Is there a concrete limitation in the number of virtual users that I can simulate using the visual studio load test, when I am running my tests from my local machine, instead of configuring a test controller and agents ?
Or is this number dependent on the hardware resources available to my local machine during the time of test execution ? If so, what are the different hardware resources that primarily impact this number ?
With Visual Studio 2012 and 2013 there is no practical limit. It may be limited by the data type used to hold the number. The limits per machine are due to the resources needed to run the test. Any of these topics, there are probably others as well, may consume resources and thus limit the number of users that one computer may support: Test cases with lots of requests. Test cases that take a long time to execute; Complex plugins; Quantity of validation and extraction rules.
Unregistered and trial versions of Visual Studio 2012 and 2013 are limited to 25 users.
The first releases of Visual 2012 and 2013 both limited the number of users to 250. This may have been due to faults in those initial releases. Their updates removed the limits.
Visual Studio 2010 allowed an unlimited number of users, but for more than 250 users additional licences were needed.