pminfo(1)
NAME
pminfo - display information about performance metrics
SYNOPSIS
pminfo [-dfFLmMtTvxz] [-a archive] [-b batchsize] [-c dmfile] [-h hostname] [-K spec] [-[n|N] pmnsfile] [-O time] [-Z timezone] [metricname | pmid | indom]...
DESCRIPTION
pminfo displays various types of information about performance metrics
available through the facilities of the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP).
Normally pminfo operates on the distributed Performance Metrics Name
Space (PMNS), however if the -n option is specified an alternative
local PMNS is loaded from the file pmnsfile. The -N option supports
the same function as -n, except for the handling of duplicate names for
the same Performance Metric Identifier (PMID) in pmnsfile - duplicate
names are allowed with -n they are not allowed with -N.
The metrics of interest are named in the metricname arguments. If
metricname is a non-leaf node in the PMNS, then pminfo will recursively
descend the PMNS and report on all leaf nodes. If no metricname
argument is given, the root of the PMNS is used.
If the metricname argument is in numeric dotted notation, it is
interpreted as either a 3-dotted pmid (metric identifier - domain,
cluster, item numbers) or a 2-dotted indom (instance domain identifier
- domain, serial number). In the pmid case, a reverse PMID-to-name
lookup is performed, and in the indom case, the instance domain is
reported on directly. This latter mode can be used to report the
instance domain ``one line'' and long form help text summaries.
Unless directed to another host by the -h option, by default pminfo
will contact the Performance Metrics Collector Daemon (PMCD) on the
local host. The connection to a PMCD is only required if pminfo
requires distributed PMNS information, and/or meta-data describing
metrics, and/or metric values, and/or help text.
The -a option causes pminfo to use the specified set of archives rather
than connecting to a PMCD. The argument to -a is a comma-separated
list of names, each of which may be the base name of an archive or the
name of a directory containing one or more archives. The -a , -h and
-L options are mutually exclusive.
The -L option causes pminfo to use a local context to collect metrics
from PMDAs on the local host without PMCD. Only some metrics are
available in this mode. The -a,-h and -L options are mutually
exclusive.
The -b option may be used to define the maximum size of the group of
metrics to be fetched in a single request for the -f and -v options.
The default value for batchsize is 128.
Other options control the specific information to be reported.
-c The dmfile argument specifies a file that contains derived metric
definitions in the format described for pmLoadDerivedConfig(3).
The -c option provides a way to load derived metric definitions
that is an alternative to the more generic use of the
PCP_DERIVED_CONFIG environment variable as described in
PCPIntro(1). Using the -c option and the PCP_DERIVED_CONFIG
environment variable to specify the same configuration is a bad
idea, so choose one or the other method.
-d Metric descriptions detailing the PMID, data type, data semantics,
units, scale and associated instance domain.
-f Fetch and print values for all instances. When fetching from a
set if archives, only those instances present in the first archive
record for a metric will be displayed; see also the -O option,
else use pmdumplog(1) which may be a better tool for examining
archives.
-F Same as -f but try harder to fetch instances for metrics which
have non-enumerable instance domains (e.g. metrics in the ``proc''
subtree of the default PMNS).
-K When using the -L option to fetch metrics from a local context,
the -K option may be used to control the DSO PMDAs that should be
made accessible. The spec argument conforms to the syntax
described in __pmSpecLocalPMDA(3). More than one -K option may be
used.
-m Print the PMID in terse mode.
-M Print the PMID in verbose mode.
-O When used in conjunction with an archive source of metrics and the
options -f or -F, the time argument defines a time origin at which
the metrics should be fetched from the set of archives. Refer to
PCPIntro(1) for a complete description of this option, and the
syntax for the time argument.
-t Print the ``one line'' help summary, if available.
-T Print the help text, if available.
-v Verify mode in which descriptions and values are retrieved, but
only error conditions are reported. This option silently disables
any output from the options -f, -M, -m, -t and -T.
-x Like the -f option, but with the additional functionality that if
a value is processed that is of type PM_TYPE_EVENT, then the event
records will be unpacked and the details of each event record
reported.
FILES
$PCP_VAR_DIR/pmns/*
default local PMNS specification files
PCP ENVIRONMENT
Environment variables with the prefix PCP_ are used to parameterize the file and directory names used by PCP. On each installation, the file /etc/pcp.conf contains the local values for these variables. The $PCP_CONF variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration file, as described in pcp.conf(5).
SEE ALSO
PCPIntro(1), pmcd(1), pmchart(1), pmdumplog(1), pmdumptext(1), pmprobe(1), pmrep(1), pmval(1), PMAPI(3), pmLoadDerivedConfig(3), __pmSpecLocalPMDA(3), pcp.conf(5), pcp.env(5) and pmns(5).
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