JMeter for Load Testing

JMeter released a 2.4 version a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to download the tool.  So far, I love it!  Here is why:

1. Apache JMeter is simple and there is very little barrier to starting up a simple load test from your desktop.  Perfect for my development load tests.
2. It is free and licensed under Apache.
3. JMeter runs on the JVM, so the tool is multi-platform.
4. JMeter allows testing of the following server types...
   
   Web - HTTP, HTTPS
   SOAP
   Database via JDBC
   LDAP
   JMS
   Mail - POP3(S) and IMAP(S)
   
   
5. In JMeter, you can configure the number of thread groups for both sending requests and sampling initiated during tests.
6. The results can be dumped into CSV format for graphing via Excel or some other spreadsheet.  JMeter also contains plugins, several of which will generate jpg graphs that can be copied into documentation.
7. You can record manual web click interactions to create HTTP tests.  These interactions can be saved as a test case and run later during load testing.
8. Supports JUnit testing too!
9. JMeter can be distributed in a cluster for simulating requests from multisite locations.

There are many comprehensive suites of test tools available: JRunner, Selenium, etc. However, for quick turnaround in a development environment JMeter cannot be beat.  It is easy and it is simple to show others how to run the tool with very little training.