connection error ECONNREFUSED when target is set to NGINX reverse proxy

Version info:

Artillery Core: 2.0.0-27
Artillery Pro:  not installed (https://artillery.io/product)

Node.js: v18.12.1
OS:      win32

Running this command:

<command>

I expected to see this happen:

---

Metrics for period to: 23:05:50(-0500) (width: 2.253s)

http.codes.302: … 15 http.codes.404: … 15 http.request_rate: … 15/sec http.requests: … 30 http.response_time: min: … 0 max: … 13 median: … 1 p95: … 2 p99: … 3 http.responses: … 30 vusers.completed: … 15 vusers.created: … 15 vusers.created_by_name.add new notes: … 15 vusers.failed: … 0 vusers.session_length: min: … 6.6 max: … 30.2 median: … 14.2 p95: … 26.3 p99: … 26.3

Instead, this happened:

Phase started: Warm up (index: 0, duration: 60s) 22:29:32(-0500)

---

Metrics for period to: 22:29:40(-0500) (width: 6.268s)

errors.ECONNREFUSED: … 25 http.request_rate: … 5/sec http.requests: … 35 vusers.created: … 35 vusers.created_by_name.add new notes: … 35 vusers.failed: … 25

Warning: multiple batches of metrics for period 1668569370000 2022-11-16T03:29:30.000Z

Metrics for period to: 22:29:50(-0500) (width: 9.267s)

errors.ECONNREFUSED: … 50 http.request_rate: … 5/sec http.requests: … 50 vusers.created: … 50 vusers.created_by_name.add new notes: … 50 vusers.failed: … 50

Warning: multiple batches of metrics for period 1668569380000 2022-11-16T03:29:40.000Z

Metrics for period to: 22:30:00(-0500) (width: 9.259s)

errors.ECONNREFUSED: … 50 http.request_rate: … 5/sec http.requests: … 50 vusers.created: … 50 vusers.created_by_name.add new notes: … 50 vusers.failed: … 50

Files being used:

config:
  target: "http://mycomputer"
  phases:
    - duration: 60
      arrivalRate: 5
      name: Warm up
  payload:
    path: "notes.csv"
    fields:
      - "note"
  
scenarios:
  - name: "add new notes"
    flow:
      - post:
          url: "/new_note"
          form:
            note: "{{ note }}"

When set DEBUG=http, I got the output with errors.ECONNREFUSED:

I am running an Express app listening at localhost on port 5001. I also set up an NGINX server as a reverse proxy pointing to the Express app on the same host. Artillery seems not able to connect to NGINX. However, if the target is set to ‘127.0.0.1:5001’, i.e., the backend, the test went through ok.

I should mention the NGINX proxy has no problem as both chrome and curl can access the Express app.

Does Artillery not support testing via proxy? Or I missed something. Sorry first time user of Artillery here.

Thank you.

[bssrdf]

Interesting, thanks for the extra details @bssrdf. How is that merlin hostname set up, is that an entry in the hosts file on the machine? I would guess this has to do with differences in DNS resolution between Node.js and curl/Chrome. Could you check if Artillery works as expected if you use the IP address instead of the hostname?

After switching to IP address, Artillery works fine. So it is a Node problem. Thanks for the efforts. Appreciated. Cheers,

[hassy]

This looks like the issue we’re seeing here: https://github.com/node-fetch/node-fetch/issues/1624