This video covers the main elements used to create the core of your scenario.                         

• Thread group handle load model of the scenario

• Samplers: elements that execute requests or do actions

• Controllers help to create the logic of your scenario

In this video, you’ll cover the elements to view sample results in GUI, get statistics, and do assertions on results.                         

• Listener gives all data from sample results

• Use assertions to check some conditions in request/response

Do some operations before/after sample is executed. For example,  generate some security token, clear data in the database, or get URLs  from the HTML page.                         

• Get data from the previous response using post-processor

• Create a regular expression to fetch URLs from the response

• Use fetched URLs in following requests

Elements to configure a JMeter scenario. Also, they allow JMeter  to work with cookies, headers, and cache as a real browser does.                         

• Emulate the browser behavior working with cache, cookies

• Handle request headers

Elements used to parameterize a scenario with different variables.                         

• Variables in JMeter

• How to create a variable

• Variable usage

In this video, you’ll see how to set up Firefox to start recording requests sent by your web application.                         

• Add recorder and recording controller to the scenario

• Set up proxy settings in FF settings

• Add a root CA certificate to FF trusted authorities

This video covers recording requests for user actions.                         

• Record requests to the recording controller

• Exclude or remove 3-d party and requests for static resources

• Add requests to Thread Group and run the test

To avoid mess in the results, use transaction controllers for each user action you record.                         

• Create a Transaction Controller for your action

• Place the recorded samplers in it

• Use TC for all user actions

Parameterize requests with regular expression extractor to open new categories and products.                         

• Add a regular expression post processor to HTTP request

• Create a regular expression to fetch a random URL from HTML

• Use the fetched URL in next requests instead of a hardcoded one

In this video, you’ll get user credentials from a file to log in users in the test.                         

• Create a .csv file with user credentials

• Add a CSV dataset config element to read from the file

• Use credentials in the login request

In this video, you’ll generate data to parameterize requests with JMeter functions.                         

• Use function helper to find the appropriate function

In this video, you’ll add more complex logic to your scenarios with logic controllers.                         

• Choose a logic controller that emulates the desired logic

• Place elements in the logic controller

In this video, you’ll learn how to debug your scenario and make it closer to your real users with pauses.                         

• Use debug post-processor or debug sampler

• Use flow test action sampler to make pauses between actions

Which load to generate? How to choose the right approach?                         

• Start with capacity test to find the max load that the service can handle

• Pay attention to comfort and degradation zones

• Conduct tests with different load models based on capacity

How to set up JVM to generate a big load and where can we configure JMeter properties?                         

• Create a set env script 

• Include a set env variable along with a specified heap size for JVM 

• Use .properties files to configure JMeter parameters

Use the JMeter GUI only for scripts development and debugging. Run load tests only in non- GUI mode.                         

• Run JMeter script from the terminal

• Additional script parameters could be passed with -J while starting a test

To be able to parameterize a scenario from the command line, we can pass parameters as JMeter properties using the -J argument.                         

• Pass some parameters while starting JMeter with the -J argument

• Access a JMeter property with ${__P(prop_name,default_value)}

• Try changing the load model from the terminal

The best approach to get pretty test results without much effort is to generate an HTML report after the test.                         

• Run the test in non-GUI mode with additional -l -e -o arguments to generate the HTML report

• The output folder and results file must be empty or it does not exist on the filesystem

• Open index.html from the output folder

It is very important to monitor server-side resource usage while running your test to get the full picture of the performance.                         

• JMeter allows you to get server-side metrics with PerfMon metrics collector listener

• Run the server agent on each server you want to monitor

• Add connections in the PerfMon listener

Another approach for monitoring the app side and server side is to  get real-time statistics saved to the database and display metrics in  visualization tools.                         

• Install Grafana, Telegraf, and InfluxDB

• Add a backend listener to the JMeter scenario

• Create a basic dashboard in Grafana and run the test

Get the right metrics is important when running load tests.                         

• Collect app-side metrics

• Collect server-side metrics

• Use built-in listeners or some third party services to display test metrics

An easy-to-use solution to run, analyze, and store test data using InfluxDB, Jenkins, Grafana, Telegraf, and others.                         

• Install Docker and clone the Git repository

• Execute the docker-compose up command

• Add a few listeners from the demo scenario to your scenario

One of the hardest parts in performance testing is to find the root cause of errors or poor performance.                         

• Isolate the place of problem. Maybe, your script has some issues.

• Monitor all the metrics that you have. Pay attention to the server side.

• Work with your team to allocate the root cause.

After all tests are done, it is time to prepare reports.                         

• Write a short summary for business people to say that the performance is ‘ok’

• Add some detailed metrics and info for yourself and technical people

• Never forget to mention all findings during investigation and testing