Install Siege Stress Test on Ubuntu 20.04: Best HTTP Load Testing

In this guide, you will learn to Install Siege Stress Test on Ubuntu 20.04. Siege is an HTTP load testing tool that you can use to send hundreds of concurrent visitors to your website at once to check how it will perform under pressure and how much availability your server can provide. Understanding your website’s capacity is crucial for ensuring a smooth user experience, especially during peak traffic periods. Install Siege Stress Test on Ubuntu 20.04 to gain valuable insights.

Siege is a very easy-to-use and beginner-friendly tool. It just takes a few commands to install Siege on the Ubuntu server and a single command to start testing the performance of your application. In benchmark mode, it runs as fast as possible with no delays. The simplicity of Siege makes it a great choice for quick and dirty load testing.

Now follow the steps below on the Orcacore website to Install Siege Stress Test on Ubuntu 20.04. Effective load testing is an essential part of website maintenance.

To use Siege HTTP load testing on Ubuntu 20.04, you must log in to your server as a non-root user with sudo privileges. To do this, you can follow our guide on Initial Server Setup with Ubuntu 20.04.

Install Siege HTTP Load Testing on Ubuntu 20.04

First, you need to update and upgrade your local package index with the command below:

# sudo apt update
# sudo apt upgrade

Siege is available in the default Ubuntu repository. So you can install Siege with the following command:

sudo apt install siege -y

Then, you can verify your Siege installation on Ubuntu 20.04 by checking its version:

siege --version

Configure Siege on Ubuntu 20.04

At this point, you need to make some configuration changes to the Siege config file. The main option you will need to change is the log path.

Open the file with your favorite text editor, here we use the vi editor:

sudo vi /etc/siege/siegerc

Now find the line below and uncomment it by removing the # from the beginning of the line:

 logfile = $(HOME)/var/log/siege.log

When you are done, save and close the file.

At this point, you can see some useful options for Siege on Ubuntu 20.04:

How To Use Siege Stress Teste

At this point, you can test your web server with Siege on Ubuntu 20.04, do note this will pretty much look like a DDOS attack on some firewalls and WAF, so make sure to have permission before using any HTTP benchmarking tool. Ideally, it would be best not to use this except for your servers. Always exercise caution and ethical considerations when performing load testing.

First, you can use the siege command and test the default amongst workers, which is 25 for one minute, by specifying -t 1m as shown below:

siege https://www.example.com -t 1m

Also, another variable you may want to include is the number of workers, for example -c 100 will add 100 workers.

siege https://www.example.com -c 100 -t 2m

Manage Multiple domains with Siege

Another feature of Siege is to manage multiple domains on Ubuntu 20.04. First, open the following file with your favorite text editor, here we use vi:

sudo vi /etc/siege/urls.txt

Next, add the URLs you want to be benchmark tested:

https://www.example.com
https://www.example2.com
http://192.168.50.1

When you are done, save and close the file.

To execute the multiple website stress test run the following command:

siege -f /etc/siege/urls.txt

Run Siege Benchmark

To run Siege in benchmark mode, you can use the -b flag and pass the URL you’d like to benchmark. By default, it will run with 25 threads.

siege -b http://www.example.com:5000/benchmark

Conclusion

Siege is a tool for testing the performance of websites or web servers. It simulates many users visiting the site at the same time to check how fast it responds and how much traffic it can handle. At this point, you have learned to Install and Use Siege Stress Test on Ubuntu 20.04. This knowledge will empower you to proactively optimize your server infrastructure.

Hope you enjoy it. Also, you may like to read the following articles:

Install Xfce / Xubuntu desktop on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa

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Get MariaDB 10.11 For Ubuntu 20.04

How to upgrade kernel version in Ubuntu 20.04?

Alternative Solutions for HTTP Load Testing

While Siege offers a straightforward approach to HTTP load testing, several other tools provide more advanced features and capabilities. Here are two alternative solutions:

1. Apache JMeter:

JMeter is a powerful and versatile open-source load testing tool from the Apache Software Foundation. It’s written in Java and can be used to test the performance of both static and dynamic resources, web applications, web servers, databases, and more. JMeter offers a graphical user interface (GUI) that simplifies test creation and configuration, as well as a command-line mode for running tests non-interactively.

Key Advantages of JMeter:

• Extensive Protocol Support: JMeter supports a wide range of protocols, including HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, JDBC, LDAP, SOAP, and JMS. This allows you to test different types of applications and services.
• Advanced Test Scenarios: JMeter allows you to create complex test scenarios with features like thread groups, samplers, listeners, timers, and assertions. You can simulate realistic user behavior and measure various performance metrics.
• Reporting and Analysis: JMeter provides detailed reports and graphs that help you analyze the performance of your application. You can track metrics like response time, throughput, error rate, and CPU utilization.
• Extensibility: JMeter is highly extensible with plugins. You can add custom samplers, listeners, and other components to extend its functionality.

Installation on Ubuntu 20.04:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-11-jdk  # Or a later version
wget https://dlcdn.apache.org//jmeter/binaries/apache-jmeter-5.6.2.tgz  # Check for latest version
tar -xvzf apache-jmeter-5.6.2.tgz
cd apache-jmeter-5.6.2
./bin/jmeter

Example Test Plan (HTTP Request):

While creating a full test plan is beyond the scope of this example, here’s how you might configure a simple HTTP request within JMeter:

1. Add a Thread Group: Right-click on "Test Plan," select "Add" -> "Threads (Users)" -> "Thread Group." Configure the number of threads (users), ramp-up period, and loop count.
2. Add an HTTP Request Sampler: Right-click on the Thread Group, select "Add" -> "Sampler" -> "HTTP Request." Enter the server name or IP address, path, and other relevant details.
3. Add a Listener: Right-click on the Thread Group, select "Add" -> "Listener." Choose a listener like "View Results Tree" or "Summary Report" to view the test results.

2. Locust:

Locust is another powerful open-source load testing tool, but it takes a different approach than JMeter. Locust allows you to define user behavior using Python code. This makes it very flexible and allows you to create realistic and complex test scenarios. Locust also has a web-based UI that allows you to monitor the test in real-time.

Key Advantages of Locust:

• Python-Based: Locust is written in Python, which makes it easy to learn and use. You can define user behavior using Python code, which allows you to create realistic and complex test scenarios.
• Scalable: Locust is designed to be scalable. It can distribute the load across multiple machines, allowing you to simulate a large number of concurrent users.
• Web-Based UI: Locust has a web-based UI that allows you to monitor the test in real-time. You can see the number of users, requests per second, and other metrics.
• Event-Driven: Locust is event-driven, which means that it can handle a large number of concurrent users efficiently.

Installation on Ubuntu 20.04:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-pip
pip3 install locust

Example Locustfile (locustfile.py):

from locust import HttpUser, task, between

class WebsiteUser(HttpUser):
    wait_time = between(5, 15)

    @task
    def index_page(self):
        self.client.get("/")

    @task
    def about_page(self):
        self.client.get("/about")

Running the Locust Test:

locust -f locustfile.py

Then, open your web browser and go to http://localhost:8089 to access the Locust web UI. From there, you can specify the number of users and hatch rate (users per second) and start the test.

Both JMeter and Locust offer features beyond the scope of Siege, allowing for more comprehensive and realistic load testing. The choice of which tool to use depends on the specific needs of your project and your comfort level with the different approaches. When you Install Siege Stress Test on Ubuntu 20.04 or use another tool, remember to analyze your results and adjust your server settings accordingly.