NAME

       pmiStart - establish a new LOGIMPORT context

C SYNOPSIS

       #include <pcp/pmapi.h>
       #include <pcp/import.h>

       int pmiStart(const char *archive, int inherit);

       cc ... -lpcp_import -lpcp

Perl SYNOPSIS

       use PCP::LogImport;

       pmiStart($archive, $inherit);

DESCRIPTION

       As  part of the Performance Co-Pilot Log Import API (see LOGIMPORT(3)), pmiStart creates a
       new context.  Each context maintains the following state and metadata:

       •  The base name (archive) for the physical  files that constitute the output PCP archive.

       •  The source hostname for the data that will be written to the PCP archive.  Defaults  to
          the hostname of the localhost, but can be set using pmiSetHostname(3).

       •  The  source  timezone  for the PCP archive.  Defaults to the timezone of the localhost,
          but can be set using pmiSetTimezone(3).

       •  Metrics and instance domains, as defined by pmiAddMetric(3).

       •  Instances for each instance domain, as defined by pmiAddInstance(3).

       •  Handles as defined by pmiGetHandle(3).  Each handle is a metric-instance pair, and each
          metric-instance  pair may have an associated value in each record written to the output
          PCP archive.

       •  An optional set of data values for one or more metric-instance  pairs  (ready  for  the
          next  record  to  be  written  to  the  output  PCP  archive)  as  defined  by calls to
          pmPutValue(3) or pmPutValuehandle(3).

       If inherit is true, then the new context will  inherit  any  and  all  metadata  (metrics,
       instance  domains,  instances  and  handles)  from  the current context, otherwise the new
       context is created with no metadata.  The basename for the output PCP archive, the  source
       hostname,  the  source  timezone  and  any  data  values  from the current context are not
       inherited.  If this is the first call to pmiStart the metadata will be  empty  independent
       of the value of inherit.

       Since no physical files for the output PCP archive will be created until the first call to
       pmiWrite(3) or pmiPutRecord(3), archive could be NULL to create a convenience context that
       is populated with metadata to be inherited by subsequent contexts.

       The  return  value  is  a  context  identifier  that could be used in a subsequent call to
       pmUseContext(3) and the new context becomes the current context  which  persists  for  all
       subsequent  calls  up  to  either another pmiStart call or a call to pmiUseContext(3) or a
       call to pmiEnd(3).

DIAGNOSTICS

       It is an error if the physical files archive.0 and/or  archive.index  and/or  archive.meta
       already  exist,  but this is not discovered until the first attempt is made to output some
       data by calling pmiWrite(3) or pmiPutRecord(3), so  pmiStart  always  returns  a  positive
       context identifier.

SEE ALSO

       LOGIMPORT(3),     pmiAddInstance(3),     pmiAddMetric(3),     pmiEnd(3),     pmiErrStr(3),
       pmiGetHandle(3), pmiPutResult(3), pmiPutValue(3), pmiPutValueHandle(3), pmiSetHostname(3),
       pmiSetTimezone(3), pmiUseContext(3) and pmiWrite(3).