Running parallel scripting in Selenium Web driver for Firefox, do I need Selenium Grid?

Question

I have a process, using Selenium Web driver for Firefox, for automatic look up for information on one specific site. Due to the volume of the data being looked up, I will need to run parallel processes - minimum 10 (I think). I did a quick test, with 3 processes running in parallel and it seemed ok. But I will need many more.. The Process is written in C#, runs on Windows. Firefox is the only web driver that works with the site.

My questions:

1) Is there any benefit of using the Selenium Grid in my situation? Vs just running as many copies of my process (each creating an instance of the selenium web driver) as it is found optimal ?

2) What number of processes (using FF) may be optimal ? (in terms of FF requests) Would FF run parallel requests to the site, or would it queue them ?

3) If I have N processes (each creating an instance of the selenium web driver/FF)

would selenium create N different instances of FF?

Answer 1

1. One of the main benefits to running Selenium Grid is you can run lots of parallel tests and in different combinations of environments. Even if you run only one browser + operating system you might still benefit from the fact these are hermetic systems, isolated from each other. Therefore one browser failure won't cause the other tests to fail.
   • Although, if you have the money, it's far faster and less overhead to just sign up for Sauce Labs. Let them maintain the grid for you.
2. I typically run 3 processes at a time but mostly that's due to my current Sauce Labs plan limits. If you run it locally it really depends on your machines power and how stable your tests are.
3. Yes each process would create a new instance of Firefox.