External references

Related Software Projects

grinder-groovy		Alternative script engine for The Grinder: write your test scripts in Groovy.
Grinder maven plugin		A Maven Plugin for The Grinder, with Grinder Analyzer integration. The plugin allows you to run The Grinder from a Maven build, and analyse the results.
nGrinder		A web based testing framework built on top of The Grinder. The demo video is particularly slick.
Grinder Webtest		This custom module allows execution of Visual Studio webtest files. It supports parameterization, capturing of variables in HTTP responses, and response validation using regular expressions. Test scripts may be logically grouped into test sets, allowing them to share variables and captured values. Test sets can be run sequentially, randomly, in a specific thread, or according to a percentage-based weighting. A correlating test runner is also provided, making it easier for you to find and capture values in your HTTP responses. We have successfully used this module to run load tests of more than 300 virtual users, with a scenario involving 21 different webtest scripts recorded in Fiddler.
HTTP Quality Assurance Toolkit		HTTP functional and non-functional (load and performance) toolkit based on jython/grinder (http://grinder.sf.net) ...includes capabilities to support: SOA services, REST, json/xml encoding, AES and WS security ... and a stub to collect requests.
The Grinder Agent Installer		The Grinder Agent Installer is useful when you want to execute load tests in a heterogeneous context, and to simulate real users accessing the target application through a firewall, 3G, VPN, direct (router) and from different locales, where you haven't access to all this computers for run the agent. It provides an installer any user can install and execute with only click next and provisioning some data in a graphic environment. You only have to wait the connections in the console.
Grinder In The Cloud		Grinder in the Cloud leverages the well known Grinder load test framework by putting it in the cloud. It offers an easy to use load test framework with virtually unlimited firepower at a competitive price. This Windows based AMI starts the Grinder console. It starts Grinder agent AMIs to generate the load. The Agents automatically connect to the console. Built by Jörg Kalsbach.
Grinder Plugin for Hudson		This plug-in reads output result files from performance tests run with The Grinder, and will generate reports showing test results for every build and trend reports showing performance results across builds.
Ground Report		The Ground Report is a collection of reporting utilities specific to The Grinder test tool. The tools consist of a reporting database and graphing & report utilities based upon jyplot, jFreechart and DocBook written in Jython.
Grinder Analyzer		Grinder Analyzer is a tool that parses log data from The Grinder and generates client-side performance graphs. These graphs include response time, transactions per second, and network bandwidth used. Like The Grinder itself, Grinder Analyzer uses Jython, and the excellent JFreechart graphing library.
webFlange		webFlange is a continuous load testing web application written in Java. It leverages The Grinder for running tests, automatically creates reports and allows the creation of charts from the test results.
GrinderStone		GrinderStone is an Eclipse plug-in for Grinder load testing scripts development (debugger for scripts is included).

Articles

The Agile Grind	Gary Mulder's blog on using The Grinder.
Black Anvil: Visualizing Grinder Data With Other External Metrics	Using Graphite to visualise the test results.
Rough Book	A series of in-depth blog entries that introduce The Grinder and present a rich framework for scripts.
PerformanceEngineer.com: Introduction To The Grinder	An introductory blog entry showing how to set up The Grinder with GrinderStone.
PC Pro article	"Technology you can bet on" - Paddy Power uses The Grinder.
InfoQ News	Alexander Olaru interviews Philip Aston for InfoQ.
Pure Danger Tech: The Grinder 3.0 Released	Alex Miller says some very nice things about The Grinder. "...I was really pleasantly surprised by everything that I found. The Grinder has a fairly clean aesthetic that is hard to quantify but makes getting started a pleasant experience. What I found the most enjoyable about it was the use of Jython to script the actual test activity. ...It is trivial to start up the console and your agents, then have very fast modify / run cycles as nothing needs to be restarted. You just modify the test in your editor and hit play on the console. This allows you to very rapidly whip your test into shape. Kind of reminds me of Rails..."
The Black Anvil: Shootout: Load Runner vs The Grinder vs Apache JMeter	Detailed comparison of The Grinder, JMeter, and Load Runner from Travis Bear. "...I recommended The Grinder as the tool to go forward with. It has a simple, clean UI that clearly shows what is going on without trying to do too much, and offers great power and simplicity with its unique Jython-based scripting approach. Jython allows complex scripts to be developed much more rapidly than in more formal languages like Java, yet it can access any Java library or class easily, allowing us to re-use elements of our existing work." Travis has since assisted with the implementation of slow socket support for The Grinder.
Performance Testing using The Grinder	A high-level overview of test methodology using The Grinder from Paul Evans/Blue Slate Solutions. Hosted by the Capital District Java Developers Network.
Grinder Test Automation for the WebLogic Server	An custom automated test environment for WebLogic built on The Grinder.
Gash: Load Testing Java Applications	Replacing JMeter with The Grinder 3 "I went from a freshly downloaded tarball to fully functional test environment in about 2.5 hours. That's powerful."
WikiWikiWeb	Entry on the Wiki of Wiki's.
Stress Testing with The Grinder and Cactus	Using The Grinder 2's JUnit plug-in with Cactus.
The Grinder: Load Testing for Everyone	An introductory article on The Grinder 2 from Phil Aston.
Anticlue	Blog entry on The Grinder 3.
Load Testing Web Services with Grinder	An article on testing Web Services with The Grinder 3.
Massive Propeller: The Grinder	Blog entry on The Grinder 2.
Mr Worm's GonePage: The Grinder	Blog entry on The Grinder.
Dan Moore!: The Grinder	Blog entry on The Grinder 3.

