Excel Services Application Browser Test

So that workbooks calculated using Excel Calculation Services can be rendered in the browser, Excel Services provides the Excel Web Access web part. This web part effectively creates HTML based on the output of Excel Calculation Services that mirrors the output we would expect to see if we were using the Excel client application. As well as rendering output, the web part also provides a similar level of interactivity to the Excel client application as well as a few custom features that have been designed for use in web applications. For example, an Excel Web Access web part can be placed on a page and configured to display only a particular chart. If the chart is generated based on a table of data within the spreadsheet, the data that makes up that table can be filtered by hooking up a filter web part to the Excel Web Access web part. By using techniques such as this, you can create highly interactive data visualization tools simply by leveraging the functionality of Excel.

To evaluate the efficiency of the Excel Web Access web part and to identify where its pain points are, use the Excel Services Application Browser test. This test tracks requests to the Excel Web Access web part and measures how well it responds to these requests. In the process, the test pinpoints where this service's performance is slackening - when responding to chart requests? when generating grid content? or when deserializing workbooks?

Note:

This test will report metrics only if the Excel Calculation Service is available on the target SharePoint server.

Target of the test : A Microsoft SharePoint Server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results each for the Microsoft SharePoint server that is being monitored

Configurable parameters for the test

Parameters	Description
Test period	This indicates how often should the test be executed.
Host	The host for which the test is to be configured.
Port	The port at which the host server listens.

Measurements made by the test

Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
AJAX requests received	Indicates the current number of Ajax requests that are received per second	Number
Average Chart Image Request Time	Indicates the average time (in seconds) that is spent by Excel Web Access to create a chart image and send a response to the web browser.	Seconds	Ideally, the value of this measure should be low. An unusually high value could indicate that the Excel Web Access is taking too long a time to service chart image requests.
Average grid content request time	Indicates the average time (in seconds) that is spent to generate the grid content.	Seconds	Ideally, the value of this measure should be low. An unusually high value could indicate that the Excel Web Access is taking too long a time to generate grid content.
Average workbook deserialize time	Indicates the average time (in seconds) that is spent to deserialize a workbook.	Seconds	Ideally, the value of this measure should be low. An unusually high value could indicate that the Excel Web Access is taking too long a time to deserialize workbooks.
Chart image requests	Indicates the current number of requests per second for the chart images that are serviced by Excel Web Access.	Number	This is a good indicator of the demand for chart images.
Request time	Indicates the average request time (in seconds) that is spent in Excel Web Access between the last two samples.	Seconds	A consistent increase in the value of this measure is a cause for concern, as it implies that Excel Web Access is experiencing processing bottlenecks.