Distributed testing with JMeter and Azure Container Instances

When developing the web applications, you want to be sure that your production is ready to handle the success and the traffic, that’s why load testing and stress testing are important to ensure a web app is performant and scalable.

There are plenty of Load testing solutions nowadays, both commercial and free, so you can consider what is the best for your project at this point of time. Load testing is not always a part of CI/CD pipeline and is typically initiated for seasonal events such as tax filing, summer sales, Black Friday, Christmas, etc. Therefore many projects choose free solutions which doesn’t put additional load on the finances, while putting the load on tested web applications :)

In this article I want to share my approach to distributed testing, using Apache JMeter , Docker and Azure container instances. I prefer this setup because you can create a high load in a relatively short amount of time, for relatively low price, with a relatively low effort.

All right, all right, I know you already think: “Oh come on! Get to the point, you bloody ******* !”. The whole idea is not new and in a nutshell looks like this:

Distributed testing with JMeter and Azure Container Instances

JMeter Controller instance is sending the test and the necessary instructions to JMeter servers which are creating the load on our website under test. To have this setup up and running we build two Docker images with JMeter in Non-Gui mode — JMeter controller image and JMeter server image. Then we run controller in one container instance and spin up as many server(worker) instances as we need. To make it easier for controller to access worker nodes they are placed in the same vnet and subnet. Because we need some place to persist our test file, logs and test reports we mount Azure File Share as volume into our containers. When our infrastructure in populated, Controller node is giving command to the Worker nodes and they start putting the load on our web application. After the tests are executed, report is stored in our file share.

For a demo purposes I have deployed a simple Asp.net core app with register and login functionality and ran the tests from 6 workers, where each worker was adding a load of 40 users in a 10 seconds period. Because my test is visiting a few pages, this resulted in 10k requests at a peak load. It is also interesting to see how the response time was changing.

After the tests are executed, logs and test report is stored in our Azure File Share and will be looking somewhat like this.

Report can be downloaded using Azure Storage Explorer or we can add a download command in the end of our script (I was a little lazy in the end). There are also a lot of possibilities to adjust/upgrade the reports with different JMeter plugins\addons. JMeter community is really good and helpful.

To automate the whole process I have prepared Docker files and a PowerShell script that is running Azure CLI commands. This script is provisioning all the infrastructure and then runs the tests. Since it is running Azure CLI commands it can be easily converted into other shell scripts if necessary —I used PowerShell because I am working on Windows at the moment. I will list below the main steps taken in the script:

1. Create Azure resource group for the tests setup.
2. Create virtual network and a subnet.
3. Create the storage account.
4. Create the file share and get access key.
5. Upload JMeter test plan to the file share.
6. Build and push docker images for controller and server.
7. Create and run container instances with JMeter server image and gather their IP addresses.
8. Create instance with Jmeter Controller image and run tests.

#azure #technology #programming

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Buddha Community

Testing Microservices Applications

The shift towards microservices and modular applications makes testing more important and more challenging at the same time. You have to make sure that the microservices running in containers perform well and as intended, but you can no longer rely on conventional testing strategies to get the job done.

This is where new testing approaches are needed. Testing your microservices applications require the right approach, a suitable set of tools, and immense attention to details. This article will guide you through the process of testing your microservices and talk about the challenges you will have to overcome along the way. Let’s get started, shall we?

A Brave New World

Traditionally, testing a monolith application meant configuring a test environment and setting up all of the application components in a way that matched the production environment. It took time to set up the testing environment, and there were a lot of complexities around the process.

Testing also requires the application to run in full. It is not possible to test monolith apps on a per-component basis, mainly because there is usually a base code that ties everything together, and the app is designed to run as a complete app to work properly.

Microservices running in containers offer one particular advantage: universal compatibility. You don’t have to match the testing environment with the deployment architecture exactly, and you can get away with testing individual components rather than the full app in some situations.

Of course, you will have to embrace the new cloud-native approach across the pipeline. Rather than creating critical dependencies between microservices, you need to treat each one as a semi-independent module.

The only monolith or centralized portion of the application is the database, but this too is an easy challenge to overcome. As long as you have a persistent database running on your test environment, you can perform tests at any time.

Keep in mind that there are additional things to focus on when testing microservices.

• Microservices rely on network communications to talk to each other, so network reliability and requirements must be part of the testing.
• Automation and infrastructure elements are now added as codes, and you have to make sure that they also run properly when microservices are pushed through the pipeline
• While containerization is universal, you still have to pay attention to specific dependencies and create a testing strategy that allows for those dependencies to be included

Test containers are the method of choice for many developers. Unlike monolith apps, which lets you use stubs and mocks for testing, microservices need to be tested in test containers. Many CI/CD pipelines actually integrate production microservices as part of the testing process.

Contract Testing as an Approach

As mentioned before, there are many ways to test microservices effectively, but the one approach that developers now use reliably is contract testing. Loosely coupled microservices can be tested in an effective and efficient way using contract testing, mainly because this testing approach focuses on contracts; in other words, it focuses on how components or microservices communicate with each other.

Syntax and semantics construct how components communicate with each other. By defining syntax and semantics in a standardized way and testing microservices based on their ability to generate the right message formats and meet behavioral expectations, you can rest assured knowing that the microservices will behave as intended when deployed.

Ways to Test Microservices

It is easy to fall into the trap of making testing microservices complicated, but there are ways to avoid this problem. Testing microservices doesn’t have to be complicated at all when you have the right strategy in place.

There are several ways to test microservices too, including:

• Unit testing: Which allows developers to test microservices in a granular way. It doesn’t limit testing to individual microservices, but rather allows developers to take a more granular approach such as testing individual features or runtimes.
• Integration testing: Which handles the testing of microservices in an interactive way. Microservices still need to work with each other when they are deployed, and integration testing is a key process in making sure that they do.
• End-to-end testing: Which⁠—as the name suggests⁠—tests microservices as a complete app. This type of testing enables the testing of features, UI, communications, and other components that construct the app.

