Overview of load testing process using Apache JMeter

1. Load Testing
Why we need it?
What tools to use?

2. Load Testing Goals
- Checking maximum simultaneous requests (Determining infrastructure limits)
- Verifying acceptance of response time during high load
- Verifying system stability under load - look for memory leaks in long tests
- Predict future resource needs and architectural improvements
- Verifying system behaviour after high load
- Evaluating current capacity against defined requirements
More reasons are listed at http://performance-testing.org/performance-testing-reasons

3. Open Source Tools
- JMeter
- Yandex Tank
- Taurus

4. JMeterThe Apache JMeter™ application is open source software,
a 100% pure Java application

5. Steps to start load testing
1)Launch application (jmeter.sh for Unix-based systems and jmeter.bat for
Windows)
2)Right-button click on Test Plan and select Add > Threads (Users) > Thread
group (preferably jp@gc - Ultimate Thread Group)
3)Configure Start Thread Count (amount of virtual users which will load
your website), Startup Time (time for reaching amount of VU defined),
Hold Load For (time for holding peak amount of VU defined), Shutdown
Time (time for decreasing VUs by stopping requests)

6. JMeter - Step 2 - Select Ultimate Thread Group

7. JMeter - Step 3 - Thread’s configuration

8. Steps to start load testing (part 2)
4) Right-button click on Thread and select Add > Config Element > HTTP
Request Default
5) Configure Server Name or IP (e.g. youwebsite.com or
123.231.321.123), Port Number (e.g. 80) and Protocol (http or https)

9. JMeter - Step 4 - select HTTP Request Defaults

10. JMeter - Step 5 - Configure HTTP Request Defaults

11. Steps to start load testing (part 3)
6) Right-button click on Thread and select Add > Sampler > HTTP
Request
7) Configure Path (link to page you would like to test; e.g. /login.php or
/blog/about) and specify Method GET

12. JMeter - Step 6 - Select Sampler HTTP Request

13. JMeter - Step 7 - Configure Sampler HTTP Request

14. Steps to start load testing (part 4)
8) Right-button click on Thread and select
Add > Listener > jp@gc - Hits per Second
Add > Listener > jp@gc - Response Times vs Threads
Add > Listener > jp@gc - Response Latencies Over Time
Add > Listener > jp@gc - Response Codes per Second
9) Finally… Run test plan by clicking on Start

15. JMeter - Step 8 - Configure Sampler HTTP Request

16. JMeter - 30 VUs - Hits per second

17. JMeter - 30 VUs - Response Time Over Time

18. JMeter - 30 VUs - Latencies Over Time

19. JMeter - 30 VUs - Response Codes per Second

20. Notes
User “Run” > “Clear All” before starting new test
Once you identified the issue with server responses try to decrease Start
Threads Count and increase Startup Time to get to accurate value of
allowed concurrent connections

21. IssuesHow to identify issues with JMeter

22. JMeter - 50 VUs - 500 Response codes

23. Server is down...

24. Really down...

25. Short term solutions
Restart Servers
Tune configuration of web servers
Add more servers

26. Long term solutions
Consider moving infrastructure to the Cloud
Use CDN
Use different domains for static resources (and fast web servers for them;
e.g. Ngnix or lighttpd)
Use memcached for storing mostly used DB queries
Use downstream cacheability headers
Consider moving part of the application logic to microservices
Setup auto-scale at your Cloud provider

27. Cloud Solutions

28. Only JMeter?What other tools can be used for load testing?

29. Load Testing Tools
- JMeter
- Yandex.Tank
- Gatling
- Locust
- Taurus
- The Grinder
Find more at
http://alternativeto.net/

30. Commercial Solutions

31. Popular Commercial Solutions
SOASTA
https://www.soasta.com/
BlazeMeter
https://www.blazemeter.com/

32. What Else? (topics for future slides)

33. Topics related to Load Testing
- Functional Tests in JMeter (using runnable JAR files to automate functional
and load testing)
- PDF Reporting. BlazeMeter Sense (former Loadosophia)
- Response Data validation
- Continuous Load Testing. Configuring CI with headless JMeter
- Configuration of Master / Slave nodes to perform load testing using
multiple workstations

34. Thank youQuestions?