Apache JMeter is a Java-based performance testing tool and multi-protocol traffic simulator used to analyze the stability and scalability of servers and networks. It functions as a distributed load testing framework that coordinates remote worker nodes from a single controller to generate high volumes of concurrent traffic.
The project is distinguished by its ability to simulate traffic across diverse backend systems, including HTTP, JDBC, LDAP, JMS, FTP, and TCP. It provides a headless command-line interface for automated execution and a reporting system that transforms raw sample logs into analytical dashboards featuring APDEX scores and response time percentiles.
The framework covers a broad set of capabilities for test engineering, including browser traffic recording, data parameterization via external files, and response validation. It includes utilities for data extraction using JSONPath, XPath, and regular expressions, as well as traffic management tools for throughput throttling and connection emulation.
Extensibility is supported through a plugin-based architecture that allows for the development of custom samplers, GUI components, and the integration of custom Java code or scripting languages.
