Run API Load Test

Execute comprehensive load tests to measure API performance, identify bottlenecks, and validate scalability under realistic traffic patterns.

Design Decisions

This command supports multiple load testing tools to accommodate different testing scenarios and team preferences:

• k6: Chosen for developer-friendly JavaScript API, excellent CLI output, and built-in metrics
• Artillery: Selected for YAML configuration simplicity and scenario-based testing
• Gatling: Included for enterprise-grade reporting and Scala DSL power users

Alternative approaches considered:

• JMeter: Excluded due to GUI-heavy approach and XML configuration complexity
• Locust: Considered but not included to limit Python dependencies
• Custom solutions: Avoided to leverage battle-tested tools with proven metrics accuracy

When to Use This Command

USE WHEN:

• Validating API performance before production deployment
• Establishing baseline performance metrics for SLAs
• Testing autoscaling behavior under load
• Identifying memory leaks or resource exhaustion issues
• Comparing performance across API versions
• Simulating Black Friday or high-traffic events

DON'T USE WHEN:

• Testing production APIs without permission (use staging environments)
• You need functional correctness testing (use integration tests instead)
• Testing third-party APIs you don't control
• During active development (use unit/integration tests first)

Prerequisites

Required:

• Node.js 18+ (for k6 and Artillery)
• Java 11+ (for Gatling)
• Target API endpoint accessible from your machine
• API authentication credentials (if required)

Recommended:

• Monitoring tools configured (Prometheus, Grafana, DataDog)
• Baseline metrics from previous test runs
• Staging environment that mirrors production capacity

Install Tools:

# k6 (recommended for most use cases)
brew install k6  # macOS
sudo apt-get install k6  # Ubuntu

# Artillery
npm install -g artillery

# Gatling
wget https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/io/gatling/highcharts/gatling-charts-highcharts-bundle/3.9.5/gatling-charts-highcharts-bundle-3.9.5.zip
unzip gatling-charts-highcharts-bundle-3.9.5.zip

Detailed Process

Step 1: Define Test Objectives

Establish clear performance targets before running tests:

• Response time: p95 < 200ms, p99 < 500ms
• Throughput: 1000 requests/second sustained
• Error rate: < 0.1% under normal load
• Concurrent users: Support 500 simultaneous users

Document expected behavior under different load levels:

• Normal load: 100-500 RPS
• Peak load: 1000-2000 RPS
• Stress test: 3000+ RPS until failure

Step 2: Configure Test Scenario

Create test scripts matching realistic user behavior patterns:

k6 test script (load-test.js):

import http from 'k6/http';
import { check, sleep } from 'k6';

export const options = {
  stages: [
    { duration: '2m', target: 100 },  // Ramp-up
    { duration: '5m', target: 100 },  // Sustained load
    { duration: '2m', target: 200 },  // Scale up
    { duration: '5m', target: 200 },  // Sustained peak
    { duration: '2m', target: 0 },    // Ramp-down
  ],
  thresholds: {
    http_req_duration: ['p(95)<200', 'p(99)<500'],
    http_req_failed: ['rate<0.01'],
  },
};

export default function () {
  const res = http.get('https://api.example.com/v1/products');
  check(res, {
    'status is 200': (r) => r.status === 200,
    'response time < 200ms': (r) => r.timings.duration < 200,
  });
  sleep(1);
}

Artillery config (artillery.yml):

config:
  target: 'https://api.example.com'
  phases:
    - duration: 60
      arrivalRate: 10
      name: "Warm up"
    - duration: 300
      arrivalRate: 50
      name: "Sustained load"
    - duration: 120
      arrivalRate: 100
      name: "Peak load"
  processor: "./flows.js"
scenarios:
  - name: "Product browsing flow"
    flow:
      - get:
          url: "/v1/products"
          capture:
            - json: "$.products[0].id"
              as: "productId"
      - get:
          url: "/v1/products/{{ productId }}"
      - think: 3

Step 3: Execute Load Test

Run tests with appropriate parameters and monitor system resources:

# k6 test execution with custom parameters
k6 run load-test.js \
  --vus 100 \
  --duration 10m \
  --out json=results.json \
  --summary-export=summary.json

