How long should a load test take?

Grafana k6 Converters & Integrations
1

I plan to integrate my tests to GITLAB CI pipeline. Locally we have been running load tests for 30 minutes or more as we increment the USERS till we find the optimal Application performance.

Considering we want quick feedback wether the app works as expected , if not fail the pipeline, I was thinking of doing for max 5 mins while using optimal no of users we know the application can handle, this includes the VUSERS in use.

What am not sure of is; is 5 mins enough to give me the typical performance of an application?

What time are you fellow performance engineers using? Especially if your tests run before a deployment to another stage happens.

Or what determines the load test duration (specifically load test not stress nor spike test)

3

Hi @dchepkemoi,
If I got your question, I think you’re trying to set a Smoke test. Yes, as you can check from the documentation, it is expected to be in a range of 0-10 minutes.

It is difficult to give you a very accurate number because it depends on the application under test. You should find the correct number by doing some rationale based on the knowledge of your typical loads and how the application is built and run.