Updated June 9, 2023
Introduction to Gatling Load Testing
The open-source framework to perform performance testing in applications is Gatling load testing, which is based on Scala, Netty, and Akka. It was first implemented in January 2012. Every year, the developers update Gatling, and it has gained popularity among engineering committees. Gatling is primarily developed for scripting test codes in the Scala programming language, which is a powerful framework. However, it has a relatively smaller audience. This article provides a brief explanation of the working, applications, importance, and advantages of the Gatling load testing tool. Despite the passing years, the popularity of Gatling has not waned and it continues to remain strong among its dedicated audience.
Explain the Gatling Load Testing
It is reliable to use the tool, which allows the user to run on HTTP servers and works in an asynchronous method. It insists that messages of the virtual users make them simple on resources that allow thousands of virtual servers to execute simultaneously without any impacts. The features of Gatling are scenarios, records, editing, and analysis. The record uses the browser to capture the scenario at testing, which makes it reliable load testing.
For instance, the user can capture and record the working of the user who browses web pages, including thinking time between clicks. During analysis, it generates numerous meaningful reports, providing colorful graphical representations of results at the conclusion of the testing process. This feature proves highly valuable in the analytical process. While some tools excel at load testing by efficiently working on URL bashing, they may lack the ability to manage logic between multiple requests.
The Gatling is an advanced testing tool that manages virtual users that possess its data and follows the unique browsing path. The testing tool assumes every virtual user is a thread. Then it communicates with the user via messages that assemble suitably to manage thousands of users concurrently.
How does Gatling Load Testing work?
Scenario – Test scenarios are used to depict the behavior of testers and describe scripted scenarios that are fed to Gatling. These scenarios are generated as the output of measurements on executed applications, derived from analytic tools. Developing scenarios is a crucial aspect that yields meaningful output from load testing. Scenarios are designed to represent various behaviors of virtual users and encompass all necessary options for users to access web pages or applications.
As an example, consider the scenario developed for ordinary e-commerce apps.
- To access the home page
- To choose the browser categories
- To do any particular search in the category
- To find and open any product description
- To buy the selected product
- To log in and log out to the user account
- To make payment and checkout the applications
Simulation – It is a brief definition of the load test. It explains the possibility of the execution of several users on the application. It also shows a particular part of the scenario executed on newly injected virtual users.
Session – A session backs up every virtual user. These sessions are the real message that operates on the workflow. It is a static placeholder where the test engineers can capture, feed and save the data.
Feeders – When the application finishes testing, it allows the testers to authenticate. It checks the primary activities of the application or web browser, such as login, logout, and actions according to the permission of the user. So the feeders are comfortable executing API for test engineers to feed the data from an external resource only for the concerned virtual users.
Checks can analyze the response that Gatling generates. So, whenever the user sends a request to the server, it responds with an answer generated by the server and then Gatling. The check is also used to save and reuse information.
The assertion describes the acceptance strategy on Gatling statistic, which makes the Gatling fail with an error code for the entire test performed.
Importance of Gatling load testing
The Gatling is written in Scala, allowing the user to run it on any operating system. It is not prone to any hits or problems because it uses many cloud servers and local machines to develop and execute the user’s test, and therefore it works anywhere. The performance test of Gatling is available as code which is a massive benefit for many developers.
The information is interactive, which holds future glimpses of modification. The robust performance testing tool is Gatling which has the best architecture of the Akka toolkit, which provides a concurrent computation on the actor model. It has a better capable and functional assertion when compared to Jmeter.
Advantages
It manages the optimal connections and is very useful and helpful for the developers to make their testing process easier. It enables live monitoring and attracts the analyst with its automatically generated reports. It can be integrated with Taurus and is suitable for all operating systems.
Gatling Load Testing is popular because of its human-readable text format. It offers an easy integration process by using its real-time monitoring tools.
Recommended Articles
We hope that this EDUCBA information on “Gatling Load Testing” was beneficial to you. You can view EDUCBA’s recommended articles for more information.