Novabench is a standardized tool that IT teams in large companies often use to perform a variety of heavy load CPU tests. It gives the results in minutes. Many online diagnostic tools perform a stress test on not only CPU but also RAM, graphics cards and GPU. Such combined results fail to give an accurate picture.
- Server Stress Test Tool Reviews
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Solution Yes, the SQLQueryStress tool provided by Adam Machanic can be used to apply additional stress when testing your stored procedures. This tool can also be used to apply a dataset as random parameter values when testing your stored procedures. Novabench is a standardized tool that IT teams in large companies often use to perform a variety of heavy load CPU tests. It gives the results in minutes. Many online diagnostic tools perform a stress test on not only CPU but also RAM, graphics cards and GPU. Such combined results fail to give an accurate picture. README.md ##Socket.io Stress Test Tool ####This is a simple socket client and server tool allowing you to stress test a socket server. For example if you have a client connecting to a remote socket.io server simultaneously and with large amount of call (10K+), this tool allow you to get each callback time in ms. Tools recommended for Stress Testing: LoadRunner. LoadRunner from HP is a widely-used Load Testing tool. Load Test Results shaped by Loadrunner are considered as a benchmark. Jmeter is an Open Source testing tool. It is a pure Java application for stress and Performance Testing. Jmeter is intended to cover types of tests like load.
Even the most novice among website owners has at some point or other tested their website performance. However, most of these tests normally focus on loading speed or user experience indices.
But what about load testing?
Although most websites are prone to traffic levels that are usually quite regular, there may be occasions when some sites will have to deal with heavy loads. Examples of these include online stores, or even some government websites.
If your website gets an unexpected spike in the number of visitors over a short period, how well are you equipped to handle it?
Understanding Load Testing
What is load testing?
Load testing is bench-marking a website to see how it performs under various loads.
For example, a test may simulate an increasing number of concurrent visitors landing on your site. It will also record how your site handles them and records them for your reference.
What types of “load” are tested?
Depending on the tool you choose to load test your site with, each may come with different features. The most basic will simply involve simulating an ever increasing load and halting when your site crashes.
Other tools may be capable of generating a simulated load that mimics different user behaviour, such as performing queries, changing pages, or loading other functions. Some may even be able to map out logical flows for each individual scenario.
Load Testing Tools to Consider
Depending on their complexity, some load testing tools can be quite expensive. However, there are cheaper options in the market and some are even free for use. I’ve included a mixture of these below for your reference, including a couple of open source options.
1. Loadview by Dotcom Monitor
Price: From $199/mo, free trial available
Loadview is one of the more complete solutions available in the market and today is based on a cloud service model. This means that whatever type of simulation you need from them, you only pay for the service – there is zero investment in hardware or anything else.
Feature wise, Loadview offers a very complex solution that can include anything from straight up HTTP load tests to a sophisticated mix of your choice. It is able to simulate dynamic variables and even geo-location diversity in its tests.
Features
- Post-firewall tests
- Handles dynamic variables
- Detailed waterfall charts
- Load test curves
2. K6 Cloud (formerly Load Impact)
Price: From $49/mo
K6 is a cloud-based, open source load testing tool that’s provided as a service. One of the things that makes this tool interesting is that it is priced on a variable-use model which means that the cost of entry can be relatively low depending on your needs. It is, however, mainly developer-centric.
Aside from load testing, K6 also offers performance monitoring. Its load testing side is focused on high loads and can handle various modes such as spikes, stress testing, and endurance runs.
*K6 does not run in browsers nor does it run in NodeJS
Features
- Developer-friendly APIs.
- Scripting in JavaScript
- Performance monitoring
3. Load Ninja
Price: From $270.73/mo
Load Ninja lets you load-test with real browsers based on recorded scripts and then helps analyze performance results. Its use of real browsers at scale means that this tool helps recreate a more realistic environment and end result for testing.
Results can be analyzed in real-time and thanks to the handy tools the system provides, your scripting time can be reduced by as much as 60%. Internal applications can be tested as well, both with proxy-based fixed IPs or your own range of dynamic IPs (by using a whitelister).
Features
- Test with thousands of real browsers
- Diagnose tests in real-time
- Insights on internal application performance
4. LoadRunner by Micro Focus
Price: From $0
With an entry-level free community account that supports tests from 50 virtual users, LoadRunner is available even to the newest website owners. However, if you scale it up to high levels the cost rises exponentially.
This Cloud-based service also offers the use of an Integrated Development Environment for unit tests. It supports a wide range of application environments including Web, Mobile, WebSockets, Citrix, Java, .NET, and much more. Be aware that LoadRUnner can be pretty complex and has a steep learning curve.
