refresh-auth-token

refresh-auth-token example

This example shows how you can refresh an authentication token used by individual VUs as they're running.

It's a solution to the problem of the VUs needing to use a short-lived authentication token (or another short-lived value) in a test that runs longer than the expiration window of the token.

It works as follows:

1. A refreshTokenIfNeeded function is set to be called before each request in a scenario. The function checks whether a token has already been created, and if it needs to be refreshed. The expiry window is set to 5s in this example.
2. If a token needs to be created for the first time or refreshed, the fetchToken() function is called, and the result is stored in the authToken template variable.
3. The authToken template variable is used as the value of x-auth-token header on the requests in the scenario.
4. The VU scenario includes a 10s pause that will cause the existing token to expire and get refreshed before the last call to the /armadillo endpoint is made.

To adapt the example for your use-case:

1. Increase the value of TOKEN_REFRESH_INTERVAL to match the expiry window of the tokens in your application.
2. Update fetchToken() function with the logic to fetch a token, e.g. by making a HTTP call to an external API endpoint.

Run the example:

DEBUG=http artillery run refresh.yml

You should see output that looks similar to:

Test run id: tdhbk_bm63epyfgx8yt4atfethqmea34pxm_h9t9
Fetching new token
  expiry time: 1716981850536
  new token: token-1716981845535
2024-05-29T11:24:05.840Z http request: {
  "url": "http://asciizoo.artillery.io:8080/dino",
  "method": "GET",
  "headers": {
    "user-agent": "Artillery (https://artillery.io)",
    "x-auth-token": "token-1716981845535"
  }
}
2024-05-29T11:24:05.913Z http request: {
  "url": "http://asciizoo.artillery.io:8080/pony",
  "method": "GET",
  "headers": {
    "user-agent": "Artillery (https://artillery.io)",
    "x-auth-token": "token-1716981845535"
  }
}
Used auth token: token-1716981845535
Fetching new token
  expiry time: 1716981860917
  new token: token-1716981855917
2024-05-29T11:24:16.627Z http request: {
  "url": "http://asciizoo.artillery.io:8080/armadillo",
  "method": "GET",
  "headers": {
    "user-agent": "Artillery (https://artillery.io)",
    "x-auth-token": "token-1716981855917"
  }
}
Now used a refreshed auth token: token-1716981855917

You can see that a new token was created before any requests were made by the VU, and that the first two requests (to /dino and /pony endpoints) used that token.

Because of the 10s pause in the VU scenario the token was deemed as expired, and was refreshed before the third call to /armadillo endpoint was made. The call to /armadillo endpoint used the refreshed value of the token.