What is Load Testing?

Load Testing is a subset of Performance Testing, where

we test the system’s response under varying load
conditions by simulating multiple users accessing the
application concurrently. This testing usually measures
the speed and capacity of the application.

Thus whenever we modify the load, we monitor the

behavior of the system under various conditions.
 Example:
Let’s assume that our client requirement for a Login page is 2-5 sec and
this 2-5 sec should be consistent all throughout until the load is 5000
users. So what should we observe hear? Is it just the load handling
capability of the system or is it just the response time requirement?
The answer is both. We want the system which can handle a load of 5000
users with the response time of 2-5 seconds for all the concurrent users.

So what is meant by a concurrent user and a virtual user?

Concurrent users are those who log in to the application and at the same
time, perform a set of activities together and log off the application at the
same time. On the other hand, virtual users just hop in and hop out of the
system irrespective of the other user activities.
 Load Test Architecture

In the diagram we can see how different users are accessing the application. Here
each user is making a request over the internet, which is later passed through a
firewall.

After firewall, we have a Load balancer which distributes the load to any of the web
servers, and then passes to the application server and later to the database server
where it fetches the necessary information based on the user request.
 Manual and Automated Load Testing
Load testing can be done manually as well as by using a tool. But manual
load testing is not advised as we don’t test the application for a lesser load.
Example: Let’s assume, that we want to test an online shopping application to see the response time
of the application for each user click i.e Step1 –Launch URL, the response time, Login to the
application and note the response time and so on like selecting a product, adding to the cart, making
payment and logging off. All these have to be done for 10 users.

So, now when we need to test the application load for 10 users then we can achieve this by manually
putting load by 10 physical users from different machines instead of using a tool. In this scenario, it
is advisable to go for a manual load test rather than investing in a tool and setting up an environment
for the tool.
Whereas imagine if we need to load test for 1500 users then we need to automate the load test using
any of the available tools based on the technologies in which the application is built and also based
on the budget that we have for the project.
 Commercial tools and Open source tools

• If we have a budget, then we can go for commercial tools like Load

runner but if we don’t have much budget then we can go for open
source tools like JMeter, etc.

• Whether it is a commercial tool or an open source tool, the details

have to be shared with the client before we finalize the tool. Usually, a
proof of concept is prepared, where we generate a sample script using
the tool and show the sample reports to the client for approval of the
tool before finalizing it.

• In automated load testing, we replace the users with the help of an

automation tool, which mimics the real-time user actions. By
automating load we can save resources as well as the time.
Users are replaced using a Tool
 Why Load Testing?
Let’s assume that there is an online shopping website which is
doing pretty good during normal business days i.e users are able to
login to the application, browse through the different product
categories, select products, add items to the cart, check out and log
off within an acceptable range and there are no page errors or huge
response times.

Meanwhile, there comes a peak day i.e let’s say the Thanks Giving
day and there are thousands of users who are logged in to the
system, the system is crashed all of a sudden and the users
experience a very slow response, some couldn’t even log in to the
site, a few failed to add to cart and some failed to check out.
 Why Load Testing?
Hence on this big day, the company had to face a huge loss as it lost many
customers and much business too. All this happened just because they didn’t
predict the user load for peak days, even if they would have predicted there
was no load test done on the company website, hence they don’t know how
much load the application will be able to handle on the peak days.

Thus to handle such situations and in order to overcome huge revenue, it’s
advisable to conduct load test for such type of applications.

• Load Testing helps to build strong and reliable systems.

• The bottleneck in the system is identified well in advance before the
application goes live.
• It helps in identifying the capacity of the application.
 Environment
We need a dedicated Load Testing environment to conduct our
tests. Because most of the time the Load test environment will
be the same as the production environment and also the data
available in the load test environment will be same like
production though it is not the same data.

There will be multiple test environments like SIT environment,

QA environment etc, these environments are not the same
production, because unlike load testing they don’t need that
many servers or that much test data to conduct functional
testing or an integration testing.
 Environment - Example
Example:
In a Production Environment, we have 3 Application servers, 2 Web servers, and 2
Database Servers. In QA, we have only 1 Application Server, 1 Web server, and 1
Database server. Hence, if we conduct a Load test on the QA environment which is not
equal to the Production, then our tests are not valid and are incorrect too and thereby we
can’t go by these results.

Thus always try to have a dedicated environment for Load testing which is similar to that
of a production environment.

Also, sometimes we have third-party applications which our system will call, hence in
such cases, we can use stubs as we can’t always work with the third-party vendors for data
refresh or any other issues or support.

