Configuring response timeout in Apache JMeter

Question

I am trying to check if a particular HTTP request's response time is over 30 seconds, and if it is, then mark it as failed and stop the thread. Sometimes I can see response times close to 80 seconds, an no browser is waiting that long for a response from the server.

I found the following three ways to set a timeout value in JMeter, however this confuses me, because there is multiple options and I don't know which one to use, or if there is any difference at all between them.

So here are the options I found that are related to response timeout:

1. Setting Response timeout value in the sampler
2. Add a Duration assertion

3. Setting timeout in jmeter.properties configuration file. Options I found here:

1. os_sampler.poll_for_timeout=x
2. http.socket.timeout=x
3. httpclient.timeout=x

So, the problem is that I don't know where to set the response timeout from the listed options. Is there any difference at all between these options? So what I would like to see as a result: If a particular HTTP request takes more than 30 seconds to get a response from the server, stop waiting for a response and mark it as a failed request.

Answer 1

Socket/Connect and Read/Response timeouts can be set from Http Request Defaults section at jmeter GUI. See sample:

Connect timeout: 3 seconds
Response timeout: 20 seconds.

Answer 2

For your need, an assertion is not the right solution as it will only mark the request as failed but it will wait.

The right option is a response timeout.

Regarding the 3rd point

1. os_sampler.poll_for_timeout=x => not for http, see:

   • https://github.com/apache/jmeter/blob/master/bin/jmeter.properties

2. http.socket.timeout=x => applies to all requests using HttpClient4 or 3, see:

   • https://github.com/apache/jmeter/blob/master/bin/hc.parameters

3. httpclient.timeout=x => Same, see:

   • https://github.com/apache/jmeter/blob/master/bin/jmeter.properties

I think the best option is to use 1. , if you want those values to apply to all requests, just use Http Request Defaults element:

• https://jmeter.apache.org/usermanual/component_reference.html#HTTP_Request_Defaults

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