JMeter Distributed Testing Step-by-step

This short tutorial explains how to use multiple systems to perform stress testing. Before we start,
there are a couple of things to check.
1. the firewalls on the systems are turned off.
2. all the clients are on the same subnet.
3. the server is in the same subnet, if 12.x.x.x or 1!.x.x.x ip addresses are used. "f the server
doesn#t use 12 or 1! ip address, there shouldn#t be any problems.
$. %ake sure &%eter can access the server.
'. %ake sure you use the same version of &%eter on all the systems. %ixing versions may not work
correctly.
(nce you#ve made sure the systems are ready, it#s time to setup remote testing. The tutorial
assumes you already have &%eter installed on all the systems. The way &%eter works is 1 master
controller initiates the test on multiple slave systems.
)iagram 1
Terminology
Before we dive into the step*by*step instructions, it#s a good idea to define the terms and make sure
the definition is clear.
Master + the system running &meter ,-", which controls the test
Slave + the system running .meter*server, which takes commands from the ,-" and send re/uests to
the target system0s1
Target + the webserver we plan to stress test
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Step-by-Step
1. (n the slave systems, go to .meter2bin directory and execute .meter*server.bat 0.meter*server on
unix1. (n windows, you should see a dos window appear with 3.re45version64bin4rmiregistry.exe7.
"f this doesn#t happen, it means either the environment settings are not right, or there are
multiple &89 installed on the system. :ote; 5version6 would be the .re version installed on the
system.
1. (pen .meter*server.bat in a text editor
2. go to line $$ and find 3;set<=7
3. edit 3>T?8T rmiregistry7 to the full path. 9xample; 3>T?8T
<;4@&?A?BC(%9D4.re4bin4rmiregistry7
2. (n master system acting as the console, open windows explorer and go to .meter2bin directory
3. open .meter.properties in a text editor
$. edit the line 3remoteBhostsE12F.!.!.17
'. add the "= address. Gor example, if " have .meter server running on 12.1HI.!.1!, 11, 12, 13, and
1$, the entry would like like this;
remote_hosts=192.168.0.10,192.168.0.11,192.168.0.12,192.168.0.13,192.168.0.14
H. >tart .meter.
F. (pen the test plan you want to use
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Starting the Test
?t this point, you are ready to start load testing. "f you want to double check the slave systems are
working, open .meter.log in notepad. Jou should see the following in the log.
&meter.engine.8emote&%eter9ngine"mpl; >tarting backing engine
"f you do not see this message, it means .meter*server did not start correctly. Gor tips on debugging
the issue, go to the tips section. There are two ways to initiate the test; a single system and all
systems.
Start a single clients
1. click 8un at the top
2. select 8emote start
3. select the "= address
Start all clients
1. click 8un at the top
2. select 8emote start all or use <8TK*L
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Limitations
There are some basic limitations for distributed testing. Cere#s the list of the known items in no
specific order.
1. 8%" cannot communicate across subnets without a proxyM therefore neither can .meter without a
proxy.
2. >ince &%eter sends all the test results to the controlling console, it is easy to saturate the
network "(. "t is a good idea to use the simple data writer to save the results and view the file
later with one of the graph listeners.
3. -nless the server is a large multi processor system, in most cases 1*2 clients is sufficient to
overwhelm the server.
$. ? single &%eter client running on a 2*3,hN <=- 0recent cpu1 can handle 3!!*H!! threads
depending on the type of test. 0The exception is the webservices1. O%K processing is <=-
intensive and will rapidly consume all the <=- cycles. ?s a general rule, the performance of O%K
centric applications will perform $*1! slower than applications using binary protocols.
Additional resources
http;22wiki.apache.org2.meter2&%eterG?PQCowBtoBdoBremoteBtestingBtheB.2FproperBway.2F.3G
http;22.meter.apache.org2usermanual2remote*test.html
Tips
"n some cases, the firewall may still be blocking 8%" traffic.
Symantec Anti Virus and Firewall
"n some cases, >ymantec firewall needs to be stopped from windows services.
1. open control panel
2. open administrative tools
3. double click services
$. ,o to down to symantec anti virus, right click and select stop
Windows firewall
1. open network connections
2. select the network connection
3. right click and select properties
$. select advanced tab
'. uncheck internet connection firewall
Linux
(n >use linux, ipchains is turned on by default. Gor instructions, please refer to the 3remote testing7
in the user manual.
(n 8edCat 0or derivatives1, iptables 0netfilter1 is turned on by default. 9xecute 3service iptables
stop7 to stop the Kinux netfilter firewall.
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