Everything About Test Plan in JMeter

What is Test Plan of JMeter

Test Plan of JMeter is the container that holds all the elements and configurations necessary to execute a performance test.

Where we can define blueprint for how the test will be conducted, including what to test, how to simulate the request in functionality testing and load in performance testing , and how to measure the performance.

Key Components of a JMeter Test Plan:

Thread Group: Defines the number of users (threads), the ramp-up period (time to start all users), and the loop count (number of iterations).
Samplers: Represent the actual requests that JMeter will send to the server. Common samplers include HTTP Requests, FTP Requests, JDBC Requests, etc.
Controllers: Used to control the flow of the test. These can be logic controllers like If Controllers, Loop Controllers, and Transaction Controllers.
Listeners: Collect and display the test results. Examples include View Results Tree, Summary Report, and Graph Results.
Timers: Introduce delays between requests to simulate real user interaction more accurately.
Assertions: Check if the responses received during the test meet the specified criteria. For example, a Response Assertion can be used to verify that a response contains a specific string.
Config Elements: Provide configuration details such as default values for requests (e.g., HTTP Request Defaults), User Defined Variables, or JDBC Connection Configuration.
Pre-processors and Post-processors: Allow you to modify the sampler or perform actions before or after a sampler is executed. For instance, a Regular Expression Extractor can be used as a Post-Processor to extract data from a server response.
Test Fragments: These are reusable parts of a test plan that can be called from multiple places within a test plan using a Module Controller.

Basic terms about Test Plan, Thread Group, Sampler to Request and Listener in JMeter

Here is the main steps to get familiar with basic JMeter with HTTP test

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Open JMeter and start by creating a new Test Plan.
Add a Thread Group to define the number of virtual users and how they should be simulated.
Add Samplers under the Thread Group to specify the actions that users will perform.
Add Listeners to collect and view results from the test execution.
Use Controllers to organize and control the flow of these actions.

1. Create and take the name of JMeter script file

When we save the test script of JMeter tool, the extension file is jmx file.
On the JMeter UI, we can take name of our JMeter test script, where we save all test script details.

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Save the test script as JMX file

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And JMeter enables us to open the existing JMeter file by open the test script function.

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2. Creating a new thread

We can create the Thread Group by

Right Click on Test Plan
Select Add
Select Threads (Users)
Select Thread Group

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We will have a thread group with detailed information as below:

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3. Add a simple sampler

We can create a simple sampler by

Right Click on your Thread Group
Select Add
Select Sampler
Select HTTP Request

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Take the name of HTTP samplers

We can name our http sampler how it enables us easier to remmember the purpose of samplers

Configure the essential information of a request:
https or http
Http request method
Server IP or Domain of SUT
Port of API
Path of API
Body of request. Depending on the types of data
- Params
- Body Data
- File upload

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For instance, we configure the body of request as JSON format

{
    "username": "kvxijst",
    "password": "+isJDYc04O",
    "firstname": "Kamron",
    "lastname": "Ondricka"
}

We configure the body request as below:

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4. Adding a Listener

Before we run the test script, we add a listener which taking the capture function of JMeter to help us debug and trace the request and response information. We follow these steps to add a listener in our test plan: