Real Load News on RealLoad - Documentation & Blog

Implement Synthetic Monitoring for SMS OTP protected pages

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

End-to-end monitoring of applications requiring SMS OTP 2FA

We came across an interesting use case lately: The need to implement synthetic monitoring for a page protected by OTPs delivered via SMS. Automated, as nobody wants to sit in front of a phone waiting for SMSs to arrive.

One way to automate this would be to configure a user in the target application with a Twilio mobile phone number, to which the SMS will be delivered. Then, using Twilio APIs, the Real Load test script retrieves the SMS message body and extracts the OTP from it.

Monitoring your Ethereum node

Sun, 02 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Is my Crypto node up and running (… and making $$$ for me)?

You’re operating an Ethereum node and you’d like to monitor it beyond simply checking availability of the TCP port? RealLoad can help with that.

There is a Java library called Web3j (see https://docs.web3j.io/ ) which allows you to connect to an Ethereum node and perform queries. I’ve leveraged this library in order to implement a simple Ethereum client that retrieves the latest block number from an Ethereum node.

Regression testing using Test Templates and Suites

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

An exciting set of new features was added in Real Load v4.8.24. Test Templates and Test Suites.

Test Templates allow you to:

Pre-define a load test’s execution parameters like VUs, duration, etc..
Each Template represents a specific performance test script.

Test Suites will allow you to:

Execute one or more test templates to build complex execution scenarios simulating a variety of activities.
Organize multiple Test Templates in test groups. Execution within a test group can be parallel or sequential.
Have multiple execution groups within a test suite.
Configure sequential or parallel execution of test groups.

Once a Test Suite has been executed you can:

Monitoring SSL endpoints

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Last week I wrote an article to illustrate how the ability to execute JUnit tests opens a whole new world of synthetic monitoring possibilities.

This week I’ve implemented another use case to detect SSL certificate related issues which I’ve actually seen causing issues in production environments. Most issues were were caused by expired certificates or CRLs, affecting websites, APIs or VPNs.

I’ve implemented a series of JUnit tests to verify these attributes of an SSL endpoint:

New test execution APIs

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Version 8.4.23 of the Real Load platform expose new API methods that allow triggering Load Test scripts programmatically, via REST API calls. This enhancement is quite important, as it allows you to automate performance test execution as part of build processes, etc…

Another use case would be to regularly execute performance test to maintain data volume in application databases. One of the applications I work with (Outseer’s Fraud Manager on Premise) has got internal housekeeping processes that over time will remove runtime data from its DB. While this is to be expected, it might be detrimental to environments to be used for performance testing, where you might want to simulate production like data volume, or at least maintain data to a specific size.

A simple use case for JUnit testing

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A key feature that was added to the Real Load product recently is the support of JUnit tests. In a nutshell, it is possible to execute JUnit code as part of Synthetic Monitoring or even Performance Test scripts.

A simple example… Some DNS testing (again)

A while ago, I’ve implemented a simple DNS record testing script using an HTTP Web Test Plugin . Well, if I had to implement the same test today, I’d implement it using a JUnit test, as it looks more straightforward to me.

Test script involving OTPs? No problems

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Say that you have an application that requires customers to authenticate using a Time based One Time Password (TOTP), generated by a mobile application. These OTPs are typically generated by implementing the algorithm described in RFC 6238 .

Thanks to Real Load’s ability to implement plugins using the HTTP Test Wizard, it’s quite straightforward to generate OTPs in order to performance test your applications or to be used as part of synthetic monitoring.

Application High Latency Is Outage !

Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Application High Latency Is Outage.

If an application experiences high latency to the point of becoming unavailable or experiencing an outage, it can have severe consequences for businesses and their reputation.

In such cases, it is crucial to address the issue promptly and effectively.

Below are some steps that can be taken inorder to avoid the application high latency issues.

Load Testing and Capacity Planning: Conduct regular load testing to ensure that the application can handle anticipated user loads without significant latency issues. Use the insights gained from load testing to plan for future capacity needs and scale the infrastructure accordingly.

All Purpose Interface!

Sun, 18 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Want to create your scripts in any programming language, which you are comfortable with ? Check Out Real Load’s All Purpose Interface.

The uniqueness of Real Load when compared to other tools is it’s All Purpose Interface, which enables customers to define scripts in any programming languages. The only requirement is a script or program must comply in order to be executed by the Real Load Platform.

How it works

This document explains:

Real Load Synthetic Monitoring Generally Available!

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Performance testing as a main and synthetic monitoring as a dessert? Now available at Real Load.

Recently we’ve launched a new version of our Real Load portal which adds the ability to periodically monitor your applications. The best thing to it is that you can re-use already developed load testing scripts to periodically monitor your applications. It makes sense to re-use the same underlying technology for both tasks, correct?

And, of course, nobody forces you to have the main followed by the dessert. You can also first have the dessert (… synthetic monitoring) followed by the main (… load testing). Or perhaps the dessert is the main for you, you can arrange the menu as it best suits your taste.

Support for SSL Cert Client authentication in Proxy Recorder

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Do you need to record HTTP requests for your test script that require SSL Cert Client authentication? Tick, we support this use case now…

How does it work…

The Proxy Recorder has been enhanced to support recording against websites or applications that require presenting a valid SSL Client certificate.

From an high-level point of view this is how things work:

1 - SSL Client certificates are uploaded to the Real Load Portal. Each certificate is associated with an hostname (or IP address) of the target server, so that the Proxy Recorder knows when to present the SSL Client certificate.
2 - The Real Portal will then share the SSL Client certs with Proxy Recorder. Currently Cloud Hosted proxy recorders are supported.
3 - The tester then executes the steps to be recorded and included in the test script.
4 - When the Proxy Recorder attempts to access hosts that required SSL Client authentication, the relevant SSL Client will be applied.

