Performance Testing

Performance testing in gRPC Testify focuses on validating response times and handling timeouts for individual tests.

What's Supported

gRPC Testify supports these performance testing features:

• ✅ Timeout Configuration - Set maximum time for individual tests
• ✅ Retry Mechanism - Configure retries for failed network calls
• ✅ Response Time Validation - Basic timeout enforcement

Timeout Testing

Setting Test Timeout

Configure timeout for individual tests:

--- ENDPOINT ---
service.ServiceName/MethodName

--- REQUEST ---
{ "data": "test" }

--- RESPONSE ---
{
  "result": "success"
}

--- OPTIONS ---
timeout: 5

Testing Slow Responses

Test that slow responses are properly handled:

--- ENDPOINT ---
service.ServiceName/SlowMethod

--- REQUEST ---
{ "delay": 3000 }

--- ERROR ---
{
  "code": 4,
  "message": "Deadline exceeded",
  "details": "Request timed out"
}

--- OPTIONS ---
timeout: 2

Retry Configuration

Basic Retry Setup

Configure retry attempts for network failures:

--- ENDPOINT ---
service.ServiceName/MethodName

--- REQUEST ---
{ "data": "test" }

--- RESPONSE ---
{
  "result": "success"
}

--- OPTIONS ---
timeout: 10
retry: 3
retry_delay: 1

Disabling Retries

For tests that should fail immediately:

--- ENDPOINT ---
service.ServiceName/MethodName

--- REQUEST ---
{ "data": "test" }

--- RESPONSE ---
{
  "result": "success"
}

--- OPTIONS ---
timeout: 5
retry: 0

CLI Performance Options

Global Timeout

Set timeout for all tests via command line:

# Set 30 second timeout for all tests
grpctestify.sh tests/ --timeout 30

# Set 60 second timeout for specific test
grpctestify.sh test.gctf --timeout 60

Global Retry Configuration

Configure retry behavior globally:

# Set 5 retries with 2 second delay
grpctestify.sh tests/ --retry 5 --retry-delay 2

# Disable retries completely
grpctestify.sh tests/ --no-retry

Parallel Execution

Run multiple test files in parallel:

# Auto-detect optimal parallel jobs
grpctestify.sh tests/ --parallel auto

# Use 4 parallel workers
grpctestify.sh tests/ --parallel 4

Real Examples

Timeout Test

--- ADDRESS ---
localhost:4770

--- ENDPOINT ---
shopflow.ShopFlowService/HealthCheck

--- REQUEST ---
{
    "service": "shopflow-ecommerce"
}

--- ASSERTS ---
.status == "healthy"
.message | test("ShopFlow")

--- OPTIONS ---
timeout: 2

Retry Test

--- ADDRESS ---
localhost:4770

--- ENDPOINT ---
shopflow.ShopFlowService/GetProduct

--- REQUEST ---
{
    "product_id": "prod_001"
}

--- ASSERTS ---
.found == true
.product.id == "prod_001"
.product.name == "Wireless Bluetooth Headphones"

--- OPTIONS ---
timeout: 10
retry: 3
retry_delay: 1

Best Practices

✅ Do This:

1. Set Reasonable Timeouts

   --- OPTIONS ---
   timeout: 30  # 30 seconds for normal operations

2. Configure Retries for Network Tests

   --- OPTIONS ---
   timeout: 10
   retry: 3
   retry_delay: 1

3. Use Global Options for Consistency

   grpctestify.sh tests/ --timeout 30 --retry 3

❌ Avoid This:

1. Setting Unrealistic Timeouts

   # Bad - too short
   timeout: 1
   
   # Bad - too long
   timeout: 3600

2. Excessive Retries

   # Bad - too many retries
   retry: 100
   
   # Good - reasonable retries
   retry: 3

Limitations

What's NOT Supported

• ❌ Response Time Assertions - Cannot validate specific response times
• ❌ Load Testing - No built-in load testing capabilities
• ❌ Performance Metrics - No detailed performance reporting
• ❌ Concurrent Test Execution - Tests run sequentially within files

Workarounds

For advanced performance testing:

1. Use External Tools

   # Use Apache Bench or similar for load testing
   ab -n 1000 -c 10 http://localhost:8080/

2. Custom Performance Scripts

   # Create custom performance test scripts
   for i in {1..100}; do
     grpctestify.sh test.gctf
   done

Next Steps

• Data Validation - Learn basic testing patterns
• Error Testing - Test error conditions
• Real Examples - See performance testing in action