Introduction to JMeter

By Ranil Weerasinghe & Tharinda Liyanage

What will be covered

1st Phase
Getting to know about the tool 2nd phase Practical session with examples Types of Applications/protocols Features Installation and configuration Components Strengths and Weaknesses

What is JMeter
Performance testing tool (like LoadRunner, WebLoad, OpenSTA , etc) It supports performance testing of: Web application
Web services (SOAP and REST) Database query performance Mail - SMTP(S), POP3(S) and IMAP(S) JMS Mobile

Apache Project - http://jmeter.apache.org/ 100% pure Java desktop application Originally developed by Stefano Mazzocchi

Features of JMeter
Load and performance test various protocols
- HTTP(S), FTP, JDBC, JMS, LDAP, SOAP HTTP proxy server for recording test scripts eliminates 3rd party recording tools like Badboy Platform Independent Execution can do in batch mode and analyze offline.

Distributed testing.
Extensible. Plugins (https://code.google.com/p/jmeter-plugins/)

Test Architecture

Strengths
Free and open source
Active development/ community Extensibility Capability of dynamic scripting/ generate load/ and reporting Supports automation (Maven with Jenkins CI for performance testing in regression mode) Cloud compatibility

Weaknesses
Memory management issues But adjust Heap memory/ use 64-bit version/ run non-GUI mode
Reports are a bit lacking But... Plugins provides many Steep learning curve Lack of Training opportunities and require technical skills Limited Support No dedicated support like commercial tools

Setting Up and Running JMeter

The latest version of JMeter can be downloaded from the project website: http://jmeter.apache.org/download_jmeter.cgi JMeter requires a fully compliant JVM 1.6 or higher. You need Java, with the JAVA_HOME environment variable set. To install a release build, simply unzip the zip/tar file into the directory where you want JMeter to be installed. To run JMeter, run the jmeter.bat (for Windows) or jmeter.sh (for Unix) file.

JMeter Elements
Test Plan: where the overall settings for a test are specified.
Thread groups: defines a pool of users that will execute a particular test case against your server. Samplers: sends requests to a server Logical controllers : control flow of test plan (loops, conditionals, ordering, etc.) Listeners: record, summarize and display record and response data Timers: introduce delays in test plan Assertions: assert facts about responses, for functional testing Configuration elements: Configuration Elements set default values for other parts of the Test Plan as well as configure variables. Pre-processors and post-processors

Workbench :It provides a place to temporarily store test elements while not in use for copy/paste purposes

JMeter Proxy Server : watch and record your actions while you browse your web application with your normal browser

Test plan
Where the overall settings for a test are specified.

Thread group

Thread group elements are the beginning points of any test plan. It controls the number of threads JMeter will use to execute your test

Samplers
Samplers tell JMeter to send requests to a server and wait for a response. Processed in the order they appear in the tree. Controllers can be used to modify the number of repetitions of a sampler. HTTP Request JDBC Request Java object request LDAP Request SOAP/XML-RPC Request FTP Request

Logical controllers
Logic Controllers determine the order in which Samplers are processed
Some controller are: Loop Controller If controller Transaction Controller Recording Controller

Listeners
Listen" to the test results.
View, save, and read saved test results Can be saved to JTL, CSV or XML format.

Listeners can be added anywhere in the test, including directly under the
test plan.

Listeners

Timers
Add delay to script If not, overwhelms your server Ex: Constant timer Random timer Synchronizing timer

Assertions
Verify correctness of your response.
Ex: Response assertion Verify fields of response Size assertion - tests that each response contains the right number of bytes in it Duration assertion- tests response received within a given amount of time

Functions & Variables

Variables to parameterized JMeter variables are local to each thread. Referenced as ${VARIABLE} Functions Are special values that can populate fields of any Sampler or other element in a test tree ${__FunctionName()} Types Information Ex: ${__log()} Input Ex: ${__StringFromFile()} Calculations Ex: ${__RandomString()}

Demo

How to Build a Test Plan

1. Adding a Thread Group
Test Plan -> Thread Group Number of thread Ramp-up Period Loop count

2. Adding a HTTP Request Defaults

Test Plan -> Thread Group -> HTTP Request Defaults (HTTP Request Defaults saves you time when doing lots of HTTP Samplers) Protocol enter HTTP Server name enter jakarta.apache.org Path leave blank Port number enter 80

How to Build a Test Plan Cont..

