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Load test multiple HTTP endpoints

Your first performance test describes how to load test a HTTP service. This tutorial expands on the previous tutorial and describes how to load test multiple HTTP endpoints.

load-test-http

Before you begin
  1. Try Your first performance test. Understand the main concepts behind Iter8.
  2. Ensure that you have a Kubernetes cluster and the kubectl CLI. You can create a local Kubernetes cluster using tools like Kind or Minikube.
  3. Deploy the sample HTTP service in the Kubernetes cluster. 
    kubectl create deploy httpbin --image=kennethreitz/httpbin --port=80
kubectl expose deploy httpbin --port=80
  4. Have Grafana available. For example, Grafana can be installed on your cluster as follows: 
    kubectl create deploy grafana --image=grafana/grafana
kubectl expose deploy grafana --port=3000

Install the Iter8 controller

helm install --repo https://iter8-tools.github.io/iter8 --version 0.1.12 iter8 controller

helm install --repo https://iter8-tools.github.io/iter8 --version 0.1.12 iter8 controller \
--set clusterScoped=true

kubectl apply -k 'https://github.com/iter8-tools/iter8.git/kustomize/controller/namespaceScoped?ref=v0.17.1'

kubectl apply -k 'https://github.com/iter8-tools/iter8.git/kustomize/controller/clusterScoped?ref=v0.17.1'

Launch performance test

helm upgrade --install \
--repo https://iter8-tools.github.io/iter8 --version 0.17 httpbin-test iter8 \
--set "tasks={ready,http}" \
--set ready.deploy=httpbin \
--set ready.service=httpbin \
--set ready.timeout=60s \
--set http.endpoints.get.url=http://httpbin.default/get \
--set http.endpoints.getAnything.url=http://httpbin.default/anything \
--set http.endpoints.post.url=http://httpbin.default/post \
--set http.endpoints.post.payloadStr=hello
About this performance test

This performance test consists of two tasks, namely, ready and http.

The ready task checks if the httpbin deployment exists and is available, and the httpbin service exists.

The http task sends requests to three endpoints from the cluster-local HTTP service, and collects Iter8's built-in HTTP load test metrics. The three endpoints are http://httpbin.default/get, http://httpbin.default/anything, and http://httpbin.default/post. The last endpoint also has a payload string hello.

View results using Grafana

Inspect the metrics using Grafana. If Grafana is deployed to your cluster, port-forward requests as follows:

kubectl port-forward service/grafana 3000:3000

Open Grafana by going to http://localhost:3000.

Add a JSON API data source httpbin-test with the following parameters:

  • URL: http://iter8.default:8080/httpDashboard
  • Query string: namespace=default&test=httpbin-test

Create a new dashboard by import. Paste the contents of the http Grafana dashboard into the text box and load it. Associate it with the JSON API data source defined above.

The Iter8 dashboard will look like the following:

http Iter8 dashboard with multiple endpoints

View logs

Logs are useful for debugging.

kubectl logs -l iter8.tools/test=httpbin-test

Cleanup

Remove the performance test and the sample app from the Kubernetes cluster.

helm delete httpbin-test
kubectl delete svc/httpbin
kubectl delete deploy/httpbin

Uninstall the Iter8 controller

helm delete iter8

kubectl delete -k 'https://github.com/iter8-tools/iter8.git/kustomize/controller/namespaceScoped?ref=v0.17.1'

kubectl delete -k 'https://github.com/iter8-tools/iter8.git/kustomize/controller/clusterScoped?ref=v0.17.1'
Some variations and extensions of this performance test
  1. The http task can be configured with load related parameters such as the number of requests, queries per second, or number of parallel connections.
  2. The http task can be configured to send various types of content as payload.