# Artillery with real-time reporting
artillery run artillery.yml \
  --output report.json

# Gatling test execution
./gatling.sh -s com.example.LoadTest \
  -rf results/

Monitor system metrics during execution:

• CPU utilization (should stay below 80%)
• Memory consumption (watch for leaks)
• Network I/O (bandwidth saturation)
• Database connections (connection pool exhaustion)

Step 4: Analyze Results

Review metrics to identify performance bottlenecks:

Response Time Analysis:

# k6 summary shows percentile distribution
  http_req_duration..............: avg=156ms  p(95)=289ms p(99)=456ms
  http_req_failed................: 0.12% (12 failures / 10000 requests)
  http_reqs......................: 10000  166.67/s
  vus............................: 100    min=0 max=100

Key metrics to examine:

• p50 (median): Typical user experience
• p95: Worst case for 95% of users
• p99: Tail latency affecting 1% of requests
• Error rate: Percentage of failed requests
• Throughput: Successful requests per second

Step 5: Generate Reports and Recommendations

Create actionable reports with findings and optimization suggestions:

Performance Report Structure:

# Load Test Results - 2025-10-11

## Test Configuration
- Duration: 10 minutes
- Virtual Users: 100
- Target: https://api.example.com/v1/products

## Results Summary
- Total Requests: 10,000
- Success Rate: 99.88%
- Avg Response Time: 156ms
- p95 Response Time: 289ms
- Throughput: 166.67 RPS

## Findings
1. Database query optimization needed (p99 spikes to 456ms)
2. Connection pool exhausted at 150 concurrent users
3. Memory leak detected after 8 minutes

## Recommendations
1. Add database indexes on product_id and category
2. Increase connection pool from 20 to 50
3. Fix memory leak in image processing service

Output Format

The command generates structured performance reports:

Console Output:

Running load test with k6...

  execution: local
    script: load-test.js
    output: json (results.json)

  scenarios: (100.00%) 1 scenario, 200 max VUs, 17m0s max duration

  data_received..................: 48 MB   80 kB/s
  data_sent......................: 2.4 MB  4.0 kB/s
  http_req_blocked...............: avg=1.23ms   p(95)=3.45ms  p(99)=8.91ms
  http_req_connecting............: avg=856µs    p(95)=2.34ms  p(99)=5.67ms
  http_req_duration..............: avg=156.78ms p(95)=289.45ms p(99)=456.12ms
  http_req_failed................: 0.12%
  http_req_receiving.............: avg=234µs    p(95)=567µs   p(99)=1.23ms
  http_req_sending...............: avg=123µs    p(95)=345µs   p(99)=789µs
  http_req_tls_handshaking.......: avg=0s       p(95)=0s      p(99)=0s
  http_req_waiting...............: avg=156.42ms p(95)=288.89ms p(99)=455.34ms
  http_reqs......................: 10000   166.67/s
  iteration_duration.............: avg=1.16s    p(95)=1.29s   p(99)=1.46s
  iterations.....................: 10000   166.67/s
  vus............................: 100     min=0 max=200
  vus_max........................: 200     min=200 max=200

JSON Report:

{
  "metrics": {
    "http_req_duration": {
      "avg": 156.78,
      "p95": 289.45,
      "p99": 456.12
    },
    "http_req_failed": 0.0012,
    "http_reqs": {
      "count": 10000,
      "rate": 166.67
    }
  },
  "root_group": {
    "checks": {
      "status is 200": {
        "passes": 9988,
        "fails": 12
      }
    }
  }
}

Code Examples

Example 1: Basic Load Test with k6

Test a REST API endpoint with gradual ramp-up and threshold validation:

// basic-load-test.js
import http from 'k6/http';
import { check, sleep } from 'k6';
import { Rate } from 'k6/metrics';

