Load Testing with Selenium using Step UI

This tutorial demonstrates how to set up a browser-based load test in the Step UI using existing Selenium tests.

Get Step SaaS for free to follow this tutorial

Illustration for Load Testing with Selenium

Note: This tutorial is designed for users who prefer setting up their tests using the Step UI. For developers, we highly recommend the code-driven approach outlined in the Load Testing with Selenium tutorial.

Prerequisites

The following tools are required to follow this tutorial:

Access to a Step cluster: Get started quickly by setting up a free SaaS cluster in the Step Portal, or, if preferred, follow the Installation page to configure your own on-premise cluster.
Maven: Ensure that Apache Maven is installed on your local machine. You can download it from the official Maven website and follow the installation instructions provided here.
Google Chrome (optional): Ensure that the latest version of Google Chrome is installed on your machine. You can download it from here.
ChromeDriver (optional): Install the ChromeDriver that matches your Chrome version. You can download the correct version from the official ChromeDriver site. Make sure the ChromeDriver executable is available in your system’s PATH.

Throughout this tutorial, we will be using a sample project that automates interactions with a test environment called OpenCart, using Selenium.

1. Check out the Selenium project

Clone the sample project from GitHub:

  git clone https://github.com/exense/demo-opencart-selenium.git

Optionally, run the JUnit tests locally:

  cd demo-opencart-selenium

# If ChromeDriver is installed system-wide and added to the path:
mvn clean compile test

# Otherwise, explicitly specify the ChromeDriver path:
mvn clean compile test -Dwebdriver.chrome.driver=c:/tools/chromedriver/chromedriver.exe

Note: The test cases automatically navigate through the “Desktop” and “Components” categories of the website, as defined in the unit tests.

Take a moment to look at the sample project code – we tried to keep it as simple and straightforward as possible.

Note:

The test class (SiteTest.java) is really just a standard JUnit class, with only two changes:

First, the individual test methods carry an additional @step.handlers.javahandler.Keyword annotation. These annotations make the respective methods available as Keywords within Step.
Second, the test class itself extends the class step.handlers.javahandler.AbstractKeyword. This is a technical requirement that ensures that Step can actually use the Keyword methods.

These modifications are sufficient for the provided functionality to be used for load tests in the Step framework.

Create the Keyword Package that will be uploaded to Step:

  mvn clean package -DskipTests

After execution of this command, a JAR file named demo-opencart-selenium-0.0.0.jar is generated and located in the “target” directory of the project. This JAR file will be used in the subsequent steps of this tutorial.

2. Configure the load test in Step

Log in to the Step Portal, or sign up for free and create a Step Cluster with 10 [java, ui-automation] Agents, following this Quick setup guide.

Note: In this tutorial, we simulate 10 concurrent visits and therefore need 10 Step Agents. You can run plans with fewer Agents, but this will cause the test cases to fail if a free Agent isn’t found.

Once you’ve scaled the Agents, click Open in Step to open the Step application and carry on with the tutorial.

2.1. Upload the Keyword Package

Upload the Keyword Package built previously. The Keyword Package contains the automation steps that will be integrated in our load test.

Go to the Keywords section
Click on the Upload Package button
Select the “demo-opencart-selenium-0.0.0.jar” as the Package file
Click Save

Image showing how to upload a keyword package

2.2. Create the Plan

Create a new Plan using the TestScenario template:

Go to the Plans section
Click on the New Plan (+) button
Name the Plan, e.g. Load test OpenCart
Select “TestScenario” as the Template
Click Save and edit

2.3. Configure the load test

Note: The visual editor is the main tool for creating and editing plans in Step. We will use this to design the load test scenario.

For our load test, we will create a ThreadGroup that will repeatedly execute a task on OpenCart to simulate high loads.

In the Controls section of the Component tabs, click on the New ThreadGroup (+) button to add a ThreadGroup child to the Plan.
Hint: use the filter function in the Component tabs to easily find controls.
Select the previously defined Keyword from the Keywords section in the Component tabs.
Configure the ThreadGroup with the following parameters:

Number of Threads: 10 So the ThreadGroup runs 10 threads in parallel.
Number of iterations per thread: (empty): There should not be a limit on the number of iterations per thread;
Maximum duration (ms): 600000: The ThreadGroup should terminate after a maximum of 10 minutes (600000 ms)

Image showing how to configure a ThreadGroup to perform a load test — After following this tutorial, your Plan should look like this

Note: For more information on ThreadGroup configuration, refer to the ThreadGroup documentation.

3. Run and analyze the test

3.1. Run the load test

In Step, click Start Execution and confirm in the opened modal.

3.2. Check the status of your executions

You can continue using Step during the executions. If you wish to view detailed information about a particular execution, go to the “Executions” section in the menu and click on the individual execution of interest to reopen it.

Note: This can be done at any time, including when an execution is currently running.

Image showing execution details — Status for a successfully finished execution

3.3. Analyze the results

In the Performance tab, you can explore detailed performance metrics:

Image showing execution performance details

There you can see if the System Under Test, in our case OpenCart, can handle the amount of load we tested it with.

This tutorial serves as a starting point for those interested in performing load tests using Selenium scripts. Step enables you to reuse automation artifacts across the whole DevOps cycle, and load testing is just one aspect of it. Further learning and exploration on performance testing, synthetic monitoring and robotics can be found in other tutorials and resources.

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