Synthetic Monitoring
Apica assists the Swedish National Agency for Services to Universities and University Colleges (Verket för högskoleservice – VHS) in a web quality assurance process
Apica has conducted load tests of the web site of National Agency for Services to Universities and University Colleges (www.vhs.se).
The aim has been to verify and improve performance of the web site. Apica is a Swedish based provider of web based, software-as-a-service, services for advanced web performance and load tests for different kinds of web applications.
It is the Apica LoadTest application which has been used in the process of testing and verifying the performance of VHS new web site. Apica LoadTest is a service which performs load tests of both public and internal (intranet) sites. Apica LoadTest creates a reality based load by using so called “synthetic users” from a range of different test centers, which generates actual and real traffic patterns as they are created by the end users of the site.
The VHS is a contracting agency in the educational sector. Its chief task is to provide services and support to universities and other institutes of higher education. VHS has a staff of approx. 120 and has to meet up to very high performance standards of its web site, especially during the application seasons. The system which handles applications has to be able to process a very large number of applications per hour to be able to handle all application before the deadline for applications. VHS now, with the assistance of Apica, has load tested its systems in order to ascertain its performance for upcoming application seasons.
Loadtests are an important part of the optimization of a web site and its application’s performance. Loadtests will check that the application delivers stable, low and consistent response times through the whole spectrum of load on the site. A loadtest often is – and should always be – the final step before a new or updated application is launched. By utilizing Apica’s external loadtesting facilities, the risk of unexpected disturbance is minimized.
In addition to the Apica Loadtest application, Apica offers Apica Availability (a complete application for all aspects of availability testing), Apica ServerMonitor (which measures and analyses an IT-infrastructure’s performance) and Apica Acceleration (which is a Varnish based application for outstanding web performance enhancement).
About the Swedish National Agency for Services to Universities and University Colleges(Verket för högskoleservice – VHS):
The VHS is a contracting agency in the educational sector. Its chief task is to provide services and support to universities and other institutes of higher education.
VHS conducts three activities.
VHS Admissions is commissioned to conduct coordinated admissions to educational programs at universities and university colleges.
VHS Procurement offers procurement services in the form of consultation support to universities, university colleges and other national authorities.
VHS System Management manages education administration systems by order of several system owners.