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Network Performance Testing with Docker

This project now includes comprehensive network simulation capabilities using Docker Compose and Toxiproxy to test API performance under various network conditions.

Overview

The network testing setup simulates real-world network conditions including:

  • Latency variations (5ms to 1000ms+)
  • Bandwidth limitations (100Kbps to 1Gbps)
  • Packet loss (0.01% to 10%)
  • Network jitter and instability

Quick Start

Prerequisites

  • Docker and Docker Compose installed
  • At least 4GB RAM available for containers

Run Complete Test Suite

# Windows
scripts\run-network-tests.bat test

# Linux/Mac  
chmod +x scripts/run-network-tests.sh
./scripts/run-network-tests.sh test

# Using npm
npm run docker:test

Test Specific Network Condition

# Test with 3G mobile conditions
scripts\run-network-tests.bat condition MOBILE_3G

# Test with poor WiFi
./scripts/run-network-tests.sh condition WIFI_POOR

Available Network Conditions

Condition Latency Bandwidth Packet Loss Use Case
FIBER 5ms 1Gbps 0.01% Fiber/5G networks
WIFI_EXCELLENT 10ms 100Mbps 0.1% High-quality WiFi
WIFI_GOOD 30ms 50Mbps 0.5% Typical home WiFi
LTE_4G 50ms 20Mbps 1% 4G mobile networks
WIFI_POOR 100ms 10Mbps 2% Congested/distant WiFi
MOBILE_3G 200ms 2Mbps 3% 3G mobile networks
MOBILE_2G 500ms 100Kbps 5% 2G/EDGE networks
SATELLITE 600ms 5Mbps 2% Satellite internet
UNRELIABLE 1000ms 500Kbps 10% Extremely poor networks

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌─────────────────┐
│   Test Client   │────│ Toxiproxy    │────│   API Services  │
│                 │    │ (Network     │    │                 │
│ - REST Client   │    │  Simulation) │    │ - REST API      │
│ - GraphQL Client│    │              │    │ - GraphQL API   │
│ - gRPC Client   │    │ Port 8001    │    │ - gRPC API      │
│                 │    │ Port 8002    │    │                 │
│                 │    │ Port 8051    │    │                 │
└─────────────────┘    └──────────────┘    └─────────────────┘

Components

  1. API Services: Your REST, GraphQL, and gRPC servers running in containers
  2. Toxiproxy: Network proxy that simulates various network conditions
  3. Test Client: Runs performance tests against the proxied APIs
  4. Network Config: JavaScript modules defining network conditions

Usage Examples

Manual Network Condition Control

# Start services
npm run docker:start

# Apply 3G conditions to all APIs
docker-compose exec test-client node network-config/setup-network-conditions.js apply MOBILE_3G

# Run your own tests
docker-compose exec test-client node benchmarks/comparison.js

# Reset network conditions
docker-compose exec test-client node network-config/setup-network-conditions.js reset

# Stop services
npm run docker:stop

Custom Test Scripts

You can create custom test scenarios by using the NetworkSimulator class:

const NetworkSimulator = require('./network-config/setup-network-conditions');
const simulator = new NetworkSimulator();

// Apply custom conditions
await simulator.applyConditionToAll('MOBILE_3G');

// Run your tests here
// ...

// Reset when done
await simulator.resetAllConditions();

Test Results

Results are automatically saved to the results/ directory:

  • network-performance-report.json: Complete test data in JSON format
  • Console output includes summary tables and best-performing API analysis

Sample Output

📊 NETWORK PERFORMANCE TEST RESULTS
=====================================

┌─────────┬─────────────────┬───────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────┐
│ (index) │    condition    │  latency  │  bandwidth  │ packetLoss  │  rest_time  │ graphql_time│
├─────────┼─────────────────┼───────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┤
│    0    │   'Fiber/5G'    │   '5ms'   │  '1000Mbps' │   '0.01%'   │    '45ms'   │    '52ms'   │
│    1    │ 'WiFi (Good)'   │  '30ms'   │   '50Mbps'  │   '0.5%'    │    '78ms'   │    '95ms'   │
│    2    │  '3G Mobile'    │  '200ms'  │   '2Mbps'   │    '3%'     │   '456ms'   │   '523ms'   │
└─────────┴─────────────────┴───────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┘

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Services won't start:

# Check Docker status
docker info

# View service logs
docker-compose logs

# Rebuild containers
docker-compose up -d --build --force-recreate

Network conditions not applying:

# Check Toxiproxy status
docker-compose exec test-client curl http://network-proxy:8474/proxies

# Reset and reapply
docker-compose exec test-client node network-config/setup-network-conditions.js reset
docker-compose exec test-client node network-config/setup-network-conditions.js apply CONDITION_NAME

Port conflicts:

# Check what's using ports
netstat -an | grep :3001
netstat -an | grep :3002  
netstat -an | grep :50051

# Stop conflicting services or change ports in docker-compose.yml

Advanced Configuration

Custom Network Conditions

Add new conditions to network-config/network-conditions.js:

CUSTOM_SLOW: {
  name: 'Custom Slow Network',
  latency: 300,     // 300ms
  jitter: 100,      // ±100ms
  bandwidth: 1,     // 1Mbps
  packetLoss: 5     // 5%
}

Extending Tests

Modify benchmarks/network-performance-test.js to add custom test scenarios:

async testCustomScenario(client) {
  // Your custom test logic here
  const result = await client.complexOperation();
  return result;
}

Performance Insights

Expected Results by Network Type

  • Fiber/5G: All APIs perform similarly, differences in payload efficiency matter most
  • Good WiFi/4G: Latency becomes noticeable, gRPC's binary protocol shows advantages
  • 3G/Poor Networks: Payload size and connection overhead become critical factors
  • 2G/Satellite: Only lightweight operations succeed, many requests will timeout

API Comparison Guidelines

  • REST: Best for simple operations, suffers with multiple round trips
  • GraphQL: Efficient data fetching but larger query overhead
  • gRPC: Most efficient on poor networks due to binary protocol and HTTP/2

Scripts Reference

Windows (scripts\run-network-tests.bat)

  • test: Run complete test suite
  • start: Start services only
  • condition <NAME>: Test specific condition
  • list: Show available conditions
  • logs [service]: View logs
  • stop: Stop and cleanup

Linux/Mac (scripts/run-network-tests.sh)

Same commands as Windows version.

npm Scripts

  • npm run docker:test: Complete test suite
  • npm run docker:start: Start services
  • npm run docker:stop: Stop services
  • npm run network-test: Run network tests (requires services running)