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Load testing a gRPC service

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Updated at December 4, 2024

You can use Load Testing for service load testing via gRPC with the Pandora load generator.

To perform load testing:

  1. Prepare your cloud.
  2. Prepare a test target.
  3. Prepare your infrastructure.
  4. Create an agent.
  5. Test gRPC Server Reflection.
  6. Prepare a file with test data.
  7. Run a test.

If you no longer need the resources you created, delete them.

Prepare your cloud

Sign up for Yandex Cloud and create a billing account:

  1. Go to the management console and log in to Yandex Cloud or create an account if you do not have one yet.
  2. On the Yandex Cloud Billing page, make sure you have a billing account linked and it has the ACTIVE or TRIAL_ACTIVE status. If you do not have a billing account, create one.

If you have an active billing account, you can go to the cloud page to create or select a folder for your infrastructure to operate in.

Learn more about clouds and folders.

If the agent is hosted on Yandex Cloud, you pay for computing resources (see Yandex Compute Cloud pricing).

At the Preview stage, Load Testing is free of charge.

Prepare a test target

In this example, we will be using a gRPC service with the 172.17.0.10 internal IP address in the same subnet as where the agent will reside.

To learn how to integrate the gRPC framework for different programming languages, see the documentation.

  1. Configure support for gRPC Server Reflection. To learn how to configure gRPC Server Reflection for different programming languages, see the documentation.

    With gRPC Server Reflection, the load generator polls the server at the start of a test to collect information about services and their methods and uses this data to generate correct gRPC requests during the test.

  2. Install a port for access to the gRPC service: 8080.

You can also use Load Testing for load testing of a service that is public or located in a subnet and security group other than those of the agent.

For a public service, allow incoming HTTPS traffic on port 8080.

For a service whose subnet and security group is different from the agent's ones, create a rule for incoming HTTPS traffic on port 8080 in the security group where the test target is located.

Prepare the infrastructure

Create a service account

  1. Create a service account named sa-loadtest in the folder to host the agent that will generate the load.
  2. Assign the following roles to the service account:
    • loadtesting.generatorClient: Allows running the agent, performing tests on the agent, and uploading the results to storage.
    • compute.admin: Allows managing VMs in Compute Cloud.
    • vpc.user: Allows connecting to Virtual Private Cloud network resources and using them.

Configure a network

Create and configure a NAT gateway in the subnet where your test target is and where the agent will reside. This will enable the agent to access Load Testing.

Configure security groups

  1. Set up the test agent's security group:

    1. Create an agent security group named agent-sg.
    2. Add rules:

      1. Rule for outgoing HTTPS traffic to the Load Testing public API:

        • Port range: 443
        • Protocol: TCP
        • Destination name: CIDR
        • CIDR blocks: 0.0.0.0/0

        This will allow connecting the agent to Load Testing to manage tests from the interface and get test results.

      2. Rule for incoming SSH traffic:

        • Port range: 22
        • Protocol: TCP
        • Destination name: CIDR
        • CIDR blocks: 0.0.0.0/0

        This will allow you to connect to the agent over SSH and manage tests from the console or collect debugging information.

      3. Rule for outgoing traffic when generating load to the test target:

        • Port range: 0-65535
        • Protocol: Any
        • Destination name: Security group
          Select From list. Specify the security group where the test target is located.

        Create this rule for each test target with a unique security group.

  2. Set up the test target's security group:

    1. Create the test target's security group named load-target-sg.

    2. Add a rule for incoming traffic when generating load to the test target:

      • Port range: 0-65535.
      • Protocol: Any.
      • Select From list. Specify the security group where the test target is located.

      This rule allows agents to generate load to this target or enable additional monitoring tools.

Create a test agent

  1. If you do not have an SSH key pair yet, create one.

  2. Create an agent.

    1. In the management console, select the folder where you want to create the agent.

    2. In the list of services, select Load Testing.

    3. In the Agents tab, click Create agent.

    4. Enter a name for the agent, e.g., agent-008.

    5. Specify the same availability zone where the test target is located.

    6. Under Agent:

    7. Under Access, specify the information required to access the agent:

      • Select the sa-loadtest service account.