Features
- Patented auto-correlation engine
- Supports 50+ technologies and application environments
- Reproduces real business processes with scripts
5. Loader
Price: From $0
Compared to what we’ve shown so far, Loader is a much simpler and more basic tool. Its free plan supports load testing with up to 10,000 virtual users which is enough for most moderate traffic websites.
Unfortunately you will need to have a paid plan to access more advanced features such as advanced analytics, concurrent tests, and priority support. It is easy to use though since basically you just add your site, specify the parameters, then let the test run.
Features
- Shareable graphs & stats
- Useable in a GUI or API format
- Supports DNS Verification and priority loaders
6. Gatling
Price: From $0
Gatling comes in two flavors, Open Source or Enterprise. The former lets you load-test as an integration with your own development pipeline. It includes both a web recorder and report generator with the plan. The Enterprise version has on-premise deployments or alternatively, you can opt for a Cloud version based on Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Although both of these versions are feature-packed, the Enterprise version supports a few extras that don’t come with Open Source. For example, it has a more usable management interface and supports a wider range of integrations.
Features
- Multi-protocol scripting
- Unlimited testing and throughput
- Gatling scripting DSL
7. The Grinder
Price: From $0
Grinder is open sourced all the way and is probably the only truly free option on this list. However, it has to be run locally in your own development environment and needs a few extra such as Java in order to work.
However, being open source it has been adopted widely and developers have come up with a plentiful number of plugins which vastly extend it in terms of both use-ability and functionality. Still, unless you’re a developer or so oriented, The Grinder might be a bit of a handful for you to use.
Features
- Flexible scripting based on Jython and Clojure
- Highly modular with tons of plugins
- Distributed framework and mature HTTP support
When to Load Test Your Website?
If you’ve had a look at most of the tools available, you will probably have noticed that many of them offer either trial accounts or some form of limited free version. This makes them readily available for use for a wide audience.
Most website owners need to be concerned about hosting performance since it affects far more than simply user experience. For many business owners, the availability of your website is also a matter of brand reputation.
Sites which are growing need to be especially cautious of availability and scalability of the resources used to hosting your website. In most cases a high percentage of user response time is spent on the surface of your site. However, as sites grow in traffic volume this might change.
More traffic usually means a disproportionate growth in backend processing and your system will struggle as that spikes. Much will depend on variables unique to your site development, so it isn’t possible to give you a solid number of visitors at which point this will happen.
To realistically see how your site performance you need load testing to be done. Exactly when to do it is debatable, but my advice would be to plan ahead and test early.
What to Check for When Load Testing?
As the very name implies, your core function should be the basic of how your site performs under loads. This will let you observe a number of things such as:
- At what point your site performance starts to degrade
- What actually happens when service degrades
When I mentioned how different sites may react differently based on their architecture, that was a signal meant for you to understand that not all sites fail in the same way as well. Some database-intensive sites might fail on that point, while others may suffer IO failures based on server connection loads.
Because of this, you need to be prepared to set up a variety of tests to understand how your site and server will cope under various scenarios. Based on those, keep a close eye on a few key metrics such as your server response time, the number of errors cropping up, and what areas those faults may lie in.
Generating complex scripts and runs along with the accompanying logic can be difficult. I suggest that you approach load testing incrementally. Start with a brute force test that will simply test your site under a continuously increasing stream of traffic.
As you gain experience, add on other elements such as variable behaviour, developing your scripts and logic over time.
Conclusion: Some is Better than None
When it comes to load testing, starting with the basics is better than not getting started at all. If you’re a beginner to all of this, do try to do your testing on an alternate mirror or offline where possible – avoid load testing a live site if you can!
If you’re just starting out now, make sure to create a record of your tests. Performance testing is a journey that should accompany the development of your site as it grows. The process can be tiring but remember, not having a record can make future assessments much more difficult for you.
If you’re having problems with your computer and it isn’t behaving correctly in certain situations, then it could be a cause for concern. One of these situations could be when you are performing resource intensive tasks and the system becomes unstable or crashes while being put under stress. This could be a problem such as the CPU overheating and shutting itself down, or even the graphics card running into similar trouble. Or maybe the power supply simply cannot cope anymore with all hardware components running at full intensity…
Whether you’re someone who wants to test their PC components because they suspect a possible fault, or have bought / built your own PC and want to make sure it runs stably and reliably at maximum load, you need a program to be able to put the system under the desired levels of stress for periods of time to monitor the situation. Here are 10 tools (9 of them free) to do just that and put your system under huge amounts of stress to check for faults or problems.
1. HeavyLoadHeavyLoad is a utility that aims to stress the main component areas of a PC, namely processor, memory, hard drive and graphics. It can also run these tests individually or altogether which is obviously the time maximum stress will be placed of the system hardware and also the power supply. The Disk space and Free memory tests are not really there to put undue stress on those components, but rather continually writes a large file to the drive and allocates / deallocates memory to the system simulating heavy load when all major components are utilized.
