Running multiple jmeter-server on same host - performance

Question

I want to run JMeter in distributed manner. My requirement is such that there should be multiple jmeter-server processes running on my slave machines. In order to do so I ran below commands.
./jmeter-server -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=XX.XX.X.XXX -Dserver.rmi.localport=60001
./jmeter-server -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=XX.XX.X.XXX -Dserver.rmi.localport=60001
Each time I run this command I see below messages on the console. Same error is for port 60002
Created remote object: UnicastServerRef2 [liveRef: [endpoint:[XX.XX.X.XXX:60001](local),objID:[-823e97d:171c37a0bf7:-7fff, -7549432026360676360]]]
Created remote object: UnicastServerRef2 [liveRef: [endpoint:[XX.XX.X.XXX:60002](local),objID:[7b7158d6:171c37bd76f:-7fff, 2942891814894680180]]]
On the master, the remote server are configured as XX.XX.X.XXX:60001 and XX.XX.X.XXX:60002. But each time I run the test I get below error.
2020-04-29 01:26:03,052 ERROR o.a.j.e.DistributedRunner: Failed to create engine at XX.XX.X.XXX:60001
java.rmi.NoSuchObjectException: no such object in table
at sun.rmi.transport.StreamRemoteCall.exceptionReceivedFromServer(StreamRemoteCall.java:283) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at sun.rmi.transport.StreamRemoteCall.executeCall(StreamRemoteCall.java:260) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at sun.rmi.server.UnicastRef.invoke(UnicastRef.java:375) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at sun.rmi.registry.RegistryImpl_Stub.lookup(RegistryImpl_Stub.java:119) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at org.apache.jmeter.engine.ClientJMeterEngine.getEngine(ClientJMeterEngine.java:70) ~[ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at org.apache.jmeter.engine.ClientJMeterEngine.<init>(ClientJMeterEngine.java:83) ~[ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at org.apache.jmeter.engine.DistributedRunner.createEngine(DistributedRunner.java:237) ~[ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at org.apache.jmeter.engine.DistributedRunner.getClientEngine(DistributedRunner.java:213) [ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at org.apache.jmeter.engine.DistributedRunner.init(DistributedRunner.java:93) [ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at org.apache.jmeter.JMeter.runNonGui(JMeter.java:1011) [ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at org.apache.jmeter.JMeter.startNonGui(JMeter.java:915) [ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at org.apache.jmeter.JMeter.start(JMeter.java:543) [ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at org.apache.jmeter.NewDriver.main(NewDriver.java:245) [ApacheJMeter.jar:4.0 r1823414]
2020-04-29 01:26:03,056 ERROR o.a.j.u.JMeterUtils: no such object in table
2020-04-29 01:26:03,056 INFO o.a.j.e.DistributedRunner: Failed to configure XX.XX.X.XXX:60001
2020-04-29 01:26:03,056 INFO o.a.j.e.DistributedRunner: Stopping remote engines
2020-04-29 01:26:03,056 INFO o.a.j.e.DistributedRunner: Remote engines have been stopped
2020-04-29 01:26:03,056 ERROR o.a.j.JMeter: Error in NonGUIDriver
java.lang.RuntimeException: Following remote engines could not be configured:[XX.XX.X.XXX:60001]
at org.apache.jmeter.engine.DistributedRunner.init(DistributedRunner.java:112) ~[ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at org.apache.jmeter.JMeter.runNonGui(JMeter.java:1011) [ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at org.apache.jmeter.JMeter.startNonGui(JMeter.java:915) [ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at org.apache.jmeter.JMeter.start(JMeter.java:543) [ApacheJMeter_core.jar:4.0 r1823414]
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) ~[?:1.8.0_212]
at org.apache.jmeter.NewDriver.main(NewDriver.java:245) [ApacheJMeter.jar:4.0 r1823414]
I have checked and port 1099, 60001 and 60002 are open for all TCP as well as UDP traffic.
Can someone please help?

Answer 1

Run servers this way:
jmeter -Dserver_port=60001 -s -j jmeter-server1.log -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=XX.XX.X.XXX
jmeter -Dserver_port=60002 -s -j jmeter-server1.log -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=XX.XX.X.XXX
Then controller this way:
jmeter -R -Jremote_hosts=XX.XX.X.XXX:60001,XX.XX.X.XXX:60002 -n -t Testplan.jmx -l results.csv -e -o reportfolder
Read this tutorial for more details.
If you're looking to learn jmeter correctly, this book will help you.

Answer 2

You're using wrong property, you need to amend server.rmi.port
You need to use different ports for different client engines, to wit:
start slave 1:
jmeter-server -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=127.0.0.1 -Dserver.rmi.port=60001
start slave 2:
jmeter-server -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=127.0.0.1 -Dserver.rmi.port=60002
start master:
jmeter -Jremote_hosts=127.0.0.1:60001,127.0.0.1:60002 -r -n -t test.jmx -l result.jtl
replace 127.0.0.1 with the IP address of your machine where you have slave instances (if it's different from the master)
Your "requirement" doesn't make sense at all as having 2 JMeter slave instances on the same machine is worse in terms of performance than having 1 instance
According to JMeter best practices you should be using the latest version of JMeter so consider upgrading to JMeter 5.2.1
More information:
Remote hosts and RMI configuration
How to Perform Distributed Testing in JMeter