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How to Inject Random Latency for Chaos Testing in Python
Mock unreliable services by wrapping functions with a decorator that adds random network-like delays before execution.
import random
import time
from functools import wraps
def inject_latency(func):
@wraps(func)
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
latency = random.uniform(0.1, 0.5)
print(f"Injecting {latency:.3f}s latency...")
time.sleep(latency)
return func(*args, **kwargs)
return wrapper
@inje…
How to Mock Fault Injection Percentage in Python
Simulate a service with a 30% failure rate using random.random to test error handling and retries.
import random
class Service:
def call(self):
if random.random() < 0.3: # 30% failure rate
raise ConnectionError("Simulated network fault")
return "ok"
def main():
svc = Service()
random.seed(42) # deterministic for demonstration
results = []
for _ in range(10):
…
How to Mock a Circuit Breaker Reset Timeout in Python
This code implements a simple circuit breaker with a reset timeout test, simulating a flaky service to show half-open state transitions.
import time
import random
class CircuitBreaker:
def __init__(self, failure_threshold=3, reset_timeout=5):
self.failure_threshold = failure_threshold
self.reset_timeout = reset_timeout
self.failure_count = 0
self.last_failure_time = None
self.state = "CLOSED" # CLOSED (nor…
How to Mock a Timeout per HTTP Request in Python
Simulate a per-request HTTP timeout using unittest.mock to test timeout handling without network access.
import time
from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
# Simulate an HTTP client that might time out
def fetch_data(url, timeout=5):
time.sleep(0.5) # Simulate network delay
return f"Response from {url}"
# Mock to test timeout behavior without real network
def test_timeout():
mock_response = Mock(side_effect…
How to retry idempotent operations with a mock in Python
Wrap a flaky idempotent operation in a retry loop with exponential backoff, and use unittest.mock to deterministically test the str's behavior.
import random
import time
from unittest.mock import Mock
def idempotent_operation(value):
"""Simulate an idempotent operation that sometimes fails."""
if random.random() < 0.6: # 60% failure rate
raise ConnectionError("Temporary failure")
return value * 2
def retry_with_backoff(operation, max_…
Mock Distributed Rate Limiter with Dict in Python
Simulates a distributed token-bucket rate limiter with a thread-safe dict, useful for testing before moving to Redis.
import time
import threading
from collections import defaultdict
class DistributedRateLimiter:
"""
A mock distributed rate limiter using a dict with thread-safe access.
Implements a token bucket algorithm per user.
"""
def __init__(self, rate_per_second=5, burst_capacity=10):
self.rate_p…
Generate Synthetic CPU Utilization Metrics in Python
Creates realistic time-series CPU utilization samples with timestamps, noise, and output as structured JSON for observability demos and testing.
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import random
import json
def generate_metric_samples(base_value, noise, count=60, interval_minutes=1):
"""Generate realistic CPU utilization samples for a given time window."""
timestamps = []
values = []
now = datetime.utcnow()
start_time = now - timede…
How to Check Uptime with a Synthetic HTTP Mock in Python
Run a mock HTTP server locally and probe it with urllib to measure synthetic uptime and response times, perfect for testing monitoring logic without external dependencies.
import http.server
import threading
import time
import urllib.request
class MockHandler(http.server.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_GET(self):
if self.path == "/health":
self.send_response(200)
self.send_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
self.end_headers()
…
How to Create a Mock OpenTelemetry Trace in Python
Create a mock OpenTelemetry trace in memory to test span creation, attributes, and parent-child relationships without exporting to a backend.
from opentelemetry import trace
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import SimpleSpanProcessor
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export.in_memory_span_exporter import InMemorySpanExporter
def create_mock_trace():
tracer_provider = TracerProvider()
span_exporter =…
How to Create a StatsD UDP Metric Mock Server in Python
Run a lightweight mock UDP server that captures StatsD metrics over a short window for local testing.
import socket
import threading
import time
def start_mock_statsd_server(host="127.0.0.1", port=8125, timeout=3):
"""Run a mock StatsD UDP server that captures metrics for a short window."""
sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
sock.bind((host, port))
sock.settimeout(timeout)
me…
How to Create a TCP DNS Mock Server in Python
This code creates a mock TCP DNS server that listens on a specified port, accepts probe connections, and returns a fixed DNS response header to simulate a live DNS service for testing and observability.
import socket
import threading
def handle_client(client_socket, address):
print(f"[+] Connection from {address}")
try:
while True:
data = client_socket.recv(1024)
if not data:
break
print(f"[*] Received {len(data)} bytes (TCP DNS probe)")
…
How to Mock Database Query Duration in Python
Simulate realistic database query durations with random jitter for testing dashboards, alerts, and SLO calculations.
import random
import time
def mock_query_duration(db_name, avg_ms, jitter_ms=5, runs=3):
"""Simulate database query durations with realistic variation."""
durations = []
for _ in range(runs):
# Base duration plus random jitter (can be negative)
duration = avg_ms + random.uniform(-jitter_m…
How to Mock HTTP Client Latency in Python
Simulate outbound HTTP request latency with configurable ranges to test timeouts, retries, and SLO monitoring without external services.
