JMeter: More HTTP Requests Result in Increased Performance? - performance

Question

I'm trying to understand a significant performance increase in my Jmeter test.
In a multi-tenancy database environment, I have a single RESTful service test containing a Thread Group with a single HTTP Request sampler posting an XML payload. The XML payload is then evaluated via stored procedures, and a response is received stating if the claim was qualified. I run this test from a .bat file (non-gui mode) in an Apache 7 environment with a single JVM running.
Test Thread Group Properties
# of Threads: ${__P(test.threads,200)}
Ramp-Up Period: ${__P(test.rampup,1)}
Loop Count: Forever
Delay Thread: Enabled
Scheduler: Enabled
Duration: ${__P(test.duration,1800)}
HTTP Request
Method: POST
https://serverName:port/database/.../${__P(tenant,1111)}/Claim/${__property(contractId)}
When I duplicate the HTTP Request sampler within the TG and change the tenant ID within the URL, for some reason the performance seems to increase by > 55%. (i.e., the # of claims/second is increased by 55%) It appears the test did not fail, so I cannot attribute the performance increase to an increased error rate.
I would have expected an increase if I had enabled another JVM to let the Load Balancer perform optimization, but this is not the case. (still using only 1 JVM)
HTTP Request 1
https://serverName:port/database/.../${__P(tenant,1111)}/Claim/${__property(contractId)}
HTTP Request 2
https://serverName:port/database/.../${__P(tenant,2222)}/Claim/${__property(contractId)}
The theory going around here is that Jmeter generates a workload at a higher rate for multiple requests than for a single request. I'm skeptical, but haven't found anything "solid" to support my skepticism.
Is this theory true? If so, why would two HTTP Requests increase the performance?

Answer 1

In short: it's OK.
Longer version:
Here is how JMeter works:
JMeter starts all the threads during ramp-up period
Each thread starts executing samplers upside down (or according to the Logic Controllers)
When request doesn't have more samplers to execute and no more loops to iterate it's being shut down.
So how does number of virtual users correlate with the "performance". When you increase virtual users number of requests number for a load test it affects Throughput
Throughput is calculated as requests/unit of time. The time is calculated from the start of the first sample to the end of the last sample. This includes any intervals between samples, as it is supposed to represent the load on the server.
The formula is: Throughput = (number of requests) / (total time).
So if you increase load on well-behaved system throughput should increase by the same factor or linearly.
When you increase load but throughput does not increase, such situation is known as "saturation point" when you get the maximum performance from the system. Further load increasing will lead to throughput going down.
References:
Apache JMeter Glossary
An extended Glossary version

Answer 2

And how do you messure your performance? According to your "theory" your messurements includes jmeter overhead and this would be wrong. More over, is the response the same for both cases? What I mean, is the backend doing the same work work both cases?
Maybe first request returns different output then the other one. Maybe it is more expensive to generate output in one of the request. That is why you will notice "incresed" performance as normally you would do N x Heavy task in X seconds, and in second case G x heavy tasks + H X light tasks in the same time where G < N/2 - more requests in the same time? Sure! Incresed perfomance? Nope.
So to completly investigate what is happening, you need to review your measurement method. I would start with comparing the the actual time for both requests.