Determine the Right Test Duration
Determine the Right Test Duration
Choose test duration based on the performance question being answered. A short smoke run can validate a script, while a longer run may be needed to observe steady-state behavior, resource growth, or reliability under sustained load.
Common duration patterns
- Smoke validation: short run to confirm the scenario and data work.
- Baseline run: enough time to reach steady state and capture representative metrics.
- Endurance run: longer execution used to observe stability and resource trends.
Before interpreting results
- Exclude ramp-up and ramp-down periods when analyzing steady-state performance.
- Confirm the run had enough valid samples for the metric being reviewed.
- Document environment, load model, data, and duration with the result.
Last updated: September 18, 2026