Try to take a snapshot of the environment once it is ready so that, whenever you want to
rebuild the environment you can use this snapshot, which would help with time
management. There are some tools that are available in the market to set up the
environment like Puppet, Docker etc.
 Approach
Before we start the Load test we need to understand if any Load
test is already done on the system or not. If there was any load
testing done earlier, then we need to know what was the
response time, client and server metrics collected, how much was
the user load capacity etc.
Also, we need information on how much is the current application
handling capability. If it’s a new application we need to
understand the requirements, what is the targeted load, what is
the expected response time and if it is really achievable or not.
If it is an existing application, you can get the load requirements
and the user access patterns from the server logs. But if it is a
new application then you need to reach out to the business team
to get all the information.
 Approach Cont…
Once we have the requirements, we need to identify how
we are going to execute the load test. Is it done manually
or using tools? Doing a load test manually needs a lot of
resources and is very expensive too. Also repeating the
test, again and again, will be tough as well.
Hence, to overcome this we can either use Open source
tools or commercial tools. Open source tools are available
for free, these tools may not have all the features like the
other commercial tools but if the project has a budget
constraint, then we can go for open source tools.
Whereas commercial tools have many features, they
support many protocols and are very user-friendly.
 Load Test approach will be as follows:

1) Identify the Load test Acceptance Criteria

2) Identify the Business scenarios that need to be tested.
3) Work Load Modelling
4) Design the Load Tests
5) Execute Load Test
6) Analyze the Load Test Results
7) Reporting
 Load Test approach Cont…
1) Identify the Load test Acceptance Criteria
For Example:
1.The response time of the Login page shouldn’t be more than 5 sec even during the max load conditions.
2.CPU utilization should not be more than 80%.
3.The throughput of the system should be 100 transactions per sec.

2) Identify the Business scenarios that need to be tested.

Don’t test all the flows, try to understand the main business flows which are expected to happen in
production. If it is an existing application we can get his information from the server logs of the production
environment.

If it is a newly build application then we need to work with the business teams to understand the flow
patterns, application usage etc. Sometimes the project team will conduct workshops to give an overview or
details about each component of the application.

We need to attend the application workshop and note all the required information to conduct our load test.
 Load Test approach Cont…
3) Work Load Modelling
Once we have the details about the business flows, user access patterns and the number of
users, we need to design the workload in such a way in which it mimics the actual user
navigation in production or as expected to be in the future once the application will be in
production.
The key points to remember while designing a workload model is to see how much time a
particular business flow will take to complete. Here we need to assign the think time in such
a way that, the user will navigate across the application in a more realistic way.

The Work Load Pattern will usually be

with a Ramp up, Ramp down and a
steady state. We should slowly load the
system and thus ramp up and ramp
down are used. The steady state will
usually be a one-hour Load test with
Ramp up of 15 min and Ram down of 15
min.
 Load Test approach Cont…
Let us take an Example of the Workload Model:

Overview of the application – Let’s assume an online shopping, where the users will log into the application and have a wide

variety of dresses to shop, and they can navigate across each product.

To view the details about each product, they need to click on the product. If they like the cost and make of the product, then

they can add to the cart and buy the product by checking out and making the payment.

Given below are a list of scenarios:

Browse – Here, the user launches the application, Logs into the application, Browses through different categories and Logs
1.

out of the application.

Browse, Product View, Add to Cart – Here, the user logs into the application, Browses through different categories, views
2.

product details, adds the product to cart and Logs out.

Browse, Product View, Add to Cart and Check out – In this scenario, the user logs into the application, Browses through
3.

different categories, views product details, adds the product to the cart, does check out and Logs out.

Browse, Product view, Add to cart Check out and Makes Payment – Here, the user logs into the application, Browses
4.

through different categories, views product details, adds the product to the cart, does check out, makes Payment and Logs out.
 Load Test approach Cont…
Virtual User Transactions
S.No Business Flow Number of Load Response % Failure rate per hour
Transactions Time (sec) allowed

1 Browse 17 1600 3 Less than 2% 96000

2 Browse, Product View, Add 17 200 3 Less than 2% 12000

to Cart

3 Browse, Product View, Add 18 120 3 Less than 2% 7200

to Cart and Check out
4 Browse, Product view, Add 20 80 3 Less than 2% 4800
to cart Check out and
Makes Payment

The above values were derived based on the following calculations:

•Transactions per hour = Number of users*Transactions made by a single user in
one hour.
•The number of users = 1600.
•The total number of transaction in the Browse scenario = 17.
•Response Time for each transaction = 3.
•Total time for a single user to complete 17 transactions = 17*3 = 51 rounded to
60 sec (1 min).
 Load Test approach Cont…
#4) Design the Load Tests – The Load Test should be designed with the data that we collected so
far i.e the Business flows, Number of users, user patterns, Metrics to be collected and analyzed.
Moreover, the tests should be designed in a much realistic way.

#5) Execute Load Test – Before we execute the Load test, make sure that the application is up and
running. The Load test environment is ready. The application is functionally tested and is stable.
Check the configuration settings of the Load test environment. It should be the same as the
production environment. Ensure all the test data is available. Make sure to add necessary counters to
monitor the system performance during test execution.
Always start with a low load and gradually increase the load. Never start with the full load and break
the system.

