ATA Performance Testing — Product Documentation

1) What Performance Testing Is

Performance Testing in ATA allows you to simulate traffic and load on APIs to measure how they perform under different conditions. By running APIs under stress — fixed load or ramp‑up patterns — you can:

• Detect performance bottlenecks.
• Verify scalability of endpoints.
• Monitor response times and error rates.
• Ensure APIs remain reliable under real‑world traffic.

ATA Agent must be active in the background to execute performance tests. It handles load simulation and request dispatching.

2) Setting Up Performance Testing

Step 1: Create a Test Suite

1. Go to API Testing Lab → Performance Testing.
2. Click + New Suite.
3. Provide a name (e.g., Checkout Load Test).
4. Add AI instructions (e.g., “Test checkout API with increasing load and monitor response times”).
5. Click Next.

Step 2: Define API Source

Choose where the APIs come from:

• Existing APIs from API Testing Lab.
• Imports:
  • Swagger URL
  • Swagger file
  • API Test Suite format

Save the suite after selecting/importing APIs.

3) Generating Performance Test Cases

1. Open the suite and click Generate All.
2. Define Load Type:
   • Fixed Load: Run a constant number of requests per second (e.g., 100 rps).
   • Ramp‑Up Load: Start low and gradually increase traffic (e.g., from 10 rps → 100 rps over time).
   • Custom Load: Define your own load pattern.
3. ATA will execute requests under the chosen load type and capture:
   • Response times (latency under load).
   • Throughput (requests handled per second/minute).
   • Error rates (percentage of failed requests).

4) Viewing Results

• Warnings: A ⚠️ icon highlights APIs with performance issues (e.g., Login endpoint latency too high).
• Test Suite Analysis Pop‑up shows:
  • Total number of tests.
  • Valid tests passed.
  • Issues detected (slowdowns, failures).
• Requests with Issues:

  Requests with Issues:
  - Login: High response time under load
  - Get Orders: 40% failure rate during ramp‑up

• Detailed Logs: Show request timing, errors, and traces to help diagnose performance problems.

5) Analysis Interface

ATA provides an analysis dashboard for deeper insight:

• Total Tests executed.
• Valid Tests passed.
• Issues found.
• Requests with Issues (with description).
• All Requests including successful ones.

Use this dashboard to:

• Identify bottlenecks.
• Detect scaling limits.
• Compare performance trends across runs.

6) Example Workflows

Example 1: Load Testing Checkout

• Suite: Checkout Load Test.
• Fixed load: 200 requests/sec.
• Monitored metrics: response < 500ms.
• Alerts if latency spikes above threshold.

Example 2: Ramp‑Up Testing Login

• Suite: Login Stress Test.
• Ramp from 10 → 500 requests/sec over 15 minutes.
• Detects point where error rate exceeds 5%.

Example 3: API Cluster Scaling

• Suite: Order Processing Scaling Test.
• Custom load pattern simulating traffic bursts.
• Tracks throughput consistency and scaling response.

7) Best Practices

• Always run ATA Agent in background before starting.
• Start with small loads, then increase gradually.
• Separate critical APIs (auth, checkout) into dedicated performance suites.
• Use ramp‑up to find breaking points.
• Monitor error codes (timeouts, 500s) carefully.
• Regularly rerun tests to catch regressions.

8) Benefits

• Confidence in API scalability under real‑world load.
• Early detection of bottlenecks before production traffic hits.
• Quantitative metrics (latency, throughput, error %).
• Reliable APIs that handle peak usage smoothly.

ATA Performance Testing ensures your APIs scale reliably and perform predictably under real‑world traffic conditions.