How to use JMeter for performance testing of a server

Written in collaboration with: Kaushal Sahu

What is JMeter?

The Apache JMeter is an application designed for load testing and measure performance. Apache JMeter is a 100% pure java application. It is an open source application.

How does JMeter work?

Using JMeter we can test a web application stress load. For stress testing JMeter creates a numbers of parallel users

1. Start JMeter.
2. Create a test plan( a test project ).
3. Add thread group ( number of users ).

Thread Groups is a collection of Threads. Each thread represents one user using the application under test.

For example, if you set the number of threads as 100, JMeter will create and test 100 user requests to the server.

There are three options in the threads group.

• Number of Threads ( number of users connects )
• Loop Count ( number of times to execute testing )
• Ramp-Up Period ( delay between users )

4. Sampler ( HTTP Request )

• HTTP request: This sampler send an HTTP/HTTPS request to a web server.

5. Adding listener ( to display results)

• Table Result:- Display results of a test result in table format.

Table result format here we can see start time, thread name, status, and latency time.

• Graph result listeners:- Display the test result times on a Graph.
• View Result Tree:- Display results of the user request in HTML format.
• Log:- Show results of a test result in the text file.

6. Configuration Elements

Configuration Elements are used to set up defaults and variables for later use by samplers.

Config Element

• CSV Data Set Config : The CSV Data Set Config allows you to read and set different parameters from the text file.