Certain campaigns or events can bring in a sudden spike in traffic that your current server setup may not be equipped to handle. Whether you’re expecting a one-off sale or an ongoing event, as experienced hosting providers, we want to work with you to make sure your server is fit to handle all sorts of traffic surges.
Capacity Testing Service
Capacity testing (also known as stress testing) is a vital part of preparing your website for increased traffic loads. Whether due to a promotional campaign, or organic growth, unexpected spikes in traffic can overwhelm unprepared servers, leading to potential downtime and loss of revenue.
As an integral part of our managed hosting services, we run through the following approach:
- Stress test the service – This is to be scheduled out of business hours.
- Server Health Check and Review – Run performance optimisations on the site in question.
- Analyse the test Results – If the results indicate changes to resource levels are required, we propose a suitable upgrade and retest. This helps ensure the website is going to be comfortable under the expected traffic load.
Capacity testing allows us to simulate high levels of traffic to your website, assessing its current performance under pressure. This process replicates user behaviour across various URLs and analyses how your site responds.
This testing also helps us catch any potential bottlenecks within the website application itself (e.g. rate limiting settings within a configured plugin), ultimately, ensuring a seamless user experience even during periods of peak demand.
Made By Bridge’s capacity testing success
For England’s largest community-led festival, maintaining a seamless digital experience for thousands of attendees annually was imperative. Made By Bridge, a digital agency entrusted with managing the festival’s website, recognised the need for a server upgrade to accommodate the surge in traffic during the peak festival season.
Understanding the Challenge
The festival, renowned for its celebration of community, history, and heritage, attracts a diverse audience each year. With the added boost of an annual mention in Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert newsletter, the website experiences significant spikes in traffic during the festival period. By leveraging our capacity testing services, Made By Bridge was able to identify and address potential performance issues before it could become a problem.
Testing and preparation
Through rigorous testing of performance and capacity, ProStack simulated visitor traffic under realistic conditions, ensuring that the server infrastructure could seamlessly handle the anticipated load.
By implementing a robust server solution, a dedicated Cito stack designed to optimise capacity and performance boosts, ProStack enabled England’s largest community festival of history and culture to expand its reach online and engage a wider audience, without any signs of exhausting the server capacity.
The results
The site experienced a considerable increase in concurrent visitors, as shown by the graph above. However, we were able to maintain response time and keep the site online for visitors even with a dramatic spike in visitors (as seen on the graph on 09/08).
The server upgrade provided essential capacity, ensuring their client’s website could handle the influx of traffic without experiencing downtime or signs of slowness. The impact of the server upgrade was immediately evident as the festival experienced uninterrupted website performance for the entirety of the festival season.
At ProStack, we’re committed to helping businesses optimise their online presence and maximise their potential for success. Our capacity testing services are designed to give you peace of mind knowing that your website can withstand even the most significant traffic spikes.
Don’t wait until it’s too late – contact us today to learn more about how we can help strengthen your website’s performance and resilience.