what is JMeter

JMeter

Last updated on

In this tutorial, we will be studying a widely used performance testing tool – JMeter. We will find the answer to this question – What is JMeter? and also study its advantages and limitation.

What is JMeter?

JMeter is a Java-based desktop application that can be used for performance testing of different kinds of client-server applications like websites, web services, databases, FTP servers, etc. It is an open-source tool provided by Apache with no licensing cost.

What is JMeter

Types of applications that can be tested by JMeter

  • Websites – HTTP and HTTPS
  • Web Services – REST and SOAP
  • Database Servers
  • FTP Servers
  • LDAP Servers
  • Mail Servers – SMTP, POP3, IMAP
  • Shell Scripts
  • TCP Servers

Advantages of JMeter

  1. Free of cost – It is an open-source product with zero licensing cost.

  2. Can load test different kinds of applications – It can be used for performance testing of all kinds of applications ranging from – Web applications, web services, databases, LDAP, shell scripts, etc.

  3. Platform independent – Since, it is 100% Java-based, so it is platform-independent and can run on multiple platforms.

  4. Record and Playback feature – It provides record and playback options along with drag and drop features which makes it easier and faster to create scripts.

  5. Customizable – Since JMeter is open source, developers can customize its source code as per their specific requirements.

  6. Supports distributed load testing – It supports distributed load testing features in which we can create a master-slave set up for carrying out load tests on multiple machines.

  7. Good community support – It has many online tutorials and helping community support. It also has freely available plugins that help in different aspects of script creation and analysis.

Limitations of JMeter

  1. Scripting in JMeter requires some level of expertise and understanding of different test plan elements, regular expressions, session handling, etc.

  2. It does not have a network visualization feature unlike other performance testing tools like Loadrunner.

  3. A single normal configuration machine is not sufficient for carrying out load test with a large number of users. In such cases, either a very high configuration cloud machine is required or distributed testing is performed.

  4. It does not support ajax, javascript and flash, neither it renders web elements like a browser.

  5. It provides very limited real-time test monitoring capability as compared to other tools.

That’s all we have in this post, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Check out the complete – JMeter tutorial.

Reference

Apache JMeter Official Website

Leave a Comment