Commercials

This section contains links to commercial products and services related to The Grinder. You should not assume any relationship other than those documented below between the listed individuals and companies and The Grinder project. If you have a product or service related to The Grinder and would like to add information to this page, please email details to grinder-use.

Perfmetrix

Perfmetrix is a global group of highly skilled and experienced system architects and performance experts ready to assist you with a comprehensive range of services to create or improve software applications that meet or exceed your business needs. We have presence in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

Perfmetrix is led by Peter Zadrozny, who was the Chief Technologist of BEA Systems for Europe, Middle East and Africa, a role he had since he started the operations of WebLogic in Europe (prior to the BEA acquisition).

Peter is the author of J2EE Performance Testing (Expert Press, 2002), coauthor of "Professional J2EE Programming with BEA WebLogic Server" (WroxPress, 2000) and "Beginning EJB 3 Application Development" (Apress 2006). He is the founding editor of the WebLogic Developer's Journal, and a frequent speaker on technology issues around the world. Peter was also part of the team that created The Grinder.

Peter Zadrozny, Perfmetrix

Anser Enterprise

One of my consulting services is helping performance analysts to set up company-internal blogs on their performance activities to help them communicate better with their developers and management. As part of my consulting service I can offer usage and customization tips on The Grinder and a separate data visualization tool to show Grinder test results on their company's intranet. Much of this is in the area of test automation and mining test results.

Here's a link which provides several example web pages on communicating WebLogic 8.1/Grinder testing results. It requires downloading the Java 1.5 plug-in for charting Grinder test results.

Todd Nichols, Anser Enterprise

TestPros

TestPros provides load testing and performance tuning services using Grinder. We can provide our services in one or a combination of three ways - remotely via our Internet server farm, at our test labs, or at our customer's location.

For more information:

swtest-discuss

I run a mailing list for software testers called swtest-discuss. There are a few people there (including me) who are interested in talking about how people do testing for open source projects. I haven't yet found a community of open source testers that cuts across multiple tools/applications.

If you're interested in sharing your experiences in testing open source software, please consider joining swtest-discuss, at least long enough to see if there's any interest in having an on-going forum on this topic. If you do subscribe, please either send me a private email or introduce yourself to the list so we know you're there.

Danny R. Faught, Tejas Software Consulting

J2EE Performance Testing

I'm pleased to announce the availability of J2EE Performance Testing with BEA WebLogic Server by Peter Zadrozny, Philip Aston and Ted Osborne, originally published by Expert Press and now by APress.

This book uses The Grinder 2 throughout, and indeed was responsible for driving the development of many of The Grinder's features. The book shows how to performance test complete J2EE applications and how to explore key performance issues surrounding the most popular J2EE APIs. The performance tests are carried out using BEA WebLogic Server™, but are generally applicable to any J2EE application server.

Most importantly, the book contains in-depth coverage of The Grinder 2 including a full user guide and case studies showing how to apply The Grinder to real world problems. The testing approach is equally applicable when using The Grinder 3.

Following several requests, I've made the source code for the book available from The Grinder SourceForge page. This source is supplied unsupported and with no warranty.

Philip Aston