12.2. A High Performance VM for Locust#

In order to do proper testing you need a high performance VM with a good network connection. In this lab you will create a VM and use it to test your ability to scale.

Warning

Don’t forget to stop this VM after the lab. It’s EXPENSIVE!

Test Procedure#

  1. Start by creating a VM using gcloud

    $ gcloud compute instances create locust-host \
    --zone=us-central1-a --machine-type=e2-highcpu-4 \
    --create-disk=image=projects/debian-cloud/global/images/family/debian-12,size=10

  2. Now SSH into your new VM. This command establishes a forwarded port.

    $ gcloud compute ssh locust-host -- -L 8089:localhost:8089

  3. Install git and pip on your VM

    $ sudo apt update -y 
$ sudo apt install -y git python3-pip

  4. Install locust on your VM

    $ pip install locust

  5. Check out your repository on the VM

    Note

    Retrieve your repo URL from GitHub.

    $ git clone https://...

  6. Run locust.

    Error

    You might have to logout and login again before running locust

    $ cd cis-92
$ locust

    Execute a test with the following:

    Parameter

    Value

    Number of Users

    8

    Ramp Up

    1

    Host

    IP address of your application.

  7. Repeat the test with 1, 2, 3 and 4 replicas and make a note of the performance.

  8. Stop the instance.

    $ gcloud compute instances stop locust-host

Stopping the instance halts charges for CPU usage, but there are still small charges for the disk space.

Repeating the Test#

You can repeat the test by restarting the VM:

$ gcloud compute instances start locust-host
$ gcloud compute ssh locust-host -- -L 8089:localhost:8089
$ cd cis-92 
$ locust

Warning

Remember! This is an expensive VM. Turn it off when you’re done with it.