Analyzing threshold rule violations in load tests Using the Load Test Analyzer
Applies to: 
Visual Studio 
Visual Studio for Mac
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
Threshold rules are associated with specific performance counters, and violations indicate that a performance counter exceeded or fell below a set value. When you run a load test, you can analyze violations that occur for the threshold rules you set up previously.
If any violations occurred, a threshold violations hyperlink appears on the Load Test Analyzer status bar and specifies the number of violations that occurred. You choose the hyperlink to display the threshold violations table. You can also view threshold violations in the Counters window, and on the graph.
Note
Web performance and load test functionality is deprecated. Visual Studio 2019 is the last version where web performance and load testing will be fully available. For more information, see the Cloud-based load testing service end of life blog post. To reduce the impact on users some minimum support is still available in Visual Studio 2022 Preview 3 or later. Users should also note web performance and load test functionality only supports Internet Explorer which is not available on Windows 11 and some versions of Windows 10. Read more on Internet Explorer Lifecycle policy.
View threshold violations in the table
The threshold violations table displays the first 1,000 violations. The following table contains these columns:
| Column | Description | Visible By Default |
|---|---|---|
| Time | The time during the load test at which the violation occurred. | Yes |
| Computer | The name of the computer under test on which the violation occurred. Note: This is important when you run load tests on rigs. | Yes |
| Category | The category of the performance counter on which the violation occurred. | Yes |
| Counter | The name of the performance counter on which the violation occurred. | Yes |
| Instance | The performance counter instance on which the violation occurred. | Yes |
| Message | A message that describes the threshold violation. For example, The value 5 exceeds the critical threshold value of 0. | Yes |
Note
You can sort the table by choosing the column headers.
For more information, see Analyze load test results and errors in the Tables view.
View threshold violations in the Counters panel
You can view threshold violations in the Counters panel, in the tree that lists the performance counters for your load test. Icons in the Counters panel communicate threshold violations. The icon will be one of the following:
The icon will be one of the following:
No threshold violation.
A critical threshold violation occurred on the last interval.
A critical threshold violation occurred on a prior interval.
A warning threshold violation occurred on the last interval.
A warning threshold violation occurred on a prior interval.
Optionally, threshold violations can be shown on the graph also. The threshold icon appears on the graph next to the data point where the threshold violation occurred.
In the counter tree, the icon for a threshold violation is propagated from the specific counter node, up to the root node. This alerts you to a violation on a counter that may not be visible in the tree because the tree has not been expanded.
View threshold violations on the graph
You can view threshold violations on the graph. Similar to the Counters panel, icons communicate threshold violations on the graph. The icons appear on the graph next to the data point where the threshold violation occurred. If a threshold violation occurs on a counter that does not appear on the graph, you can add it to the graph by dragging it from the Counters panel to the graph.
For more information, see Analyze load test results in the Graphs view.