Setting-up JMeter in Master-Slave Mode

There is abundant material available on the net on setting up and using JMeter; but sometimes the sought bit of information gets lost amidst too much information. Hence, listing out the basic steps of setting up JMeter in master-slave mode.

• Have Java 1.6 or higher installed on your system
• Download Apache JMeter Download Link
• Just unzip the downloaded file and place it at two suitable locations, say C:/Software/Tools/JMeterRoot/Slave and C:/Software/Tools/JMeterRoot/Master (two locations because remember, we need two instances of JMeter one running in Master and the other in Slave mode)
•  Some other miscellaneous requirements can be found at the Apache Site 

Steps for setting up the Slave:

• Go to the 'bin' directory where JMeter is placed, say C:/Software/Tools/JMeterRoot/Slave/bin)
• Open the 'jmeter.properties' file (and update some properties)
• Choose a port number at which the Slave is to run locally, say 6000 and then set this as the port number by updating:  server.rmi.localport=6000
• Then pick another port number at which the Master would connect to the Slave, say 1664 and update the following two properties, server.rmi.port=1664 AND server_port=1664
• And update the 'rmi create' attribute to true, that is; server.rmi.create=true
• Next, pull up a console and go to this 'bin' directory and type 'jmeter-server.bat' (in case of a Windows System) or just 'jmeter-server' (in case of a *NIX System)

This  will bring up the JMeter console with an instance running as Slave.


Steps for setting up the Master:

• Go to the 'bin' directory where JMeter is placed, say C:/Software/Tools/JMeterRoot/Master/bin
• Open the 'jmeter.properties' file
• Modify the property 'remote_hosts' and add the <hostname>:<port number> of all the Slaves that were set-up above, that is, remote_hosts=202.202.202.202:1664
• Note: The port-number set in remote_hosts should be the same as the one set in server.rmi.port in the Slave(s)
• Next, again bring up a console and go to this 'bin' directory and type 'jmeter.bat' (in case of a Windows System) or just 'jmeter' (in case of a *NIX System)

This will bring up the JMeter GUI of the Master instance from which the Slaves can be made to run by either doing a:

• Run -> Remote Start -> Choosing the desired Slave OR
• Run -> Remote Start All

And that's it, different loads maybe set on each Slave from the Master GUI. :)