3. Adding a HTTP Proxy Server
Workbench -> HTTP Proxy Server Port field - Enter 9090 Target Controller click on the drop down and select test plan > thread group Click the add button in Patterns to include. This will create a blank entry. Enter .*\.html Click the add button in Patterns to exclude. This will create a blank entry. Enter .*\.gif Click the start button at the bottom

4. Setting a Proxy in IE
Start Internet Explorer, but do not close Jmeter. From the tool bar, click tools -> internet options. Select the connection tab Click LAN settings button On the connections tab, check Use a proxy server for your LAN.

How to Build a Test Plan Cont..

Address enter Localhost or the IP address of your system Port enter 9090. Click ok button Click ok button again. This should return you to the browser In the Address bar at the top, enter http://jakarta.apache.org/jmeter/index.html and hit the enter key. Click on a few links on Jmeter's page.

Close internet explorer and bring up the JMeter window.

5. Adding a Listeners
Test Plan -> Thread Group -> Listeners Graph Results View Results in table View Results in tree Aggregate report

How to Build a Test Plan Cont..

6. Adding a Cookie Manager
Test Plan -> Thread Group -> HTTP Cookie Manager Many Web applications use cookies. JMeter provides cookie capabilities through a Cookie Manager. Adding this element to a thread group allows you to send cookies to the application being tested, just as Web browsers do.

Creating a Load Test Scenario and Execution

JMeter Performance Test Results- View Results Tree

JMeter Performance Test Results- Summary Report

Assertions
Assertions allow you to assert facts about responses received from the server being tested. Using an assertion, you can essentially "test" that your application is returning the results you expect it to.

Parameterization User Define Variables

Thread Group -> Config Element -> User Define Variables

Parameterization CSV Data Set Config

Thread Group -> Config Element -> CSV Data Set Config

Parameterization CSV Data Set Config

Session Handling

Session Handling Cont..

Session Handling Cont..

Thread Group -> Post-Processors -> Regular Expression Extractor

Session Handling Cont..

Regular Expressions * - Matches 0 or more time + - Matches 1 or more time .(dot) match any character ? stop when first match succeeds ( and ) these enclose the portion of the match string to be returned More Regular Expressions http://jakarta.apache.org/oro/api/org/ apache/oro/text/regex/packagesummary.html

Session Handling Cont..

Session Handling Cont..

JMeter Best Practices

Use non-GUI mode: jmeter -n -t test.jmx -l test.jtl Use as few Listeners as possible; if using the -l flag as above they can all be deleted or disabled. Don't use "View Results Tree" or "View Results in Table" listeners during the load test, use them only during scripting phase to debug your scripts. Rather than using lots of similar samplers, use the same sampler in a loop, and use variables (CSV Data Set) to vary the sample. Or perhaps use the Access Log Sampler. [The Include Controller does not help here, as it adds all the test elements in the file to the test plan.]

JMeter Best Practices Cont..

Don't use functional mode
Use CSV output rather than XML Only save the data that you need Use as few Assertions as possible

JMeter Distributed Testing

- Pre conditions The firewalls on the systems are turned off. All the clients are on the same subnet. The server is in the same subnet, if 192.x.x.x or 10.x.x.x ip addresses are used. If the server doesn't use 192 or 10 ip address, there shouldn't be any problems. Make sure jmeter can access the server. Make sure you use the same version of Jmeter on all the systems. Mixing versions may not work correctly. Following image Illustrate the way, how the JMeter Master / Slave configuration works