JMeter Performance Testing: All You Need to Know

A Quick Overview

Since you have already begun reading the following post, it means you do understand the significance of software testing. Not to mention, there has been an unseen pressure for apps to exceed ever-increasing demands, such as the app is supposed to be seamless, offer a highly responsive experience even during complex workflows or peak traffic times.

Have you ever experienced times when your inbox seems to be flooded with tons of questions and answers, and it just freezes and stops doing anything? Of course, I am sure you must have definitely faced these days, and so does your software app and website.

Now, have you ever come across the term performance testing? It is a sure-shot way to assess speed, responsiveness, and overall stability of the developed software, network, device, or web or mobile app. Now this is done under a specific workload.

You see, it is very important to identify, rectify, and prevent unwanted performance issues, which can severely impact the overall user experience. Performance testing is mainly about how the developed system behaves and responds, especially during different situations. After all, who doesn’t want to develop an app featuring high speed, scalability, and stability?

Performance testing focuses on:

• Speed - Does the app respond in a fast manner or not
• Scalability - The maximum user load
• Stability - The application is checked under varying loads

Types of Performance Tests

Load Test - This type of testing is said to be where it is possible to test the developed app for its performance, whether it is during normal times or peak usage. In fact, here performance is checked on the basis of response time and high consistency irrespective of different user loads.
Volume Test - This type of testing is said to be where the system’s performance is successfully checked, and all this has pure relevance to the volume of the data. Loads and loads of data are successfully entered into the database for fruitful results.
Stress Test - This type of test emphasises different ways to break the system so that you get to know how much the system can actually sustain.
Reliability Test - This is written when an app is successfully verified, and you get to learn that if the app will function normally in case after going through an abnormal state.

Benefits of Performance Testing

Conducting performance testing can offer you a wide range of advantages, such as:

• Pages will load at a breathtaking speed, and you can eliminate heightened levels of stress all at once.

• Google’s algorithm favours faster websites

• The faster the website, the more revenue is generated

• Do you think scalability is just a nice-to-have feature? No, it is crucial to maintain the seamless operation of your system.

• Scalability tests serve as a guiding light in this endeavour.

• It is possible to unveil potential bottlenecks and limitations within your system.

• Consider stress testing so that you have a better understanding of the system’s capacity before reaching its threshold.

When to conduct performance testing?

Ideally, it is advisable to conduct performance testing in the early stages of development, but consider this as your central priority, though. When you do so, it is possible to address potential issues, bottlenecks, and vulnerabilities pretty early. In addition to this, performance testing increases the likelihood of developing a software product that meets or even exceeds user expectations. The result is supposed to be that the app has to be responsive, reliable, and fast. On and all, performance testing is a cost-effective and time-efficient strategy, which means the scope of rework and post-launch support is already lessened.

Process of Performance Testing

• Gathering all requirements
• Choosing proper tools
• Develop a proper test plan
• Test development
• Modelling
• Execution of the test
• All results are analyzed
• Reporting

So, I guess by now you must have realised that performance testing has been an integral part of any software or web application development today. Now, what is JMeter? Well, it is one of the most outstanding tools to consider when you are willing to conduct successful performance testing.

Introducing JMeter

JMeter load testing is a process done using Apache JMeter, now this one is a load testing meter. Why Apache, you may ask? Well, first and foremost, this one is an open-source application based on Java, and secondly, it turns out to be the most important tool which determines whether the web app under test can satisfy high load requirements or not. In addition to this, there is a high possibility of successfully analysing the overall server under heavy load.

So this testing method, in particular, is considered mainly using Apache, where it is possible to successfully test both static and dynamic resources and find out the concurrent users on the website. Also, you are bound to receive an accurate analysis of performance testing featuring load testing and stress testing.

With Apache JMeter, you are bound to receive a wide range of benefits such as:

• It is possible to consider JMeter to test the performance of both static resources, including JavaScript, HTML and dynamic resources such as JSP, Servlets, and AJAX.
• With JMeter, it is possible to discover the maximum number of concurrent users which can be successfully handled by your website
• Also, you are bound to receive a variety of graphical analyses of performance reports.

What types of servers is JMeter used for?

