Tomcat 6 stress testing

[rackham]

Hello all. I am going to be running some tests on a standalone Tomcat 6 server which runs a couple of web apps i have written. I just wanted to ask for any advice on how to load/stress test, weather its and good software used, what to look out for or what the typical bottlenecks can be.

I understand every problem is different and unique but as this is my first time doing this i was looking for any helpful tips!

Thanks for any help given!

[ckeyrouz]

If you are willing to use a non-free software there is the HP (previously mercury) load runner, but costs quite an amount of money.

If not the best this is one of the best tools for stress test.

If it is licensed it can simulate up to 1000 users but I think there is a way to download a trial version that can simulate up to 25 users.

[rackham]

thanks for the reply! Unfortunatly my resources (of which there are none!) dont really let me use any proprietry software. Ive been playing with JMeter which seems to only be limited by my computer specs, so a high amount of user simulation it seems.