Performing a simple load test on WSO2 ESB proxy using Apache Jmeter

In this post I'm  explaining how you could perform a simple load test on a WSO2 ESB proxy or any Web service using Apache Jmeter which is a free and very easy to use tool. Also, please note that this post describes only how to setup a very basic test case and it's intended audience is people who has no experience in Jmeter (I'm not an expert too).

In this example I will described how you can create a test plan where you do a simple load test by sending same message over and over again to a ESB proxy or a web service.

Bear minimum required to perform a test

After launching Jmeter the following screen will appear. On the left pane you will see an icon named “Test Plan”.

• Right click on “Test plan” → Select “Add” → Select “Threads (Users)” → Select “Thread Group”. Here you can configure the number of threads that you going to use for the test. The number of threads are analogues to number of simulated users. Also you can specify the Loop Count or number of requests sent by each thread. This where you decide on the load that you going to use for the test
• Therefore, if you set “Number of Threads (users)” = 5 and “Loop Count” = 100. The test will send 5 * 100 = 500 requests to the web service.

• Now we have to set the SOAP request that's going to be used in the test. For this example we will be sending the same hard coded request over and over again. To add the request right click on the “Thread Group” → Select “Add” → Select “Sampler” → Select “SOAP/XML-RPC Request”

Above two  are the basic steps you need carry out to perform a test using Jmeter for a SOAP service. Now if you click "Start", JMeter will send the specified number of requests to the proxy or the web service. In addition to above, below I have described couple of JMeter components that may also be useful when building a real world test plan.

Setting HTTP headers

Let's say the proxy service you are trying to test is secured, so that you need to send the “Authorization” header. For fulfilling this requirement you have to use the “HTTP Header Manager”. To add a HTTP header manager right click on the “SOAP/XML-RPC Request” → select “Config Element” → select “HTTP Header Manager” . In this component you can set the headers as required.

Viewing and testing responses

You can add listeners to see the responses form the service. To add a Listener, right click on the “SOAP/XML-RPC Request” → Select “Listener” and from there you can select various types of listeners. Following is a screen shot of “View Result Tree” Listener which is a very primitive but still a very useful listner.

From this listener you can view the request and response payloads for each message along with the status of the message.

In order to validate the response coming from the service you can use “Assertion”. In an assertion you can set various validations on the response. Following is a “Response Assertion” where I'am testing if the “Text” elements in the response “Contains” the text “IBM”.

If a certain response does not meet the condition in Assertion, in the “Listener” the response status will be marked as "error" with a red exclamation mark. To add an “Assertion” right click on the “SOAP/XML-RPC Request” → Select “Assertion” and from here select the type of assertion you want.