Foundations
This section explains what you need to know to run, read, and act on load tests in MaxoPerf. Every concept comes with examples from the MaxoPerf console instead of abstract theory.
What you will learn
Section titled “What you will learn”The Foundations section covers the building blocks of performance testing in the order you need them: what performance testing is, how it differs from other testing disciplines, what the key metrics mean, and how to interpret a finished run.
Reading order
Section titled “Reading order”Work through the pages in order the first time. Later you can jump to any page as a reference.
| Order | Page | What you will learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is performance testing? | The goal of performance testing and when to use it. |
| 2 | Performance vs other testing | How load testing fits alongside functional, integration, and security tests. |
| 3 | Core metrics explained | Latency, throughput, RPS, error rate, concurrency: what they are and how to read them. |
| 4 | Latency percentiles deep dive | Why averages mislead and how p50/p90/p95/p99 give a true picture. |
| 5 | Virtual users and concurrency | The difference between VUs, concurrency, and request rate. |
| 6 | Open vs closed workload models | Arrival-rate (open) vs VU-count (closed), and when each fits. |
| 7 | Ramp-up, think time, and pacing | How to shape a realistic load profile. |
| 8 | Baselines, SLOs, and error budgets | Reliability framing: what “good” looks like and how to defend it. |
| 9 | How much load do you need? | Sizing and estimation math: from traffic data to VU count. |
| 10 | Choosing safe test environments | Staging vs production: authorization, blast radius, and test isolation. |
| 11 | Anatomy of a load test result | A full tour of a MaxoPerf run-detail page and what every panel tells you. |
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”No prior performance-testing experience is required. You should be comfortable with HTTP request/response basics (status codes, headers, payloads). If you have not yet run your first test in MaxoPerf, Run your first test is a ten-minute guided walk-through. Come back here once the first run has finished.
Where to go next
Section titled “Where to go next”After this section, move on to:
- Test types: the kinds of load test (smoke, load, stress, spike, soak) and which one to use in each situation.
- By engine: Taurus YAML, JMeter JMX, and k6 scripts in MaxoPerf.
- Cookbook: step-by-step recipes for common performance-testing scenarios.