// Custom metrics
const errorRate = new Rate('errors');

export const options = {
  // Ramp-up pattern: 0 -> 50 -> 100 -> 50 -> 0
  stages: [
    { duration: '1m', target: 50 },   // Ramp-up to 50 users
    { duration: '3m', target: 50 },   // Stay at 50 users
    { duration: '1m', target: 100 },  // Spike to 100 users
    { duration: '3m', target: 100 },  // Stay at 100 users
    { duration: '1m', target: 50 },   // Scale down to 50
    { duration: '1m', target: 0 },    // Ramp-down to 0
  ],

  // Performance thresholds (test fails if exceeded)
  thresholds: {
    'http_req_duration': ['p(95)<300', 'p(99)<500'],
    'http_req_failed': ['rate<0.01'],  // Less than 1% errors
    'errors': ['rate<0.1'],
  },
};

export default function () {
  // Test parameters
  const baseUrl = 'https://api.example.com';
  const params = {
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      'Authorization': `Bearer ${__ENV.API_TOKEN}`,
    },
  };

  // API request
  const res = http.get(`${baseUrl}/v1/products?limit=20`, params);

  // Validation checks
  const checkRes = check(res, {
    'status is 200': (r) => r.status === 200,
    'response time < 300ms': (r) => r.timings.duration < 300,
    'has products': (r) => r.json('products').length > 0,
    'valid JSON': (r) => {
      try {
        JSON.parse(r.body);
        return true;
      } catch (e) {
        return false;
      }
    },
  });

  // Track custom error metric
  errorRate.add(!checkRes);

  // Simulate user think time
  sleep(Math.random() * 3 + 1); // 1-4 seconds
}

// Teardown function (runs once at end)
export function teardown(data) {
  console.log('Load test completed');
}

Run command:

# Set API token and execute
export API_TOKEN="your-token-here"
k6 run basic-load-test.js \
  --out json=results.json \
  --summary-export=summary.json

# Generate HTML report from JSON
k6-reporter results.json --output report.html

Example 2: Stress Testing with Artillery

Test API breaking point with gradual load increase until failure:

# stress-test.yml
config:
  target: 'https://api.example.com'
  phases:
    # Gradual ramp-up to find breaking point
    - duration: 60
      arrivalRate: 10
      name: "Phase 1: Baseline (10 RPS)"
    - duration: 60
      arrivalRate: 50
      name: "Phase 2: Moderate (50 RPS)"
    - duration: 60
      arrivalRate: 100
      name: "Phase 3: High (100 RPS)"
    - duration: 60
      arrivalRate: 200
      name: "Phase 4: Stress (200 RPS)"
    - duration: 60
      arrivalRate: 400
      name: "Phase 5: Breaking point (400 RPS)"

  # Environment variables
  variables:
    api_token: "{{ $processEnvironment.API_TOKEN }}"

  # HTTP settings
  http:
    timeout: 10
    pool: 50

  # Custom plugins
  plugins:
    expect: {}
    metrics-by-endpoint: {}

  # Success criteria
  ensure:
    p95: 500
    p99: 1000
    maxErrorRate: 1

# Test scenarios
scenarios:
  - name: "Product CRUD operations"
    weight: 70
    flow:
      # List products
      - get:
          url: "/v1/products"
          headers:
            Authorization: "Bearer {{ api_token }}"
          expect:
            - statusCode: 200
            - contentType: json
            - hasProperty: products
          capture:
            - json: "$.products[0].id"
              as: "productId"

      # Get product details
      - get:
          url: "/v1/products/{{ productId }}"
          headers:
            Authorization: "Bearer {{ api_token }}"
          expect:
            - statusCode: 200
            - hasProperty: id

      # Think time (user reading)
      - think: 2

      # Search products
      - get:
          url: "/v1/products/search?q=laptop"
          headers:
            Authorization: "Bearer {{ api_token }}"
          expect:
            - statusCode: 200

  - name: "User authentication flow"
    weight: 20
    flow:
      - post:
          url: "/v1/auth/login"
          json:
            email: "test@example.com"
            password: "password123"
          expect:
            - statusCode: 200
            - hasProperty: token
          capture:
            - json: "$.token"
              as: "userToken"

      - get:
          url: "/v1/users/me"
          headers:
            Authorization: "Bearer {{ userToken }}"
          expect:
            - statusCode: 200

