Tools for Ajax load testing

Question

There seems to be a lot of stress/load testing tool that support AJAX.
I am wondering how well does these tool implemented.

Do they only record http request and replay it?
Is it the right way to test AJAX app?
How does google test their ajax apps?

Answer 1

If you are worried about functionality only, something like Watin, Watir, Selenium or any functional tool for that matter would work. As long as you put sufficient timing in your functional tests to allow for ajax callbacks then that should do the trick.

To add to my response,

If you are talking about unit testing your javascript you could use something like qunit as described by a fellow LosTechian in this posting. This is a pretty inventive use of an nunit addin and qunit for integrating js unit tests.

By pure coincidence, the same person that posted that qunit testing blog post just posted one yesterday about this very topic

Answer 2

Most of the load testing tools out there do AJAX load testing the same way: they execute the raw HTTP traffic that is seen during a "recording" phase (which can be page requests, image requests, or even AJAX requests). The main difference among them is how good their recorder/IDE tool is and how easily it helps you parameterize the HTTP requests such that they reflect real world traffic based on dynamic/realtime results.

Warning, blatant plug: The only real exception to this is my company, BrowserMob. Instead of simulating the traffic observed, it actually uses real web browsers to drive back load. As such, the AJAX stuff is handled by the browser.

Useful link: Separate from the blatant plug above (though I do hope you check it out - we're up front with the pricing and provide a free trial), I recently wrote an article for Ajaxian about AJAX load testing. It goes in to more detail about the technical implications of using real browser users (RBUs) vs. virtual users (VUs).

Answer 3

Take a look at LoadBooster(https://www.loadbooster.com). It utilizes headless scriptable browser PhantomJS/CasperJs to test web sites. Phantomjs will parse and render every page, execute the client-side script. The headless browser approach is easier to write test scenarios to support complex AJAX heavy Web 2.0 app，browser navigation, mouse click and keystrokes into the browser or wait until an element exists in DOM. LoadBooster support selenium HTML script too.

Disclaimer: I work for LoadBooster.

Answer 4

Google apps are written in GWT, which comes with its own extension to JUnit. Article on unit testing ajax applications with GWT.

Answer 5

If you don't want to setup your own load testing server there are a couple of free online load testing services that can run load tests directly over the Internet. For example http://loadimpact.com or http://loadstorm.com

Answer 6

I've used Virtual User Generator, which is a part of the Loadrunner software from HP, to test AJAX applications. The software has several application protocols that can be used to record web applications, e.g. AJAX, and Click and Script.

For the majority of web application load testing it is sufficient to record and replay http requests. This will give the result of how the servers are handling the load. If your web application does a lot of asynchronous loading, and rendering on the client side, e.g. parsing large datasets of xml or json, or many DOM modifications, it can be relevant to include the browser tier to measure the end user experience.

Answer 7

All load testers would support AJAX- they're just additional http connections.

There are a few free ones out there- Jmeter, BadBoy, Grinder that all do it well.

All of them have some sort of support for recording/playback, but that's not always what you're looking for.

Easiest way I've done it is to record a sample session, replace a few params with variables and loop it off of a csv or excel file.

Great starting point: video of a google presentation on open source testing.

Edit: updated video link.

Answer 8

I've used SilkPerformer at a previous job. According to the link, they have some AJAX enhancements. Unfortunately, Silk is far from free.

Answer 9

Check out Jiffy. It's an end-to-end measurement suite, and is subsequently kind of complex. However, the statistics are quite impressive.

Answer 10

Siege? it can do HTTP testing and pass whatever you want.

Answer 11

You can also have a look at fwptt it is open source. If you are a .net developer you can make use of the parameter automatic handling and the possibility to use your own .net object for doing the tests.

Answer 12

I've successfully used JMeter to load test our Ajax (JSF/RichFaces) application. I didn't bother with JMeter's recording tool - rather I used the HttpFox plugin for Firefox to monitor what the browser is POST-ing to the server and I recreated this in JMeter.

It did get a bit complex, but the load test is now fairly robust. JMeter has all kinds of useful 'elements' to extract ID's from a web page, perform conditional logic, increment counters etc.

Answer 13

Better write isolated test method or API for load testing ajax application. There are some reasons:

• It's not so easy to write functional tests to Ajax applications, for example for GWT.
• You can use Jmeter WebDriver plugin, but for each run it starts browser which will use most of RAM and CPU.
• You will load backend not frontend, so you can avoid ajax.

You can devide your testing like that: for Ajax application use Selenium or PhantomJS/CasperJS. For load testing use JMeter, Gatling via API not via Ajax.

Answer 14

My choice is firebug(browser addon). its very lightweight and easy to handle