VoltTest Configuration

VoltTest provides a flexible configuration system for setting up your performance tests. Here's how to configure and customize your test scenarios.

Basic Configuration

When creating a new test, you start by initializing the VoltTest class:

<?php
use VoltTest\VoltTest;

$test = new VoltTest(
'API Test Suite',           // Test name
'Testing API endpoints'     // Optional description
);

Test Parameters

Virtual Users

Set the number of concurrent virtual users to simulate during the test.

$test->setVirtualUsers(10); // By default, 1 virtual user is used 

Ramp Up Delay

The ramp-up delay determines how new virtual users (VUs) are introduced over time instead of starting all at once. This helps simulate real-world traffic and prevents instant overload.

$test->setRampUp('10s'); // 10 seconds

• If RampUp is set, users are distributed evenly over the specified time.
• If RampUp is not set, all virtual users start immediately.
• The delay per user is calculated as:

rampUpDelay = Total RampUp Time / Number of Virtual Users 

For example, if you set 100 virtual users with a ramp-up of 10s, each VU will start with a 100ms delay between them.

Test Duration

Set the total test duration using time units (s: seconds, m: minutes, h: hours):

$test->setDuration('30s');  // 30 seconds
$test->setDuration('5m');   // 5 minutes
$test->setDuration('1h');   // 1 hour

Test duration ensures the test runs continuously until the specified time is reached, even if all iterations aren't completed. If the duration ends before all iterations are done, the test stops. If the iterations finish early, the test keeps running until the time is up.

HTTP Debugging

When your writing test, maybe you need to check if the requests are being sent correctly. You can enable HTTP debugging to see the request and response headers:

$test->setHttpDebug(true); // By default, false

Complete Configuration Example

Here's an example of a complete test configuration:

$test = new VoltTest('Complete Test Configuration', 'Full configuration Example');
    ->setVirtualUsers(100)       // 100 concurrent users
    ->setDuration('5m')          // Run for 5 minutes
    ->setRampUp('10s')           // Gradually start users over 10 seconds
    ->setHttpDebug(true);       // Enable HTTP debugging

Configuration Validation

The configuration system includes built-in validation:

• Virtual users must be at least 1
• Duration must use valid time units (s, m, h)
• Target must use valid time units (s, m, h)

Invalid configurations throw VoltTestException with descriptive messages:

// These will throw exceptions
$test->setVirtualUsers(0);              // Invalid user count
$test->setDuration('invalid');          // Invalid duration format
$test->setTarget('not-valid');         // Invalid target format

Running The Test

warning

Run test without scenarios will throw an exception.

After configuring your test and make a scenarios, you can run it using the run() method:

// Run without progress tracking
$result = $test->run();

// Run with real-time progress or http debugging
$result = $test->run(true);

info

Pass true to the run() function to enable real-time progress tracking and if you are debugging the requests.

The run() function will wait until the test is completed and return the result object.

Configuration Best Practices

1. Set realistic virtual user counts based on your system capacity
2. Use appropriate duration for your test scenarios
3. Enable HTTP debug only when needed for troubleshooting
4. Validate configurations before running large-scale tests

Configuration Properties

Property	Description	Format	Default
name	Test name	string	Required
description	Test description	string	Empty string
virtualUsers	Concurrent users	integer > 0	1
duration	Test duration	number + unit (s/m/h)	Required
rampup	RampUp Delay	number + unit (s/m/h)	0
httpDebug	Debug mode	boolean	false