  - name: "Shopping cart operations"
    weight: 10
    flow:
      - post:
          url: "/v1/cart/items"
          headers:
            Authorization: "Bearer {{ api_token }}"
          json:
            productId: "{{ productId }}"
            quantity: 1
          expect:
            - statusCode: 201

      - get:
          url: "/v1/cart"
          headers:
            Authorization: "Bearer {{ api_token }}"
          expect:
            - statusCode: 200
            - hasProperty: items

Run with custom processor:

// flows.js - Custom logic for Artillery
module.exports = {
  // Before request hook
  setAuthToken: function(requestParams, context, ee, next) {
    requestParams.headers = requestParams.headers || {};
    requestParams.headers['X-Request-ID'] = `req-${Date.now()}-${Math.random()}`;
    return next();
  },

  // After response hook
  logResponse: function(requestParams, response, context, ee, next) {
    if (response.statusCode >= 400) {
      console.log(`Error: ${response.statusCode} - ${requestParams.url}`);
    }
    return next();
  },

  // Custom function to generate dynamic data
  generateTestData: function(context, events, done) {
    context.vars.userId = `user-${Math.floor(Math.random() * 10000)}`;
    context.vars.timestamp = new Date().toISOString();
    return done();
  }
};

Execute stress test:

# Run with environment variable
API_TOKEN="your-token" artillery run stress-test.yml \
  --output stress-results.json

# Generate HTML report
artillery report stress-results.json \
  --output stress-report.html

# Run with custom config overrides
artillery run stress-test.yml \
  --config config.phases[0].duration=30 \
  --config config.phases[0].arrivalRate=20

Example 3: Performance Testing with Gatling (Scala DSL)

Enterprise-grade load test with complex scenarios and detailed reporting:

// LoadSimulation.scala
package com.example.loadtest

import io.gatling.core.Predef._
import io.gatling.http.Predef._
import scala.concurrent.duration._

class ApiLoadSimulation extends Simulation {

  // HTTP protocol configuration
  val httpProtocol = http
    .baseUrl("https://api.example.com")
    .acceptHeader("application/json")
    .authorizationHeader("Bearer ${accessToken}")
    .userAgentHeader("Gatling Load Test")
    .shareConnections

  // Feeders for test data
  val userFeeder = csv("users.csv").circular
  val productFeeder = csv("products.csv").random

  // Custom headers
  val sentHeaders = Map(
    "X-Request-ID" -> "${requestId}",
    "X-Client-Version" -> "1.0.0"
  )

  // Scenario 1: Browse products
  val browseProducts = scenario("Browse Products")
    .feed(userFeeder)
    .exec(session => session.set("requestId", java.util.UUID.randomUUID.toString))
    .exec(
      http("List Products")
        .get("/v1/products")
        .headers(sentHeaders)
        .check(status.is(200))
        .check(jsonPath("$.products[*].id").findAll.saveAs("productIds"))
    )
    .pause(2, 5)
    .exec(
      http("Get Product Details")
        .get("/v1/products/${productIds.random()}")
        .check(status.is(200))
        .check(jsonPath("$.id").exists)
        .check(jsonPath("$.price").ofType[Double].saveAs("price"))
    )
    .pause(1, 3)

  // Scenario 2: Search and filter
  val searchProducts = scenario("Search Products")
    .exec(session => session.set("requestId", java.util.UUID.randomUUID.toString))
    .exec(
      http("Search Products")
        .get("/v1/products/search")
        .queryParam("q", "laptop")
        .queryParam("minPrice", "500")
        .queryParam("maxPrice", "2000")
        .headers(sentHeaders)
        .check(status.is(200))
        .check(jsonPath("$.total").ofType[Int].gt(0))
    )
    .pause(2, 4)
    .exec(
      http("Apply Filters")
        .get("/v1/products/search")
        .queryParam("q", "laptop")
        .queryParam("brand", "Dell")
        .queryParam("sort", "price")
        .check(status.is(200))
    )

