JMeter tests

This topic describes how to use JMeter scripts in LoadRunner Enterprise performance tests.

JMeter tests overview

JMeter is an open-source load testing tool for analyzing and measuring the performance of a variety of services, with a focus on web applications. If you work with JMeter tests, LoadRunner Enterprise provides the ability to also run the tests.

By including JMeter (.jmx) scripts in your tests, you can run one or more JMeter tests side-by-side with any other LoadRunner Enterprise tests, giving you a single entry point for running your performance tests.

Measurements can be viewed online and offline in LoadRunner Enterprise and Analysis, using the data points from the JMeter tests.

JMeter scripts can be run on a load generator on a Windows or Linux operating system. The Docker installations of Windows and Linux also support JMeter scripts.

Transactions in JMeter scripts

JMeter tests work with threads, JMeter's equivalent of Vusers, and thread groups. LoadRunner Enterprise differs in the way it handles JMeter tests:

If your JMeter script contains multiple thread groups, only the first group is run. If you want all groups to be run, you need to perform the following:
1. Re-upload the script (the script is automatically split into multiple scripts).
2. Update all of your JMeter tests with the new scripts.
Only transaction names under the TransactionController section in the .jmx file are shown in the results.
Transaction names must not include a dot.

Prerequisite setup for JMeter tests

Note the following guidelines before creating a performance test with a JMeter script:

Installation requirements	The LoadRunner Enterprise installation includes an embedded version of JMeter. No other installation or configuration is necessary. Download and install a 32-bit or 64-bit JDK (version 8 or 11) on all load generator machines on which the script are run. For supported versions of JMeter, see the Supported Protocols guide (available from Support Matrix).
Load generator setup	Java setting for Windows: Check that the environment variable %PATH% includes the directory of jvm.dll (for example: %JAVA_HOME%/jdk/jre/bin/server). Java setting for Linux: Check that the environment variable $LD_LIBRARY_PATH includes the directory of libjvm.so. We recommend setting the JAVA_HOME environment variable to point to the Java JDK folder.
LoadRunner Agent settings	If the agent is set as Service, change the System environment variables JAVA_HOME and PATH, and restart the load generator machine. If the agent is set as Process, change any User or System environment variables JAVA_HOME and PATH, and restart the agent.
Data files	The JMeter script can reference parameter files in .csv format. To reference .csv files, make sure that: They are in the same folder (and not a subfolder) as the .jmx file. The reference path in the JMeter script correctly points to the .csv files. The Controller finds these files, and sends them to the load generator for the test run.
Creating JMeter scripts	Create scripts in JMeter and save the scripts locally. The scripts must be saved in ZIP format and must include all the files in the test scripts folder. Include any plug-ins used in the JMeter script to the <LRE_InstallDir>\bin\jmeter\lib\ext folder because they must be added to the embedded JMeter as well. The file path inside a script folder must not exceed 260 characters.

Set up and run a JMeter test

This task describes how to upload JMeter scripts to LoadRunner Enterprise and configure runtime settings.

Make sure that you follow the prerequisites for using JMeter scripts.

For details, see Prerequisite setup for JMeter tests.
Upload JMeter scripts to LoadRunner Enterprise.

For details, see Upload a script to LoadRunner Enterprise.

Note: When uploading a JMeter script, you can split a .jmx file that contains a number of JMeter groups into a separate .jmx file for each group.

After uploading the script to LoadRunner Enterprise, the script is added to the test management tree. You can view and edit most scripts directly from within the LoadRunner Enterprise user interface. For details, see Edit a script.
Create a LoadRunner Enterprise test, and assign the JMeter script to it.

For details, see Design a test.
Configure JMeter runtime settings.

If you need to specify a custom JDK path, or parameters, for example, if you want to change the behavior of the JVM, you need to configure the runtime settings.
1. After you have uploaded a JMeter script to LoadRunner Enterprise and added it to a test, select the test in the test management tree and click Edit Test.
2. In the Groups and Workload view, select a Vuser group and click the Edit Runtime Settings button . The JMeter Runtime Settings dialog box opens.
3. In the JMeter Runtime Settings dialog box, select:
  - Use default JRE path to use the default JRE installation to run JMeter tests. LoadRunner Enterprise searches the path, the registry, and the Windows directory to locate the JRE to be used.
  - Custom JRE path to use a custom JRE installation. Enter the path to the JRE folder and any additional parameters to be passed to Java when the test starts in the Additional parameters box.
Run the test.

For details, see Manage a performance test run.

Data points from JMeter tests are displayed in the LoadRunner Enterprise graphs. For details, see View JMeter test results.

View JMeter test results

You can monitor JMeter test results using the following standard graphs:

Running Vusers
Transaction Response Time
Total Transaction per second (Passed)
Transactions per second (Passed)
HTTP Responses per second
Hits per Second
Throughput - Whole Load Test

For graph details, see Web resource monitor graphs, Runtime monitor graphs, and Transaction monitor graphs.

Notes and limitations

The following are notes and limitations when working with JMeter scripts in LoadRunner Enterprise:

LoadRunner Enterprise supports JMeter scripts that use Web HTTP requests only.
Network Virtualization is not supported for JMeter tests.