Client Associations Tab

Use the Client Associations tab to build your test by associating a load, a list of actions, a user (client) profile, a port, and subnet. You can choose to create an association based on two different types of load profiles:

Global. Use a global load profile if you want to have one load curve that describes the load for the entire test.
User-based. Use a user-based load profile if you want multiple load curves, each of which describes the load for an individual user (client) profile.

Your selection determines the other fields that appear on the tab. It's assumed that you previously configured the features that you want to use with a test, such as client profiles, Action lists, loads, ports, and subnets.

NOTES:

To see the fields that you use to configure a flat subnet, you must first select the Show Flat Subnet in Client Associations tab option in the Subnet Profile Preferences.
In an overlapping subnet, the data may not be distributed uniformly across all hosts. Each host’s data rate is dependent on the way in which the load generator distributes the load across the various associations while generating traffic.
See the Client Subnet Validation Rules tables for the subnets/association rules with respect to disabled/enabled per-host statistics, IP ranges, and flat subnets.

TIP: When creating your associations, click a field to edit an individual entry, or take advantage of right-click commands to copy and enable information, or to distribute subnets for multiple rows.

Global Load Profile

To define an association for a global load profile, you add a row, and then enter information in the following fields.

Field	Description
Load Profile Type	Select Global to use a global load profile with the association. The test will have one load curve that describes the load for the entire test. Use of a global load profile overrides user-based load profiles. After you select this option, select the load profile that you want to use from the Global Profile Name drop-down menu.
Enabled	Select to enable all of the profiles in the association row so that they are included in the test.
Action	An Action list that defines the type of traffic that you want to generate. The list includes the Action profiles that you created on the Actions tab.
Profile	A user (client) profile that defines the parameters that simulate the user behavior. The list includes the profile names that you created on the Client Profiles tab.
Weight	A relative weight for each user (client) profile to be applied across its subnet. For example, to use two profiles equally in the same subnet, enter 1 for each one. To have one profile double in weight, set it to 2 and the other to 1. Note that these values are not percentages and do not need to add up to 100.
Port	The port to which you want to send traffic. The list includes ports you defined on the Client Ports tab.
Subnet	The subnet to assign to the client. The list includes the profiles you defined on the Client Subnets tab.
Offset	Used when generating a flat subnet. The offset value determines the beginning IP in the range of IPs for the associated subnet. For example, if the range is 192.168.1.1-192.168.12, and the offset is 1, then the first IP used to send traffic is 192.168.1.2. The default is 0. The offset value must be compatible with the IP range and the Count and Inc values. To automatically generate an offset value for a flat subnet, click the Generate Flat Subnets button.
Count	Used when generating a flat subnet. Count determines the total number of IPs in the range to use. For example, if the starting IP is 10.10.10.1 and the ending IP is 10.10.10.10, a count of 5 will use five of the IPs. A count of 0 will use the entire IP range. The value you enter here, must be compatible with the Offset and the Inc values. To automatically generate a count value for a flat subnet, click the Generate Flat Subnets button.
Number of Hosts	Used when generating a flat subnet. Number of Hosts is a read-only field that indicates the total number of IPs being used. This number is always the same as the Count field, except when the count is 0. A count of 0 means to use the entire IP range, so the Number of Hosts field will indicate the actual number of IPs being used.
Inc	Used when generating a flat subnet. The increment value that determines the next IP in the range to use. For example, if the beginning IP is 10.10.10.1 and the increment is 2, the next IP used is 10.10.10.3. To automatically generate an increment value for a flat subnet, click the Generate Flat Subnets button.
Start IP	Used when generating a flat subnet. Identifies the first host in the subnet. If you change the Offset, Count, or Inc fields, the IP address field changes accordingly. You cannot edit this field. Commander does not check for overlapping IPs on this tab.
End IP	Used when generating a flat subnet. Identifies the last host in the subnet. If you change the Offset, Count, or Inc fields, the IP address field changes accordingly. You cannot edit this field. Commander does not check for overlapping IPs on this tab.
Buttons	Add Add a row. Delete Delete a row. Generate Flat Subnets

User-Based Load Profile

To define a user-based load profile, you add a row, and then enter information in the following fields.