  // Scenario 3: Checkout flow
  val checkout = scenario("Checkout Flow")
    .feed(userFeeder)
    .feed(productFeeder)
    .exec(session => session.set("requestId", java.util.UUID.randomUUID.toString))
    .exec(
      http("Add to Cart")
        .post("/v1/cart/items")
        .headers(sentHeaders)
        .body(StringBody("""{"productId": "${productId}", "quantity": 1}"""))
        .asJson
        .check(status.is(201))
        .check(jsonPath("$.cartId").saveAs("cartId"))
    )
    .pause(1, 2)
    .exec(
      http("Get Cart")
        .get("/v1/cart/${cartId}")
        .check(status.is(200))
        .check(jsonPath("$.total").ofType[Double].saveAs("total"))
    )
    .pause(2, 4)
    .exec(
      http("Create Order")
        .post("/v1/orders")
        .body(StringBody("""{"cartId": "${cartId}", "paymentMethod": "credit_card"}"""))
        .asJson
        .check(status.in(200, 201))
        .check(jsonPath("$.orderId").saveAs("orderId"))
    )
    .exec(
      http("Get Order Status")
        .get("/v1/orders/${orderId}")
        .check(status.is(200))
        .check(jsonPath("$.status").is("pending"))
    )

  // Load profile: Realistic production traffic pattern
  setUp(
    // 70% users browse products
    browseProducts.inject(
      rampUsersPerSec(1) to 50 during (2 minutes),
      constantUsersPerSec(50) during (5 minutes),
      rampUsersPerSec(50) to 100 during (3 minutes),
      constantUsersPerSec(100) during (5 minutes),
      rampUsersPerSec(100) to 0 during (2 minutes)
    ).protocols(httpProtocol),

    // 20% users search
    searchProducts.inject(
      rampUsersPerSec(1) to 15 during (2 minutes),
      constantUsersPerSec(15) during (10 minutes),
      rampUsersPerSec(15) to 0 during (2 minutes)
    ).protocols(httpProtocol),

    // 10% users complete checkout
    checkout.inject(
      rampUsersPerSec(1) to 10 during (3 minutes),
      constantUsersPerSec(10) during (10 minutes),
      rampUsersPerSec(10) to 0 during (2 minutes)
    ).protocols(httpProtocol)
  ).protocols(httpProtocol)
   .assertions(
     global.responseTime.max.lt(2000),
     global.responseTime.percentile3.lt(500),
     global.successfulRequests.percent.gt(99)
   )
}

Supporting data files:

users.csv:

userId,accessToken
user-001,eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...
user-002,eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...
user-003,eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...

products.csv:

productId,category
prod-001,electronics
prod-002,clothing
prod-003,books

Run Gatling simulation:

# Using Gatling Maven plugin
mvn gatling:test -Dgatling.simulationClass=com.example.loadtest.ApiLoadSimulation

# Using standalone Gatling
./gatling.sh -s com.example.loadtest.ApiLoadSimulation \
  -rf results/

# Generate report only (from previous run)
./gatling.sh -ro results/apisimulation-20251011143022456

Gatling configuration (gatling.conf):

gatling {
  core {
    outputDirectoryBaseName = "api-load-test"
    runDescription = "Production load simulation"
    encoding = "utf-8"
    simulationClass = ""
  }
  charting {
    indicators {
      lowerBound = 100      # Lower bound for response time (ms)
      higherBound = 500     # Higher bound for response time (ms)
      percentile1 = 50      # First percentile
      percentile2 = 75      # Second percentile
      percentile3 = 95      # Third percentile
      percentile4 = 99      # Fourth percentile
    }
  }
  http {
    ahc {
      pooledConnectionIdleTimeout = 60000
      readTimeout = 60000
      requestTimeout = 60000
      connectionTimeout = 30000
      maxConnections = 200
      maxConnectionsPerHost = 50
    }
  }
  data {
    writers = [console, file]
  }
}

Error Handling

Common errors and solutions:

Connection Refused:

Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:8080

Solution: Verify API is running and accessible. Check network connectivity and firewall rules.

Timeout Errors:

http_req_failed: 45.2% (4520 failures / 10000 requests)

Solution: Increase timeout values or reduce concurrent users. API may be overwhelmed.

