irreversible: a Stop Test confirmation dialog asks you to confirm before the test is released and its results move to Test Runs.
Show Details
Expands the failure message shown when a test failed to start or hit an initialization error.
When to use: Use after a Test failed to start or Initialization error message appears, to see the specific reason before retrying.
Side effects: Read-only; only reveals more text on the same page.
Clear filter
Resets the active search or filter on the User Fleet or Live Event Stream list.
When to use: Use after narrowing the list with Search user or agent..., Filter action..., or Filter user... to return to the full list.
Side effects: Read-only; only changes what is displayed, not the underlying test data.
Pin/Unpin event
Pins a Live Event Stream entry so it stays visible instead of scrolling out of view, or unpins it to let it scroll normally again.
When to use: Use to keep a specific error or event visible while you keep watching new events arrive.
Side effects: Read-only; affects only your view of the stream.
Back to Run
Returns you to the test start page after an initialization failure.
When to use: Use when a test could not start and you need to adjust its configuration before trying again.
Side effects: Read-only navigation away from Active Test.
Open Test History
Opens the Test Runs page listing past executions.
When to use: Use once the current test has finished and you want to review it alongside earlier runs.
Side effects: Read-only navigation.
Open in Results
Opens the detailed results for this specific completed run.
When to use: Use right after a test finishes to drill into its full results without searching for it in Test Runs.
Side effects: Read-only navigation.
Verify the result
When a test is active, Active Test replaces the No Test Running panel with the run's name, phase, and elapsed/total timer, live charts for concurrency, throughput, and errors, and a Live Event Stream reporting activity as it happens. The Pause, Resume, and Stop controls respond immediately: pausing flattens the concurrency trend, and stopping returns the page to the empty state. If the page still shows No Test Running after you launched a test, check Test Runs for an initialization failure rather than assuming the page has not refreshed. If a test fails to start, Active Test shows a Test failed to start or Initialization error message instead of live charts; select Show Details for the specific reason.
Troubleshooting
- Symptom: Active Test still shows No Test Running after you launched a test from Run Test. Fix: Open Test History or Test Runs to check whether the execution failed during initialization before this page could pick it up.
- Symptom: The page shows Test failed to start or Initialization error instead of live charts. Fix: Select Show Details to read the specific reason, for example an agent that cannot run the requested session type, then correct it and start the test again from Run Test.
- Symptom: Stop appears to do nothing immediately. Fix: Confirm the Stop Test dialog; the test only ends after you confirm, since the action is irreversible.
- Symptom: The Live Event Stream stops following new events. Fix: Check whether Auto-scroll is turned off or an event is pinned; turn Auto-scroll back on or unpin the event to resume following the latest entries.
- Symptom: The User Fleet list seems incomplete. Fix: Check Search user or agent... and the Has screenshots toggle for a leftover filter, then select Clear filter to see the full fleet again.
Related articles
- Prerequisite: Testing: Run Test - Active Test only shows an execution that was launched from Run Test.
- Prerequisite: Testing: Load Profiles - A load profile defines the traffic a test run simulates before it starts.
- Next step: Testing: Test Runs - Finished or stopped executions move here for full results review.
- See also: Configuration: LoadGen Agents: Full Agents - LoadGen Agent Utilization reports the agents generating load for the active test.