Running JMeter in Non-GUI Mode

JMeter Non-GUI mode is recommended for performance testing as it consumes less memory and runs faster than GUI mode. JMeter Non-GUI Mode is also called as command-line mode. Follow the below steps to run JMeter using command line in Non-GUI mode.

Open command prompt

Navigate to JMeter’s bin directory

Enter the following jmeter command

/> jmeter -n –t testScript.jmx -l results.jtl

JMeter Command-line Parameters:

The jmeter parameters are as follows:

-n →  This specifies JMeter to run in non-gui mode
-t →  The name of JMX file which contains the Test Plan [ex: testScript.jmx]
-l →  This specifies JMeter to log results.
-j →  Name of JMeter run log file (JMeter text logs) to log results.

Example:

/> jmeter -n -t C:\JMeter\scripts\load_test.jmx -l C:\JMeter\results\output.jtl

Remote execution

The below options are used for JMeter tests when using through a firewall/proxy server.

-r →  Run the test in the servers specified by the JMeter property “remote_hosts”
-R →  list of remote servers
-H →  proxy server hostname or ip address
-P →  proxy server port
-u →  username for proxy authentication – when required
-a→  password for proxy authentication – when required

Example command to specify the firewall/proxy server hostname and port number information

/> jmeter -n -t testScript.jmx -l testLog.jtl -H test.proxy.server -P 8000

Example command with username/password:

/> jmeter -H test.proxy.server -P 8000 -u username -a password -N localhost

Proxy Settings can also be defined in a Test Plan, using the HTTP Request Defaults configuration or bu using HTTP Request sampler elements.

Generating an HTML Report

After running the test, generate an HTML report using:

/> jmeter -g results.jtl -o report_folder

Advantages of Non-GUI Mode

Some of the advantages of this mode are as follows:

• Consumes less CPU and memory.
• Faster execution of test plans.
• Ideal for CI/CD pipelines and automated performance testing.

• Always test your script in GUI mode before running it in Non-GUI mode.
• Use listeners like Summary Report in Non-GUI mode to analyze results.