# A gem for web services load testing?

**URL:** <https://rubytalk.org/t/a-gem-for-web-services-load-testing/59967>\
**Category:** ruby-talk\
**Created:** [7 September 2010 22:13 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/a-gem-for-web-services-load-testing/59967 "2010-09-07T22:13:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Alex\_Stahl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b77776/32.png) [@Alex\_Stahl](https://rubytalk.org/u/Alex_Stahl)\
**Post date:** [7 September 2010 22:13 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/a-gem-for-web-services-load-testing/59967/1 "2010-09-07T22:13:57Z")

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Hi Folks - I've been developing automated functional tests in ruby for  
our website for the last few months, and now need to expand my scope.

Before I hit google, can anyone recommend a gem which can perform load  
testing on a REST API? I realize I could probably build my own w/  
mechanize + threading of some kind, but that seems like it'd be a lot of  
work, and I don't want to solve a problem that's already been solved.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,  
Alex

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**Author:** ![Roger\_Pack4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@Roger\_Pack4](https://rubytalk.org/u/Roger_Pack4)\
**Post date:** [8 September 2010 03:51 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/a-gem-for-web-services-load-testing/59967/2 "2010-09-08T03:51:41Z")

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> Before I hit google, can anyone recommend a gem which can perform load  
> testing on a REST API? I realize I could probably build my own w/  
> mechanize + threading of some kind, but that seems like it'd be a lot of  
> work, and I don't want to solve a problem that's already been solved.
> 
> Any suggestions are appreciated.

> **[Category: Browser testing - The Ruby Toolbox](https://www.ruby-toolbox.com/categories/browser_testing.html)**
>
> Explore and compare open source Ruby libraries

> **[GitHub - dbrady/tourbus: Website load testing tool in Ruby, with the ability...](https://github.com/dbrady/tourbus)**
>
> Website load testing tool in Ruby, with the ability to "unload a busload of tourists" on a website, each with the ability to trace through complex application paths. - GitHub - dbrady/tou...

> **···**
>
> --  
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/\](http://www.ruby-forum.com/%5C).

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**Author:** ![Josh\_Cheek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@Josh\_Cheek](https://rubytalk.org/u/Josh_Cheek)\
**Post date:** [9 September 2010 03:47 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/a-gem-for-web-services-load-testing/59967/3 "2010-09-09T03:47:39Z")

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In this video ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlsD2FiBIbg\](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlsD2FiBIbg%5C)), starting at  
24:40, Charles Oliver Nutter shows an example of how he uses JRuby to scale  
Rails. He does his load tests with a program called ab. Which, when I  
request manpages for it, it says it's the "Apache HTTP server benchmarking  
tool". That sounds pretty promising, maybe look into it.

> **···**
>
> On Tue, Sep 7, 2010 at 5:13 PM, Alex Stahl \<astahl@hi5.com\> wrote:
> 
> > Hi Folks - I've been developing automated functional tests in ruby for  
> > our website for the last few months, and now need to expand my scope.
> > 
> > Before I hit google, can anyone recommend a gem which can perform load  
> > testing on a REST API? I realize I could probably build my own w/  
> > mechanize + threading of some kind, but that seems like it'd be a lot of  
> > work, and I don't want to solve a problem that's already been solved.
> > 
> > Any suggestions are appreciated.
> > 
> > Thanks,  
> > Alex

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**Author:** ![Alex\_Stahl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b77776/32.png) [@Alex\_Stahl](https://rubytalk.org/u/Alex_Stahl)\
**Post date:** [8 September 2010 18:36 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/a-gem-for-web-services-load-testing/59967/4 "2010-09-08T18:36:15Z")

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Thanks for the pointer, Roger.

Also found this standalone script, which works as a quick & dirty way to  
get up and running:

[http://wiki.openqa.org/display/WTR/Re-Usable+Load+Testing+Example](http://wiki.openqa.org/display/WTR/Re-Usable+Load+Testing+Example)

> **···**
>
> On Tue, 2010-09-07 at 22:51 -0500, Roger Pack wrote:
> 
> > \> Before I hit google, can anyone recommend a gem which can perform load  
> > \> testing on a REST API? I realize I could probably build my own w/  
> > \> mechanize + threading of some kind, but that seems like it'd be a lot of  
> > \> work, and I don't want to solve a problem that's already been solved.  
> > \>  
> > \> Any suggestions are appreciated.
> > 
> > [Category: Browser testing - The Ruby Toolbox](http://ruby-toolbox.com/categories/browser_testing.html)  
> > [GitHub - dbrady/tourbus: Website load testing tool in Ruby, with the ability to "unload a busload of tourists" on a website, each with the ability to trace through complex application paths.](http://github.com/dbrady/tourbus)