k6 is a powerful open-source load testing tool, and while the hosted option is convenient, self-hosting on EC2 is what most people reach for first. The k6 docs cover the kernel tweaks and ulimit bumps for large tests — but a few of the suggested commands don't work as written, and there are sharp edges worth knowing before you fire up an instance.
The full post walks through provisioning an Amazon Linux 2 box for k6: sysctl settings that actually stick, why ulimit needs /etc/security/limits.conf instead of the shell built-in, installing k6 from the rpm repo, shipping tests with scp, and running long tests in screen so a dropped SSH session doesn't kill the run.
Originally published at andreasbergstrom.dev — read the full post there.
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