The Performance Tour Season 03 Episode 04 Summary

The Performance Tour Season 03 (2022) Episode 04 was released on April 13, 2022.

As with the last episode, the introduction segment was filmed at Bryte Payment Solutions in Jacksonville Florida. We filmed the Peter West interview there, and both skits were filmed using their green screen studio. I really appreciated the use of this facility. Thank you Dave Humphrey and everyone at Bryte.

Tony Fortunato

While I would have liked to interview Tony face to face, the weather and other travel restrictions made it impossible. However, Tony was one of my first choices of people to talk with about network performance problems. I read his posts on LinkedIn and his content is great. It you aren’t already following him on social media, you should be.

Peter West

I had been looking for a mobile solution that would allow me to travel around the US and have great Internet connectivity wherever I went. This led me to West Networks in Gainesville, Florida. I purchased a unit from them (as seen in the episode), and it worked out great. Then I had a chance to meet Peter West, the owner, and his story was so interesting, I had to share it. He is so knowledgeable about solutions that provide a lot of data through cellular networks and wireless networks that I had to have him on the show. Peter came up to Jacksonville the day we recorded the interview and we ate at a local BBQ restaurant near the studio – 4 Rivers Smokehouse – which turned out to be pretty good.

The Load Test Boat

Because I knew this episode was about networks, I had hoped to be able to speak to one of the cruise ship companies to talk about the use case of providing good network performance with thousands of devices in the middle of the ocean somewhere. Unfortunately, none of them would return my calls. However, Peter provided ample explanation of how that works. I had to have something that went along with the cruise ship theme, so I decided to spoof a familiar show from the 70’s and 80’s that I grew up with. Using a green screen and creative costume changes, I decided it should be just me as all the characters on the show. Some I have featured on the show before, and some are still to come.

JMeter’s Free

This skit is another idea I have had in the making for several years. We were finally able to put it together in a green screen room. A lot of people know I portray myself online as not the biggest fan of JMeter (alone). At this point, it’s just a running joke between performance engineering buddies. I figured this would be my “mic drop” moment on it. I wanted to have Tux the penguin and the GNU mascot dancing with me in the video. We almost got it – I think you get the idea. However, the budget just didn’t allow for any complex animation – which is what I wanted. Maybe next year when my sponsors are willing to give me a lot more money for the show (cough, cough). LOL!

Note that all of the music for The Load Test Boat and JMeter’s Free was performed and mixed by JR McNeeley. But, yes, that is me on the vocals for JMeter’s Free. Do you know how hard it is to find someone that sounds like Sebastien the Lobster and can sing?

Thanks

None of this would have happened without all the people who pitched in to help, as well as our awesome sponsors, Tricentis and QA Consultants. Thanks to all of you. I encourage our viewers to check out the links below to find out more about the people who helped me put the episode together. Thank them for their support of our community.