Amazon Connect Testing Policy

Amazon Connect regularly executes rigorous testing to ensure our system delivers the security, reliability, and availability required to support world class contact centers of all sizes. While Amazon Connect is able to sustain high levels of load, we understand customers want or need to load test their unique use cases, configurations, networks, BPOs, etc. To ensure customers have a positive experience load or stress testing, we have outlined our load testing policy below. This policy does not cover security or penetration tests, which are covered by https://aws.amazon.com/security/penetration-testing.

For the sake of this policy we consider a load test or a scale test to be when a test sends a large volume of test or legitimate traffic to a specific intended target end point(s) and the end point(s) and any associated infrastructure are expected to handle this traffic. This policy does not apply to organic production traffic. Load test or scale tests are different from production traffic because the former often target specific endpoints, generate synthetic traffic targeted at concentrated sources, maintain a higher than normal sustained volume of traffic and can accidentally exceed expected limits. These differences present potential risks for unintended impact to external endpoints, other customers, or AWS services.

This policy only applies when a customer's test generates traffic to their Amazon Connect instance which meets one or more of the following criteria: generates traffic that appears to be abusive or malicious and/or generates traffic that has the potential for impact to entities other than the anticipated target of the testing (such as shared service infrastructure or telecom carriers).

Customers need to ensure that the target endpoint has authorized the testing and understands the expected volumes. Some external endpoints or AWS Services may have lower than expected thresholds for certain testing scenarios. We understand that many of our large customer generate traffic in normal production mode that meets or exceed their load test volumes, this is normal and not under the purview of this policy, unless specifically done for the purpose of stress, or load testing.

Load tests that meet this policy's criteria have risks: the customer may be detected and/or reported as being abusive; the customer might be unintentionally abusive and/or impactful to other entities; and the customer might have mitigations applied to their instances, which can impact their tests as well as their production workloads. If a customer is unsure if their tests meet these criteria, they should follow this policy, and have AWS evaluate the tests. To improve the experience for the customer and other entities that might be impacted by such a test, at least two weeks before the desired load or stress tests date, the customer must complete an Amazon Connect Load Test Request intake form, which can be obtained by sending an email to Amazon-Connect-Load-Test-Requests@amazon.com. If a customer’s load or stress tests are performed via means other than directly from their Amazon Connect instances, i.e. via external or other AWS services, they should also send an email to Amazon-Connect-Load-Test-Requests@amazon.com to determine if they need to submit a form. AWS will generally respond to the email within 48 hours, please feel free to follow up if you have not received a response within that time frame.

Upon receiving the email, AWS will evaluate the test parameters and respond with what steps are needed to help prevent accidental impact. If AWS determines there is not likely to be impact, there will be no steps but AWS will provide a written approval to proceed. For tests that might have impact, steps may include running the instance generating traffic from a separate AWS account or region, adjusting the tests to minimize risk, or working with AWS closely to understand the scenarios and processes. Even with approval from AWS, the customer is still responsible for any damages to AWS, other AWS customers, or external entities that are caused by testing activities.