Unequal & sequential execution of load using Jmeter Distributed Testing setup

Question

I recently faced a few tricky questions during an interview.I would really appreciate if anyone can help me with these questions.

a) How can we apply asymmetric/unequal loads to execute using different Jmeter slaves (all concurrently) through Jmeter distributed testing setup. (Example: slave 1 applies 60 thread load, slave 2 applies 150 thread load, slave 3 applies 200 thread load)

b) Also are there any means by using which we can fire loads through different slaves "sequentially" using Jmeter Master controls. (Example: slave 3 fires after slave 2 which fires load after execution of load by slave 1)

Eagerly awaiting a response!!!

Answer 1

a) For each of the slave nodes, you could apply different parameters to the jmeter-server startup so that

slave#1: jmeter-server -Jthreads=60
slave#2: jmeter-server -Jthreads=150
slave#3: jmeter-server -Jthreads=200

And then pick this up in the testscript and a thread group by referencing ${__P(threads)}

b) Maybe, but it seems unlikely. From what I understand, remote testing is basically the master uploading the testplan to the slaves and they run independently of each other. Cannot think of a way to script your way to a sequential execution across slaves...