AWS agents can be created automatically inside StresStimulus. All you need is an active AWS account to get started.
AWS Agent Wizard
To create a new AWS instance in the main menu, go to Tools -> Cloud Load Agent Manager... You can also navigate through Load Agents -> Create Cloud Load Agent. The AWS Manager dialog will appear. Click the Create AWS Instance button to bring up the AWS Load Agent Wizard.
To create auto-provision AWS instances before a test starts and de-provision the AWS instances after the test ends, use AWS cloud templates.
AWS Credentials
To create AWS Agents, you will need to have an active AWS account with a configured IAM user. Then enter your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key in the text boxes and click Next. For more on finding your access key id and secret access key, click here.
Region Selection
Next, select the region in which to create your instance. A list of available regions is located here. If this is the first time that region is selected, you will need to create a key pair that will be used to decrypt the Administrator passwords for all instances in this region. Click the Create New Key Pair button to create a new key pair.
VPC Settings
Next, select which virtual private cloud (VPC) and a subnet within the VPC to deploy the new instance. To create a new VPC and/or subnet, follow the steps described here.
Select the operating system
Select the operating system the instance will run on. You can choose Windows or Linux. Windows will have more UI options. Linux will be more cost-effective and require fewer resources.
Instance Type
Next, select the type of instance you wish to create. The instance type determines the instance's performance, which includes the number of CPUs, memory size, and network capacity. For a list of available instance types, click here. To filter the grid by a type, enter its name in the textbox (a).
Agent Name
If you wish to create an agent from this instance for your current test, add an agent name in this step. Otherwise, skip it.
Click Next to get to the confirmation screen.
Finally, click Next to create the instance.
Cloud Load Agent Manager
Continue with the wizard until a new instance is created. The newly created instance appears in the manager. It is initially in an initializing state but will change to a running state after some time. At this point, you can click Add the Cloud instance as Agent to add this instance as an agent to the current test (if not already assigned).
The status phases which each instance goes through are detailed below.
| Icon | Status |
|---|---|
 | Instance request pending |
 | Preparing instance |
 | Instance complete and ready to assign as agent |
 | Agent created |
 | Instance terminated |
StresStimulus security group
The first time the StresStimulus AWS wizard creates an AWS Windows or Linux instance in a region, a security group called StresStimulus Agent v5.0 Windows or StresStimulus Agent v5.0 Linux is created with the following inbound rules:
- Port 49996 - 0.0.0.0/0 for StresStimulus load agent communication (required)
- Port 49998 - 0.0.0.0/0 for StresStimulus Perfmon monitoring (optional, only needed for load agent monitoring Load Agents Monitoring)
- Port 3389 - 0.0.0.0/0 for RDP (optional, required only for remote access) Only for Windows instances.
- Port 22 - 0.0.0.0/0 for SSH (optional, required only for remote access) Only for Linux instances.
StresStimulus only creates the security group once. Therefore, your AWS admins can manually modify it to your requirements, for example, changing the source IPs of every inbound rule to your organization’s IP addresses or deleting the optional rules. That way, only traffic from your organization will be allowed.
If this security group fails to be automatically created, the security group must be StresStimulus Agent v5.0 Windows or StresStimulus Agent v5.0 Linux must be created manually and add the inbound rules described above.
For more on creating security groups, click here.
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