Peak Performance Testing - Using k6 to Storm Proof your Application
It was a pleasure to have Sam Edwards as our July speaker for DevHub North!
Here is a little bit about Sam...
Sam is a full-stack software engineer based in Leeds. An active ‘pipeline janitor’, he wants to automate anything and everything, and loves trying to build great things which take care of themselves - freeing more time up for the more important things in life (namely running & the pub!).
TOPIC: "Peak Performance Testing - Using k6 to Storm Proof your Application"
Description:
So, you’ve written your application, crossed the i’s and dotted the t’s. Your product owner (and the client) seem chuffed with what you’ve built, and you’re ready to ‘go live’. The emails go out, the ads are launched and suddenly your site is #1 on r/DamnThatsInteresting. As hordes of interested visitors and potential customers flock to your site, how do you ensure that you’re going to avoid the dreaded ‘hug of death’?
This talk will go into how performance testing tools such as K6 can be used to put your creation to the test when it comes to dealing with expected (and unexpected) traffic, focusing specifically on:
How we can integrate load tests into continuous integration pipelines, to emulate normal production traffic and avoid performance regressions.
Exploration of how we can test the performance of not just APIs, but frontend sites as well, using tools such as xk6-browser.
How k6 can be used to push your system to breaking, in order to work out what the absolute limit the system can handle is.