It is very difficult to test a server’s real-world performance under stress. While you could hire a company or individual to bombard your server, the cost involved may not be worth the results. The open source application called curl-loader simulates load and application behavior of thousands of HTTP/HTTPS and FTP/FTPS clients.
Imagine having your website visited by thousands of visitors at once. Will your website hold up to the stress? Curl-loader allows you to test it and find out. Some of the features include:
- GET, POST, and PUT tests
- Web and proxy authentication
- Cookies and DNS caches
- URL fetching probability
- and much more.
Curl-loader is free and open source software released under the GNU GPL, available for download from the sourceforge.net.
Source: curl-loader