--- title: JMeter Plugins Installation Guide url: https://blog.octoperf.com/jmeter-plugins-installation-guide/ date: '2018-04-04' authors: - jloisel categories: - JMeter tags: - JMeter - Plugins - Dummy description: Need help to setup JMeter Plugins? No worries! Learn how to install JMeter Plugins Manager with detailed screenshots and explanations. --- # JMeter Plugins Installation Guide Struggling with JMeter Plugins setup? Need some help? Good news: you're in good hands. Let's guide you through the steps to install and manage [JMeter Plugins](https://jmeter-plugins.org/) on top of your [JMeter](https://jmeter.apache.org/). If you don't have JMeter already, please [Download and Install JMeter](https://jmeter.apache.org/download_jmeter.cgi) first. This tutorial fully covers the following points: - Download and install **JMeter Plugins Manager**, - Install, Upgrade and Remove JMeter Plugins through JMeter UI, - and **Which JMeter Plugins you should use**. Pretty interesting, isn't it? ## Why Use JMeter Plugins Why install JMeter Plugins? Because they **greatly increase JMeter capabilities**. All those plugins are free and [open-source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_model). ![JMeter-Plugins.org](https://blog.octoperf.com/img/blog/jmeter-plugins-installation/jmeter-plugins-website.png "JMeter Plugins Official Website") The complete [JMeter Plugins source code](https://github.com/undera/jmeter-plugins) is available on GitHub. These plugins are developed and maintained by [Andrey Pokhilko](https://github.com/undera) who currently works for [CA Technologies](https://www.ca.com). ## Download Plugins Manager First, we need to setup **JMeter Plugins Manager**. It's a very small application which embeds inside JMeter to: - **Install New Plugins**, - **Upgrade Existing Plugins**, - and **Remove Existing Plugins**. > **NOTE**: the plugins manager requires an internet connection to work properly. It connects to [jmeter-plugins.org](https://jmeter-plugins.org) and downloads files from there. Let's download it from [JMeter Plugins](https://jmeter-plugins.org/install/Install/) website. ![JMeter-Plugins.org](https://blog.octoperf.com/img/blog/jmeter-plugins-installation/jmeter-plugins-org.png "Downloading JMeter Plugins Manager") Click on `plugins-manager.jar`. It should download a small [JAR file](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAR_(file_format)) (less than `1MB`). ## Copy Plugins Manager Now, let's copy the **JMeter Plugins Manager** into our JMeter installation folder. Copy the downloaded JAR file into `JMETER_HOME/lib/ext`. `JMETER_HOME` is the folder where JMeter is installed (Example: `/home/ubuntu/apache-jmeter-4.0`). ![Copy JMeter-Plugins Manager](https://blog.octoperf.com/img/blog/jmeter-plugins-installation/copy-plugins-manager.png "Copy JMeter Plugins Manager") In my case, JMeter is located in `Home > apache-jmeter-4.0`. I'm using [Ubuntu Operating System](https://www.ubuntu.com/desktop), but the operation is very similar under [Windows](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/). ## Restart JMeter Now that we have installed the **JMeter Plugins Manager**, let's start JMeter. ![Copy JMeter-Plugins Manager](https://blog.octoperf.com/img/blog/jmeter-plugins-installation/start-jmeter-console.png "Under Ubuntu, we launch JMeter through the Terminal") If you are under Windows, simply launch `JMETER_HOME/bin/jmeter.bat`. JMeter's UI should appears within seconds. ## Start Plugins Manager Great! We have successfully patched our JMeter install with the plugins manager JAR. ![JMeter-Plugins Manager](https://blog.octoperf.com/img/blog/jmeter-plugins-installation/jmeter-plugins-manager.png "JMeter Plugins Manager UI within JMeter") Click in top menu `Options > Plugins Manager`. JMeter's plugin manager UI should appear: - **Installed Plugins**: shows the plugins which are already installed, - **Available Plugins**: shows the plugins which can be installed, - **Upgrades**: upgrade existing plugins if a new version is available. ## Install a Plugin Suppose you want to install the [Dummy Sampler Plugin](https://jmeter-plugins.org/wiki/DummySampler/). Launch the plugins manager, then: - Click on **Available Plugins Tab**, - Enter `dummy` within the text field, - Check `Dummy Sampler`, - Click on the `Apply Changes and Restart JMeter` button in bottom right corner. ![Dummy Sampler Plugin Installation](https://blog.octoperf.com/img/blog/jmeter-plugins-installation/dummy-sampler-installation.png "Dummy Sampler Plugin Installation") It should download the plugin, install it within the `JMETER_HOME/lib/ext` folder and restart JMeter. The **dummy sampler** should now be available within any [Thread Group](https://jmeter.apache.org/usermanual/component_reference.html#Thread_Group). Right