SSL/TLS Errors:

Error: x509: certificate signed by unknown authority

Solution: Add insecureSkipTLSVerify: true or configure proper CA certificates.

Rate Limiting:

HTTP 429 Too Many Requests

Solution: Reduce request rate or increase rate limits on API server. Add backoff logic.

Memory Exhaustion:

JavaScript heap out of memory

Solution: Increase Node.js memory limit: NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=4096 k6 run test.js

Authentication Failures:

HTTP 401 Unauthorized

Solution: Verify API tokens are valid and not expired. Check authorization headers.

Configuration Options

k6 Options

--vus N                    # Number of virtual users (default: 1)
--duration Xm              # Test duration (e.g., 10m, 30s)
--iterations N             # Total iterations across all VUs
--stage "Xm:N"            # Add load stage (duration:target)
--rps N                    # Max requests per second
--max-redirects N          # Max HTTP redirects (default: 10)
--batch N                  # Max parallel batch requests
--batch-per-host N         # Max parallel requests per host
--http-debug              # Enable HTTP debug logging
--no-connection-reuse     # Disable HTTP keep-alive
--throw                   # Throw errors on failed HTTP requests
--summary-trend-stats     # Custom summary stats (e.g., "avg,p(95),p(99)")
--out json=file.json      # Export results to JSON
--out influxdb=http://... # Export to InfluxDB
--out statsd              # Export to StatsD

Artillery Options

--target URL               # Override target URL
--output FILE              # Save results to JSON file
--overrides FILE           # Override config with JSON file
--variables FILE           # Load variables from JSON
--config KEY=VALUE         # Override single config value
--environment ENV          # Select environment from config
--solo                     # Run test without publishing
--quiet                    # Suppress output
--plugins                  # List installed plugins
--dotenv FILE              # Load environment from .env file

Gatling Options

-s CLASS                   # Simulation class to run
-rf FOLDER                 # Results folder
-rd DESC                   # Run description
-nr                        # No reports generation
-ro FOLDER                 # Generate reports only

Best Practices

DO:

• Start with baseline test (low load) to verify test scripts work correctly
• Ramp up load gradually to identify inflection points
• Monitor backend resources (CPU, memory, database) during tests
• Use realistic think times (1-5 seconds) to simulate user behavior
• Test in staging environment that mirrors production capacity
• Run tests multiple times to establish consistency
• Document test configuration and results for historical comparison
• Use connection pooling and HTTP keep-alive for realistic scenarios
• Set appropriate timeouts (30-60 seconds for most APIs)
• Clean up test data after runs (especially for write-heavy tests)

DON'T:

• Don't load test production without explicit permission and monitoring
• Don't ignore warmup period (JIT compilation, cache warming)
• Don't test from same datacenter as API (unrealistic latency)
• Don't use default test data (create realistic, varied datasets)
• Don't skip cool-down period (observe resource cleanup)
• Don't test only happy paths (include error scenarios)
• Don't ignore database connection limits
• Don't run tests during production deployments
• Don't compare results across different network conditions
• Don't test third-party APIs without permission

TIPS:

• Use distributed load generation for tests > 1000 VUs
• Export metrics to monitoring systems (Prometheus, DataDog) for correlation
• Create custom dashboards showing load test progress in real-time
• Use percentiles (p95, p99) instead of averages for SLA targets
• Test cache warm vs cold scenarios separately
• Include authentication overhead in realistic flows
• Validate response bodies, not just status codes
• Use unique IDs per virtual user to avoid data conflicts
• Schedule tests during low-traffic periods
• Keep test scripts in version control with API code

Related Commands

• /api-mock-server - Create mock API for testing without backend
• /api-monitoring-dashboard - Set up real-time monitoring during load tests
• /api-cache-manager - Configure caching to improve performance under load
• /api-rate-limiter - Implement rate limiting to protect APIs
• /deployment-pipeline-orchestrator - Integrate load tests into CI/CD pipeline
• /kubernetes-deployment-creator - Configure autoscaling based on load test findings