What’s important to note is the fact that these testing approaches allow for asynchronous testing. After all, asynchronous development is what makes developing microservices very appealing in the first place. By allowing for asynchronous testing, you can also make sure that components or microservices can be updated independently to one another.

#blog #microservices #testing #caylent #contract testing #end-to-end testing #hoverfly #integration testing #microservices #microservices architecture #pact #testing #unit testing #vagrant #vcr

50+ Useful Kubernetes Tools for 2020 - Part 2

Introduction

Last year, we provided a list of Kubernetes tools that proved so popular we have decided to curate another list of some useful additions for working with the platform—among which are many tools that we personally use here at Caylent. Check out the original tools list here in case you missed it.

According to a recent survey done by Stackrox, the dominance Kubernetes enjoys in the market continues to be reinforced, with 86% of respondents using it for container orchestration.

(State of Kubernetes and Container Security, 2020)

And as you can see below, more and more companies are jumping into containerization for their apps. If you’re among them, here are some tools to aid you going forward as Kubernetes continues its rapid growth.

(State of Kubernetes and Container Security, 2020)

#blog #tools #amazon elastic kubernetes service #application security #aws kms #botkube #caylent #cli #container monitoring #container orchestration tools #container security #containers #continuous delivery #continuous deployment #continuous integration #contour #developers #development #developments #draft #eksctl #firewall #gcp #github #harbor #helm #helm charts #helm-2to3 #helm-aws-secret-plugin #helm-docs #helm-operator-get-started #helm-secrets #iam #json #k-rail #k3s #k3sup #k8s #keel.sh #keycloak #kiali #kiam #klum #knative #krew #ksniff #kube #kube-prod-runtime #kube-ps1 #kube-scan #kube-state-metrics #kube2iam #kubeapps #kubebuilder #kubeconfig #kubectl #kubectl-aws-secrets #kubefwd #kubernetes #kubernetes command line tool #kubernetes configuration #kubernetes deployment #kubernetes in development #kubernetes in production #kubernetes ingress #kubernetes interfaces #kubernetes monitoring #kubernetes networking #kubernetes observability #kubernetes plugins #kubernetes secrets #kubernetes security #kubernetes security best practices #kubernetes security vendors #kubernetes service discovery #kubernetic #kubesec #kubeterminal #kubeval #kudo #kuma #microsoft azure key vault #mozilla sops #octant #octarine #open source #palo alto kubernetes security #permission-manager #pgp #rafay #rakess #rancher #rook #secrets operations #serverless function #service mesh #shell-operator #snyk #snyk container #sonobuoy #strongdm #tcpdump #tenkai #testing #tigera #tilt #vert.x #wireshark #yaml

Software Testing 101: Regression Tests, Unit Tests, Integration Tests

Automation and segregation can help you build better software
If you write automated tests and deliver them to the customer, he can make sure the software is working properly. And, at the end of the day, he paid for it.

Ok. We can segregate or separate the tests according to some criteria. For example, “white box” tests are used to measure the internal quality of the software, in addition to the expected results. They are very useful to know the percentage of lines of code executed, the cyclomatic complexity and several other software metrics. Unit tests are white box tests.

#testing #software testing #regression tests #unit tests #integration tests

How to Do API Testing?

Nowadays API testing is an integral part of testing. There are a lot of tools like postman, insomnia, etc. There are many articles that ask what is API, What is API testing, but the problem is How to do API testing? What I need to validate.

Note: In this article, I am going to use postman assertions for all the examples since it is the most popular tool. But this article is not intended only for the postman tool.

Let’s directly jump to the topic.

Let’s consider you have an API endpoint example http://dzone.com/getuserDetails/{{username}} when you send the get request to that URL it returns the JSON response.

My API endpoint is http://dzone.com/getuserDetails/{{username}}

The response is in JSON format like below

JSON

{
  "jobTitle": "string",
  "userid": "string",
  "phoneNumber": "string",
  "password": "string",
  "email": "user@example.com",
  "firstName": "string",
  "lastName": "string",
  "userName": "string",
  "country": "string",
  "region": "string",
  "city": "string",
  "department": "string",
  "userType": 0
}

In the JSON we can see there are properties and associated values.

Now, For example, if we need details of the user with the username ‘ganeshhegde’ we need to send a **GET **request to **http://dzone.com/getuserDetails/ganeshhegde **

Now there are two scenarios.

1. Valid Usecase: User is available in the database and it returns user details with status code 200

2. Invalid Usecase: User is Unavailable/Invalid user in this case it returns status with code 404 with not found message.

#tutorial #performance #api #test automation #api testing #testing and qa #application programming interface #testing as a service #testing tutorial #api test

Top 10 Automation Testing Tools: 2020 Edition

The demand for delivering quality software faster — or “Quality at Speed” — requires organizations to search for solutions in Agile, continuous integration (CI), and DevOps methodologies. Test automation is an essential part of these aspects. The latest World Quality Report 2018–2019 suggests that test automation is the biggest bottleneck to deliver “Quality at Speed,” as it is an enabler of successful Agile and DevOps adoption.

Test automation cannot be realized without good tools; as they determine how automation is performed and whether the benefits of automation can be delivered. Test automation tools is a crucial component in the DevOps toolchain. The current test automation trends have increased in applying artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to offer advanced capabilities for test optimization, intelligent test generation, execution, and reporting. It will be worthwhile to understand which tools are best poised to take advantage of these trends.****

#automation-testing #automation-testing-tools #testing #testing-tools #selenium #open-source #test-automation #automated-testing