Using LoadUI for load testing

If you want to bring the most out of your load testing you should download SoapUI's new pal, LoadUI. LoadUI is a free load testing tool that is customized to make load testing in SoapUI easier and more efficient.

Since LoadUI is made to collaborate with SoapUI, it is easy to install and integrate with SoapUI. It also has a built-in widget which allows you to quickly get started load testing your SoapUI tests.

To get started, you can simply right-click on your test in SoapUI and select Run with LoadUI. This will automatically open your test in LoadUI, given that you have LoadUI installed. SoapUI and LoadUI will synchronize within seconds after saving, keeping your testing constantly updated.

Click here if you want to read more about the benefits of using LoadUI for load testing.

Using SoapUI for load testing

Load Testing is quite unique in SoapUI, we have created a functionality that allows you to create Performance Tests quickly and modify them easily. The main differentiator is that Performance Tests in SoapUI generally is  created from existing Functional Tests. This allows you to very quickly create advanced Performance Tests. You can then validate a Web Service performance under different Load scenarios, maintain functional validations to see that they don't break under load, run several load tests simultaneously to see how they affect each other and much more. Let's move on to the tutorial. What we are going to learn is the following:

1. Create a new LoadTest
2. Run The LoadTest
3. Add Assertions to the LoadTest

1) Create a new LoadTest

1. Right Click on a TestCase in the Navigator and select New LoadTest
   
2. A New LoadTest Dialog will open. In it, enter the name of your LoadTest and click OK. The LoadTest will open.Don
   

Done! It really is that simple in SoapUI. Let's run it.

2) Run The LoadTest

When a new LoadTest is created, it's pre configured to run for 60 seconds (top right) with 5 threads using the Simple LoadStrategy.

1. Modify these values as desired (read more about SoapUI LoadTest Configuration) and
2. run the test.
   You will see the statistics table in the middle beginning collecting data and after 60 seconds should have a finished LoadTest. (read more about LoadTest Execution)

We have now succesfully run our first LoadTest, let's add an assertion to do Load Validations.

3) Add assertion to the LoadTest

1. In the LoadTest editor, select the LoadTest Assertion tab at the bottom of the editor
   
2. Click the Add Assertion Button in the LoadTest Assertion menu bar to add an assertion.
   
3. The Add Assertion dialog will now open, select Step Maximum. Select Maximum sets a Max Time in milliseconds that the responses are allowed to take, if the time exceeds what we've set, the test will fail. Click OK.
   
4. The TestStep Max Assertion window will now open. As you can see we allow a max response of one second, 1000 milliseconds. Let's not modify anyting, Click Ok
   
5. The Step Maximum assertion will now be successfully added.
   

6. Now run the test again. You should see that the column err adds up quickly, the responses takes to long time.

   

That concludes our Getting Started with LoadTests. There is much more to learn about LoadTests in SoapUI, go to the User Guide for more information.