Load Testing with Gatling Private Locations

As nearly all modern applications evolve into distributed and microservices-based architectures, performance testing has become both more critical and even more complex. While cloud-based, shared load generators offer convenience, they often fall short in areas such as security, network control, and performance predictability—especially for enterprise systems.

Gatling Enterprise with Private Locations and Dedicated Load Generators addresses these challenges by enabling teams to run load tests inside their own infrastructure, such as AWS EC2 within a Virtual Private Cloud. This approach combines centralized orchestration with strong security controls and realistic traffic patterns.

In this blog post, we will dive into the following topics:

• What are Gatling Private Locations?

  
  

• How are they different from shared load generators?

  
  

• Why dedicated load generators provide better security and accuracy compared to shared ones.

  
  

• When and why enterprises should adopt this model.

Gatling Private Locations

A Gatling Private Location is a self-hosted load generation environment that connects securely to the Gatling Enterprise Control Plane while running entirely within your infrastructure.

Private Locations can be deployed in:

• AWS Virtual Private Cloud (EC2)

• On-premises data centers

• Private Kubernetes or VM environments

  
  

• Other cloud providers

Key Benefits:

• Outbound-only connectivity to Gatling Enterprise

  
  

• Load traffic remains inside your private network.

  
  

• Full control over compute, network, and security configuration

This approach significantly reduces the attack surface while preserving the benefits of centralized reporting and orchestration.

Dedicated Load Generators vs Shared Load Generators

Cloud-based load generators are convenient for any enterprise to set up. However, as security and scale requirements grow, limitations become apparent.

Shared Load Generators

• Multi-tenant by design

  
  

• Public network traffic

  
  

• IP whitelisting required

  
  

• Limited visibility into resource usage

  
  

Dedicated Load Generators (EC2-based)

• Single-tenant and isolated

  
  

• Deployed inside your private network

  
  

• Predictable CPU, memory, and network throughput

  
  

• Full control over runtime, certificates, and monitoring

  
  

• Easier alignment with internal security standards

High-Level Architecture Overview

A typical Gatling Private Location setup includes:

• Gatling Enterprise Control Plane (SaaS or self-hosted)

  
  

• Private Location deployed inside a VPC or private network

  
  

• One or more Dedicated Load Generator instances

  
  

• Target application deployed within the same or peered network

  
  

• Optional observability and monitoring tools (Dynatrace, CloudWatch, Datadog)

Source: Gatling

All sensitive application traffic remains internal, while only control and reporting data flows securely outward.

Setting Up Gatling Private Location on EC2

At a high level, the setup involves:

1. Provisioning EC2 instances (Amazon Linux or Ubuntu)

   
   

2. Installing Docker

   
   

3. Registering the Private Location using a Gatling Enterprise token

   
   

4. Configuring dedicated load generators

   
   

5. Executing tests via the Gatling Enterprise UI

   
   

Security-Focused Best Practices

• Run load generators in private subnets

  
  

• Restrict outbound access to only required endpoints

  
  

• Use IAM roles with least privilege

  
  

• Rotate Gatling tokens periodically

  
  

• Apply OS-level hardening and patching

Load Generators in Action

Once the connections are complete, we can create simulations in Gatling Enterprise and verify the metrics on the Dynatrace dashboard.

The Gatling Enterprise dashboard with a private location can be seen below:

Gatling Enterprise sent various matrices to the Dynatrace dashboard for monitoring. You can find the complete list of matrices in Dynatrace integration for Gatling

Key Advantages of Private Locations with Dedicated Load Generators

Using Gatling Private Locations with dedicated load generators offers several practical benefits for enterprise performance testing. Some major benefits are listed below:

1) Improved Security Posture

• No exposure of internal systems to the public internet

• No need to whitelist third-party IP ranges

• Reduced attack surface due to outbound-only connectivity

• Greater alignment with enterprise security policies

  
  

2) More Accurate Performance Results

• Realistic latency and routing

• Elimination of public internet variability

• More reliable SLA and SLO validation

3) Scalable and Predictable Load Generation

• Horizontal scaling using EC2 or autoscaling groups

• Support for high RPS and virtual user counts

• Consistent test results across runs

  
  

4) Better Cost Control

• Pay only when tests are running

• Ability to use Spot Instances

• Lower data transfer costs for internal traffic

  
  

5) Enhanced Observability and Troubleshooting

• Install enterprise monitoring agents on load generators

• Correlate load with infrastructure and application metrics

• Faster root cause analysis for performance issues

Common Use Cases

• Testing internal APIs and microservices

  
  

• Performance validation of pre-production environments

  
  

• CI/CD performance gates

  
  

• Large-scale stress, soak, and spike testing

  
  

• Multi-region and failover performance validation

Common Pitfalls and Lessons Learned

• Under-sizing load generator instances

  
  

• Overloading a single load generator with too many users

  
  

• Ignoring OS-level limits (ulimits, file descriptors)

  
  

• Overlooking network bandwidth constraints

  
  

• Running tests without proper monitoring

  
  

Addressing these early issues improves reliability and confidence in test results.

When Shared Load Generators Are Still Sufficient

Shared load generators may be appropriate for:

• Small proof-of-concept tests

  
  

• Public-facing websites

  
  

• Early development or smoke testing

  
  

• Low-risk environments

  
  

For enterprise or security-sensitive systems, however, private locations are often the better choice.

Conclusion

Gatling Private Locations with dedicated load generators provide a secure, scalable, and enterprise-ready approach to performance testing.

By running load tests inside your own infrastructure, you gain:

• Stronger security and reduced exposure

  
  

• More realistic and repeatable performance results

  
  

• Greater control over cost and scalability

  
  

• Better observability and faster troubleshooting

  
  

For teams where performance accuracy and security both matter, Gatling Private Locations strike the right balance between control and centralized management. At Performetriks, we strive for high-quality load testing and are always happy to assist. Contact us today!

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