Benchmark Factory for Database 7.6.1

Benchmark Factory® is a database performance testing tool that allows you to conduct database workload replay, industry-standard benchmark testing, and scalability testing.

Review the following topics for a quick overview of Benchmark Factory.

Learn More and Connect with the Community

Use the following links to videos, blogs, and community resources to learn more about Benchmark Factory, to find answers to questions, and to advance your knowledge through Benchmark Factory tips and tricks.

Benchmark Factory Community—Ask questions, join the discussion, find videos and user guides, and join the Beta program (when available).
Release Notes (Benchmark Factory Community)
Videos and Tutorials—Find video demos of Benchmark Factory features.
Benchmark Factory Blog—Find How To's, useful articles, and tips and tricks for using Benchmark Factory.
Product Documentation —Find documents for current and past releases, as well as documents for other Toad products.
Toad World—Visit other Toad Communities, including Toad for Oracle. Find DBMS and SQL knowledge, find software downloads, and find answers to your database questions.
Benchmark Factory Product Information—Find white papers, product demos, and purchasing information.

What's New in Benchmark Factory

New Features in 7.6

This release of Benchmark Factory® includes the following new features and enhancements.

Connections

Microsoft SQL Server Native Provider - New

You can now use a SQL Server native connection in Benchmark Factory to connect to a SQL Server database. The SQL Server native provider is included in the Benchmark Factory installation.

This new native provider delivers improved connection performance for SQL Server database connections.
To use the SQL Server native provider, install the version of Benchmark Factory (either 32-bit or 64-bit) that matches your operating system. This ensures that the version (bitness) of the SQL Server provider also matches your operating system.

Note: For a list of operating systems that support the SQL Server native provider distributed with Benchmark Factory (native client 11.0), see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc280356(v=sql.120).aspx. If your client operating system is not supported, use ODBC connectivity.

REST API

This release of Benchmark Factory includes a REST API which will allow users to automate certain tasks and functionality in Benchmark Factory. Use a script, command-line tool, or custom application to interface with Benchmark Factory and to automate your load testing tasks. The API uses HTTP protocol and returns information in XML format.

In this release, the REST API supports the following functionality:

Create, run, and edit Benchmark Factory jobs
Create and edit connections
Import and replay Oracle and SQL Server captures

Using the Benchmark Factory REST API

HTTP Request Methods—Benchmark Factory REST API uses the four main HTTP methods: GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.

Response Format—Information is returned in XML format.

Continuous Integration

Use the REST API to implement performance testing by Benchmark Factory and incorporate it into your Continuous Integration (CI) process.

General

Adding Bind Parameter Values for Prepared Statements

It is now much easier to add bind variable or parameter values for prepared statements.

In the Transaction tab, when adding a new statement or editing an existing statement, the Add bind parameter button is now enabled for prepared statements. Click this button to add bind parameter values for the selected SQL.

Specify Benchmark Factory Console Port Number

You can now specify a TCP/IP port for the Benchmark Factory console.

Select Edit | Settings | General to open the Settings dialog.
Then enter a port number in the TCP/IP Settings. The default value is port 4568.

Standard Benchmark Testing

Teradata Database Benchmark Testing

This release includes enhancements to the support for standard benchmark testing on Teradata databases.

PostgreSQL Database Benchmark Testing

This release includes enhancements to the support for standard benchmark testing on PostgreSQL databases.

Replication Benchmark Test

You can now edit the precision of the FLOAT data type when customizing table options in a Replication Benchmark test.

Capture and Replay

Easily Open Capture Scenario Wizard from Tools Menu

You can now open the Capture Scenario Wizard directly from the Tools menu.

Select Tools | Capture Workload. Then select either Oracle or SQL Server as the capture type.

Discontinued - Import from Foglight PA

The option to import a workload from a Foglight Performance Analysis Repository when creating a new Capture and Replay test is no longer available beginning with this release of Benchmark Factory.

Settings

Specify a Threshold for Memory Usage

You can now specify a memory usage threshold. If memory usage exceeds the percentage you specify, Benchmark Factory stops the job.

To specify a threshold, go to Edit | Settings | Error Handling and enter a percentage.
You can disable/enable this memory usage check.

Error Handling Page in Settings Dialog

The error handling options have been moved to Edit | Settings | Error Handling in the Settings dialog.

Run Reports

Improved Performance When Importing Large Test Results

This release includes markedly improved performance when importing a very large Test Result file.

Note: The features described in the New in This Release section apply to the commercial version of Benchmark Factory and may not be available in the freeware version.