#6) Analyze the Load Test Results – Have a baseline test to always compare with the other test
runs. Gather the metrics and server logs after the test run to find the bottlenecks.
Some projects use Application Performance Monitoring Tools to monitor the system during the test
run, these APM tools help to identify the root cause more easily and save a lot of time. These tools are
very easy to find the root cause of the bottleneck as they have a wide view to pinpoint where the
issue is.
 Load Test approach Cont…

7) Reporting – Once the Test Run

is complete, gather all the metrics
and send the test summary report
to the concerned team with your
observations and
recommendations.
 Best practices of Load Testing
• #1) Always check the application stability before starting a Load test.
The application should be signed functionally stable by the Functional
testing team and all major defects should be fixed and tested before the
build is copied to the Load Test environment.
• #2) Ensure that the Load test environment is a replica or is close to the
production environment, including the number of servers,
Load balancers, server configurations, and firewalls.
• #3) Check if the test data is unique and we have all the test data
copied to the load environment before conducting a load test.
• #4) Design the test scenarios in such a way that they mimic the real-
time user action happening in the production.
• #5) Design the workload based on the production user loads and
business flows and in case of an old application, see if it is a new talk to
the business team regarding the business flows and the user load.
• #6) Collect all the important metrics like Response Time, hits per sec,
Throughput, Cpu, Memory, Network, and Running Vusers.
 Examples of Load Testing

Load testing finds its application in a wide array of scenarios across diverse industries and
applications. Here are several instances where load testing proves crucial:
• Online Retail Sites: For online retail websites, load testing is done to mimic heavy user activity
during peak shopping seasons like Black Friday or Cyber Monday. This process verifies the website's
ability to handle high traffic and transaction volumes without experiencing slow-downs or crashes.
• Online Gaming Platforms: Load testing in online multiplayer games simulates thousands of
simultaneous players interacting with the game. This helps to confirm that the game servers can
manage this load without any lags or downtime, thereby offering a smooth gaming experience.
• Streaming Platforms: In the case of streaming services, load testing emulates thousands of
users streaming content at the same time. This ensures the service can offer high-quality
streaming without any buffering, even during peak viewing hours.
• Banking Applications: For banking applications, load testing can replicate scenarios such as high
transaction loads at the end of the month. This makes sure the application can manage the surge
in activity without encountering any errors or delays.
• Mobile Apps: Load testing can mimic many users interacting with a mobile application
simultaneously. This helps ensure the app stays responsive and stable even under heavy load.
• Web Services or APIs: Load testing can be employed to test web services and APIs. This is
achieved by sending a large number of requests to check if the service or API can manage the load
and respond promptly
 Examples of Load Testing

Load testing finds its application in a wide array of scenarios across diverse industries and
applications. Here are several instances where load testing proves crucial:
• Online Retail Sites: For online retail websites, load testing is done to mimic heavy user activity
during peak shopping seasons like Black Friday or Cyber Monday. This process verifies the website's
ability to handle high traffic and transaction volumes without experiencing slow-downs or crashes.
• Online Gaming Platforms: Load testing in online multiplayer games simulates thousands of
simultaneous players interacting with the game. This helps to confirm that the game servers can
manage this load without any lags or downtime, thereby offering a smooth gaming experience.
• Streaming Platforms: In the case of streaming services, load testing emulates thousands of
users streaming content at the same time. This ensures the service can offer high-quality
streaming without any buffering, even during peak viewing hours.
• Banking Applications: For banking applications, load testing can replicate scenarios such as high
transaction loads at the end of the month. This makes sure the application can manage the surge
in activity without encountering any errors or delays.
• Mobile Apps: Load testing can mimic many users interacting with a mobile application
simultaneously. This helps ensure the app stays responsive and stable even under heavy load.
• Web Services or APIs: Load testing can be employed to test web services and APIs. This is
achieved by sending a large number of requests to check if the service or API can manage the load
and respond promptly
Difference between Load Testing and Stress testing

Load Testing Stress Testing

Understand the system's behavior and
Determine how the system behaves
identify its breaking point under
under expected and peak loads.
extreme conditions.
Ensures the system can handle
Pushes the system beyond its capacity
expected user load and helps
to understand how it fails and
identify bottlenecks that can impact
recovers, ensuring system robustness.
performance.
Applies loads that go beyond peak,
Simulates normal to peak load
pushing to the system's breaking
conditions.
point.
Simulates a high number of users
Simulates a situation where the system
accessing the application
is stressed with extreme loads,
simultaneously during peak usage
potentially causing it to fail.
times.
Helps to identify performance
Helps to identify how the system
bottlenecks, establish a performance
handles failure, its recovery process,
baseline, and validate that the
and its maximum capacity.
system can handle high load.