SMS Object Generator is a powerful tool that can help you test your site design. The following sections describe each step of its use:
SMS Object Generator is a tool to use in your network test environment. SMS Object Generator creates synthetic objects that produce load on your network and on your SMS site servers. Load is the total computing burden a system carries at any one time. In a production environment, SMS generates a pattern of activity on your system. This pattern is called the load signature. You must produce a load signature in your test environment that is similar to the load signature you expect in your production environment. The information that you gather by observing the effects of this load signature in your pilot project can help you design, maintain, or expand your network.
SMS Object Generator creates synthetic data that is indistinguishable, by SMS, from true client data. This synthetic data mimics various SMS files, known as SMS objects. Creating these synthetic objects enables you to test system capacity by modeling your load signature.
SMS Object Generator can keep a complete log of its activity. In addition, you can use Windows NT Performance Monitor and the SMS logs to track other system activities. (SMS logging is not recommended on an ongoing basis in a production site, due to the significant load incurred. In a pilot project, however, logging can provide valuable information.)
You should correlate information from all three types of log sources to gain a complete picture of system performance with your expected load signature. To make it easy to recognize this activity in the various logs, you can define the object names for objects generated by SMS Object Generator.
Before you use SMS Object Generator to create load on your pilot site, examine your business processes to decide what kind of load to expect in your production environment. You must evaluate the amount and frequency of hardware and software inventory you will collect, the number of client logons in a given period, the size and number of software distributions you expect in a given period, and even the likely number of secondary sites based on your business needs. Then, use SMS Object Generator to generate this load in your pilot project.