Important: This documentation is about an older version. It's relevant only to the release noted, many of the features and functions have been updated or replaced. Please view the current version.

Documentationbreadcrumb arrow Grafana k6breadcrumb arrow Examplesbreadcrumb arrow Instant 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
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
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
      ],
    },
  },
};