click on the thread group, then select `Add > Sampler > Dummy Sampler`. ![Dummy Sampler Plugin Installed](https://blog.octoperf.com/img/blog/jmeter-plugins-installation/dummy-sampler-installed.png "Dummy Sampler Plugin Successfully Installed") Congratulations! You've just installed your first JMeter plugin. ## Upgrade a Plugin JMeter Plugins are **regularly updated**. It's worth to launch the JMeter Plugins Manager once in a while just to make sure you use the latest plugin versions. When clicking on `Options` in top JMeter menu, you should see `Plugins Manager (has upgrades)` instead of just `Plugins Manager`. In the following case, we need to **upgrade dummy sampler plugin** from version `0.1` to `0.2`. ![Dummy Sampler Plugin Upgrade](https://blog.octoperf.com/img/blog/jmeter-plugins-installation/dummy-sampler-upgrade.png "Dummy Sampler Plugin Upgrade Panel") The UI tells us it will: - Uninstall `Dummy Sampler 0.1`, - then Install `Dummy Sampler 0.2`. Click on `Apply Changes and Restart JMeter` to upgrade the selected plugins. JMeter should restart. ## Uninstall a Plugin Uninstalling a JMeter plugin is pretty straight forward: - Launch JMeter Plugins Manager, - On **Installed Plugins** panel, uncheck the plugin you want to uninstall. Click on `Apply Changes and Restart JMeter` to apply the changes. JMeter should restart and the plugin should be removed. ![Dummy Sampler Plugin Uninstallation](https://blog.octoperf.com/img/blog/jmeter-plugins-installation/dummy-sampler-uninstallation.png "Dummy Sampler Uninstallation") ## Auto-Install Plugins Another interesting feature the JMeter Plugins Manager provides is **plugins auto-installation** when opening a **JMX project**. ![Dummy Sampler Plugin Auto Install](https://blog.octoperf.com/img/blog/jmeter-plugins-installation/jmeter-plugins-auto-install.png "JMeter Plugins Auto-Install") When you open a **JMX which requires JMeter plugins** not currently installed, a popup should appear and: - **List Required Plugins**, - **Shows Changes**: show the files which will be downloaded and installed. By clicking on `Yes, install it`, the plugins manager will install the required plugins and restart JMeter. Once restarted, your JMX should open without any issue. > **NOTE**: plugins required but not available on `jmeter-plugins.org` cannot be auto-installed. Example: plugins you created yourself. ## Plugins Usage ![JMeter Plugins Usage](https://blog.octoperf.com/img/blog/jmeter-plugins-installation/jmeter-plugins-usage.png "JMeter Plugins Usage") Thanks to [JMeter Plugins Stats](https://jmeter-plugins.org/stats/), we have some interesting information: - **Operating System**: most users have Windows (38%), closely followed by Linux (31%) and MacOS (9%), - **JMeter Version**: as of March 2018, JMeter `3.3` still dominates the market with 37% shares, followed by JMeter `4` with 23%. JMeter 4 was released 10th February, 2018. It's pretty surprising to see that many users are **running JMeter under Linux**. JMeter on [Docker](https://docker.com) is also not very common with only 0.3% market shares. But, it may be explained because plugins are rarely installed on JMeter Docker Images. ## Best JMeter Plugins Now that you know how to install plugins on top of JMeter, let's review some of the **most used JMeter plugins** available: - [Concurrency Thread Groups](https://jmeter-plugins.org/wiki/ConcurrencyThreadGroup/): Provides highly configurable thread groups. Simulate much more realitic workloads, - [Perfmon](https://jmeter-plugins.org/wiki/PerfMon/): the perfect add-on to monitor the servers you are slamming with JMeter. Supports both Windows and Linux monitoring (CPU, Memory, Disk), - [Dummy Sampler](https://jmeter-plugins.org/wiki/DummySampler/): Pretty useful to simulate requests with a specific response, and test extractors on those responses, - [Custom Jmeter Functions](https://jmeter-plugins.org/wiki/Functions/): provides 15+ new [JMeter functions](https://jmeter.apache.org/usermanual/functions.html) in addition to the built-in ones. `MD5` and `base64` are my favorites ones, - [Throughput Shaping Timer](https://jmeter-plugins.org/wiki/ThroughputShapingTimer/): Easily simulate users with specific RPS (Requests Per Second) throughput. Define load by number of requests per second instead of concurrent users, - [Flexible File Writer](https://jmeter-plugins.org/wiki/FlexibleFileWriter/): Makes it much easier to write test results in a user-friendly format. You can browse the [complete JMeter Plugins list](https://jmeter-plugins.org/) on the official website for more information. All those plugins provide a **huge boost to JMeter capabilities**. By using them you can greatly improve your productivity! *And you, which plugins are your favorite ones? Which plugins do you use the most?*