Selenium Grid Tutorial: How to Set Up Hub and Node (Step-by-Step Guide) Great 2025

Selenium Grid Tutorial

👉Tutorial-1: Maven and Jenkins Integration
👉Tutorial-2: Selenium Framework
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👉Tutorial-4: How to Handle iFrames in Selenium WebDriver Using switchTo()
👉Tutorial-5: Cross Browser Testing using Selenium
👉Tutorial-6:  How to Take Screenshot in Selenium
👉Tutorial-7: Log4j in Selenium
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👉Tutorial-9: Robot Class in Selenium WebDriver
👉Tutorial-10: AutoIT in Selenium WebDriver
👉Tutorial-11: Handling SSL Certificate Errors in Selenium
👉Tutorial-12: How to Handle AJAX Calls in Selenium
👉Tutorial-13: JavaScriptExecutor in Selenium WebDriver
👉Tutorial-14: Selenium Python Tutorial
👉Tutorial-15: How to Set Up IntelliJ IDEA with Selenium
👉Tutorial-16: Flash Testing Using Selenium WebDriver
👉Tutorial-17: Apache Ant with Selenium WebDriver
👉Tutorial-18: How to Generate XSLT Reports in Selenium
👉Tutorial-19: GitHub Integration with Selenium WebDriver and Jenkins
👉Tutorial-20: Handling Cookies in Selenium WebDriver
👉Tutorial-21: Using SoapUI with Selenium WebDriver
👉Tutorial-22: Cucumber with Selenium WebDriver
👉Tutorial-23: Selenium Firefox Profile
👉Tutorial-24: Drag and Drop in Selenium WebDriver with Practical
👉Tutorial-25: Selenium C# Tutorial
👉Tutorial-26: Object Repository in Selenium WebDriver
👉Tutorial-27: How to Scroll a Web Page in Selenium
👉Tutorial-28: Sikuli Integration with Selenium WebDriver
👉Tutorial-29: Master XPath in Selenium
👉Tutorial-30: Selenium Waits
👉Tutorial-31: Right Click and Double Click in Selenium WebDriver
👉Tutorial-32: How to Handle Proxy Authentication in Selenium
👉Tutorial-33: Comprehensive Guide to Exception Handling in Selenium

👉Selenium Grid Tutorial: What is Selenium Grid?

Selenium Grid Tutorial: Selenium Grid is a part of the Selenium Suite that allows you to run multiple tests across different browsers, operating systems, and machines in parallel. This is done using a Hub-Node architecture, where:

• The Hub is the central server that manages test execution.
• The Nodes are remote machines that run the tests.

Selenium Grid significantly reduces execution time by running multiple test cases simultaneously.

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👉Selenium Grid Architecture

1. Hub

✔ The Hub is the central server where test scripts are loaded.
✔ There can only be one Hub in a Grid setup.
✔ The Hub distributes test execution to connected Nodes.

2. Nodes

✔ Nodes are remote Selenium instances where the tests are executed.
✔ A Grid can have multiple Nodes running on different machines and browsers.
✔ Nodes can be on different operating systems than the Hub.

How Selenium Grid Works

1️⃣ A user runs a test on the Hub.
2️⃣ The Hub routes the test to a Node that matches the required browser and OS configuration.
3️⃣ The Node executes the test and sends results back to the Hub.

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👉How to Set Up Selenium Grid (Step-by-Step Guide)

Selenium Grid Tutorial: To configure Selenium Grid, we will use two machines:

• Machine A (Hub) – Central server that distributes tests.
• Machine B (Node) – Executes test scripts.

Let’s assume:

• Machine A (Hub) has IP: 192.168.1.3
• Machine B (Node) has IP: 192.168.1.4

Step 1: Download Selenium Server JAR

1️⃣ Download the Selenium Standalone Server from the official Selenium website.
2️⃣ Save the .jar file in C:\ on both Machine A and Machine B.