      • Under Login, enter the username.

        Alert

        Do not use root or other usernames reserved by the operating system. To perform operations requiring superuser permissions, use the sudo command.

      • In the SSH key field, paste the contents of the public key file.

    8. Click Create.

    9. Wait for the VM instance to create. Make sure the agent status has changed to Ready for test.

      Note

      If the agent creation process has stopped at Initializing connection, make sure the following conditions are met:

      • The agent has a public IP address and access to loadtesting.api.cloud.yandex.net:443.
      • A NAT gateway is set up in the target subnet.
      • The service account assigned to the agent has the required roles.

  3. Assign a public IP to the agent to enable access over SSH:

    1. In the management console, select the folder where the agent is located.
    2. Select Compute Cloud.
    3. Select the VM named agent-008.
    4. Under Network interface, in the top-right corner, click and select Add public IP address.
    5. In the window that opens:
      • In the Public address field, select obtaining a Auto address.
      • Click Add.

Test gRPC Server Reflection

  1. Connect to the agent via SSH.

  2. Run the following command to test gRPC Server Reflection on the gRPC service:

    grpcurl 172.17.0.10:8080 list

    grpcurl --plaintext 172.17.0.10:8080 list

    Result:

    api.Adder
grpc.reflection.v1alpha.ServerReflection

Prepare a file with test data

  1. Generate payloads in HTTP_JSON format:

    {"tag": "/Add", "call": "api.Adder.Add", "payload": {"x": 21, "y": 12}}
{"tag": "/Add", "call": "api.Adder.Add", "payload": {"x": 21, "y": 12}}
{"tag": "/Add2", "call": "api.Adder.Add", "payload": {"x": 210, "y": 120}}

    Where:

    • tag: Request tag to display in reports.
    • call: Method being called.
    • payload: Dictionary with call parameters to provide to the test target.

    In our example, two thirds of requests will be tagged as /Add and one third, as /Add2.

  2. Save the payloads to a file named data.json.

Run a test

  1. In the management console, select Load Testing.
  2. In the left-hand panel, select Tests.
  3. Click Create test.
  4. On the test creation page:

    1. In the Agents field, select agent-008 you previously created.

    2. Under Attached files, click Select files and select the data.json file you saved before.

    3. Under Test settings:

      • In the Configuration method field, select Config.

      • In the configuration input field, specify the testing thread settings in yaml format:

        pandora:
  enabled: true
  pandora_cmd: /usr/local/bin/pandora
  package: yandextank.plugins.Pandora
  config_content:
    pools:
      - id: GRPC
        gun:
          type: grpc # Protocol.
          target: 172.17.0.10:8080 # Test target address.
          tls: false
        ammo:
          type: grpc/json
          file: data.json # The file name must be the same as the name of the attached file.
        result:
          type: phout
          destination: ./phout.log
        rps:
          - duration: 180s # Test duration.
            type: line # Load type.
            from: 1
            to: 1500
        startup:
          type: once
          times: 1500 # Number of threads
    log:
      level: debug
    monitoring:
      expvar:
        enabled: true
        port: 1234
autostop:
  enabled: true
  package: yandextank.plugins.Autostop
  autostop:
     - limit (5m)
uploader:
  api_address: loadtesting.api.cloud.yandex.net:443
  enabled: true
  job_dsc: grpc test
  job_name: '[pandora][config][grpc]'
  package: yandextank.plugins.DataUploader
  ver: '1.1'
core: {}

        Tip

        View a sample configuration file. You can also find sample configuration files in existing tests.

    4. Click Create.

Once you do that, the configuration will pass checks, and the agent will start loading the gRPC service you are testing.

To see the testing progress, select the new test and go to the Test results tab.

Delete the resources you created

Some resources are not free of charge. To avoid paying for them, delete the resources you no longer need:

  1. Delete the agent.
  2. Delete the route table.
  3. Delete the NAT gateway.
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