NAME

       pmdasample - sample performance metrics domain agent (PMDA)

SYNOPSIS

       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/pmdasample  [-d  domain]  [-i  port]  [-l  logfile]  [-p]  [-u  socket] [-U
       username]

DESCRIPTION

       pmdasample is a sample Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA) which exports a variety  of
       synthetic performance metrics.

       This  PMDA was developed as part of the quality assurance testing for the PCP product, but
       has other uses, most notably in the development of new PCP clients.

       The metrics exported by the  sample  PMDA  cover  the  full  range  of  data  types,  data
       semantics, value cardinality, instance domain stability and error conditions found in real
       PMDAs.

       A brief description of the pmdasample command line options follows:

       -d   It is absolutely crucial that the performance metrics domain number specified here is
            unique and consistent.  That is, domain should be different for every PMDA on the one
            host, and the same domain number should be used for the same PMDA on all hosts.

       -i   Expect PMCD to connect to pmdasample on the specified TCP/IP port.   port  may  be  a
            port number or port name.

       -l   Location  of the log file.  By default, a log file named sample.log is written in the
            current directory of pmcd(1) when pmdasample is started, i.e.  $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd.  If
            the  log file cannot be created or is not writable, output is written to the standard
            error instead.

       -p   Expect PMCD to create a pipe and the connection to pmdasample is via  standard  input
            and standard output.  This is the default connection mode.

       -u   Expect PMCD to connect to pmdasample on the Unix domain socket named socket.

       -U   User  account  under  which  to run the agent.  The default is the unprivileged "pcp"
            account in current versions of PCP, but  in  older  versions  the  superuser  account
            ("root") was used by default.

       At most one of the options -i, -p and -u may be specified.

INSTALLATION

       If  you want access to the names, help text and values for the sample performance metrics,
       do the following as root:

            # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/sample
            # ./Install

       Note that the installation script also installs the DSO version of  the  sample  PMDA,  so
       there  are  in  fact  two  PMDAs  installed,  and  two sets of performance metrics, namely
       sample.*  and sampledso.*.

       If you want to undo the installation (and remove both PMDAs), do the following as root:

            # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/sample
            # ./Remove

       pmdasample is launched by pmcd(1) and should never be executed directly.  The Install  and
       Remove scripts notify pmcd(1) when the agent is installed or removed.

FILES

       $PCP_PMCDCONF_PATH
                 command line options used to launch pmdasample
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/sample/help
                 default help text file for the sample metrics
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/sample/Install
                 installation script for the pmdasample agent
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/sample/Remove
                 undo installation script for the pmdasample agent
       $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd/sample.log
                 default log file for error messages and other information from pmdasample

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),  pmdasimple(1),  pmdatrivial(1),  pmdatxmon(1),   pcp.conf(5)   and
       pcp.env(5).