Load testing is something very important in my job. I spend a decent amount of time checking how performant are some systems.

There are some good tools out there (I’ve used Tsung extensively, and ab is brilliant for small checks), but I found that it’s difficult to create flows, where you produce several requests in succession and the input depends on the returned values of previous calls.

Also, normally load test tools are focused in HTTP requests, which is fine most of the time, but sometimes is limiting.

So, I got the idea of creating a small framework to take a Python function, replicate it N times and measure the outcome, without the hassle of dealing manually with processes, threads, or spreading it out on different machines.

The source code can be found in GitHub and it can be installed through PyPi. It is Python3.4 and Python2.7 compatible.

pip install gorgon

Gorgons were mythological monsters whose hair were snakes.

Gorgon

To use Gorgon, just define the function to be repeated. It should be a  function with a single parameter that will receive a unique number. For example

    
    def operation_http(number):
        # Imports inside your function 
        # is required for cluster mode
        import requests  
        result = request(get_transaction_id_url)
        unique_id = get_id_from(result)
        result = request(make_transaction(unique_id))
        if process_result(result) == OK:
            return 'SUCCESS'
        return 'FAIL'

There’s no need to limit the operation to HTTP requests or other I/O operations

    def operation_hash(number):
        import hashlib
        # This is just an example of a 
        # computationally expensive task
        m = hashlib.sha512()
        for _ in range(4000):
            m.update('TEXT {}'.format(number).encode())
        digest = m.hexdigest()
        result = 'SUCCESS'
        if number % 5 == 0:
            result = 'FAIL'
        return result

Then, create a Gorgon with that operation and generate one or more runs. Each run will run the function num_operations times.

        from 
        NUM_OPS = 4000
        test = Gorgon(operation_http)
        test.go(num_operations=NUM_OPS, num_processes=1, 
                num_threads=1)
        test.go(num_operations=NUM_OPS, num_processes=2, 
                num_threads=1)
        test.go(num_operations=NUM_OPS, num_processes=2, 
                num_threads=4)
        test.go(num_operations=NUM_OPS, num_processes=4, 
                num_threads=10)

You can get the results of the whole suite with small_report (simple aggregated results) or with html_report (graphs).

    Printing small_report result
    Total time:  31s  226ms
    Result      16000      512 ops/sec. Avg time:  725ms Max:  3s  621ms Min:   2ms
       200      16000      512 ops/sec. Avg time:  725ms Max:  3s  621ms Min:   2ms

Example of graphs. Just dump the result of html_report as HTML to a file and take a look with a browser (it uses Google Chart API)

Gorgon HTML report example

Cluster

By default, Gorgon uses the local computer to create all the tasks. To distribute the load even more, and use several nodes, add machines to the cluster.

        NUM_OPS = 4000
        test = Gorgon(operation_http)
        test.add_to_cluster('node1', 'ssh_user', SSH_KEY)
        test.add_to_cluster('node2', 'ssh_user', SSH_KEY, 
                             python_interpreter='python3.3')
        ...
        # Run the test now as usual, over the cluster
        test.go(num_operations=NUM_OPS, num_processes=1, 
                num_threads=1)
        test.go(num_operations=NUM_OPS, num_processes=2, 
                num_threads=1)
        test.go(num_operations=NUM_OPS, num_processes=2, 
                num_threads=4)
        print(test.small_report())

Each of the nodes of the cluster should have installed Gorgon over the default python interpreter, unless the parameter python_interpreter is set. Using the same Python interpreter in all the nodes and controller is recommended.
paramiko module is a dependency in cluster mode for the controller, but not for the nodes.

As a limitation, all the code to be tested needs to be contained on the operation function, including any imports for external modules. Remember to install all the dependencies for the code on the nodes.

Available in GitHub

The source code and more info can be found in GitHub and it can be installed through PyPi So, if any of this sounds interesting, go there and feel free to use it! Or change it! Or make suggestions!

Happy loadtesting!