Consolidated ZebraTester Release Notes (V7.0A-5.5F)

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ZebraTester 7.0A (Released 17 January 2021)

7.0A features:

  • Java 11 Support - Adopt Open JDK 11 is now bundled with ZebraTester, which means the compiler and runtime environment for the script's execution is in java 11. That also means it is backward compatible; the scripts compiled in earlier versions will execute in 7.0-A.

  • New GUI theme - 7.0-A ZT has a new GUI theme, which means a new set of styles and icons. This a phase 1 GUI refresh; in phase 2, there will be new types of navigation.

  • A new way of executing checks in ASM - The ZT check execution in ASM is optimized and will create the JSON result file. Now, run checks by passing a new runtime parameter, -jsonres.

  • Automatic Parallel/Serial execution config - From 7.0-A ZT, the configuration of parallel/serial execution of URLs will be automatic during the script generation. Users could also change the configurations as before.

 

  • Real-Time view of execution logs during replay - From the 7.0-A ZT version user could see the execution logs during replay. The old way of displaying logs after the replay also exists.

  • S3 Upload of load test result - This feature is mostly useful for the Mega Test using ZebraTester. Upload of the load test results to S3 by passing a parameter -uploadResultToS3 during the script execution.


ZebraTester 5.5Z (Released 30 September 2020)

5.5Z features:

  • Init State – A new state called “Init State” for the cluster jobs between transmit and start of the jobs will prepopulate the agents with the script and supporting files. 

  • Support multiple client certificates – multiple client certificates supported securing communication with web servers. 

  • Abort for Replay – ZebraTester now supports aborting the replay of the recorded sessions. 

  • MS package support – Apica now provides an MSI package plus the EXE format package for Windows platforms. 

  • New Option in response content – Now, users can add content verification for response content by clicking on the desired string. 

  • Debug settings and pacing for replay – Replay settings now contain different debug options and support pacing for loops.  

  • Support for the modify option for Unique Number variable type – ZebraTester now supports modifying already-created Unique Number type variables. 

  • Export option for Page and Transaction samples – There is now an Export button available in the Pages and Transactions summary to export the pages and transaction samples. 

  • Validity change in the webserver certificates created by ZT – Web server certificates created by ZebraTester during the recording of a website is limited to 1-year validity (previously, ten years). 

  • Support for new var assign pattern for “Assign Var by Text pattern” – Extended the support for new var assign pattern {$varName} to “Assign Var by Text pattern,” as well. 

  • New Inline function getTableSize (tableName, columnName) Added a new line function to get the size of an ATS table. Also, you can check the size of a specific column in a table by passing the column name as an optional argument.


ZebraTester 5.5Y (Released 20 July 2020)

5.5Y features:

  • Apica Table Server – This version introduces the Apica Table Server (ATS), a web application, which can hold data from multiple tables. This feature avoids supplying the script’s data input needs via attaching input files.

    • ZebraTester includes new inline functions to communicate with ATS for data retrieval and feeding.

  • Support for TLS 1.3 – ZT now supports TLS 1.3

    • Quicker handshake

    • Removes weak ECC ciphers

    • Encrypts all messages after server hello

    • And More

  • Made the Replay Settings specific to scripts – Now Replay Settings are specific to scripts so that users can save the replay settings along with the prxdat files.

  • Made Replay stateful – Now ZT keeps the state of replay, which means a user can come back to the replay screen and can see the latest replay in progress, or the latest replay summary, any time.

  • GUI to filter traffic before recording – Now, use the ZT GUI to configure the traffic filter rules (both by Domain and URL) before starting the recording to filter traffic during the recording (whitelist and blacklist domains, URLs, and URL Regex temporarily). This configuration is available under the Personal Settings.

  • Unique Number Variable Type Support –ZT now supports the unique number variable type. Users can create a unique number by giving the start number and block size per virtual user.

 

Users can also configure the action needed in case there’s an out-of-values condition for the variable created.

  • Support for Custom date format in the current date and time-variable – Any string literal can now be part of the date and time-variable value.

    • The string literal should be inside single quotes.

  • Display the loop variable's latest values in the job output file. This feature helps the users see the latest value of all loop variables extracted during the script execution as a table format in the job output file.

  • Search option available for Request content – A search option is now available for requested content for all POST requests.

  • REST API endpoint for the result file – There’s a new REST endpoint for getting the prxres file in JSON format:
    GET <http://127.0.0.1:7996/?cmd=getZebraTestResult&jobId=<jobid>&execAgent=<execagentname>>

  • Pagination for Load test jobs page – Pagination is now available for both exec agent jobs and cluster jobs so that it's easier to monitor the jobs.

  • Housekeeping for clearing completed cluster jobs – A housekeeping job is available that will remove all the completed cluster jobs older than three days.