NOTE: For information about the fields associated with generating a flat subnet, see the previous table.

Field

Description

Load Profile Type

Select User Based to enable a user-based load profile. Use this type of profile if you want multiple load curves, each of which describes the load for an individual user (client) profile. User-based load profiles are associated with a unique user (client) profile.

NOTE: For all user-based load profiles, you must configure the same traffic type from the following list of those supported:

Bandwidth
SimUsers, SimUsers/second, or SimUsers/hour
Connections/second
Transactions/second

Adjust Load

Click Adjust Load to display the Load Adjustment window, in which you can enter a new total desired load for all associations combined. The load profile height is automatically adjusted, and the new load is distributed across all load profiles based on the original percentages of each load.

Color

The color representing the load on the graph. A color is assigned each time that you add a row to the table. You cannot change the assigned color.

Enabled

Select to enable all of the profiles in the association row. If selected, the load profile for a row is represented in the merged view of the load that appears in the graph, and the load contributes to the overall load for the port that is selected in the same row. If you deselect Enabled, the individual load is not included. To help you visualize the contribution of each load profile, you can enable/disable associations independently. The appropriate load is then shown or hidden in the graph.

NOTE: All enabled load profiles must have the same load specification (unit of measure, such as Connections).

Load

The load profile for the test. The list includes the load profiles that you created on the Load tab. You can include the same load in multiple rows of the table.

Action

An Action list that defines the type of traffic that you want to generate. The list includes the Action profiles that you created on the Actions tab.

Profile

A user (client) profile that defines the parameters that simulate the user behavior. The list includes the profile names that you created on the Client Profiles tab.

Port

The port to which you want to send traffic. The list includes ports you defined on the Client Ports tab.

Subnet

The subnet to assign to the client. The list includes the profiles you defined on the Client Subnets tab.

Buttons

Add Add a row.

Delete Delete a row.

Up Move a selected row up.

Down Move a selected row down.

Bottom Move the selected row to the bottom of the table.

Top Move the selected row to the top of the table.

Isolate Enable the selected row and disable all other rows.

Invert Enable all unselected rows and disable all selected rows.

All Enable all rows.

Single color Change all entries in the color column and the entire merged view to blue.

Client Subnet Validation Rules

The following tables show the subnets/association rules with respect to disabled/enabled per-host statistics, IP ranges, and flat subnets. Valid/invalid configurations are indicated in the tables. You will receive error messages for invalid configurations.

NOTE: This table applies to IPv4 subnets only.

Per-Host Statistics Disabled	Same subnet, same IP range (subnet0/subnet0)	Same subnet, same IP range, different subnet names (subnet0/subnet1)	Same subnet, overlapping IP address(es), flat subnet enabled (subnet0/subnet0)	Same subnet, non-overlapping IP address(es), flat subnet enabled (subnet0/subnet0)	Different subnets (subnet0/subnet1)
port0/port0	valid	valid	invalid	valid	valid
port0/port1 (same port group)	invalid	invalid	invalid	valid	valid
port0/port2 (different port groups)	invalid	invalid	invalid	valid	valid

Per-Host Statistics Enabled	Same subnet, same IP range (subnet0/subnet0)	Same subnet, same IP range, different subnet names (subnet0/subnet1)	Same subnet, overlapping IP address(es), flat subnet enabled (subnet0/subnet0)	Same subnet, non-overlapping IP address(es), flat subnet enabled (subnet0/subnet0)	Different subnets (subnet0/subnet1)
port0/port0	valid	invalid	invalid	valid	valid
port0/port1 (same port group)	invalid	invalid	invalid	valid	valid
port0/port2 (different port groups)	invalid	invalid	invalid	valid	valid

Related Information:

Defining Client Associations

Client Associations Tab Right-Click Commands

Generating Flat Subnets

Run Configure Tab