[answered] Method to use the same server for each test?

WebPageTest General Discussion
1

Hello All,

I’ve recently run a large number of speed tests from the Dulles and Germany locations.

However, once I complied the data I was told that “no real conclusions could be drawn” because the tests were not from the same server. Basically, there was too much variability in the data.

MY QUESTION IS THIS: can I specify which specific server (e.g. VM1-06 from Dulles, VA) the speed tests are run on?

That way I can make sure there are as few variables affecting the results as possible, giving me more concrete leverage when discussing the tests with management.

Many Thanks!

2

There’s two API fields that you can use to do this - tester or affinity

For tester you’ll need specify the name of a tester from https://www.webpagetest.org/getTesters.php

If you use affinity you just specify a string and it uses it as a hash to pick the tester

More details here: https://sites.google.com/a/webpagetest.org/docs/advanced-features/webpagetest-restful-apis

3

Andy,

Thanks for the response, I was not aware of those API fields. Up until now, I had only been using the front end webpagetest site to check my site speed. Looks like I will need to start creating manual tests and do some reading up on using the API.

Again, many thanks!