  • New Inline function to match string – A new inline function strFindRegEx is now supported and returns whether the string contains a substring that matches the given regular expression.


ZebraTester 5.5X (Released 18 May 2020)

5.5X features:

  • New Var Assign Pattern: - ZT introduces a new variable assign pattern where variables can be assigned automatically (or manually) in the requests using the pattern {$variable name}

  • AMF3 / Flex Support: - ZT supports the AMF3 Binary format, meaning ZT can encode and decode AMF 3 data. Decoding is mainly from the AMF 3 binary format to an XML format.

  • Support of Entry conditions for Inner Loops: - ZT now supports (optional) entry conditions in deciding whether to execute the inner loop during the load test/monitoring.

  • Support for Modular Scripting: - ZT supports modular scripting with inner loops and a built-in plugin called SupportModularScripts. For a fuller explanation and getting started, see Modular Scripting Support in ZebraTester (V5.5-X+).

  • Full Browser Cache Support: - ZT fully supports browser cache options like Cache HTML & Simulate New User per Loop. Browser cache metrics are now available in the ZT result file (.prxres), which states the cache hits and misses. Variable Rules support: - Users can create rules for variable extraction and assignment (global settings) and apply these rules to the recorded session (. prxdat) at any time.

  • A new Apply Var Rules icon will allow you to replace all existing variables automatically. This icon will also support the new var assign pattern mentioned at the start of this list.

  • Save option for the recorded session: - ZT now can save the recorded session (.prxdat) faster by just clicking the new Save Icon instead of always going into the Save As mode. The old save icon has been renamed to Save As.


ZebraTester 5.5S (Released 3 Mar 2020)

5.5S features:

Changes in Kerberos with SPNEGO: - Instead of getting the ticket-granting ticket (TGT) every time from the Key Distribution Centre by authenticating using the username and password, ZT will now have the option to look if there's a ticket available in the local OS cache. If it's available, then ZT will use that ticket to do the web server's challenge.

CyberArk Integration with NTLM: - ZT can configure the Password Vault API or Command to retrieve the password when doing the NTLM challenge with the web server, so the user doesn’t need to configure the static password along with the script.

User-Defined data points: - ZT enables the user to create data points that can make custom performance metrics and later become part of the performance test results. Find these measured user-defined data points in a results Diagram.

Input files support in LoadRunner to ZT conversion: - The LoadRunner-to-ZT conversion will now take the external parameter files (.dat files) from LoadRunner and convert these to the input files/variables relationship in ZT.

Edit option for Var Extractor patterns: - ZT users can now modify the extractors so that they don’t need to delete the variables and recreate them again when the extractor pattern changes.

See next Var Handler screenshot below, Modify Var Extract, for next view.

Support Occurrence all, Save Length and Save Offset for Var extractors:

  • The Occurrence = ALL option in the extractors will extract all the occurrences out, from which the user can (1) create multiple variables (2) count the occurrence.

    • SaveLen Example: When used SaveLen = 5 and the captured value is Elephant, the final var value will become “Eleph” (only five characters).

    • SaveOffset Example: When used SaveOffset = 2, and the captured value is Elephant, the final value will become “Ephant” (Two characters, starting from the 2nd position, will be ignored).

Text Compare Utility for the Record and Replay Analyse Screen: - This feature highlights the differences between the recorded and replayed data (both requests and responses data)

  • Support ZT Amazon Web Services (AWS) images for Job Controller and Exec Agents in Stockholm and Paris.

  • Incorporated two new recorder plugins for auto correlate variables based on left and right boundary pattern; one general edition and the other is wildcard edition.


ZebraTester 5.5F with Java 8 (Released 2 Dec 2019)

5.5F features:

A replay of the recording session: Eases the scripting effort as the user can replay the session by simply clicking a button. The replay will end with a summary similar to the load test summary.

Analyze the Recorded and Replayed data: Users can compare the recorded request/response data with the replayed request/response data, both during real-time and after the replay.

  • There is support for pacing on outer loops: Similar to the pacing feature we had for inner loops and URL loops, but this pacing applies to the max loops load test parameter (outer loops).

Browser Emulation Options (user agents and browser cache – Initial version): - Browser emulation options enable the user to select the user agents and the browser cache options like conditional GET during both replay and load test.

Results per Page | URL (Overview):

Displays, per measured URL, the number of passed and failed calls, the average response time, and the 90% percentile value of the response time.

HTTP Response Code Statistic: Displays statistical data about the received HTTP response status codes (total count of status codes).

  • Brotli Data format specification Support: - ZebraTester supports Brotli data format.

  • Updated GUI for better representations of Var extractors/assigners: - Highlights the variables indicating from where, in the response, they are extracted and to which request they are assigned.

 

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