There is an option though to add more stress to the hard drive by using Jam software’s other popular included tool Treesize Free to simulate more heavy disc access. HeavyLoad is available as portable and installer versions and is a very useful overall system stability tester to keep in the USB toolkit. Works on Windows XP to Windows 8 32-bit and 64-bit.
Download HeavyLoad
2. FurMark
Furmark is a stability and stress testing tool designed especially for graphics cards and runs a very intensive “Fur” rendering algorithm which is very good at pushing the GPU to its absolute limits. There are a few settings that can be changed such as resolution, full screen mode and anti aliasing, and a few presets are available such as running in the HD resolutions of 720 / 1080, or running a burn-in test for 15 minutes. The benchmark’s default run time and an alarm for the maximum allowable temperature for the graphics card is found via the Settings window.
Benchmark scores can be compared or viewed online. FurMark is compatible with Windows XP and above.
Download FurMark
3. StressMyPC
This is a simple, tiny and portable utility of around 20KB that can run a stability test on your single, multi core or multi threaded processor. In addition it can also perform a couple of other tests such as a simple GPU graphics test and also one for the hard drive. The “Paint-Stress” GPU test is enabled by default and the “HD-test” and a more aggressive CPU test which will push your processor towards 100% (the standard test used about 60% of a dual core CPU during testing) can be enabled by the buttons at the top of the window. StressMyPC works on all versions of Windows 2000 and above, including 64-bit.
Download StressMyPC
Server Stress Test Tool Reviews
4. System Stability Tester
System Stability Tester works by simply using the well known and famous method of telling the computer to calculate the value of Pi up to 128 million digits. This will completely consume your processor for as long as the test runs and can also be used as a basic benchmarking tool to see how long it takes your CPU to calculate the specified number of digits. The range can be between 128 thousand up to 128 million and can be run continuously up to 50 times using up to 32 threads. There are 2 methods to choose from, Borwein and Gauss-Legendre which is also used by the classic SuperPi tool.
Works on Windows XP and above, portable and installer versions are available.
Download System Stability Tester
5. IntelBurnTest
Despite the name, IntelBurnTest actually works fine for testing on AMD processors as well, and is called as such because it makes use of the Intel Linpack libraries which Intel themselves use to stress test CPU’s. Usage is easy and all you have to do is set the number of times to run the test, the number of threads to use and the test stress level. This can be Standard, High, Very High or Maximum and if your available RAM is less than what the test requires, choose Custom and set the amount of memory to use accordingly.
The program is portable and runs on Windows XP and above.
Download IntelBurnTest
12Next › View All You might also like:
11 Tools to Find out Information About Your Computer’s Hardware5 Free Tools to Check and Test USB Flash Drives6 Free Programs to Check Your Video Card Memory For Errors8 Free Tools to Test Read and Write Speed of USB Flash Drives2 Ways to Test and Determine If Your BitTorrent Speed is Limited or ThrottledA nice collection of stress tests, but I am currently searching for DOS-based software. Will keep looking, but perhaps you could add something in this vein the next time you update the article?
ReplyBurninTest software is good for testing, but unfortunately it’s not free
Replyany commandline tools, i need them in my automation
Reply3d mark is good for higher end graphics cards
ReplyServer Stress Test Tool Harbor Freight
Aida64 is also good program. It is almost head-to-head with BurnIn Test made by PassMark
ReplyI generally run Orthos and MemTest. For the hard disk, when I get a new one, I copy tons of files big and small to it and then try using these files. Last drive showed problems immediately after this.
I also always do a Nero Recode and x264 encodes since these are heavy CPU programs.
ReplyUseful tool and have noted contributors very helpful warnings.
ReplyLooks like a decent benchmarking software. Thanks Ray!
ReplyMy suggestion regarding this type of program:
Run it well BEFORE your warranty expires. Make sure you didn’t get a system with faulty components. Don’t experiment on an older system (with gigs of files & programs at risk). If something is “marginal”, these programs WILL find them – often destructively!
Second this – it is actually possible for stress testing software to fry your PC. E.g. normal use of a video card will not come close to the temperature and power consumption of running a 100% stress test like FurMark, and this could cause an otherwise working component to fail. It does mean the component is running out of spec, so it could even be recommended to run this just before your warranty expires, but not after.
ReplyAn example of how testing software can be destructive if it does not change or write anything new or over existing files, code or registry? If a tool writes its own fix without showing you changes before they happen then don’t use it.
ReplyThanks again for a useful tool Raymond
ReplyThank you Raymond.
Nice tool.
ReplyA very good and large hardware store here uses Everest for stability testing
ReplyFile Server Stress Test Tool
Thanks for the info Raymond!
ReplyMinecraft Server Stress Test Tool
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