Scale Load Generation Across Your Infrastructure

Cloud & Distributed Load Testing

Scale load testing across on-premises and AWS or Microsoft Azure private cloud environments with StresStimulus distributed load generators. Simulate realistic workloads using protocol Virtual Users (VU), Playwright Browser Users (BU), or a combination of both, while StresStimulus centrally orchestrates the test and consolidates performance metrics.

Scale Out and Scale Up

Scale Across Load Agents and Within Each Agent

StresStimulus scales out by distributing protocol Virtual Users (VU) and Playwright Browser Users (BU) across multiple Load Agents running on different machines, locations, or cloud infrastructure. The Controller coordinates the Load Agents, collects performance metrics, and consolidates the results.

Each Load Agent can scale further by dynamically calibrating the number of Load Generators based on the amount of load. This optimizes system resource utilization without requiring additional machines, helping reduce cloud and hardware costs as well as network and administrative resource requirements.

Example: 3,500-VU Test + 100 BUs Total Virtual-User Load

Load Agent 1

1500 VUs + 50 BUs

Load Generator 1 500 VUs + 25 BUs
Load Generator 2 500 VUs + 25 BUs
Load Generator 3 500 VUs

Load Agent 2

1000 VUs + 50 BUs

Load Agent 3

2000 VUs

Scale out across Load Agents and scale up within each agent by adding multiple Load Generators, instantiating a configured number of VUs and BUs.
Flexible Deployment

Run Load Agents On-Premises or in the Cloud

Load Agents can run on physical or virtual machines, as well as on AWS and Microsoft Azure instances. Choose the infrastructure and geographic locations appropriate for each test. The StresStimulus Controller distributes the load, orchestrates test execution, collects performance metrics, and consolidates the final results.

On-premises load agent

On-Premises Agents

Connect Windows or Linux Load Agents using a hostname or IP address and distribute virtual users across your own physical or virtual infrastructure.
 

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AWS load agent

AWS Agents

Create AWS agents directly from StresStimulus, select the region, VPC and subnet, operating system, AMI, and instance type, then add the instance to the current test.

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Microsoft Azure load agent

Microsoft Azure Agents

Create Azure Load Agents from StresStimulus by selecting the Azure region, Windows or Linux operating system, and the virtual-machine size appropriate for the workload.

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Built-In Cloud Provisioning

Create AWS and Azure Load Agents from StresStimulus

The Cloud Load Agent Manager creates cloud instances without requiring you to prepare each Load Agent manually. StresStimulus provides guided AWS and Azure workflows for selecting the infrastructure used by the agent.

Windows or Linux
Choose the operating system for cloud load generation.
Region Selection
Place agents in any AWS or Azure region.
Instance Sizing
Select instance types based on CPU, memory, and available capacity.
Mix On-Premises and Cloud Load Agents
Combine on-premises, AWS, and Azure Load Agents in the same distributed test for flexible load generation across environments and locations.
Keep Control of Your Test Infrastructure

Cloud Load Testing Without the SaaS Security Dependency

Load testing SaaS platforms typically require test scripts and related testing data to be uploaded to infrastructure operated by the provider. This data may include passwords, security tokens, and other sensitive information. This introduces a security dependency because your testing assets are only as secure as the provider’s SaaS environment that stores and processes them.

StresStimulus takes a different approach. Your test projects and application traffic are not uploaded to a StresStimulus-hosted cloud service. Instead, on-premises Load Agents remain in your environment, while AWS and Azure Load Agents run in your own private cloud infrastructure, keeping your performance-testing assets under your organization’s control.

Keeping cloud Load Agents within your private cloud also enables more seamless integration with the rest of your enterprise cloud infrastructure.

Your Environment StresStimulus Controller, test projects, and test data
On-Premises Load Agent
Your Private Cloud
AWS Load Agent
Azure Load Agent
No StresStimulus-hosted cloud required
Use Cloud Resources Only When You Need Them

Automatically Provision Agents for the Test

AWS and Azure Cloud Templates store the parameters for temporary Load Agents. By default, StresStimulus creates the required cloud agent before the test starts and terminates it after the test ends, helping minimize cloud-resource usage costs.

Cloud TemplateStore agent configuration (region, OS, and instance type)
Test StartsAuto-Provision AWS or Azure agent
Generate LoadRun distributed virtual users
Test EndsTransfer all data to Controller and Terminate temporary agent

When needed, a template can be configured to keep its Load Agent after the test so the same instance can be reused on subsequent runs.

Interactive or Unattended

Choose How Windows Load Agents Run

A Windows Load Agent can run as the StresStimulus application when interactive runtime visibility is useful, or as a Windows service for unattended execution.

Run as an Application

Launch StresStimulus manually on the agent machine and view its graphs and runtime monitor while it participates in the distributed test.

Run as a Windows Service

Run the agent without a UI for unattended operation. The service uses fewer hardware resources and can emulate about 20% more virtual users than application mode.

Explore Related Topics

Integrations & Observability

Connect performance testing with the telemetry and monitoring tools used by your engineering organization.

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Continuous Testing & CI/CD

See how StresStimulus fits into automated performance testing workflows.

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AI-Assisted Performance Diagnostics

Turn load-test results into information your team can investigate.

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Scale Your Next Performance Test

Evaluate distributed and cloud load generation with your own application and workload.