How Achievers load tests Kubernetes

After implementing a load testing framework, Achievers significantly enhanced their platform's performance, increasing traffic throughput by four times and improving cluster scalability. The testing process identified bottlenecks related to throughput, errors, latency, and scalability, with solutions involving load balancing configurations, network adjustments, and code optimizations. The team addressed issues such as unbalanced gRPC traffic, client-side bottlenecks, and database latency, using tools like Istio and New Relic for insights. Improvements in caching and scaling were achieved by adjusting Kubernetes resources and IP address allocations, allowing for more efficient resource distribution and preventing resource exhaustion. Ultimately, the team met or exceeded their performance goals, ensuring robust handling of failover traffic and maintaining service level objectives, while establishing a flexible framework for ongoing performance testing.