Scripted HTTP load testing with Pandora
You can use Load Testing to run scripted load tests over HTTP with the Pandora load generator.
To perform load testing:
- Prepare your cloud.
- Prepare a test target.
- Prepare your infrastructure.
- Create an agent.
- Prepare a file with test data.
- Prepare a script file.
- 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:
- Go to the management console
and log in to Yandex Cloud or create an account if you do not have one yet. - On the Yandex Cloud Billing
page, make sure you have a billing account linked and it has theACTIVE
orTRIAL_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
Learn more about clouds and folders.
Required paid resources
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 test a service with internal IP address 172.17.0.10
in the same subnet as the agent.
Make sure the service is accessed over HTTPS using the default port: 443
.
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 443
.
For a service whose subnet and security group is different from the agent's ones, create a rule for incoming HTTPS traffic on port 443
in the security group where the test target is located.
Prepare the infrastructure
Create a service account
- Create a service account named
sa-loadtest
in the folder to host the agent that will generate the load. - 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
-
Set up the test agent's security group:
- Create an agent security group named
agent-sg
. - Add rules:
-
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.
- Port range:
-
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.
- Port range:
-
Rule for outgoing traffic when generating load to the test target:
- Port range:
0-65535
- Protocol:
Any
- Destination name:
Security group
SelectFrom list
. Specify the security group where the test target is located.
Create this rule for each test target with a unique security group.
- Port range:
-
- Create an agent security group named
-
Set up the test target's security group:
-
Create the test target's security group named
load-target-sg
. -
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.
- Port range:
-
Create a test agent
-
If you do not have an SSH key pair yet, create one.
-
Create an agent.
Management consoleCLI-
In the management console
, select the folder where you want to create the agent. -
From the list of services, select Load Testing.
-
In the Agents tab, click Create agent.
-
Enter a name for the agent, e.g.,
agent-008
. -
Specify the same availability zone where the test target is located.
-
Under Agent:
- Select the appropriate agent type. For more information, see Agent performance.
- Specify the subnet where the test target is located. Make sure you created and set up a NAT gateway in the subnet.
- If security groups are available to you, select a security group preset for the agent.
-
Under Access, specify the information required to access the agent:
-
Select the
sa-loadtest
service account. -
Under Login, enter a username.
Alert
Do not use
root
or other reserved usernames. To perform operations requiring root privileges, use thesudo
command. -
In the SSH key field, paste the contents of the public key file.
-
-
Click Create.
-
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.
- The agent has a public IP address and access to
If you do not have the Yandex Cloud CLI yet, install and initialize it.
The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the
--folder-name
or--folder-id
parameters.-
See the description of the CLI command for creating an agent:
yc loadtesting agent create --help
-
Select the same availability zone where the test target is located.
-
Select the subnet where the test target is located. Make sure you created and set up a NAT gateway in the subnet.
To get a list of available subnets using the CLI, run this command:
yc vpc subnet list
Result:
+----------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+----------------+-------------------+-----------------+ | ID | NAME | NETWORK ID | ROUTE TABLE ID | ZONE | RANGE | +----------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+----------------+-------------------+-----------------+ | e2lfkhps7bol******** | default-ru-central1-b | enpnf7hajqmd******** | | ru-central1-b | [10.129.0.0/24] | | e9bgnq1bggfa******** | default-ru-central1-a | enpnf7hajqmd******** | | ru-central1-a | [10.128.0.0/24] | | fl841n5ilklr******** | default-ru-central1-d | enpnf7hajqmd******** | | ru-central1-d | [10.130.0.0/24] | +----------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
-
Select the security group. Make sure to configure the security group in advance.
To get a list of available security groups using the CLI, run this command:
yc vpc security-group list
Result:
+----------------------+---------------------------------+--------------------------------+----------------------+ | ID | NAME | DESCRIPTION | NETWORK-ID | +----------------------+---------------------------------+--------------------------------+----------------------+ | enp414a2tnnp******** | default-sg-enpnf7hajqmd******** | Default security group for | enpnf7hajqmd******** | | | | network | | | enpctpve7951******** | sg-load-testing-agents | | enpnf7hajqmd******** | | enpufo9ms0gi******** | sg-load-testing-targets | | enpnf7hajqmd******** | +----------------------+---------------------------------+--------------------------------+----------------------+
-
Find out the
sa-loadtest
service account ID using its name:yc iam service-account get sa-loadtest
Result:
id: ajespasg04oc******** folder_id: b1g85uk96h3f******** created_at: "2024-12-04T17:38:57Z" name: sa-loadtest last_authenticated_at: "2024-12-12T19:10:00Z"
-
Create an agent in the default folder:
yc loadtesting agent create \ --name agent-008 \ --labels origin=default,label-key=label-value \ --zone default-ru-central1-a \ --network-interface subnet-id=e9bgnq1bggfa********,security-group-ids=enpctpve7951******** \ --cores 2 \ --memory 2G \ --service-account-id ajespasg04oc******** --metadata-from-file user-data=metadata.yaml
Where:
--name
: Agent name.--labels
: Agent labels.--zone
: Availability zone to host the agent.--network-interface
: Agent network interface settings:subnet-name
: ID of the selected subnet.security-group-ids
: Security group IDs.
