+ Title: Create and run a load test with Azure Load Testing with a JMeter script

+description: 'Learn how to load test a website with Azure Load Testing in the Azure portal by using an existing Apache JMeter script.'

+adobe-target: true

+# Load test a website with Azure Load Testing Preview in the Azure portal by using an existing JMeter script

+This article describes how to load test a web application with Azure Load Testing Preview from the Azure portal. You'll use an existing Apache JMeter script to configure the load test.

+After you complete this, you'll have a resource and load test that you can use for other tutorials.

+Learn more about the [key concepts for Azure Load Testing](./concept-load-testing-concepts.md).

+> [!IMPORTANT]

+> Azure Load Testing is currently in preview. For legal terms that apply to Azure features that are in beta, in preview, or otherwise not yet released into general availability, see the [Supplemental Terms of Use for Microsoft Azure Previews](https://azure.microsoft.com/support/legal/preview-supplemental-terms/).

+## Prerequisites

+- An Azure account with an active subscription. [Create an account for free](https://azure.microsoft.com/free/?WT.mc_id=A261C142F).

+- An Azure Load Testing resource. If you need to create an Azure Load Testing resource, see the quickstart [Create and run a load test](./quickstart-create-and-run-load-test.md).

+## Create an Apache JMeter script

+In this section, you'll create a sample Apache JMeter script that you'll use in the next section to load test a web endpoint. If you already have a script, you can skip to [Create a load test](#create-a-load-test).

+1. Create a *SampleTest.jmx* file on your local machine:

+ ```powershell

+ touch SampleTest.jmx

+ ```

+1. Open *SampleTest.jmx* in a text editor and paste the following code snippet in the file:

+ ```xml

+ <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

+ <jmeterTestPlan version="1.2" properties="5.0" jmeter="5.4.1">

+ <hashTree>

+ <TestPlan guiclass="TestPlanGui" testclass="TestPlan" testname="Azure Load Testing Quickstart" enabled="true">

+ <stringProp name="TestPlan.comments"></stringProp>

+ <boolProp name="TestPlan.functional_mode">false</boolProp>

+ <boolProp name="TestPlan.tearDown_on_shutdown">true</boolProp>

+ <boolProp name="TestPlan.serialize_threadgroups">false</boolProp>

+ <elementProp name="TestPlan.user_defined_variables" elementType="Arguments" guiclass="ArgumentsPanel" testclass="Arguments" testname="User Defined Variables" enabled="true">

+ <collectionProp name="Arguments.arguments"/>

+ </elementProp>

+ <stringProp name="TestPlan.user_define_classpath"></stringProp>

+ </TestPlan>

+ <hashTree>

+ <ThreadGroup guiclass="ThreadGroupGui" testclass="ThreadGroup" testname="Thread Group" enabled="true">

+ <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.on_sample_error">continue</stringProp>

+ <elementProp name="ThreadGroup.main_controller" elementType="LoopController" guiclass="LoopControlPanel" testclass="LoopController" testname="Loop Controller" enabled="true">

+ <boolProp name="LoopController.continue_forever">false</boolProp>

+ <intProp name="LoopController.loops">-1</intProp>

+ </elementProp>

+ <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.num_threads">5</stringProp>

+ <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.ramp_time">10</stringProp>

+ <boolProp name="ThreadGroup.scheduler">true</boolProp>

+ <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.duration">120</stringProp>

+ <stringProp name="ThreadGroup.delay">5</stringProp>

+ <boolProp name="ThreadGroup.same_user_on_next_iteration">true</boolProp>

+ </ThreadGroup>

+ <hashTree>

+ <HTTPSamplerProxy guiclass="HttpTestSampleGui" testclass="HTTPSamplerProxy" testname="Homepage" enabled="true">

+ <elementProp name="HTTPsampler.Arguments" elementType="Arguments" guiclass="HTTPArgumentsPanel" testclass="Arguments" testname="User Defined Variables" enabled="true">

+ <collectionProp name="Arguments.arguments"/>

+ </elementProp>

+ <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.domain">your-endpoint-url</stringProp>

+ <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.port"></stringProp>

+ <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.protocol"></stringProp>

+ <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.contentEncoding"></stringProp>

+ <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.path"></stringProp>

+ <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.method">GET</stringProp>

+ <boolProp name="HTTPSampler.follow_redirects">true</boolProp>

+ <boolProp name="HTTPSampler.auto_redirects">false</boolProp>

+ <boolProp name="HTTPSampler.use_keepalive">true</boolProp>

+ <boolProp name="HTTPSampler.DO_MULTIPART_POST">false</boolProp>

+ <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.embedded_url_re"></stringProp>

+ <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.connect_timeout"></stringProp>

+ <stringProp name="HTTPSampler.response_timeout"></stringProp>

+ </HTTPSamplerProxy>

+ <hashTree/>

+ </hashTree>

+ </hashTree>

+ </hashTree>

+ </jmeterTestPlan>

+ ```

+ This sample Apache JMeter script simulates a load test of five virtual users simultaneously accessing a web endpoint. It takes less than two minutes to complete.

