First published on MSDN on Jan 23, 2009
You can place ORCA on a central computer and allow it to control the sequencing from multiple client computers running OSTRESS. To accomplish this you must configure the firewall properly.
Note:
Be sure to install the same version of the RML utilities on all machines.
All the utilities must be from the
same hardware architecture
. The RML 9.00.0109 release has a bug that does not allow mixing for different client and server types that which will be fixed in future releases.
Server Machine (ORCA.exe location) - Playback Coordinator
1. Install the same version of the RML utilities on all computers including the playback coordinator
2. Add ORCA.exe to the firewall exception list. DCOM uses dynamic port communications so the port will change frequently.
3. You may need to enable DCOM communication and open the TCP port 135.
4.
Always
launch ORCA.exe from the command prompt, specifying the total number of sessions to be replayed using the "C" command line parameter.
The "C" value represent the total number of files you are going to use for the replay. If you assign 100 files to Client1 and 100 files to Client2 the "C" parameter value will be 200.
Client Machine(s) (OSTRESS.exe locations)
1. Install the same version of the RML utilities on all computers including the playback coordinator
2. Add OSTRESS.exe to the firewall exception list. DCOM uses dynamic port communications so the port will change frequently. ORCA and OSTRESS use COM
callback interfaces
requiring two way communication.
3. You may need to enable DCOM communication and open the TCP port 135.
4. Update the control.ini file (Playback Coordinator=<<ORCA SERVER>>) to point to the controlling server.
5. Using the same user credentials that ORCA is using to execute the OSTRESS processes.
Testing Purposes Only
For testing purposes you can allow OSTRESS to launch ORCA remotely. This is the same as performing an out-of-process replay on a single client machine.
1. Launch DCOMCNFG
2. Select the ORCA object
3. Right Mouse | Properties | Identity Tab ==> Set "This user" to the same user credientials as the user launching OSTRESS on the client.
4. Right Mouse | Properties | Location Tab ==> Clear the run on this computer check box and establish the run on following computer information. The computer name should match the playback coordinator computer.
Using the OLEVIEW.exe utility on the client under the same user account you will be using OSTRESS you can expand All Objects | ORCAController Class. If you can see the interfaces without error you can establish the ORCA object, remotely.
PUT BACK DEFAULT SETTINGS OR LOCAL ORCA EXECUTIONS WILL FAIL:
1. ORCA.exe /U
2. ORCA.exe /R
References
Is it possible to configure DCOM to use static ports or specific port ranges. The following links can assist you.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms809327.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/serve/firewall.aspx#DCOM
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154596/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/217351
Bob Dorr and Keith Elmore
SQL Server Principal Escalation Engineers
