Add ability to create connections on setUp thread group and disconnect on tearDown

[leonpros]

When running load tests, one would prefer to create the connections on setUp thread group, run the load using these connection on the tests thread group/s (in loops and parallel users using different connections), and disconnect in the tearDown thread group section

At the moment connection is stored in JMeter vars, thus can only be used on the same thread group.

[chongyuanyin]

@leonpros, Thanks for your suggestion. We're considering to have the connection reused across thread groups in future, mark this as an enhancement.

[leonpros]

any update on this issue?

[abhishekzgithub]

@chongyuanyin This functionality would be great to have as I was looking for exactly similar.