PerformERL: A Performance Testing Framework for Erlang

The Erlang programming language is used to build concurrent, distributed, scalable and resilient systems. Every component of these systems has to be thoroughly tested not only for correctness, but also for performance. Performance analysis tools in the Erlang ecosystem, however, do not provide a sufficient level of automation and insight needed to be integrated in modern tool chains. In this paper, we present Perform- ERL: an extendable performance testing framework that combines the repeatability of load testing tools with the details on how the resources are internally used typical of the performance monitoring tools. These features allow PerformERL to be integrated in the early stages of testing pipelines, providing users with a systematic approach to identifying performance issues. This paper introduces the PerformERL framework, focusing on its features, design and imposed monitoring overhead measured through both theoretical estimates and trial runs on systems in production. The uniqueness of the features offered by PerformERL, together with its usability and contained overhead prove that the framework can be a valuable resource in the development and maintenance of Erlang applications.