Load Testing

Load testing is a software testing technique used to determine how an application performs under anticipated peak usage. The goal is to identify performance bottlenecks and ensure the system can handle expected traffic volumes.

During load testing, a test script simulates multiple users accessing the application simultaneously. The test places increasing demand on the application by ramping up the number of concurrent users or requests sent. Key metrics like response times, throughput, and error rates are measured to see how the system holds up. For example, a load test might show that response times for a website start to degrade significantly when 500 concurrent users are simulated. This helps determine the application's breaking point and if extra capacity is needed. Load tests are often conducted regularly as part of CI/CD pipelines to catch performance regressions. Tools like JMeter, Gatling, and Locust are commonly used for load testing. Overall, load testing helps validate that an application can provide an acceptable user experience under real-world conditions.