Go back to all articles

Load Testing for Medical Corporation’s Automated System

May 29, 2020
3 min read

One of our biggest clients is a network of medical treatment and prevention facilities that holds the key player position in the domestic medical market. The network consists of diagnostic centers, clinic hospitals, medical test centers, family and children’s clinics, health resorts, and wellness centers. It employs approximately 100 doctors of medical sciences and more than 2000 physicians.

The entire customer infrastructure is based on an internal information system (MIS) to automate the workflow:

  • patients’ electronic records management;
  • unified informational space;
  • quick medical documents and statistics retrieval;
  • automated bill creation.

The PFLB team was hired to test the latter.

Want to Learn More About Our Performance Testing Services?
Find out what’s included and how to start working with us.

Task

The customer had planned to introduce new architecture and needed to know the number of servers required to sustain the maximal system load. We had the following goals:

  • 01
    Determining the system performance parameters for the current production load (determining target performance values for the planned user load of 3000 users);
  • 02
    Discovering the bottlenecks (determining the list of factors that limit the system performance).

Solution

  • The system is based on two layers of architecture: thick client (interface level and partly business-logic) and database & file server (data saving and management level).
  • The main load source was user activities that employ the RDP protocol on terminal servers with the thick MIS client exclusive third-party systems.
  • Load testing was performed on an anonymized production database copy. System load profiles were based on the customer’s expert evaluation data. We emulated the load through the terminal sessions and developed load scripts to mimic the most important user operations. LoadRunner (RDP) was used to provide load, Perfon to monitor the process, and Jupyter (pandas/matplotlib) to analyze the results.

Results

We found several important system limitations and internal element conflicts after the first testing iterations. After the system analysis, we developed recommendations on ways to solve those problems. The customer was required to solve them on their own, so that we could perform the testing again and solve the set task.

The hardware analysis led to the required number of the terminal servers to allow the system to sustain the maximum load level. The results allowed the customer to organize the servers and ensure continuous function of the IT infrastructure. This was our first big project working with the RDP protocol that gave us a chance to broaden our knowledge in this area.

Table of contents

Related insights in case studies

Explore what we’ve learned from these experiences
4 min read

From Weeks to Hours: Accelerating Data Masking and Enabling Easy B2B Data Sharing for a Leading Bank

accelerating data masking for a leading bank preview
Nov 20, 2024

A leading bank, ranked among the top 20 in its market, provides services to millions of customers daily. Staying at the forefront of this competitive market requires not only stable and updated infrastructure but also rapid feature delivery to maintain the highest service quality. Challenge The bank faced a critical challenge in enabling safe sharing […]

10 min read

Leading Oil & Gas Innovator, NOV Excels with Real-Time Drilling Data After Load Testing

leading oil gas excels with real time drilling data after load testing preview
Jul 29, 2024

NOV, a renowned global provider of equipment, components, and IT products for the oil and gas industry, which is located in Texas, USA, empowers extraction companies worldwide with innovative technological solutions that enable the safe and efficient production of abundant energy while minimizing environmental impact. Under its CTES brand, NOV offers a range of IT […]

7 min read

From Hundreds to Thousands: Scaling MEFA Pathway Software for Mass Student Registration

how load testing helped e learning services provider preview
Jul 12, 2024

FolderWave, Inc. is a leading digital services provider in the Massachusetts e-learning sector. It aids millions of students in researching and planning a job-oriented education. The company delivers IT solutions, platforms, and services in partnership with notable non-profit organizations like MEFA Pathway and College Board, which connect a vast network of colleges, schools, and universities […]

8 min read

How Load Testing Helped Texans Survive Power Outages During a Storm

how pflb helped texans survive power outages during a storm preview
Jun 13, 2024

Background The largest electric distribution cooperative in Texas and the United States, Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC), had to test its new software systems, the Storm Center and the OR&S (Outage Reporting & Status), before the release to ensure their adequate performance under peak load. Challenge PEC had a strict release deadline and needed to test […]

  • Be the first one to know

    We’ll send you a monthly e-mail with all the useful insights that we will have found and analyzed

  • People love to read

    Explore the most popular articles we’ve written so far