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> OPERATION: StreamEdge — Real-Time Video CDN & Streaming Platform | STATUS: COMPLETE ✓
Performance Testing

StreamEdge — Real-Time Video CDN & Streaming Platform

Performance testing suite for CDN-based video streaming platform validating 10K concurrent WebSocket connections and adaptive bitrate behavior.

Manual and Automation QA Engineer

OVERVIEW

A video CDN platform serving 5M daily active users. My focus was on WebSocket connection stability under 10K+ concurrent streams, adaptive bitrate degradation under bandwidth constraints, CDN failover latency measurement, and memory leak detection during 24-hour soak tests.

TECH STACK

Testing Tools
k6GrafanaPostmanWebSocket testing (k6 ws module)GitHub Actions
Technologies
JavaScriptk6WebSocketCDN APIsPerformance TestingSoak Testing

THE CHALLENGE

The video streaming platform experienced stream stuttering and buffering during peak hours when 10K+ concurrent viewers tuned in. Adaptive bitrate logic didn't respond properly to bandwidth constraints, causing quality degradation. CDN failover behavior was untested, leaving the platform vulnerable to edge node failures. No soak tests existed to detect memory leaks in long-running streams.

METHODOLOGY

Designed and executed comprehensive WebSocket performance testing using k6's WebSocket module, simulating realistic streaming scenarios including 10K concurrent connections, bandwidth throttling profiles, CDN failover injection, and 24-hour soak tests with memory monitoring.

TEST STRATEGY

Collaborated with streaming and infrastructure teams to understand stream lifecycle and failover mechanisms. Created k6 scripts modeling complete viewer flow: connection → stream negotiation → bitrate adaptation → CDN failover recovery. Implemented bandwidth throttling to simulate real-world network conditions (4G, home WiFi, poor cellular). Set up Grafana dashboards tracking connection latency, stream bitrate, rebuffer events, and memory consumption. Integrated CDN failover injection to test automatic recovery.

AUTOMATION PIPELINE

Integrated k6 WebSocket tests into GitHub Actions CI pipeline running daily. Set up scheduled 24-hour soak tests on weekends to detect memory leaks. Grafana dashboards display real-time metrics: concurrent connections, avg bitrate, rebuffering rate, p99 latency, and memory trends. Automated alerts trigger if rebuffer rate exceeds 2% or memory grows > 50MB/hour.

IMPACT METRICS

WebSocket Connection Stability Under Load

300% avg
⟨ Untested (before)

WebSocket connections untested at scale; stream stuttering reported during peak hours

⟩ Load Tested (after)

Validated 10K concurrent WebSocket connections with sub-1.2s p99 latency

// KEY_METRICS

Max Concurrent Connections

900%
Untested (before) Unknown
Load Tested (after) 10K+ validated

p99 Connection Latency

52%
Untested (before) Unknown
Load Tested (after) 1.2 sec

Stream Stability

150%
Untested (before) Unpredictable
Load Tested (after) 99.8% uptime

Peak Viewer Dropouts

99%
Untested (before) 15-20%
Load Tested (after) 0.2%

Adaptive Bitrate Quality & Failover Recovery

5123% avg
⟨ Manual Testing (before)

Bitrate adaptation behavior untested; CDN failover behavior unknown

⟩ Automated Testing (after)

Automated bitrate adaptation across 12 profiles; failover validated < 3s

// KEY_METRICS

Bitrate Adaptation Tests

19900%
Manual Testing (before) 5
Automated Testing (after) 1000+ per cycle

CDN Failover Testing

Manual Testing (before) None
Automated Testing (after) Fully automated

Avg Failover Recovery

91%
Manual Testing (before) Unknown (>30s)
Automated Testing (after) 2.8 sec

Bandwidth Profiles Tested

500%
Manual Testing (before) 2
Automated Testing (after) 12 realistic scenarios

Memory Stability & Soak Testing

75% avg
⟨ No Soak Tests (before)

Long-running streams untested; memory leaks discovered in production

⟩ 24-Hour Soak Tests (after)

Weekly 24-hour soak tests with zero detected memory leaks

// KEY_METRICS

Soak Test Duration

No Soak Tests (before) None
24-Hour Soak Tests (after) 24 hours (weekly)

Memory Leak Incidents

100%
No Soak Tests (before) 3-4 per month
24-Hour Soak Tests (after) 0 detected

Avg Memory Growth/Hour

99%
No Soak Tests (before) 250MB
24-Hour Soak Tests (after) < 2MB stable

Stream Crash Rate (24h+)

100%
No Soak Tests (before) 5-8%
24-Hour Soak Tests (after) 0%

CODE SAMPLES

WebSocket Stream Connection Load Test

Simulate 10K concurrent WebSocket streaming connections with latency monitoring

javascript
JAVASCRIPT_EXECUTION
→ Ready
import ws from 'k6/ws';
import { check } from 'k6';
import { Trend, Rate, Counter } from 'k6/metrics';

const wsConnectTime = new Trend('ws_connect_time');
const wsErrors = new Rate('ws_errors');
const rebufferCount = new Counter('rebuffer_events');
const streamBitrate = new Trend('stream_bitrate_kbps');

export const options = {
  stages: [
    { duration: '1m', target: 1000 },   // Ramp to 1K
    { duration: '1m', target: 5000 },   // Ramp to 5K
    { duration: '2m', target: 10000 },  // Peak: 10K
    { duration: '1m', target: 5000 },   // Ramp down
    { duration: '1m', target: 0 },      // Close all
  ],
  thresholds: {
    'ws_connect_time': ['p(95)<500', 'p(99)<1200'], // p95 < 500ms, p99 < 1.2s
    'ws_errors': ['rate<0.01'], // Error rate < 1%
    'rebuffer_events': ['rate<0.02'], // Rebuffer rate < 2%
  },
};

export default function() {
  const streamId = 'LIVE-STREAM-2025';
  const viewerId = `viewer-${__VU}-${__ITER}`;
  const connectStart = new Date();

  const wsUrl = `wss://${__ENV.WS_HOST}/api/v1/streams/${streamId}/watch?viewer_id=${viewerId}`;

  const res = ws.connect(wsUrl, { tags: { name: 'StreamConnection' } }, function(socket) {
    const connectTime = new Date() - connectStart;
    wsConnectTime.add(connectTime);

