JMeter never fails

0
votes

I'm trying to stress test a server with JMeter. I followed the manual and successfully created the tests (Test are running ok and response is correct).

However even if I keep increasing the number of threads it never fails, but I keep reading that there must be limitations? So what am I doing wrong?

My CPU is running on +/-5% when I'm not running JMeter. Running 3000 threads I see the number of threads increase by 3000 and CPU usage goes to +/-15%. Also JMeter never complains something went wrong.

My JMeter configuration is:
Number of threads: 3000
Ramp-Up Period: 30
LoopCount: Forever (Let it run for over an hour and still nothing goes wrong)

The bottleneck now is my internet connection which simply can't handle this load and maxes out at 2.1Mbps. Is this causing the problem? It is increasing my latency from 10ms per thread to over 5000ms per thread, but threads are still running.

1
multithreadingjmeter

1 Answers

0
votes

Assuming you have confirmed that you definitely aren't getting back any errors (e.g. using a results table listener, or logging/displaying only errors using a results graph listener) and your internet connection is running at capacity then yes, it does sound like your internet connection is the bottleneck. It doesn't sound like your server is being stressed at all.

If you can easily make use of other machines (e.g. servers in the same location as the server you are testing), you could try using JMeter remote (distributed) testing to sidestep the limitations of your internet connection. See http://jmeter.apache.org/usermanual/remote-test.html for details.

Alternatively, if it's easy (e.g. if you're using VM's in a cloud and can easily spin one up with your software on), you could try using the least-powerful server you can instead and stress testing that to see if you can make it struggle even with your internet connection (just as a sanity check).

If this doesn't help, more details on your server (hardware specifications, web server software and thread pool settings, language) and the site/pages you are testing (mostly static or dynamic? large requests/responses?) would be useful. I've certainly managed to make lower-powered machines (e.g. EC2 m1.small) struggle using JMeter over a 2Mbps connection, but it depends on the site you're testing.