📈 Load Patterns · Days 7–12
Day 7: Ramp-Up
Objective
Ramp users from 1 to 50 over time and watch where response time begins to bend.
Scenario
Design a ramp-up test: start at 1 user, add 1 user every 10 seconds until 50. Watch response time vs active users. There is a 'knee' - find it.
Metrics to Watch
When It Clicks
There's a knee where latency climbs faster than load - find it.
Solution
In JMeter: set Thread Group to 50 users, ramp-up period = 500 seconds (1 user added per 10s), loop = forever, duration = 600s. Use a Response Time Graph listener to watch the curve in real time. The 'knee' appears where the slope steepens - typically when threads waiting for a response exceed the server's worker pool size. Note the user count at that inflection point and correlate with server CPU or thread pool metrics.
Reflection
Where did the curve bend? What was happening on the server at that point?
Deliverable
A ramp-up script with annotated results showing the inflection point.
⚠️ Never run load tests against infrastructure you do not own or have explicit written permission to test. Always use a dedicated test environment. Unauthorized load injection can cause outages, trigger legal liability, and violate terms of service.