SSL Client Certificate Configuration

SSL Client certificates in the .pfx/.p12 format need to be uploaded to the Real Load Portal server.

Some SQL performance testing today?

Fri, 21 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Most performance testing scenarios involve an application or an API presented over the HTTP or HTTPS protocol. The Real Load performance testing framework is capable of supporting essentially any type network application, as long as there is a way to generate valid client requests.

Real Load testing scripts are Java based applications that are executed by our platform. While our portal offers a wizard to easily create tests for the HTTP protocol, you can write write a performance test application for any network protocol by implementing such a Java based application.

New Feature - URL Explorer

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

An exciting new feature was added in Real Load v4.7.3. The URL Explorer feature allows you to quickly handle session specific random values that might appear in your load test script requests and responses.

In a nutshell, this is how things work:

Record a session using the Proxy Recorder.
Locate random values that might appear in your test script.
Search for these values in the recording using the URL Explorer.
Extract and assign these values to a variable.
Finally assign the value of the variable to all locations in the load test script where the same value appears.

All of this is documented in this short video (7 minutes) which walks you through the above process.

Oracle and async I/O... A world of a difference

Mon, 06 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

While running a load test against an API product that I have to deal with in my other day to day job, I’ve noticed something in both the results and at the OS level (… on the DB server) that didn’t make much sense.

Odd results

The results of the performance test where somewhat OK but kinda unstable (… some strange variances in the response times). This graph tells the story better than 1000s of words.

Apache HTTPD on FreeBSD and Linux Load Test

Thu, 05 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

For various reasons, I’ve had to perform a series of tests to ensure our Measuring Agent can generate traffic from a large number of source IP addresses. Aside from validating that capability, the by-result of the test is a somewhat interesting comparison of a FreeBSD and Linux based Apache HTTPD server.

Generating Load From Multiple IPs

First, a quick overview of what I wanted to prove: I needed to make sure that we can run a Load Test simulating a large number of source IP addresses. To validate this requirement, I’ve configured one of our Measuring Agents with approx. 12k IP addresses. I’ve used a bash script to do that, as otherwise it would take forever. All IPs are assigned as aliases to the NIC from where the load will be generated, and all IPs are within the same /16 subnet.

Real Load Portal Generally Available!

Sun, 24 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Real Load Portal portal.realload.com is open for publich registration.

Feel free to register for an account and trial our product by following the registration instructions here . You’ll be given a two weeks 100 VUs demo license and no credit card is required to sign up!

Desktop Companion 0.24 Released

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Desktop Companion is a Desktop GUI that allows you to manage several Real Load aspects directly from your desktop.

We’ve released the latest update and this 5 minutes video illustrates the key changes.

Happy watching!

My system just got faster!

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Today I’ve started executing a lengthy performance test against a SOAP API to seed the underlying DB. For various reasons, I need to replicate the daily DB volume increase of a production system in my own lab DB.

I’ve prepared a Real Load test script and started hammering a server in my lab environment. I’ve noticed the performance wasn’t particularly good but that didn’t matter, as I wasn’t actually executing a performance test.

Desktop Companion Enhancements

Mon, 13 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This is a short update video to illustrate enhancements in the last update of the Desktop Companion.

Enhancements were done to the Proxy Recorder tab:

Allow adding page breaks as you navigate from page to page while recording.
Added a real-time counter of the requests being recorded.
Added a button to force the Desktop Companion window on top of others, so it doesn’t get hidden by browser windows.

All of the above is illustrated in this short video…

Desktop Companion Released

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Desktop Companion is a Desktop GUI that allows you to manage several Real Load aspects directly from your desktop.

It was freshly released in the last few days, plz do not hesitate to try it out. We’ve put together a short video that shows how to:

Prepare a simple load tests using the Recording Proxy on your Desktop.
Upload the load test to the Real Load Portal
Start an AWS EC2 Measuring Agent (Load Generator) from the Desktop Companion
Execute the load test script
Terminate the AWS EC2 Measuring Agent

All of this in 8 minutes…

Real Load Plugins Introduction

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

A great new feature of the Real Load portal is that is allows you to share or simply consume plugins that have been prepared by others.

Plugins are written in Java. There are 3 types of plugin that are supported by the Real Load application:

Session Element Plug-In - Typically used to generate custom data required by your load test script. For example:

Extract data from a DB.
Generate random data that follows a specific syntax.
Query an external webservice to obtain data to be injected in the load test.

URL Plug-in - Allows you to modify request or response data:

Modify the HTTP request (…change the URL, etc…)
Modify response data.

Java Source Code Modifier Plug-in - Allows to automtically modify a test script Java source code.

One of the key fetures of the product is that plugins can be optionally be published on the Real Load portal, for other users to consume. You can have a glimpse of available plugins here .

Real Load Demo Portal online

Sat, 13 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The demo portal demo2.realload.com is now available for selected customers who wish to evaluate the product functionality. You need an invitation code from us to sign up at the portal.

Quick Start Guide

Navigate to demo2.realload.com and click at “Sign up”
Enter your invitation code and follow the instructions
Once you are signed in navigate to “Measuring Agents”
Add the following Measuring Agent: agent2.realload.com port 8080
Ping the Measuring Agent at application level
Click at the “Wizards” icon to “HTTP Test Wizard”
Define your first HTTP/S test, debug the test, save the session, generate the code and run your test

Note: The Measuring Agent agent2.realload.com has the following restrictions: