Performance testing is an essential part of today's DevOps workflows. It requires the capability to run load tests both locally and in the cloud to address different users' needs at different stages of the software development cycle. Local testing for developers early in the development cycle. Cloud testing for developers and QA teams that need to run much larger tests later in the dev cycle.

Cloud execution services free you from having to maintain your own load generation infrastructure. Watch this webinar to learn how you can run performance tests in the cloud using the open source load testing tool - k6.

If you’ve read our load testing metrics and tips in other articles, you might have some ideas about ideal numbers and strategies.

Strategy around your load tests is as important as the tactics and execution. While one might debate the best comprehensive strategies, here we’ll share a couple of key ideas that can help you no matter what type of project you’re load testing.

Troubleshooting: Change only one variable

Because today’s apps are more complex than ever, sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint a particular bottleneck or performance problem.

We talk a lot about continuous and consistent load testing for your ongoing projects. (Continuous load testing means you integrate it into your continuous integration pipelines; consistent means you always do it.) What we don’t talk about as much is when you should be load testing your new projects - not your ongoing ones.

Let’s say you’re starting a new project. When is the right time to start load testing? And how can you build your project so it’s the most friendly to load testing? Here are a few tips.

We get so focused on the “how” of load testing that we sometimes forget to talk about why load testing is important. Read this if you want to know why it’s important, too. Or, you may already know it is important - but you need to convince a friend, colleague or manager of load testing’s importance. Either way, here are a few useful points to help understand.

Performance testing is an essential part of today's DevOps workflows. It requires the capability to run load tests both locally and in the cloud to address different users' needs at different stages of the software development cycle. Local testing for developers early in the development cycle. Cloud testing for developers and QA teams that need to run much larger tests later in the dev cycle.

Cloud execution services free you from having to maintain your own load generation infrastructure. Attend this webinar to learn how you can run performance tests in the cloud using the open source load testing tool - k6.

I've recently reviewed three State of DevOps reports from the past year, one from InterOp and two from Puppet-- the 2017 State of DevOps Report and the State of DevOps Market Segmentation Report. Here are a few excerpts and insights from these reports, particularly as they pertain to software performance testing as part of a DevOps environment.

This is the recording of the webinar where we've covered the basics of load testing and how to incorporate load testing into your automation pipeline using the GitLab Continuous Integration tool. Learn how to execute performance tests with our open source load testing tool - k6 as part of your CI workflow.

In the GitLab 2018 Global Developer Report it says:

"As we look at 2018 and beyond, IT organizations that successfully adopt continuous improvement practices and seamless automation across their software development lifecycle will have happier, more collaborative, and well-functioning teams who are better positioned to meet their goals and objectives."

60% report automating more of the software development lifecycle as a top priority.

Other key findings from the survey:

• 61% agree that developers in their organization understand how their changes affect the performance of their application(s)
• 92% of respondents agree that open source tools are critical to software innovation
• 90% of managers, compared to 84% of developers, agree that practicing Continuous Integration (CI) alleviates blockers in the development process.

Testing came out on top when respondents were asked where in the development process they encountered the most delays: 

From the report: Manual testing and a change of plans mid-process (often by non-technical stakeholders) cause headaches for developers. As one respondent summarized, “We need to plan better and automate more,” a sentiment that was echoed across multiple responses.

We can see from the above that automating the testing process as part of the CI pipeline is a critical area of improvement for development and DevOps teams. Performance testing is a key component of the overall testing process. Performance testing as part of your Continuous Integration process allows developers test early in the development cycle. This makes finding and fixing performance issues faster and more efficient.

View our on-demand webinar recording where we'll cover the basics of performance testing and how to incorporate it into your automation pipeline using the GitLab Continuous Integration tool. Learn how to execute performance tests with our open source load testing tool - k6 as part of your CI workflow.

If we want people to buy things from us, we need to make that process as easy as possible. Sound obvious? It should be. But - for our US readers - have you ever tried to buy a car? Was it easy, pleasant or simple? Based on our experience, the answer to that is a resounding “no.” You’d think that anyone running any business would want to make the buying process as easy as possible, since (obviousness alert) you need buyers in order to have business revenue.