+1. In the file, replace the placeholder text `your-endpoint-url` with your own endpoint URL.

+ > [!IMPORTANT]

+ > Don't include `https` or `http` in the endpoint URL.

+1. Save and close the file.

+## Create a load test

+With Azure Load Testing, you can use an Apache JMeter script to create a load test. This script defines the application test plan. It contains information about the web endpoint, the number of virtual users, and other test configuration settings.

+To create a load test by using an existing Apache JMeter script:

+1. Go to your Azure Load Testing resource, select **Tests** from the left pane, and then select **+ Create new test**.

+ :::image type="content" source="./media/how-to-create-and-run-load-test-with-jmeter-script/create-new-test.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows the Azure Load Testing page and the button for creating a new test." :::

+

+1. On the **Basics** tab, enter the **Test name** and **Test description** information. Optionally, you can select the **Run test after creation** checkbox.

+ :::image type="content" source="./media/how-to-create-and-run-load-test-with-jmeter-script/create-new-test-basics.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows the Basics tab for creating a test." :::

+1. On the **Test plan** tab, select your Apache JMeter script, and then select **Upload** to upload the file to Azure.

+ :::image type="content" source="./media/how-to-create-and-run-load-test-with-jmeter-script/create-new-test-test-plan.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows the Test plan tab." :::

+

+ > [!NOTE]

+ > You can select and upload additional Apache JMeter configuration files or other files that are referenced in the JMX file. For example, if your test script uses CSV data sets, you can upload the corresponding *.csv* file(s).

+1. (Optional) On the **Parameters** tab, configure input parameters for your Apache JMeter script.

+1. For this quickstart, you can leave the default value on the **Load** tab:

+ |Field |Default value |Description |

+ ||||

+ |**Engine instances** |**1** |The number of parallel test engines that run the Apache JMeter script. |

+

+ :::image type="content" source="./media/how-to-create-and-run-load-test-with-jmeter-script/create-new-test-load.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows the Load tab for creating a test." :::

+1. (Optional) On the **Test criteria** tab, configure criteria to determine when your load test should fail.

+1. (Optional) On the **Monitoring** tab, you can specify the Azure application components to capture server-side metrics for. For this quickstart, you're not testing an Azure-hosted application.

+1. Select **Review + create**. Review all settings, and then select **Create** to create the load test.

+ :::image type="content" source="./media/how-to-create-and-run-load-test-with-jmeter-script/create-new-test-review.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows the tab for reviewing and creating a test." :::

+> [!NOTE]

+> You can update the test configuration at any time, for example to upload a different JMX file. Choose your test in the list of tests, and then select **Edit**.

+## Run the load test

+In this section, you'll run the load test that you just created.

+1. Go to your Load Testing resource, select **Tests** from the left pane, and then select the test that you created.

+ :::image type="content" source="./media/how-to-create-and-run-load-test-with-jmeter-script/tests.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows the list of load tests." :::

+1. On the test details page, select **Run** or **Run test**. Then, select **Run** on the **Run test** confirmation pane to start the load test.

+ :::image type="content" source="./media/how-to-create-and-run-load-test-with-jmeter-script/run-test-confirm.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows the run confirmation page." :::

+ > [!TIP]

+ > You can stop a load test at any time from the Azure portal.

+## Next steps

+- To learn how to export test results, see [Export test results](./how-to-export-test-results.md).

+- To learn how to monitor server side metrics, see [Monitor server side metrics](./how-to-monitor-server-side-metrics.md).

+Once the resource is created in the target location, you can create new tests by following the steps mentioned [here](how-to-create-and-run-load-test-with-jmeter-script.md#create-a-load-test).

+description: 'Azure Load Testing is a fully managed load-testing service for generating high-scale loads and identifying performance bottlenecks. Quickly create a load test based on a URL or by using existing JMeter scripts.'

+Quickly [create a load test for your web application by using a URL](./quickstart-create-and-run-load-test.md), and without prior knowledge of testing tools. Azure Load Testing abstracts the complexity and infrastructure to run your load test at scale.

