Provided by: pcp_4.0.1-1_amd64 
NAME
pmieconf - display and set configurable pmie rule variables
SYNOPSIS
pmieconf [-cFv] [-f file] [-r rulepath] [command [args...]]
DESCRIPTION
pmieconf is a utility for viewing and configuring variables from generalized pmie(1) rules. The set of
generalized rules is read in from rulepath, and the output file produced by pmieconf is a valid input
file for pmie.
A brief description of the pmieconf command line options follows:
-c When run from automated pmie setup processes, this option is used to add a specific message and
timestamp indicating that this is the case. It is not appropriate when using the tool
interactively.
-f file Any rule modifications resulting from pmieconf manipulation of variable values will be written to
file. The default value of file is dependent on the user ID - for the root user, the file
$PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmieconf/config.pmie is used, for other users the default is
$HOME/.pcp/pmie/config.pmie.
-F Forces the pmieconf output file to be created (or updated), after which pmieconf immediately
exits.
-r rulepath
Allows the source of generalized pmie rules to be changed - rulepath is a colon-delimited list of
pmieconf(5) rule files and/or subdirectories. The default value for rulepath is
$PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmieconf. Use of this option overrides the PMIECONF_PATH environment
variable which has a similar function.
-v Verbose mode. Additional information associated with each rule and its associated variables will
be displayed. This is the complete list of variables which affects any given rule (by default,
global variables are not displayed with the rule).
The pmieconf commands allow information related to the various rules and configurable variables to be
displayed or modified. If no pmieconf commands are presented on the command line, pmieconf prompts for
commands interactively.
The pmieconf command language is described here:
help [ { . | all | global | <rule> | <group> } [<variable>] ]
Without arguments, the help command displays the syntax for all of the available pmieconf
commands. With one argument, a description of one or more of the generalized rules is displayed.
With two arguments, a description of a specific variable relating to one or more of the
generalized rules is displayed.
rules [ enabled | disabled ]
Display the name and short summary for all of the generalized rules found on rulepath. Each of
the rule names can be used in place of the keyword <rule> in this command syntax description.
The enabled and disabled options can be used to filter the set of rules displayed to just those
which are enabled or disabled respectfully.
groups Display the name of all of the rule groups that were found on rulepath. Each of the group names
can be used in place of the keyword <group> in this command syntax description, which applies the
command to all rules within the rule group.
status Display status information relating to the current pmieconf session, including a list of running
pmie processes which are currently using file.
enable { . | all | <rule> | <group> }
Enables the specified rule or group of rules. An enabled rule is one which will be included in
the pmie configuration file generated by pmieconf. Any enabled "actions" will be appended to the
rule's "predicate", in a manner conforming to the pmie syntax ("actions" can be viewed using the
list global command, described below).
disable { . | all | <rule> | <group> }
Disables the specified rule or group of rules. If the rule was previously enabled, it will be
removed from the pmie configuration file generated by pmieconf, and hence no longer evaluated
when pmie is restarted (using pmieconf does not affect any existing pmie processes using file).
list { . | all | global | <rule> | <group> } [<variable>]
Display the values for a specific rule variable; or for all variables of a rule, a rule group,
all rules, or the global variables.
modify { . | all | global | <rule> | <group> } <variable> <value>
Enable, disable, or otherwise change the value for one or more rule variables. This value must
be consistent with the type of the variable, which can be inferred from the format of the printed
value - e.g. strings will be enclosed in double-quotes, percentages have the ``%'' symbol
appended, etc. Note that certain rule variables cannot be modified through pmieconf -
"predicate" and "help", for example.
undo { . | all | global | <rule> | <group> } [<variable>]
Applicable only to a variable whose value has been modified - this command simply reverts to the
default value for the given variable.
quit Save any changes made to file and then exit pmieconf.
abort Exit pmieconf immediately without saving any changes to file.
Each of the commands above can be shortened by simply using the first character of the command name, and
also ``?'' for help.
Use of the all keyword causes the command to be applied to all of the rules. The global keyword refers
to those variables which are applied to every rule. Such variables can be changed either globally or
locally, for example:
pmieconf> modify global delta "5 minutes"
pmieconf> modify memory delta "1 minute"
causes all rules to now be evaluated once every five minutes, except for rules in the "memory" group
which are to be evaluated once per minute.
The ``.'' character is special to pmieconf - it refers to the last successfully used value of all,
global, <rule> or <group>.
EXAMPLES
Specify that all of the rules in the "memory" group should be evaluated:
pmieconf> modify memory enabled yes
Change your mind, and revert to using only the "memory" rules which were enabled by default:
pmieconf> undo memory enabled
Specify that notification of rules which evaluate to true should be sent to syslogd(1):
pmieconf> modify global syslog_action yes
Specify that rules in the "per_cpu" group should use a different holdoff value to other rules:
pmieconf> help global holdoff
rule: global [generic parameters applied to all rules]
var: holdoff
help: Once the predicate is true and the action is executed,
this variable allows suppression of further action
execution until the specified interval has elapsed.
A value of zero enables execution of the action if
the rule predicate is true at the next sample. Default
units are seconds and common units are "second", "sec",
"minute", "min" and "hour".
pmieconf> modify per_cpu holdoff "1 hour"
Lower the threshold associated with a particular variable for a specified rule:
pmieconf> l cpu.syscall predicate
rule: cpu.syscall [High aggregate system call rate]
predicate =
some_host (
( kernel.all.syscall $hosts$ )
> $threshold$ count/sec * hinv.ncpu $hosts$
)
pmieconf> m . threshold 7000
pmieconf> l . threshold
rule: cpu.syscall [High aggregate system call rate]
threshold = 7000
ENVIRONMENT
The environment variable PMIECONF_PATH has a similar function to the -r option described above, and if
set will be used provided no -r option is presented.
FILES
$PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmieconf/*/*
generalized system resource monitoring rules
$PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmieconf/config.pmie
default super-user settings for system resource monitoring rules
$HOME/.pcp/pmie/config.pmie
default user settings for system resource monitoring rules
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), pmie(1), pmie_check(1) and pmieconf(5).
Performance Co-Pilot PCP PMIECONF(1)