Great catch on this often-overlooked behavior difference in JMeter! Let’s break down what’s happening and answer your question clearly:

Unchecked "Run Thread Groups consecutively" (Default Parallel Execution) #

• Your regular thread groups ("Iterate Over Dump" and "Iterate Over Tmp Result") run in parallel.
• JMeter treats each regular thread group as an independent test execution flow. This means:
  • The setUp Thread Group executes once before each regular thread group (total 2 times)
  • The tearDown Thread Group executes once after each regular thread group (total 2 times)

Checked "Run Thread Groups consecutively" (Sequential Execution) #

• Regular thread groups run in the exact order they appear in your test plan.
• JMeter now treats all regular thread groups as a single, unified test flow. So:
  • The setUp Thread Group runs only once, right before the first regular thread group ("Iterate Over Dump")
  • The tearDown Thread Group runs only once, right after the last regular thread group ("Iterate Over Tmp Result")

Can You Remove the If Controller? #

Absolutely! If your goal is to run thread groups sequentially and ensure setUp/tearDown execute only once at the start/end respectively, the "Run Thread Groups consecutively" setting handles this natively. You no longer need the If Controller you added to prevent repeated executions—this setting eliminates that need entirely.

It’s totally understandable that you didn’t find direct documentation on this specific behavior; it’s one of those subtle JMeter nuances that’s often learned through hands-on testing. Your observation is really helpful for other users who might hit the same confusion!

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者Vincenzo Marrazzo