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Run your first tests

Follow along to learn how to create load tests with the Test Builder.

Before you start

To do these procedures, you’ll need the following:

  • A Grafana Cloud instance with the k6 app
  • Permission to run load tests on an endpoint.

Create a test with the test builder

The Test Builder is a graphical interface to simulate user behavior and model traffic patterns. It provides a quick way to prototype tests and learn the basic functionality of the k6 API.

Note: The following test uses 10 VUh. To learn how VUh is calculated, refer to VU hours.

You have permission to run load tests on a demo site, https://test.k6.io. To learn how to make a test, follow these steps:

  1. From your Grafana instance, go to the k6 app.
  2. Select New Test. Choose the Test Builder.
  3. In the first field, name the test as Test demo.
  4. Select Request.
  5. Make your test logic:
    • In the Name field, enter Get homepage.
    • In the Request fields, select GET and enter the URL you want to test (or https://test.k6.io).

Now you have test logic, and you could already run a test. But k6 doesn’t only make requests. It also models load, or traffic patterns. These load patterns are modeled in test scenarios.

Configure your scenario to model 10 users trying to access the homepage 100 times:

  1. In Scenarios, select Options.

  2. For Executor, select Shared iterations.

  3. Enter the following load pattern:

    VUS10
    Iterations100

  4. Run test.

You just started your first load test! The app presents the results in near real time, When it finishes, you can look at granular data for all results output.

Model ramping traffic from multiple geographies

Note: The following test uses 20 VUh. To learn how VUh is calculated, refer to VU hours.

The k6 app provides many options to simulate realistic load. This procedure modifies the same test so that the volume of traffic ramps (that is, changes the number of active virtual users) and comes from multiple load zones (geographic areas).

To configure the test for ramping logic, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the k6 App and select your test.
  2. Configure.
  3. Under Scenarios, select Options.
  4. To configure a ramping load, find Executor, and select Ramping VUs
  5. Leave the default values for Target VUs and Duration
    Target VUsDuration
    201m
    203m30s
    01m

This load configuration starts with 0 virtual users, ramps up to 20 over a minute, remains at this level for 3 minutes and 30 seconds, then ramps back down to 0.

Now, distribute the geography of the load with these steps:

  1. Go to Options > Load zones.
  2. Keep Ashburn, US as the first option.
  3. Press Add new load zone and select London, GB. Repeat the process with Sydney, AU.
  4. To run a test with ramping load from three different continents, Save and Run.

As the test runs, a panel shows values for request rate (traffic), response time (latency), and error rate (availabilty).

Can you find any relationships between these values? If not, you can try increasing the target VUs until something interesting happens.

Next steps

This preceding section provides a rapid overview of building tests graphically. For detailed instructions, refer to Use the Test Builder.

You can also run the same test from your command-line interface (CLI).

Run test script on the CLI

k6 tests are designed to be portable. Each test you make in the Test Builder has an underlying test script.

You can run the same script on your local machine. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. From the test results, select Script.
  2. Select Run script from the CLI and follow the instructions.

As you build your script, you can also view the code with the Script toggle. The test built in the previous section has the following script:

import { sleep } from "k6";
import http from "k6/http";

export const options = {
  ext: {
    loadimpact: {
      distribution: {
        "amazon:us:ashburn": { loadZone: "amazon:us:ashburn", percent: 34 },
        "amazon:gb:london": { loadZone: "amazon:gb:london", percent: 33 },
        "amazon:au:sydney": { loadZone: "amazon:au:sydney", percent: 33 },
      },
    },
  },
  thresholds: {},
  scenarios: {
    Scenario_1: {
      executor: "ramping-vus",
      gracefulStop: "30s",
      stages: [
        { target: 20, duration: "1m" },
        { target: 20, duration: "3m30s" },
        { target: 0, duration: "1m" },
      ],
      gracefulRampDown: "30s",
      exec: "scenario_1",
    },
  },
};

export function scenario_1() {
  let response;

  // Get homepage
  response = http.get("https://test.k6.io/");

  // Automatically added sleep
  sleep(1);
}

For a detailed tutorial, read Run tests from the CLI.