Performance Considerations

Test Environment Sizing

• Client machine: 1 VU ≈ 1-10 MB RAM, 0.01-0.1 CPU cores
• Network bandwidth: 1000 VUs ≈ 10-100 Mbps depending on payload size
• k6 limits: Single instance handles 30,000-40,000 VUs (depends on script complexity)
• Artillery limits: Single instance handles 5,000-10,000 RPS
• Gatling limits: Single instance handles 50,000+ VUs (JVM-based)

Backend Resource Planning

• Database connections: Plan for peak concurrent users + connection pool overhead
• CPU utilization: Keep below 80% under sustained load (leave headroom for spikes)
• Memory: Monitor for leaks (heap should stabilize after warmup)
• Network I/O: Ensure network bandwidth exceeds expected throughput by 50%

Optimization Strategies

• HTTP keep-alive: Reduces connection overhead by 50-80%
• Response compression: Reduces bandwidth by 60-80% for text responses
• CDN caching: Offloads 70-90% of static asset requests
• Database indexing: Can improve query performance by 10-100x
• Connection pooling: Reduces latency by 20-50ms per request

Security Notes

Testing Permissions

• Obtain written approval before load testing any environment
• Verify testing is allowed by API terms of service
• Use dedicated test accounts with limited privileges
• Test in isolated environments to prevent data corruption

Credential Management

• Never hardcode API keys or passwords in test scripts
• Use environment variables: export API_TOKEN=$(vault read -field=token secret/api)
• Rotate test credentials regularly
• Use short-lived tokens (JWT with 1-hour expiry)
• Store sensitive data in secrets managers (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)

Data Privacy

• Use synthetic test data (never real customer PII)
• Anonymize logs and results before sharing
• Clean up test data immediately after test completion
• Encrypt results files containing sensitive information

Network Security

• Run tests from trusted networks (avoid public WiFi)
• Use VPN when testing internal APIs
• Implement IP whitelisting for test traffic
• Monitor for anomalous traffic patterns during tests

Troubleshooting Guide

Issue: Inconsistent Results Between Runs

Symptoms: Response times vary by > 50% between identical test runs Diagnosis:

• Check for background jobs or cron tasks running during test
• Verify database wasn't backed up during test
• Ensure no other load tests running concurrently Solution:
• Schedule tests during known quiet periods
• Disable background tasks during test window
• Run multiple iterations and take median results

Issue: Low Throughput Despite Low CPU/Memory

Symptoms: API handling only 100 RPS despite 20% CPU usage Diagnosis:

• Check network bandwidth utilization
• Examine database connection pool exhaustion
• Look for synchronous I/O blocking (file system, external API calls) Solution:
• Increase connection pool size
• Implement async I/O for external calls
• Add caching layer (Redis) for frequently accessed data

Issue: Error Rate Increases Under Load

Symptoms: 0.1% errors at 100 RPS, 5% errors at 500 RPS Diagnosis:

• Database deadlocks or lock contention
• Race conditions in concurrent code paths
• Resource exhaustion (file descriptors, sockets) Solution:
• Add database query logging to identify slow queries
• Implement optimistic locking or queue-based processing
• Increase file descriptor limits: ulimit -n 65536

Issue: Memory Leak Detected

Symptoms: Memory usage grows continuously without stabilizing Diagnosis:

• Heap dump analysis shows growing object count
• GC frequency increases over time
• API becomes unresponsive after extended load Solution:
• Profile application with heap analyzer (Chrome DevTools, VisualVM)
• Check for unclosed database connections or file handles
• Review event listener registration (potential memory leak source)

Issue: Test Client Crashes

Symptoms: k6/Artillery process terminated with OOM error Diagnosis:

• Too many VUs for available client memory
• Large response bodies consuming memory
• Results export causing memory pressure Solution:
• Reduce VU count or distribute across multiple machines
• Increase Node.js memory: NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=8192
• Disable detailed logging: --quiet or --summary-export only

Version History

• 1.0.0 (2025-10-11) - Initial release with k6, Artillery, and Gatling support
• 1.1.0 (2025-10-15) - Added custom metrics and Prometheus integration
• 1.2.0 (2025-10-20) - Distributed load testing support for high-scale scenarios