+For more advanced load testing scenarios, you can [create a load test by reusing an existing Apache JMeter test script](how-to-create-and-run-load-test-with-jmeter-script.md), a popular open-source load and performance tool. For example, your test plan might consist of multiple application requests, or uses input data and parameters to make the test more dynamic.

+Azure Load Testing test engines abstract the required infrastructure for [running a high-scale load test](./how-to-high-scale-load.md). The test engines run the Apache JMeter script to simulate a large number of virtual users simultaneously accessing your application endpoints. When you create a load test based on a URL, Azure Load Testing automatically generates a JMeter test script for you. To scale out the load test, you can configure the number of test engines.

+- [Quickstart: Load test an existing web application](./quickstart-create-and-run-load-test.md).

+- [Tutorial: Use a load test to identify performance bottlenecks](./tutorial-identify-bottlenecks-azure-portal.md).

+- [Tutorial: Set up automated load testing](./tutorial-cicd-azure-pipelines.md).

+This quickstart describes how to load test a web application with Azure Load Testing Preview from the Azure portal without prior knowledge about load testing tools. You'll first create an Azure Load Testing resource, and then create a load test by using the web application URL.

+After you complete this quickstart, you'll have a resource and load test that you can use for other tutorials.

+If you already have a Load Testing resource, skip this section and continue to [Create a load test](#create-a-load-test).

+## Create a load test

+Azure Load Testing enables you to quickly create a load test from the Azure portal. You'll specify the web application URL and the basic load testing parameters. Azure Load Testing abstracts the complexity of creating the load test script and provisioning the compute infrastructure.

+1. Go to the **Overview** page of your Azure Load Testing resource.

+1. On the **Get started** tab, select **Quick test**.

+ :::image type="content" source="media/quickstart-create-and-run-load-test/quick-test-resource-overview.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows the quick test button on the resource overview page.":::

+1. On the **Quickstart test** page, enter the **Test URL**.

+ Enter the complete URL that you would like to run the test for. For example, https://www.example.com/login.

+1. (Optional) Update the **Number of virtual users** to the total number of virtual users.

+ The maximum allowed value is 11250. If the number of virtual users exceeds the maximum of 250 per test engine instance, Azure Load Testing provisions multiple test engines and distributes the load evenly. For example, 300 virtual users will result in 2 test engines with 150 virtual users each.

+1. (Optional) Update the **Test duration** and **Ramp up time** for the test.

+1. Select **Run test** to create and start the load test.

+ :::image type="content" source="media/quickstart-create-and-run-load-test/quickstart-test.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows quickstart test page.":::

+> [!NOTE]

+> Azure Load Testing auto-generates an Apache JMeter script for your load test.

+> You can download the JMeter script from the test run dashboard. Select **Download**, and then select **Input file**. To run the script, you have to provide environment variables to configure the URL and test parameters.```

+## View the test results

+Once the load test starts, you will be redirected to the test run dashboard. While the load test is running, Azure Load Testing captures both client-side metrics and server-side metrics. In this section, you'll use the dashboard to monitor the client-side metrics.

+1. On the test run dashboard, you can see the streaming client-side metrics while the test is running. By default, the data refreshes every five seconds.

+ :::image type="content" source="./media/quickstart-create-and-run-load-test/test-run-aggregated-by-percentile.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows results of the load test.":::

+ :::image type="content" source="./media/quickstart-create-and-run-load-test/test-result-filters.png" alt-text="Screenshot that shows the filter criteria for the results of a load test.":::

+## Modify load test parameters

+You can modify the load test configuration at any time. For example, [define test failure criteria](how-to-define-test-criteria.md) or [monitor server-side metrics for Azure-hosted applications](how-to-monitor-server-side-metrics.md).

+1. In the [Azure portal](https://portal.azure.com/), go to your Azure Load Testing resource.

+1. On the left pane, select **Tests** to view the list of load tests, and then select your test.

+1. Select **Edit** to modify the load test configuration.

+The generated load test uses environment variables to specify the initial configuration:

+ - domain: Domain name of the web server (for example, www.example.com). Don't include the `http://` prefix.

+

+ - protocol: HTTP or HTTPS

+ - path: The path to the resource (for example, /servlets/myServlet).

+ - threads_per_engine: The number of virtual users per engine instance. It is recommended to set this to maximum 250. If you need more virtual users, increase the number of test engines for the test. For more information, see [how to configure for high scale](how-to-high-scale-load.md).

+ - duration_in_sec: Test duration in seconds

+ - ramp_up_time: Ramp up time in seconds for the test to reach the total number of virtual users.