How to change current time on remote linux server through JMeter? - jmeter

Question

I am testing a security service(running on remote linux server) which returns me an access token which is valid for 1 day.
I am writing a JMeter script to test this scenario. Here are the steps that i want to follow:
Make a http token request to the service.
Once the access token is received, validate if it is a valid token by resending it to the security service.
Change system date and increment it by 1 day so that the token becomes invalid.
Once invalid, validate it again by sending it to the security service.
I am not sure how can i execute step 3 and if it is possible via JMeter in the first place.
Stuck. Please suggest.
Thanks.

Answer 1

I'd suggest doing a Java ProcessBuilder.start() of the Linux date command.
One issue is that you'll need the appropriate privilege to change the system date.
It's worth noting that Linux date has the built-in ability to increment date values:
How to increment a date in a bash script
DATE=2013-05-25
for i in {0..8} do
NEXT_DATE=$(date +%m-%d-%Y -d "$DATE + $i day")
echo $NEXT_DATE
done
produces:
05-25-2013
05-26-2013
....
05-31-2013
06-01-2013
06-02-2013

Answer 2

Given that you need to deal with remote linux system you'll need to change date somehow via SSH channel. So I would recommend doing it as follows:
Download JSch.jar file (Java library which allows SSH and SCP protocols manipulations from Java code) and drop it to /lib folder of your JMeter installation. JMeter restart will be required to pick the .jar up.
Add a Beanshell Sampler to your test plan where you need to change remote linux system time
Put the following code into the Beanshell Sampler's "Script" area:
import com.jcraft.jsch.Channel;
import com.jcraft.jsch.ChannelExec;
import com.jcraft.jsch.JSch;
import com.jcraft.jsch.Session;
JSch jSch = new JSch();
Session session = jSch.getSession("root", "your.host", 22);
session.setConfig("StrictHostKeyChecking", "no");
session.setPassword("your password");
session.connect();
Channel channel = session.openChannel("exec");
String command = "date -s \"$(date --date \"+1 day\")\"";
((ChannelExec) channel).setCommand(command);
channel.setInputStream(null);
((ChannelExec) channel).setErrStream(System.err);
InputStream in = channel.getInputStream();
channel.connect();
StringBuilder rv = new StringBuilder();
rv.append("New system date: ");
byte[] tmp = new byte[1024];
while (true) {
while (in.available() > 0) {
int i = in.read(tmp, 0, 1024);
if (i < 0) break;
rv.append(new String(tmp, 0, i));
}
if (channel.isClosed()) {
break;
}
try {
Thread.sleep(100);
} catch (Exception ee) {
ee.printStackTrace();
}
}
in.close();
channel.disconnect();
session.disconnect();
SampleResult.setResponseData(rv.toString().getBytes());
Beanshell Sampler response data will look something like:
New system date: Mon Apr 13 10:16:48 BST 2015
See How to use BeanShell: JMeter's favorite built-in component to learn how to enhance your test with scripting where JMeter doesn't offer required test element.