Step 2: Start the Hub (Machine A)

1️⃣ Open Command Prompt on Machine A.
2️⃣ Navigate to C:\ using:

bashcd C:\

3️⃣ Start the Selenium Hub using:

pgsqljava -jar selenium-server-standalone-<version>.jar -role hub

4️⃣ Selenium Grid Tutorial: The Hub is now running. You can verify by opening a browser and navigating to:

arduinohttp://localhost:4444

Step 3: Start a Node (Machine B)

1️⃣ Selenium Grid Tutorial: Open Command Prompt on Machine B.
2️⃣ Navigate to C:\ using:

bashCopyEditcd C:\

3️⃣ Start the Node and connect it to the Hub using:

pgsqljava -jar selenium-server-standalone-<version>.jar -role node -hub http://192.168.1.3:4444/grid/register

4️⃣ Verify the Node is registered by opening the Selenium Grid Console:

arduinohttp://192.168.1.3:4444/grid/console

At this point, your Selenium Grid is successfully set up, and you can start executing test cases remotely.

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👉When to Use Selenium Grid?

Selenium Grid Tutorial: Cross-Browser Testing: Run tests on different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, etc.).
Cross-Platform Testing: Test applications on various operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux).
Parallel Test Execution: Reduce test execution time by running multiple tests simultaneously.

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👉Selenium Grid 1 vs. Selenium Grid 2

Feature	Selenium Grid 1	Selenium Grid 2
Separate Remote Control	Uses a different RC server	Bundled with Selenium Server
Apache Ant Installation	Required	Not required
Supports WebDriver?	No	Yes
Max Browsers per Remote Control	1	Up to 5

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👉Designing Test Scripts for Selenium Grid

Selenium Grid Tutorial: To execute tests on Selenium Grid, we use:

• DesiredCapabilities – Defines the browser and OS for the test.
• RemoteWebDriver – Specifies the remote machine (Node) to run the test.

Example: Running Tests on Selenium Grid

javaimport org.openqa.selenium.Platform;
import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.DesiredCapabilities;
import org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebDriver;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;

public class SeleniumGridTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws MalformedURLException {
        DesiredCapabilities cap = new DesiredCapabilities();
        cap.setBrowserName("chrome");
        cap.setPlatform(Platform.WINDOWS);

        WebDriver driver = new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("http://192.168.1.3:4444/wd/hub"), cap);
        driver.get("https://www.google.com");
        System.out.println("Title of the page: " + driver.getTitle());
        driver.quit();
    }
}

Explanation:
✔ setBrowserName("chrome") – Specifies the browser.
✔ setPlatform(Platform.WINDOWS) – Specifies the operating system.
✔ new RemoteWebDriver(new URL("http://192.168.1.3:4444/wd/hub"), cap) – Connects to the Selenium Hub.

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👉Configuring Sele:nium Grid with JSON

Selenium Grid Tutorial: Selenium Grid can also be configured using a JSON file instead of the command line.

Steps to Configure JSON for Selenium Grid

Step 1: Create a JSON Configuration File for Hub

1️⃣ Create a new text file hubConfig.json and add:

json{
  "port": 4444,
  "role": "hub"
}

Step 2: Start the Hub Using JSON

Run this command:

pgsqljava -jar selenium-server-standalone-<version>.jar -role hub -hubConfig hubConfig.json

Step 3: Create a JSON Configuration File for Node

Selenium Grid Tutorial: Create a new text file nodeConfig.json and add:

json{
  "capabilities": [{
      "browserName": "chrome",
      "maxInstances": 5
  }],
  "hub": "http://192.168.1.3:4444",
  "role": "node"
}

Step 4: Start the Node Using JSON

Run this command on Machine B:

pgsql java -jar selenium-server-standalone-<version>.jar -role node -nodeConfig nodeConfig.json

Now your Selenium Grid is configured using JSON.

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👉Summary

✔Selenium Grid Tutorial: Selenium Grid allows parallel test execution across different browsers, OS, and machines.
✔ Hub-Node architecture distributes test execution efficiently.
✔ Setup involves running a Hub and multiple Nodes.
✔ Tests are executed using DesiredCapabilities and RemoteWebDriver.
✔ JSON configuration provides an alternative setup method.

By setting up Selenium Grid, you can save time, ensure cross-browser compatibility, and improve test efficiency.

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