Network traffic simulator and test automation tool for software developers, testers, or anybody else in need to send file requests through the HTTP or TCP protocol, control rate frequency, number of concurrent connections, delays, timeouts, and collect the response time statistics, mean, and percentiles.
Sling is a lightweight CUI alternative to network test automation tools like Postman with the set of features required to send file requests to network endpoints and collect performance statistics. The requests are stored in files and sent individually or as a collection of directory files with configurable frequency, number of concurrent connections and repeat counts, delays and timeouts.
Send myrequest.dat file content to default endpoint address set in SLINGCONFIG.
View SLINGCONFIG file content in the console.
View sling log file in the console.
Clean sling log file, request and response log data.
Sling configuration path is set using SLINGCONFIG environment variable. For convenience you can permanently set the configuration file path as in the bash shell example below.
~ vi ~/.bashrc
export SLINGCONFIG=/home/alexstov/sling/config.DV.yml
source ~/.bashrc
All sling settings are set using SLINGCONFIG file. These include send file settings such as the filename of the file, directory where the file is stored, and wildcard to match multiple files from the same directory.
file: ""
dir: "/home/alexstov/sling/data"
wildcard: "*.dat*"
Send settings include send repeat count for single file or multiple files, destination endpoint configuration, and options to save requests and responses. In the example below ten (10) requests sent to type 2 HTTP POST endpoint to the address http://localhost:8080/TR. Each request is saved in /home/alexstov/sling/logs/req directory before sending; the responses are saved in /home/alexstov/sling/logs/res upon completion.
NOTE: The first endpoint is in the configuration below is of type 1 TCP.
repeat: 10
endpointIndex: 1
endpoints:
- endpoint:
address: "localhost"
port: 8634
type: 1 # TCP
- endpoint:
address: http://localhost:8080/TR
type: 2 # HTTP POST
saveReq: true
saveReqDir: "/home/alexstov/sling/logs/req"
saveRes: true
saveResDir: "/home/alexstov/sling/logs/res"
Throttle settings control the rate of requests using rateSec and rateMin. cxtNum sets tee burst rate to limit the rate of the requests by restricting buffer capacity of connection bursts. Internally sling prepares requests before enqueuing them to network client for transmission. Enqueued requests affects local resource consumption; this can be controlled with cxnLim flag to limit the number of prepared requests. When cxnLim is set to true, the number of enqueued requests will not exceed cxnNum limit. When cxnLim is set to false sling will enqueue as many as repeat count of requests. sleepMs sets the number of milliseconds to sleep after sending each request before pulling another request from the queue.
tmoCxn, tmoSec control network client timeout for sending requests to destiantion. tmoRdS and tmoWrS set read and write timeouts respectively. A Zero value for Tmo settings mean the request will not time out.
throttle:
cxnNum : 2
cxnLim : true
sleepMs : 0
rateSec : 100
rateMin : 6000
tmoCxn : 10
tmoSec : 43
tmoRdS : 43
tmoWrS : 10
Log settings control the parameters of sling logging. histogram enables metrics output in the log file.
log:
level: 5
logFile: "/home/alexstov/sling/logs/sling.log"
disableColors: true
fullTimestamp: true
histogram: true
timestampformat: "2006-01-02 15:04:05"
Console settings are similar to Log settings above but intended for sling console output.