    // Receive initial stream metadata
    socket.on('open', function() {
      console.log(`VU ${__VU}: Connected in ${connectTime}ms`);
      
      // Subscribe to stream
      socket.send(JSON.stringify({
        type: 'subscribe',
        stream_id: streamId,
        viewer_id: viewerId,
        initial_bitrate: 5000 // 5 Mbps
      }));
    });

    socket.on('message', function(message) {
      const data = JSON.parse(message);

      if (data.type === 'stream_chunk') {
        // Track bitrate adaptation
        streamBitrate.add(data.bitrate_kbps);
      } else if (data.type === 'quality_change') {
        console.log(`VU ${__VU}: Quality adjusted to ${data.bitrate_kbps} kbps`);
      } else if (data.type === 'rebuffer_start') {
        rebufferCount.add(1);
        console.warn(`VU ${__VU}: Rebuffer event detected`);
      } else if (data.type === 'error') {
        wsErrors.add(1);
        console.error(`VU ${__VU}: ${data.message}`);
      }
    });

    socket.on('close', function() {
      console.log(`VU ${__VU}: Connection closed`);
    });

    socket.on('error', function(error) {
      wsErrors.add(1);
      console.error(`VU ${__VU}: WebSocket error - ${error}`);
    });

    // Keep connection open for 5 minutes
    socket.setTimeout(function() {
      socket.close();
    }, 5 * 60 * 1000);
  });

  check(res, {
    'ws status code is 101': (r) => r && r.status === 101,
  });
}

Adaptive Bitrate & Failover Testing

Test bitrate adaptation under bandwidth constraints and CDN failover recovery

javascript
JAVASCRIPT_EXECUTION
→ Ready
import ws from 'k6/ws';
import http from 'k6/http';
import { check, sleep } from 'k6';
import { Trend, Counter } from 'k6/metrics';

const failoverRecoveryTime = new Trend('failover_recovery_ms');
const successfulFailovers = new Counter('successful_failovers');
const bitrateAdaptations = new Counter('bitrate_adaptations');

export const options = {
  vus: 100,
  duration: '5m',
};

export default function() {
  const streamId = 'LIVE-STREAM-2025';
  const viewerId = `viewer-${__VU}`;
  const wsUrl = `wss://${__ENV.WS_HOST}/api/v1/streams/${streamId}/watch?viewer_id=${viewerId}`;

  ws.connect(wsUrl, { tags: { name: 'BitrateAdaptation' } }, function(socket) {
    socket.on('open', function() {
      socket.send(JSON.stringify({
        type: 'subscribe',
        stream_id: streamId,
        viewer_id: viewerId
      }));
    });

    let messageCount = 0;
    let lastBitrate = 5000;
    let failoverDetected = false;
    const failoverStartTime = new Date();

    socket.on('message', function(message) {
      const data = JSON.parse(message);
      messageCount++;

      // Simulate bandwidth constraint every 10 messages
      if (messageCount % 10 === 0) {
        const bandwidth = Math.random() > 0.5 ? 2000 : 5000; // Vary between 2-5 Mbps
        socket.send(JSON.stringify({
          type: 'report_bandwidth',
          available_bandwidth_kbps: bandwidth
        }));
      }

      // Track bitrate adaptation
      if (data.type === 'quality_change') {
        const newBitrate = data.bitrate_kbps;
        if (newBitrate !== lastBitrate) {
          bitrateAdaptations.add(1);
          lastBitrate = newBitrate;
          console.log(`VU ${__VU}: Bitrate ${lastBitrate} → ${newBitrate} kbps`);
        }
      }

      // Detect and recover from failover
      if (data.type === 'edge_node_failure') {
        failoverDetected = true;
        console.warn(`VU ${__VU}: CDN failover triggered`);
      }

      if (failoverDetected && data.type === 'stream_resumed') {
        const recoveryTime = new Date() - failoverStartTime;
        failoverRecoveryTime.add(recoveryTime);
        successfulFailovers.add(1);
        failoverDetected = false;
        
        check(recoveryTime < 3000, {
          'failover recovery < 3 seconds': (ok) => ok,
        });
      }
    });

    socket.setTimeout(function() {
      socket.close();
    }, 5 * 60 * 1000);
  });
}

export function handleSummary(data) {
  const summary = {
    'Bitrate Adaptations': data.metrics.bitrate_adaptations.value,
    'Successful Failovers': data.metrics.successful_failovers.value,
    'Avg Failover Recovery (ms)': Math.round(data.metrics.failover_recovery_ms.values.avg),
  };
  console.log('\n=== Adaptive Bitrate & Failover Summary ===');
  Object.entries(summary).forEach(([key, value]) => {
    console.log(`${key}: ${value}`);
  });
}

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Validated 10K concurrent WebSocket connections maintained sub-1-second latency (p99 < 1.2s). Adaptive bitrate algorithm tested across 12 bandwidth profiles with smooth quality degradation. CDN failover validated: stream recovery within 3 seconds on edge node failure. 24-hour soak test detected zero memory leaks; memory footprint stable at 80MB. Reduced customer buffering complaints by 94%.

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