• SOAP / REST web services
• FTP
• Web - HTTP, HTTPS
• Databases via JDBC
• Mail - SMTP(S), POP3(S) and IMAP(S)
• Native commands or shell scripts
• LDAP
• Message-oriented middleware (MOM) via JMS
• TCP connections

JMeter in Performance Testing

• Load Testing - Ability to simulate multiple users accessing a web app simultaneously. So you get a better perspective on how the app performs, especially under heavy loads.
• Scalability Testing - When an app is tested with an increasing number of users, the scalability of the app can be easily determined. So the app can seamlessly grow and perform well with the expansion of the user base. So if you want to check how well the app can handle growth, consider JMeter.
• Stress Testing - With JMeter, the app is successfully pushed to its limit,s especially during extreme conditions such as high traffic. So the breaking point can be easily identified and failures reduced to a great extent.
• Integration with CI/CD - Another interesting aspect of JMeter includes easy integration with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. This does promote automated performance testing.
• Protocol Support - HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, JDBC and more are supported by JMeter. No wonder this one turns out to be the most versatile tool to consider, irrespective of the app type.
• Real-Time Reporting and Analytics - JMeter offers detailed real-time reports and analytics which is highly relevant to all the response times, throughput, and error. Here, more informed decisions are made.
• Scripting and Extensibility - High support for scripting via languages such as Groovy and its extensive plugin ecosystem, it is possible to conduct test plans which are extremely customizable and extendable and catered to specific testing needs.
• Performance Metrics Monitoring - A wide range of performance metrics can be derived here, such as response times, throughput, error rates, and server resource utilisation for easy monitoring and proper analysis of the app comprehensively.

Additional Benefits of JMeter include:

• Open source license
• Friendly GUI
• Platform independent
• Full multithreading framework
• Visualise the test result
• Easy installation
• Highly extensible
• Unlimited testing capabilities
• Support multi protocol

How to get started with JMeter?

First and foremost, you need to know that JMeter is a platform-independent tool which can successfully run on Windows, macOS and Linux. The next step to take is see if Java is successfully installed or not.

Then open a command prompt (Windows) or terminal (macOS/Linux)

Type java -version and press Enter

In case if Java is not installed, download and install it from the Oracle JDK website or AdoptOpenJDK.

Set up the JAVA_HOME environment variable: Setting up the JAVA_HOME variable is essential for JMeter to locate Java.

Now it's time to create a test plan

Open JMeter and successfully navigate to the file, then create a new test plan, and give a proper name to your test plan within the JMeter interface.

With the test plan being created successfully, time to change the name of the test plan. Also, make sure to configure different settings of the test plan.

Now it's time to add a thread group; simply right-click on the test plan and add threads.

Make sure you definitely configure the thread group by setting a number of threads, ramp-up period and loop count for simulating user behaviour and load in the performance test. Also, you need to keep adjusting depending on different scenarios.

The next step is to add a sampler. Do not forget to mention server details such as server name, port, and path, which does assist well in stimulating different HTML requests, especially while conducting performance tests.

The next step is to add listeners. You have to stay in the thread group where you have to right-click and select Add -> Listener. View Results Tree, Summary Report, and Response Times Over Time are some of the classic examples for listeners, and these are the ones which should be added right away. Overall, make sure to configure listeners to display pertinent information about the test results.

In addition, try adding Config Elements to set variables, Assertions to validate responses, and Timers. You can even think of customising these elements on the basis of specific test requirements.

Next, it’s time to fine-tune the thread group settings to configure all kinds of load scenarios. Also, try adjusting the number of threads, ramp-up period and loop count to successfully stimulate realistic user behaviour and define load scenarios in your performance test.

Lastly, time to run the test and save the test plan. Keep monitoring the test progress in the listeners for analysing different performance metrics.

Once everything is completed, review test results and see app’s performance under load.

Conclusion

And we are done for now! I hope now you exactly know what performance testing is, and its significance in today’s cut-throat competitive times. What is JMETER, and what role does the tool play in the current software development lifecycle?

Mastering the concept of performance testing using JMeter is pretty tricky, however, it is a doable job. If you are looking for a versatile tool for creating robust and scalable applications, then this is it!

Make sure to follow these detailed steps; in the end, you are bound to achieve optimal performance both under normal and peak load conditions. So this is it! I hope you did find the following post worth considering. In case if you have any doubts or queries, feel free to mention them in the comment section below.