Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications, a book by:J.D.
Meier, Scott Barber, Carlos Farre, Prashant Bansode, and Dennis Rea is
now available.

The best part is that you can:
-buy the book on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735625700)
-download the PDF (http://www.codeplex.com/PerfTestingGuide/Release/
ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=6690)
-and/or browse the HTML (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
bb924375.aspx)

Even though this as a Microsoft patterns&practices book, it is a tool,
technology, & process agnostic book (which, along with the content of
the book being available for free, and me not losing IP rights to any
of the content I contributed, were the commitments MS made to me
before I agreed to contribute).  What that means is that the book
should apply equally well to a LoadRunner/Eclipse/Agile project it
applies to a VSTS/.NET/CMMI project.

What that also means is that if you're looking for a "cookbook" or a
"how-to" manual, this isn't it.  This is a book that focuses on core
principles that deliberate and successful performance test projects
seem to have in common and topics the authors and reviews agreed  were
common enough to be worthy of your consideration.  Not everything in
this book will apply to everyone - in fact, I'd be shocked and
concerned to learn that everything in this book applied to ANY one
person or project.

The book represents a consensus from a very wide range of individuals,
schools of thought, experiences, and backgrounds.  It is filled with
the stuff we seem to be able to  (at least mostly) agree on.  Some
people call those agreements "Best Practices".  I call them
"reasonable places to start", which is what I hope this book becomes;
a reasonable place for all of the performance testers with knowledge
and experience to share to use as a starting point to tell their own
stories and share their own experiences.

To tell the truth, that is exactly what I've done with my new
Performance Testing Courses (http://www.perftestplus.com/ptss.htm).  I
built my experiences, personality, preferences, and probably some of
my biases, into a collection of workshops that (IMHO) extends and
compliments the book.  I hope others do the same... whether they do so
through blogs, articles, training, or through applying concepts from
the book with a healthy dose of individuality, doesn't much matter to
me.  What matters to me is that this book serves to remove the barrier
of not wanting to write "the book that cannot be written" so that we
can get more quality information into the world for performance
testers to read, reference, use, debate, extend and explore.  If that
happens, I'll count the book as a great success.

Happy reading.  I hope you find the book valuable.
--
Scott Barber
President & Chief Technologist, PerfTestPlus, Inc.
Vice President & Executive Director, Association for Software Testing
www.perftestplus.com
www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org
"If you can see it in your mind...
    you will find it in your life."