Configure a load test in YAML

Learn how to configure your load test in Azure Load Testing by using YAML. You use the test configuration YAML file to create and run load tests from your continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) workflow.

Load test definition

A test configuration uses the following keys:

Key	Type	Default value	Description
version	string		Version of the YAML configuration file that the service uses. Currently, the only valid value is v0.1.
testId	string		Required. Id of the test to run. testId must be between 2 to 50 characters. For a new test, enter an Id with characters [a-z0-9_-]. For an existing test, you can get the test Id from the test details page in Azure portal. This field was called testName earlier, which has been deprecated. You can still run existing tests with testNamefield.
displayName	string		Display name of the test. This will be shown in the list of tests in Azure portal. If not provided, testId is used as the display name.
testPlan	string		Required. Relative path to the Apache JMeter test script to run.
engineInstances	integer		Required. Number of parallel instances of the test engine to execute the provided test plan. You can update this property to increase the amount of load that the service can generate.
configurationFiles	array		List of relevant configuration files or other files that you reference in the Apache JMeter script. For example, a CSV data set file, images, or any other data file. These files will be uploaded to the Azure Load Testing resource alongside the test script. If the files are in a subfolder on your local machine, use file paths that are relative to the location of the test script. Azure Load Testing currently doesn't support the use of file paths in the JMX file. When you reference an external file in the test script, make sure to only specify the file name.
description	string		Short description of the test. description must have a maximum length of 100 characters
subnetId	string		Resource ID of the subnet for testing privately hosted endpoints (VNET injection). This subnet will host the injected test engine VMs. For more information, see how to load test privately hosted endpoints.
failureCriteria	object		Criteria that indicate when a test should fail. The structure of a fail criterion is: Request: Aggregate_function (client_metric) condition threshold. For more information on the supported values, see Define load test fail criteria.
properties	object		List of properties to configure the load test.
properties.userPropertyFile	string		File to use as an Apache JMeter user properties file. The file will be uploaded to the Azure Load Testing resource alongside the JMeter test script and other configuration files. If the file is in a subfolder on your local machine, use a path relative to the location of the test script.
splitAllCSVs	boolean	False	Split the input CSV files evenly across all test engine instances. For more information, see Read a CSV file in load tests.
secrets	object		List of secrets that the Apache JMeter script references.
secrets.name	string		Name of the secret. This name should match the secret name that you use in the Apache JMeter script.
secrets.value	string		URI (secret identifier) for the Azure Key Vault secret.
env	object		List of environment variables that the Apache JMeter script references.
env.name	string		Name of the environment variable. This name should match the secret name that you use in the Apache JMeter script.
env.value	string		Value of the environment variable.
certificates	object		List of client certificates for authenticating with application endpoints in the JMeter script.
certificates.name	string		Name of the certificate.
certificates.value	string		URI (secret identifier) for the certificate in Azure Key Vault.
keyVaultReferenceIdentity	string		Resource ID of the user-assigned managed identity for accessing the secrets from your Azure Key Vault. If you use a system-managed identity, this information isn't needed. Make sure to grant this user-assigned identity access to your Azure key vault.

The following YAML snippet contains an example load test configuration:

version: v0.1
testId: SampleTest
displayName: Sample Test
testPlan: SampleTest.jmx
description: Load test website home page
engineInstances: 1
subnetId: /subscriptions/abcdef01-2345-6789-0abc-def012345678/resourceGroups/sample-rg/providers/Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/load-testing-vnet/subnets/load-testing
properties:
  userPropertyFile: 'user.properties'
configurationFiles:
  - 'SampleData.csv'
failureCriteria:
  - avg(response_time_ms) > 300
  - percentage(error) > 50
  - GetCustomerDetails: avg(latency_ms) >200
splitAllCSVs: True
env:
  - name: my-variable
    value: my-value
secrets:
  - name: my-secret
    value: https://akv-contoso.vault.azure.net/secrets/MySecret/abc1234567890def12345
certificates:
  - name: my-certificate
    value: https://akv-contoso.vault.azure.net/certificates/MyCertificate/abc1234567890def12345
keyVaultReferenceIdentity: /subscriptions/abcdef01-2345-6789-0abc-def012345678/resourceGroups/sample-rg/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/sample-identity

Next steps

• Learn how to build automated regression testing in your CI/CD workflow.
• Learn how to parameterize load tests with secrets and environment variables.
• Learn how to load test secured endpoints.