Build JMeter Test Plan

A Test plan will be the first which is present when you open JMeter, it considered as a root node that has potentially many levels of additional elements/nodes that forms a hierarchy, which JMeter executes when we run test plan. A Test Plan can be viewed as a container for running tests.

A test plan can consist of one or more elements like Thread Groups, Logic Controllers, Configuration Elements, Timers, Listeners and Assertions. A test plan must have at least one thread group.

Let's start building a Test plan by following these simple steps:

Step to Launch the JMeter window.

Go to your JMeter bin folder( apache-jmeter-5.3/bin/ ) and double click on ApacheJMeter.jar file.
Or
Go to your JMeter bin folder( apache-jmeter-5.3/bin/ ) and run command "./jmeter.sh or ./jmeter"

Now, you can see the following JMeter GUI after a short break.

Rename your test plan
User Defined Variables provides flexibility when you have to repeat any value in several parts of the test plan. You will be able to change the value from a single point, and it will reflect everywhere.
Optional – or you can use according to your needs
WorkBench is used to store test elements temporary for copy/paste. It is also used for Non-Test Elements like HTTP(S) Test Script Recorder, HTTP Mirror Server and Property Display. If you need to save it along with the test plan, then you should select the option “Save WorkBench” from WorkBench control panel.

After renaming test plan and defining variable, JMeter will look like as follows:

New test plan name is reflect on left side
E.g. Variable name is set to “SITE”
E.g. Variable value is set to URL (without http://): “google.com”
Now, this variable can be used in any part of the test plan elements like this ${PATH}

Add and Remove Test Plan Elements

Steps to Add Elements to JMeter Test Plan

Select the test plan node and right click on the selected item.
Mouse hover on "Add" option, then elements list will be displayed.
Mouse hover on desired list element, and select the desired option by clicking.
The following image shows how to add a thread group element in a test plan:

After adding Thread Group element, you can rename the Thread Group also the same way who you did it for Test Plan. You can see the following screen:

Steps to Remove Elements from JMeter Test Plan

When you add number of Elements to Test Plan, you may like to remove one which is not required any more. That can be done by following the below steps:

Select the desired element
Right click on the element
Choose the “Remove” option
The following image shows how to remove a thread group element in a test plan:

Click "Yes" on the confirmation pop-up of remove element.

Load and Save JMeter Test Plan Elements

Steps to Load Elements to JMeter Test Plan Tree

Select and right click on any Tree Element, in which you want to add the loaded element
Select “Merge” option
Choose the .jmx file where you saved the elements
Elements will be Merged into the tree
Don’t forget to Save test plan / element

Steps to Load Elements to JMeter Test Plan Tree

Select and Right click on the element
Choose “Save Selection As” option
Save file on desired location
JMeter will save the element, and all the child elements beneath it.

Steps to Configure Tree Elements

Elements can be configured by using controls present on JMeter’s right hand side frame. The controls allow us to configure behaviour of the selected element. The configuration varies from element to element.

E.g. Thread Group can be configured for Number of Threads, Ramp-Up Period, and Scheduler etc., as shown below:

JMeter Actions on Test Plan

Till now we are done with Creating a Test Plan, Adding a Element and Configuring a Tree. Let’s just move forward with different operations on Test Plan like Save, Run & Stop.

Steps to Save JMeter Test Plan

It’s always better to Save Test Plan before executing it. Test Plan can be saved by choosing “Save” or “Save Test Plan As” from File menu.

Note: WorkBench will not be saved along with the Test Plan, you should select the option “Save WorkBench” from WorkBench control panel otherwise your WorkBench data will be lost.

Steps to Run JMeter Test Plan

Test plan can be run from the “Run” menu item or by clicking Green Play button.

Green button shows that test plan is running.
Number of active threads / Total number of threads.
Stop button is enabled when test plan is running.

Steps to Stop to JMeter Test Plan

Stop (Control + ‘.’) It stops the threads immediately if possible. Many samplers are interruptible so active samples can be terminated early.
Shutdown (Control + ‘,’) It requests the threads to stop at the end of any ongoing task. It will not interrupt any active samples.

Steps to Check JMeter Test Plan Execution Logs

JMeter stores test run details, warnings and errors to the jmeter.log file by default, you can access Jmeter logs for debugging purpose.

It shows the total number of errors in log
Click yellow triangle button to view log panel
Logs are displaying in log panel

Build JMeter Test Plan