console:
level: 6
flat: false
disableColors: true
fullTimestamp: true
histogram: true
timestampformat: "2006-01-02 15:04:05"
Flags are used to customize sling functionality by overriding SLINGCONFIG settings. The following flags are used:
Flags:
-a, --address string endpoint IP, DNS name, or HTTP address (default "http://localhost:8080/TR")
-c, --cltType string network client type, TCP or HttpPost (default "HTTPPost")
-y, --conHis write histogram to console (default true)
-l, --cxnLim limit the number of concurrent connections (default true)
-n, --cxnNum uint number of concurrent connections (default 2)
-d, --dir string directory to send files from (default "/home/alexstov/sling/data")
-i, --endpoint uint active endpoint index in SLINGCONFIG, zero-based (default 1)
-f, --file string filepath or filename to send
-h, --help help for send
-g, --logHis write histogram to log file (default true)
-p, --port uint endpoint port number
-m, --rateMin uint send rate per minute (default 6000)
-s, --rateSec uint send rate per second (default 100)
-r, --repeat uint send repeat count (default 1)
-q, --saveReq save requests
-k, --saveReqDir string directory to save requests (default "/home/alexstov/sling/logs/req")
-o, --saveRes save responses
-j, --saveResDir string directory to save response (default "/home/alexstov/sling/logs/res")
-e, --sleepMs uint delay after each repeated request
-u, --tmoCxn uint network client dial timeout (default 10)
-v, --tmoRdS uint network client timeout for Read calls (default 43)
-t, --tmoSec uint network client timeout (default 43)
-x, --tmoWrS uint network client timeout for Write calls (default 10)
-w, --wildcard string filename matching wildcard (default "*.dat*")
Global Flags:
--conFlat set console flat output without timestamp and fields
--conLvl uint console output level (default 6)
--logLvl uint log output level (default 5)
NOTE: Before you install and configure sling, ensure that Go and Git are installed.
Use one of the following two steps to build and install sling on Linux. First is the standard go get method:
go get -u github.com/alexstov/sling
Alternatively make sure $GOPATH is set (e.g. as ~/.go) and:
$ git clone https://github.com/alexstov/sling.git $GOPATH/src/github.com/alexstov/sling
$ cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/alexstov/sling
$ go install
Send my_http_request.dat from SLINGCONFIG directory using default settings, repeat the request 10 times.
sling request send -r 10 -f my_http_request.dat
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO histogram Client
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO count: 10
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO min: 3211
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO max: 3294
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO mean: 3249.80
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO stddev: 29.40
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO median: 3243.00
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO 75%: 3288.00
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO 95%: 3294.00
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO 99%: 3294.00
[2019-07-15 09:01:45] INFO 99.9%: 3294.00
Send my_http_request.dat from /tmp directory to http://localhost:8080/TR, repeat 5 times, limit the rate to 2 requests per minute.
sling request send -r 5 -a http://localhost:8080/TR --file=my_http_request.dat -d /tmp -m 2
[2019-07-15 09:49:51] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:49:51] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:50:21] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:50:51] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=my_http_request.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO histogram Client
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO count: 5
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO min: 3108
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO max: 3498
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO mean: 3328.40
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO stddev: 149.43
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO median: 3419.00
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO 75%: 3459.50
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO 95%: 3498.00
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO 99%: 3498.00
[2019-07-15 09:51:21] INFO 99.9%: 3498.00
Send TCP request from the file to the endpoint with index 0 in SLINGCONFIG. The endpoint is configured below with type 1 TCP.
endpoints:
- endpoint:
address: "localhost"
port: 8634
type: 1
Send a collection of files from /home/alexstov/sling/test_set directory using default SLINGCONFIG settings, repeat 3 times. The files sent sequentially - my_http_request_1.dat sent twice, my_http_request_2.dat sent once, until 3 requests completed.
sling request send -d /home/alexstov/sling/test_set -r 3
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=/home/alexstov/sling/test_set/my_http_request_2.dat Length=10926
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=/home/alexstov/sling/test_set/my_http_request_1.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO Request sent successfully. FilePath=/home/alexstov/sling/test_set/my_http_request_1.dat Length=160137
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO histogram Client
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO count: 3
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO min: 5369
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO max: 5385
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO mean: 5377.67
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO stddev: 6.60
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO median: 5379.00
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO 75%: 5385.00
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO 95%: 5385.00
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO 99%: 5385.00
[2019-07-20 10:39:05] INFO 99.9%: 5385.00
- Fork it
- Download your fork to your PC (git clone https://github.com/your_username/sling && cd sling)
- Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
- Make changes and add them (git add .)
- Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some feature')
- Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
- Create new pull request
Sling is powered by spf13/cobra, sirupsen/logrus, rcrowley/go-metrics, agoalofalife/event, sheerun/queue
Created by Alexey Stolpovskikh (alexstov@gmail.com; stolpovskikh@hotmail.com)
Sling is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this software except in compliance with the License.
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.