import time
import random
def mock_latency(host: str, min_ms: int = 100, max_ms: int = 500) -> dict:
"""Simulate an outbound HTTP request with mock latency."""
latency_ms = random.randint(min_ms, max_ms)
start = time.perf_counter()
time.sleep(latency_ms / 1000)
elapsed_ms = (time.perf_counter() - …
How to Mock Service Resource Attributes in Python
Temporarily override service name, version, and other resource attributes with a context manager, then restore them automatically.
from contextlib import contextmanager
import random
_SERVICE_ATTRIBUTES = {
"service.name": "payment-api",
"service.version": "1.4.2",
"service.instance.id": str(random.randint(10000, 99999)),
"service.namespace": "production",
}
@contextmanager
def mock_service_attributes(**overrides):
"""Tempor…
How to Simulate a Queue Depth Gauge in Python
Simulate a queue depth over time using a random enqueue/dequeue process, returning depth values that can be used for monitoring or testing dashboards.
import collections
import random
import time
def simulate_queue_depth(max_depth=10, steps=20):
queue = collections.deque()
depth_history = []
for _ in range(steps):
# Randomly enqueue or dequeue
if random.random() < 0.6 and len(queue) < max_depth:
queue.append("task")
…
Consumer Driven Contract Pact Mock in Python
Define and verify consumer-driven contracts using Pact's Consumer and Provider classes, mocking the provider to assert expected interactions.
from pact import Consumer, Provider
pact = Consumer('OrderService').has_pact_with(Provider('InventoryService'))
@Pact.verify()
class TestInventoryContract:
def test_get_inventory(self):
expected = {"item": "widget", "quantity": 100}
(pact
.given('inventory exists for widget')
.u…
Correlation ID HTTP header mock in Python
A lightweight HTTP server that echoes or generates correlation IDs to help test distributed systems.
import json
import uuid
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
class CorrelationHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
CORRELATION_HEADER = "X-Correlation-ID"
def do_GET(self):
correlation_id = self.headers.get(self.CORRELATION_HEADER) or str(uuid.uuid4())
response = {
…
How to Build an OAuth Client Credentials Mock Server in Python
A minimal HTTP mock server implementing the OAuth 2.0 client credentials grant for local testing and microservice development.
from http.server import HTTPServer, BaseHTTPRequestHandler
import json
TOKENS = {"valid_token": "demo_access_token", "client_id": "my_service"}
class OAuthHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_POST(self):
if self.path == "/oauth/token":
length = int(self.headers.get("Content-Length", 0))
…
How to Check an External Gateway vs Use an Internal Mock in Python
This code checks whether an external network gateway is reachable using ping, then falls back to a deterministic internal mock for testing environments.
import subprocess
import sys
def check_external_gateway():
"""True if we can reach an external network target."""
try:
subprocess.run(
["ping", "-c", "1", "-W", "2", "8.8.8.8"],
capture_output=True,
timeout=3,
check=True,
)
return True
…
How to Implement a Two-Phase Commit Mock in Python
Simulate a distributed two-phase commit with prepare, commit, and abort phases, including deterministic failure injection for testing.
import random
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Dict, List, Optional
@dataclass
class Transaction:
tx_id: int
data: Dict[str, str]
class TwoPhaseCommitMock:
"""Simple two-phase commit mock with prepare and commit phases."""
def __init__(self) -> None:
self.prepared: List…
How to Mock Service Call Timeouts in Python
Simulate service calls with configurable timeouts using Mock to patch sleep and randomness, covering success and timeout cases.
import time
from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
# Simulate a service call with configurable timeout
def call_service(service_name, timeout=5):
"""Mock a service call that may time out."""
start = time.time()
print(f"Calling {service_name}...")
# Simulate service latency (randomized for realism)…
How to Mock an API Gateway Router in Python
Create a lightweight HTTP server that routes requests to mock microservice responses, simulating an API gateway for local development and testing.
from http.server import HTTPServer, BaseHTTPRequestHandler
import json
class SimpleGateway(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_GET(self):
routes = {
"/users": {"service": "user-service", "status": "ok", "count": 42},
"/orders": {"service": "order-service", "status": "ok", "count": 17}…
How to Mock an Ambassador Edge Proxy in Python
Build a lightweight mock Ambassador edge proxy with Python's http.server that responds to health and user endpoint requests for local development and testing.
import http.server
import json
import urllib.parse
import threading
class AmbassadorProxyHandler(http.server.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_GET(self):
parsed = urllib.parse.urlparse(self.path)
if parsed.path == "/health":
self.send_response(200)
self.send_header("Content-T…
How to mock an external service in Python with an anti-corruption facade
This code implements an anti-corruption facade that mocks an external API, allowing client code to interact with a simulated service while keeping the same interface.
class AntiCorruptionFacade:
"""Mocks a real API while keeping the same interface."""
def __init__(self, data_store):
self._data_store = data_store
self._calls = []
def get_user(self, user_id):
self._calls.append(f"get_user({user_id})")
return self._data_store.get(u…
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