Menu

This is documentation for the next version of K6. For the latest stable release, go to the latest version.

DocumentationGrafana k6ExamplesInstant load increase
Open source

Instant load increase

One of the common usages of load testing tools it’s the so-called stepped arrival rate.

In k6 we can achieve it with the following configuration.

Here’s an example on how to instantly increase the number of iterations and hold them for a period of time.

JavaScript 
export const options = {
  scenarios: {
    contacts: {
      executor: 'ramping-arrival-rate',
      preAllocatedVUs: 50,
      timeUnit: '1s',
      startRate: 50,
      stages: [
        { target: 200, duration: '30s' }, // linearly go from 50 iters/s to 200 iters/s for 30s
        { target: 500, duration: '0' }, // instantly jump to 500 iters/s
        { target: 500, duration: '10m' }, // continue with 500 iters/s for 10 minutes
      ],
    },
  },
};

Here’s an example on how to instantly increase the number of VUs and hold them for a period of time.

JavaScript 
export const options = {
  scenarios: {
    contacts: {
      executor: 'ramping-vus',
      preAllocatedVUs: 10,
      startVUs: 3,
      stages: [
        { target: 20, duration: '30s' }, // linearly go from 3 VUs to 20 VUs for 30s
        { target: 100, duration: '0' }, // instantly jump to 100 VUs
        { target: 100, duration: '10m' }, // continue with 100 VUs for 10 minutes
      ],
    },
  },
};