fun w/ homer
i started playing with the Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool (WAS) again this weekend and i now remember how much fun it was. for those in the know, the internal name for the tool was 'Homer.'
when it first came out (1998!) i started working with it and did lots of testing. while it now looks pretty dated (uses old-format access files; icons are pretty lame, etc.), it still does the job nicely. i like that i can run the SETUP.EXE on any window workstation and just get cracking. it has a tool to record MSIE/server interactions, but i find it easier to just start building the HTTP session manually. you have full control over the method, body, and header information (including HTTP Auth) right there ready for you. BTW - it *looks* like you can only use GET, HEAD, and POST with the tool, but that's not true. once you start a command (say GET), you can edit the details of it and that's where you can change it to PUT, DELETE, etc. as needed.
you can download the tool from the MS web site and there's a decent tutorial on how to use the tool available online.
so hey, the heck with those expensive tools and the ones that require lots of additional installs (like VS2008, etc.). you wanna test some pages? check out WAS.