Your Test Infrastructure, in Minutes
The LoadGen Launcher Appliance turns one downloaded VM image into an enrolled, update-managed, preflight-checked load generation fleet. Outbound-only by design — the appliance dials the platform, never the reverse.
Launcher Appliance · How it works
One VM image, one token, one click. Outbound-only by design.
- Enrolls appliances
- Dispatches tests
- Ingests results
Flows
Preflight
- Enrollment approved
- Chrome / Edge / Playwright
- Windows guest reachable
- Session Canary green
| Port | Direction | Purpose | Security |
|---|---|---|---|
| :443 | Appliance → Platform | Enrollment · heartbeat · updates | HTTPS · one-time token |
| :5050 | Platform → Appliance | Management console | TLS · pinned cert |
| :4850 | Platform → Core Agent | Test dispatch | Internal network |
| :4840 | Platform ↔ Full / VDI Agent | Bi-directional test control + results | Internal network |
| :4841 | VDI session → Platform | In-test dial-back from AVD / Horizon | Internal network |
| :4851 | Core Agent → Platform | Results stream during a test | Internal network |
The Launcher Appliance is a packaged Ubuntu VM containing three agents: the Appliance Agent handles enrollment and management, the Linux Core Agent drives web and protocol load, and an optional Windows guest runs Full and Insight agents for VDI sessions. The appliance dials the LoadGen platform over TCP 443 for enrollment and heartbeat, receives management on TCP 5050 with a pinned TLS certificate, takes test dispatch on TCP 4850 and streams results on TCP 4851. VDI sessions may dial back on TCP 4841. All connections are internal to the customer network except the outbound dial-out to the platform.
What it is
A packaged VM that hosts the agents driving your load sessions.
One Ubuntu image: OVF, VHDX, or Azure. No Docker required. No manual agent installs. Everything a load generator needs, shipped as one appliance and managed from the platform.
Versioned, managed and updated from the platform. Not a snowflake box.
Appliance Agent
Enrolls the appliance, heartbeats about every 60 seconds, and handles management, updates and the console. TLS with a pinned certificate on :5050.
Linux Core Agent
Drives web and protocol load with Chrome, Edge, and Playwright (Firefox and WebKit). Joins your agent pools automatically after approval. Ports :4850 dispatch, :4851 results.
Windows guest (KVM, optional)
Created from a Windows Template. Runs a Full Agent for fat-client sessions (Citrix Workspace, Horizon, AVD) at the client versions your template pins, plus an optional Insight Agent for UX timing.
Setup Flow
From image to load-ready, in six steps.
No installers, no snowflake launchers. A repeatable path from download to first test.
Deploy
Import the VM image into your hypervisor.
Enroll
Enter a one-time token on the appliance console. It registers itself with the platform.
Approve
One click in the UI. Keys are swapped, the appliance is trusted.
Configure
Pick browsers. Optionally create the Windows guest from a template.
Assure
Preflight checks go green: versions, browsers, connectivity.
Run
Agents join your pools and take load.
Fleet Operations Built In
The fleet is not a pile of VMs.
It is a managed, versioned, health-checked part of the platform. Appliance logs download straight from the UI, no SSH session needed for day-to-day operations.
Launcher Appliances
Approve, manage, update and monitor every registered appliance and its agents: versions, browsers, the Windows guest cockpit and the Update Center.
Windows Templates
Define a Windows guest once (edition, sizing, client software, KMS activation) and apply it to many appliances in one action.
Setup guide
A guided path from downloaded image to a load-ready agent: deploy, enroll, approve, add capabilities and verify.
Fleet Readiness
One grid proving every agent is present, version-aligned and preflight-green before a test campaign.
Session Canary
A small real probe session on a schedule. A broken logon chain is found before test start, not during it.
Run Assurance
Version gate policy, saturation thresholds and live utilization spot-checks for every generator.
Why It Matters
Load tests fail for two reasons. The appliance removes the second one.
Either the system under test broke, or the test infrastructure did. A versioned, managed appliance rules out the latter before you run.
For engineers
No manual agent installs, no dependency drift. Import, enroll, approve.
For test reliability
Pinned client versions (Citrix Workspace / Horizon / AVD) make tests reproducible. Preflight and canary sessions catch broken chains before the test window.
For the business
Time-to-first-test drops from days of infrastructure work to minutes of appliance setup.
How It Fits the Platform
One fleet. Both jobs.
The Launcher Appliance is the load generation fleet in the platform picture. The same fleet powers Load & Performance Testing and scheduled End-to-End Monitoring sessions.
Platform Map
Everything your LoadGen appliance is doing right now.
- UI · API · CLI
- Author profiles
- Run tests · schedule
- Frontend
- API + workers
- Storage · results
- System under test
- Broker · storefronts
- App servers
- Journeys
- Heatmaps
- Session replay
- Bound to test
- Baselineable
- Feeds Analyse
Legend
A working day on the platform
- Deploy the fleet
- Connect agents
- Model the workload
- Schedule
- Observe
- Improve
The LoadGen platform sits at the centre. Operators interact with the platform's UI and API. The platform dispatches tests to a fleet of Launcher Appliances that in turn drive synthetic load into your Citrix, AVD, Horizon and web environment. Real users produce SessionSight telemetry that flows back to the platform. Insight machine counters from the fleet and the environment feed the platform's Analyse dashboards.
Download an Image. Enroll a Token. Run a Test.
Request the Launcher Appliance image and go from zero to a preflight-green load generation fleet in one afternoon.
