choco install k6
apt-get install k6
brew install k6
docker pull grafana/k6
If go is installed: go run .
Else, there is a windows executable at ./bin/dummy.exe (run from cmd).
First, we'll run a very simple k6 scenario. This script will simulate 10 virtual users (vus) running 10k request (in total) to the dummy api.
Run the command and wait for the result k6 run k6/simple-post-example.js
In the results, you will see many data about the scenario. We will focus on the http_req_duration and the http_reqs lines to get a broad view of the endpoint speed.
http_req_duration shows the average/min/max duration for one request. It also shows percentile data (p(9x)). This value represents the response time below which 9x% of requests fall. In other words, 9x% of your users experience response times equal to or faster than this value.
http_reqs line resume the number of requests done in the scenario, and calculates the number of request the endpoint is able to handle par second.
You can check that the API posts count with a GET to http://localhost:7777/count To reset the counter, send a DELETE to http://localhost:7777 or restart the API.
Now we will look at stages. It's a way to spawn virtual users in, you guessed it, stages.
stages: [ { duration: '1m30s', target: 150 }, { duration: '10s', target: 0 } ],
This code will ramp up vus from 0 to 150 in 1m30, and then drop to 0 in 10s.
For this command, we will use the web dashboard.
Run the command : k6 run --out 'web-dashboard' k6/progressive-load-testing.js
To get smoother results on dashboard, set K6_WEB_DASHBOARD_PERIOD env variable to 1s (default 10s)
To automatically open dashboard, set K6_WEB_DASHBOARD_OPEN to true
Powershell :$env:K6_WEB_DASHBOARD_PERIOD="1s"; $env:K6_WEB_DASHBOARD_OPEN="true";
In this example, we will use a lifecyle function to handle "authentication". The setup is called once, and is used to set up data.
In this case, I'm using the setup to get a token from the API. That means that all the virtual users will share the same token.
I'm also using checks to make assertions on the API response.
Run the command : k6 run k6/lifecycle-params-and-check.js
We will now take a really simple example for a custom metrics.
Run the command : k6 run k6/custom-metrics.js
In this exemple, you will find in the scenario file these lines :
const connectionTimeTrend = new Trend('connection_time');
this line is used to create a new custom metric
connectionTimeTrend.add(response.timings.connecting);
this line is used to insert a data point to this metric
When the test is finished running, you will be able to see your custom metrics in the result table.
You can also use the custom metrics to compare two endpoints performance. It can be useful when refactoring for performance.
Run the command : k6 run k6/custom-metrics-compare.js
(Nice blog post about formatting output to compare many endpoints performance)[https://medium.com/@monish.correia/how-to-create-endpoint-wise-summary-for-each-requests-in-k6-script-d5e7c63f58fd]