JMeter Distributed Load Test (Throughput Controller)
In this section, we shall learn how to create a distributed load test plan in JMeter using Throughput Controller.
For our test purpose, we shall create distributed load on some of the web pages under the URL of our website www.tutoraspire.com. These web pages include:
Home Page: www.tutoraspire.com
Web page 1 (Java): https://tutoraspire.com/java-tutorial
Web page 2 (C_Programming): https://tutoraspire.com/c-programming-language-tutorial
Web page 3 (Cpp): https://tutoraspire.com/cpp-tutorial
The following image shows the home page of our website:
Note: Suppose, we have created 10 virtual users (Threads) to perform the distributed load test on our website then all the other web pages will be tested by a constant load of 10 virtual users. However, this is not a real world scenario. In real world, there might be variance in load of different webpages under the same URL.
Let us first create a distributed load test plan without using Throughput Controller. For this test, we have distributed single virtual user to each Thread Group.
Create JMeter Test Plan
- Go to your JMeterbin folder and double click on the ApacheJMeter.jar file to launch JMeter interface.
- Click on the Test Plan node.
- Rename this test plan node as Distributed Test.
- Select the Distributed Test node and right click on the selected item.
- Mouse hover on “Add” option, then elements list will be displayed.
- Select Threads (Users) > Thread Group.
Add Sampler
We have to add a HTTP RequestSampler in our Thread Group.
- Select the Thread Group and right click on the selected item.
- Mouse hover on “Add” option, then elements list will be displayed.
- Select Sampler > HTTP request option.
- It will add an empty HTTP Request Sampler.
Configure the fields of HTTP Request Sampler as:
- Name – Home Page.
- Server Name or IP – In our case, web server name will be www.tutoraspire.com.
Now, we will copy the thread group and paste it inside our test plan three times. Rename each of the HTTP Request Samplers as per the web pages under test. Server Name for each HTTP Request Sampler will be same.
The following image shows the directory structure under the Distributed Test Plan.
Configure the path name for Java, C_Programming and Cpp samplers respectively.
The following images show the respective path name for each of the above mentioned samplers.
Add Listener
- Select the Distributed Test Plan element.
- Mouse hover on “Add” option then elements list will be displayed.
- Select Listener > Aggregate Report.
Save and Execute Test Plan
- Click on File > Save Test Plan as.
- Save the entire test plan as Distributed_test1.jmx.
- Click on Run > Start to execute the test plan.
Verify the Output
You can see the distribution of load for each web page in the #Samples tab.
Now, we have successfully executed our Distributed Load test plan without using Throughput Controller. However, we cannot decide the number of actual users during a real world load test on an application. In that case, we have to use a Throughput Controller.
Adding Throughput Controller
First we have to create a Master Thread Group to our test plan.
- Select the Distributed Test node and right click on the selected item.
- Mouse hover on “Add” option, then elements list will be displayed.
- Select Threads (Users) > Thread Group.
- Rename this thread group as Master Thread Group.
- Select the Master Thread Group node and right click on the selected item.
- Mouse hover on “Add” option, then elements list will be displayed.
- Select Logic Controller > Throughput Controller.
The following image shows the default control panel of a Throughput Controller.
Follow these steps to create a test plan under the Master Thread Group node:
- Copy the “Home Page” sampler and paste it inside the Throughput Controller.
- Create three more Throughput Controller and copy-paste the rest of web page samplers.
- Disable/Deleteall the thread groups under the Distributed test plan node.
The following image shows the directory structure under the Master Thread Group node.
Now, we have configured the total number of users in the Master Thread Group as “10”. As a consequent of it the “%” execution for each of the throughput controller will be distributed as per the total number of users in the master thread group.
We have distributed the “%” execution for each Throughput Controller as:
- 10 % for Home Page
- 20 % for Java
- 20 % for C_Programming
- 50 % for Cpp
Note: The number of threads(Users) in the Master Thread Group can vary as per the real world expected load on the application.
The following image shows the configuration of Master Thread Group and the entire Throughput Controllers undertest.
- Click on Run > Start, to execute the test plan.
Verify the Output
You can see the distribution of load for each web page in the #Samples tab.
