Using JMeter with Jenkins

There are big advantages to use JMeter and Jenkins together. Continuous Integration and Test Automation become standards on the DevOps world, but the performance levels and system complexity are increasing day by day.

Luckily, with Jenkins we can integrate all JMeter tests in our pipeline process and better understand the details of our applications.

Some of the main benefits of using JMeter with Jenkins are:

Unattended test execution for each system
Logs of build failures and recovery steps
Secure and easy access to test reports of each build
Automate routine work

The Apache JMeter

Apache JMeter may be used to test performance of static sites, dynamic sites, and complete web 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.

Jenkins Installation

The Jenkins docs already have a page to help us with the Jenkins installation process.. This guide uses the .jar installation. Visit the Guided tour page if you want to use it too. Both will give you the same results.

Install the performance plugin

In order to integrate JMeter with Jenkins, we will work with the Performance Plugin.

Follow these steps to install it:

From your Jenkins dashboard page go to: Manage Jenkins
Go to Manage Plugins page;
Click on the Available Tab and write 'performance' in the search field;
Mark the installation checkbox and press the button: "Install without restart"
If everything goes well you will receive this confirmation screen:

JMeter Installation

In order to Install JMeter follow these steps:

Go to Apache JMeter download page
Pick your download option based on your system: .zip for windows or .tgz to Linux (I’m on windows, so I get the .zip option)
Extract the downloaded file in your preferred location. (e.g.: c:\jmeter)
Now edit the file: <YOUR-JMETER-PATH>>\bin\user.properties; (e.g.: C:\jmeter\bin in my case)
Add this command to last line of file: jmeter.save.saveservice.output_format=xml, save and close the file edit;
That command will help us to integrate the JMeter output into Jenkins.
Now let’s create our JMeter test plan.

First JMeter Test Plan using a GUI

JMeter uses Test Plans to organize each test. Once configured Jenkins will call all test plans defined on a pipeline and then show the results inside the build reports. It means you need to set all Test plans on JMeter as a first step and then info to Jenkins which test it needs to call.

Follow these steps to create a Test Plan:

Run the file: <YOUR-JMETER-PATH>>\bin\jmeter.bat to open the JMeter GUI; (e.g.: C:\jmeter\bin\jmeter.bat in my case)
To Linux user will be the jmeter.sh

In a definitive installation you can set these commands to your path system or System variables
From JMeter GUI go to File menu and then pick the New option;
Fill a name to your test plan. (e.g.: Jenkins.io Test Plan )
Now on the left side, click with the right button on your test plan item, go through this path Add > Thread(users) > Thread Group, and select it.
Increase the Number of threads (users) to 5 at Thread Group and to 2 on the Loop Count;
Now on the left side, click with the right button on your Thread Group item, go though: Add > Sampler > Http Requester and select Http Requester option;
At Http Request, Fill: The Name of test, the Server Name, and the Path Context; (e.g: Installing; www.jenkins.io; and /doc/book/installing/ )
Repeat steps 6 and 7 more two times to different contexts/pages. (e.g.: www.jenkins.io/node)
Now our plan has 3 things to test.
To add a visual report click with the right button on your Thread Group item, go though: Add > Listener > View results in table and select View results in table option;
Now let’s save our test plan. Click on "disk icon", give a name a save with a .jmx extension (e.g.: jenkins.io.jml)
Now run the test and see the table results.

First JMeter Test Plan using terminal commands

Our test is working well in the graphical user interface, but in order to integrate it with Jenkins, it needs to run from the command line.

Follow these steps to test:

From the terminal run the command:

set OUT=jmeter.save.saveservice.output_format
set JMX=c:\jmeter\bin\jenkins.io.jmx
set JTL=c:\jmeter\reports\jenkins.io.report.jtl
c:\jmeter\bin\jmeter -j %OUT%=xml -n -t %JMX% -l %JTL%

If everything works well the report file will be create at indicated location by -l parameter:

Jenkins and JMeter running together

Now we have everything we need to execute JMeter from Jenkins. Follow these steps:

From Jenkins dashboard go to New Item;
Fill the item name (e.g.: JmeterTest), select freestyle project, then press OK;
Go to Build Environment tab, click on Add build step, and select the option: Execute Windows batch command
Now fill the field with same code we use to run JMeter at previous section:
Now go to Post-build Action tab, Click on Add post-build action then select Publish Performance test result report;

This option comes from the performance plugin if you can see it now please check the previous section and make sure you have installed the plugin.
Now Fill the source of our reports:
Now Save the project and then click on Build Now from jmeterTest page
After the job finish, go to the Console output view to see the execution details.
Console output view you can access the Performance Report and you will see the JMeter report data.

This page outlines how to use Apache JMeter with Jenkins. The instructions are intentionally simplified by running Apache JMeter on the Jenkins controller. Apache JMeter in a production Jenkins environment should be run on a Jenkins agent, not on the Jenkins controller. Learn more about Jenkins agents from the Using Jenkins agents page.

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