JMeter comes with a built-in test script recorder, also referred to as a proxy server (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server), to aid you in recording test plans. The test script recorder, once configured, watches your actions as you perform operations on a website, creates test sample objects for them, and eventually stores them in your test plan, which is a JMX file. In addition, JMeter gives you the option to create test plans manually, but this is mostly impractical for recording nontrivial testing scenarios. You will save a whole lot of time using the proxy recorder, as you will see in a bit.
So, without further ado, let's record our first test! For this, we will record the browsing of JMeter's own official website as a user would normally do. For the proxy server to be able to watch your actions, it will need to be configured. This...