Experiences in performance testing of web applications with Unified Authentication platform using Jmeter

Unified Authentication platform is a Single sign-on (SSO) mechanism which is integrated into Web applications to remove the necessity for multiple application-specific login credentials. Unified Authentication platform (UAP) is a unique platform developed by MIMOS with capability to support multiple authentication mechanism and can be integrated to any Web application to provide Single Sign On (SSO) solution. Performance testing of such web applications using UAP poses some unique challenges because the Jmeter script does not capture all the dynamic values, such as SAML Request, Relay State, Signature Algorithm, Authorization State, Cookie Time, Persistent ID (PID), JSession ID and Shibboleth, generated using single sign-on mechanism of Unified Authentication Platform. This paper explains some of the challenges & experiences to identify an appropriate solution for conducting performance testing on such web application.