--cores
: Number of CPU cores the agent can use.--memory
: Amount of RAM allocated to the agent.--service-account-id
: Service account ID.--metadata-from-file
:<key>=<value>
pair with the name of the file containing the public SSH key path. For an example of themetadata.yaml
configuration file, see VM metadata.
For more information on how to create an agent with CLI, see the Yandex Cloud Examples repository
.
-
-
Assign a public IP to the agent to enable access over SSH:
Management consoleCLI- In the management console
, select the folder where the agent is located. - Select Compute Cloud.
- Select the VM named
agent-008
. - Under Network interface, in the top-right corner, click
and select Add public IP address. - In the window that opens:
- In the Public address field, select obtaining a Auto address.
- Click Add.
To assign a public IP address to an agent, run the following CLI command:
yc compute instance add-one-to-one-nat \ --id=<VM_ID> \ --network-interface-index=<VM_network_interface_number> \ --nat-address=<IP_address>
Where:
-
--id
: VM ID. You can get a list of available VM IDs in a folder using theyc compute instance list
CLI command. -
--network-interface-index
: VM network interface number. The default value is0
. To get a list of VM network interfaces and their numbers, run the following command:yc compute instance get <VM_ID>
. -
--nat-address
: Public IP address to assign to the VM. This is an optional parameter. If you omit it, a public IP address will be assigned to the VM automatically.You can get a list of reserved public IP addresses available in a folder using the
yc vpc address list
CLI command. The IP address and the VM must be in the same availability zone.
Usage example:
yc compute instance add-one-to-one-nat \ --id=fhmsbag62taf******** \ --network-interface-index=0 \ --nat-address=51.250.*.***
Result:
id: fhmsbag62taf******** folder_id: b1gv87ssvu49******** created_at: "2022-05-06T10:41:56Z" ... network_settings: type: STANDARD placement_policy: {}
For more information about the
yc compute instance add-one-to-one-nat
command, see the CLI reference. - In the management console
Prepare a file with test data
-
Generate test data in the
users.csv
file:user_id,name,pass 1,John,123 2,Jack,456 3,Jim,789 4,Joe,0asdf 5,Jane,12dasdf 6,Jill,asdf 7,Joy,zxcv 8,Joy,zxcv 9,Joy,zxcv 10,Joy,zxcv
Prepare a script file
In your test script, specify a sequence of HTTP requests to run during testing. A single file may include multiple scripts. The following file formats are supported:
- hcl
- yaml
- json
-
Prepare your script in the
payload.hcl
file:variable_source "variables" "variables" { variables = { auth_path = "/auth" order_path = "/order" } } variable_source "users" "file/csv" { file = "users.csv" fields = ["user_id", "name", "pass"] ignore_first_line = true delimiter = "," } request "auth_req" { method = "POST" uri = "{{.source.variables.auth_path}}" headers = { Content-Type = "application/json" Useragent = "Yandex" } body = <<EOF {"user_id": {{.request.auth_req.preprocessor.user_id}}} EOF tag = "auth" preprocessor { mapping = { user_id = "source.users[next].user_id" } } } request "order_req" { method = "POST" uri = "{{.source.variables.order_path}}?sleep=100" headers = { Useragent = "Yandex" } body = <<EOF {"item_id": test_item_id} EOF tag = "order" } scenario "test_scenario" { min_waiting_time = 1000 requests = [ "auth_req", "sleep(100)", "order_req(3, 100)" ] }
This script named
test_scenario
describes the requests namedauth_req
andorder_req
: You can provide arguments to a request to set the number of its runs and the delay time between them. In this example,order_req(3, 100)
means thatorder_req
will run three times with an interval of 100 milliseconds.The
min_waiting_time
parameter defines the minimum script execution time in milliseconds. If a script is completed faster, the remaining time will be appended to the script as a delay.The script features a variable source called
variables
containing theauth_path
andorder_path
variables. Their values are used to specifyuri
in requests.Also, the script includes the
users
variable source which uses the data from the externalusers.csv
file. To work with an array of users, the script employs a preprocessor with the following modifiers:next
to get the next array element.last
to get the last array element.rand
to get a random array element.
Run a test
-
In the management console
, select Load Testing. -
In the left-hand panel, select
Tests. Click Create test. -
In the Agents parameter, select
agent-008
. -
Under Attached files, click Select files and select the
users.csv
andpayload.hcl
files you saved earlier. -
Under Test settings, select the Config configuration method.
-
In the configuration input field, specify the testing thread settings in
yaml
format:uploader: enabled: true package: yandextank.plugins.DataUploader api_address: loadtesting.api.cloud.yandex.net:443 pandora: enabled: true package: yandextank.plugins.Pandora config_content: pools: - id: Pool name gun: type: http/scenario target: 172.17.0.10:80 ammo: type: http/scenario file: payload.hcl result: type: phout destination: ./phout.log rps: - duration: 10s type: line from: 1 to: 5 startup: type: once times: 5 log: level: debug autostop: enabled: true package: yandextank.plugins.Autostop autostop: - limit (5m) core: {}
-
Click Create.
Once you do that, the configuration will pass checks, and the agent will start loading the service you are testing.
To see the testing progress, select the new test and go to the Test results tab.
How to delete the resources you created
Some resources are not free of charge. To avoid paying for them, delete the resources you no longer need: