Backend Testing

Backend Chaos Testing

Test your backend services running in Docker containers.

Docker Targets

FailSafe connects to your Docker daemon to discover and target running containers. You can specify targets by name, ID, or label selectors.

Prerequisites

Docker Engine running and accessible
FailSafe has access to Docker socket
Target containers are running

# Verify Docker is accessible
docker ps

# Run FailSafe with Docker socket access
docker run -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock failsafe/agent

Targeting Methods

By Container Name

Target specific containers by their name.

"targets": ["api-service", "postgres-db"]

By Container ID

Target by full or partial container ID.

"targets": ["abc123def456", "xyz789"]

By Label Selector

Target all containers matching label criteria.

"targets": ["app=myapp", "env=staging"]

Wildcard Patterns

Use wildcards to match multiple containers.

"targets": ["api-*", "*-service"]

Fault Types

Backend fault types simulate various infrastructure failures.

cpu_stress

CPU Stress

Consumes CPU cycles to simulate high CPU load on a container.

Intensity	Effect
10	10% CPU usage
50	50% CPU usage
100	100% CPU usage (all cores)

{
  "fault_type": "cpu_stress",
  "targets": ["api-service"],
  "duration": 60,
  "max_intensity": 80
}

memory_stress

Memory Stress

Allocates memory to simulate memory pressure.

Intensity	Effect
25	Allocate 25% of available memory
50	Allocate 50% of available memory
90	Allocate 90% - may trigger OOM

kill

Process Kill

Terminates container processes to simulate crashes.

Intensity	Effect
10	10% chance to kill per interval
50	50% chance to kill per interval
100	Guaranteed kill

network_delay

Network Delay

Adds latency to network packets using tc (traffic control).

Intensity	Effect
50	50ms added latency
200	200ms added latency
1000	1 second added latency

packet_loss

Packet Loss

Drops a percentage of network packets.

Intensity	Effect
5	5% packet loss
20	20% packet loss
50	50% packet loss - severe degradation