Testing your application's performance is important and part of any development process several tools have automated the process and give feedback to a team quickly allowing business and strategic decisions to be planned for and executed. Using this tool on large applications is a must, JMeter is something that should be added to a company's diagnosis toolchain. What is discussed below is how we came to that conclusion.
Firstly, JMeter is an open-source performance and load-testing application that measures the performance of web applications. It simulates a large number of concurrent users to help identify bottlenecks and improve performance for the user. Amazing enough it can test an extensive range of endpoints.
Apache JMeter may be used to test performance both on static and dynamic resources, Web dynamic applications. It can be used to simulate a heavy load on a server, group of servers, network or object to test its strength or to analyze overall performance under different load types.
Before implementing this into our toolchain and integrating this assessment solution into our process the team using JMeter needed us to complete discovery planning and research and development which took some time. The points below are what we used to facilitate a result:
- The documentation to the software https://jmeter.apache.org/usermanual/get-started.html
- Reading the book Master Apache JMeter - From Load Testing to DevOps: Master performance testing with JMeter
- Identify the functionalities of your application that you want to test and create a test plan in JMeter.
- Add the components of your application that you want to test, such as HTTP Requests, Thread Groups, and Listeners.
Once all the planning is completed and tests have been created the question that everyone wants to know is should test the applications from my laptop? It's generally recommended to run JMeter from a server or a dedicated machine, rather than from a laptop, for several reasons:
- JMeter can consume a significant amount of resources, such as CPU, memory, and network bandwidth, to run load tests. A laptop may not have enough resources to handle the load, which can result in slow test execution or errors.
- JMeter can simulate a large number of users and generate a lot of traffic, which can be challenging for a laptop to handle. A dedicated machine or server can provide more resources and scalability for load testing.
- JMeter can be used to test security vulnerabilities in web applications, which may require additional security measures, such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems, to protect the test environment. A laptop may not have these security measures in place, which can increase the risk of security breaches.
That being said, if you only need to run a small test or if you don't have access to a dedicated machine or server, running JMeter from your laptop is still possible. However, keep in mind the limitations of your laptop's resources and take appropriate precautions to ensure the test runs smoothly and securely.
We are excited about the immense potential for valuable insights that this tool has provided us when testing the online applications that we actively support. When security and performance are a must on the Internet anything that can assist a team to understand potential flaws is a must.