Provided by: pcp_5.0.3-1_amd64 bug

NAME

       pcp-vmstat, pmstat - high-level system performance overview

SYNOPSIS

       pcp [pcp options] vmstat [interval [samples]]

       pmstat  [-gLlPxz?]   [-a archive] [-A align] [-h host] [-H file] [-n pmnsfile] [-O offset]
       [-p port] [-s samples] [-S starttime] [-t interval] [-T endtime] [-Z timezone]

DESCRIPTION

       pmstat provides a one line summary of system performance every interval unit of time  (the
       default  is  5  seconds).  pmstat is intended to monitor system performance at the highest
       level, after which other tools may be  used  to  examine  subsystems  in  which  potential
       performance problems may be observed in greater detail.

       pcp-vmstat  is a simple wrapper for use with the pcp(1) command, providing a more familiar
       command line format for some users.  It also enables  the  extended  reporting  option  by
       default, see the -x option below.

       Multiple  hosts  may  be  monitored by supplying more than one host with multiple -h flags
       (for live monitoring) or by providing a name of the hostlist file, where each line contain
       one  host  name,  with -H, or multiple -a flags (for retrospective monitoring from sets of
       archives).

       By default, pmstat fetches metrics by connecting  to  the  Performance  Metrics  Collector
       Daemon (PMCD) on the local host.  If the -L option is specified, then pmcd(1) is bypassed,
       and metrics are fetched from PMDAs on the local host using the standalone PM_CONTEXT_LOCAL
       variant  of  pmNewContext(3).   When  the  -h  option is specified, pmstat connects to the
       pmcd(1) on host and fetches metrics from there.  As mentioned above, multiple hosts may be
       monitored by supplying multiple -h flags.

       Alternatively,  if  the  -a option is used, the metrics are retrieved from the Performance
       Co-Pilot archive log files identified by archive,  which  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.  Multiple sets of archives may be replayed  by  supplying
       multiple  -a  flags.   When the -a flag is used, the -P flag may also be used to pause the
       output after each interval.

       Standalone mode can only connect to the local host, using a set of archives implies a host
       name,  and  nominating a host precludes using an archive, so the options -L, -a and -h are
       mutually exclusive.

       pmstat may relinquish its own timing control, and operate as a ``slave''  of  a  pmtime(1)
       process  that  uses  a  GUI dialog to provide timing control.  In this case, either the -g
       option should be used to start pmstat as the sole slave of a new pmtime(1) instance, or -p
       should  be  used  to  attach  pmstat to an existing pmtime(1) instance via the IPC channel
       identified by the port argument.

       The -S, -T, -O and -A options may be used to define a time window to restrict the  samples
       retrieved,  set  an  initial  origin  within  the  time  window,  or specify a ``natural''
       alignment of the sample times; refer to PCPIntro(1) for a complete  description  of  these
       options.

OPTIONS

       The available command line options are:

       -a archive, --archive=archive
            Performance  metric  values  are retrieved from the set of Performance Co-Pilot (PCP)
            archive log files identified by the archive argument, which 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.

       -A align, --align=align
            Force the initial sample to be aligned on the boundary of a natural time unit  align.
            Refer to PCPIntro(1) for a complete description of the syntax for align.

       -g, --guimode
            Start  pmstat  as  the  slave  of  a  new  pmtime(1)  process  for replay of archived
            performance data using the pmtime(1) graphical user interface.

       -h host, --host=host
            Fetch performance metrics  from  pmcd(1)  on  host,  rather  than  from  the  default
            localhost.

       -H path, --hostsfile=path
            Specify  the  path to a file containing a set of hostnames where pmcd(1) is running ,
            rather than using the default localhost.

       -K spec, --spec-local=spec
            When fetching metrics from a local context (see -L), 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.

       -l, --suffix
            Prints the last 7 characters of a hostname in summaries involving more than one  host
            (when more than one -h option has been specified on the command line).

       -L, --local-PMDA
            Use a local context to collect metrics from DSO PMDAs on the local host without PMCD.
            See also -K.

       -n pmnsfile, --namespace=pmnsfile
            Load an alternative Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS(5)) from the file pmnsfile.

       -O origin, --origin=origin
            When reporting archived metrics, start reporting at origin  within  the  time  window
            (see  -S  and -T).  Refer to PCPIntro(1) for a complete description of the syntax for
            origin.

       -p port, --guiport=port
            Attach pmstat to an existing pmtime(1) time control  process  instance  via  the  IPC
            channel  identified by the port argument.  This option is normally only used by other
            tools, e.g.  pmchart(1), when they launch pmstat with synchronized time control.

       -s samples, --samples=samples
            The samples option defines the number of samples to be retrieved  and  reported.   If
            samples  is  0  or  -s is not specified, pmstat will sample and report continuously -
            this is the default behavior.

       -S starttime, --start=starttime
            When reporting archived metrics, the report  will  be  restricted  to  those  records
            logged at or after starttime.  Refer to PCPIntro(1) for a complete description of the
            syntax for starttime.

       -t interval, --interval=interval
            Set the reporting interval to  something  other  than  the  default  1  second.   The
            interval  argument  follows  the syntax described in PCPIntro(1), and in the simplest
            form may be an unsigned integer (the implied units in this case are seconds).

       -T endtime, --finish=endtime
            When reporting archived metrics, the report  will  be  restricted  to  those  records
            logged before or at endtime.

       -x, --xcpu
            The  extended  CPU  metrics option, causes two additional CPU metrics to be reported,
            namely wait for I/O ("wa") and virtualisation steal time ("st").

       -z, --hostzone
            Change the reporting timezone to the local timezone at the host that is the source of
            the performance metrics, as identified via either the -h or -a options.

       -Z timezone, --timezone=timezone
            By  default,  pmtime  reports  the time of day according to the local timezone on the
            system where pmstat is run.  The -Z option changes the timezone to  timezone  in  the
            format of the environment variable TZ as described in environ(7).

OUTPUT

       The  output  from pmstat is directed to standard output, and the columns in the report are
       interpreted as follows:

       loadavg   The 1 minute load average.

       memory    The swpd column indicates average  swap  space  used  during  the  interval,  in
                 Kbytes.   The  free column indicates average free memory during the interval, in
                 Kbytes.  The buff column indicates average  buffer  memory  in  use  during  the
                 interval,  in  Kbytes.   The cache column indicates average cached memory in use
                 during the interval, in Kbytes.

                 If the values become large, they are reported as Mbytes (m suffix) or Gbytes  (g
                 suffix).

       swap      The metrics in this area of the kernel instrumentation are of varying value.  We
                 try to report the average number of pages that are paged in (pi)  and  out  (po)
                 per  second during the interval.  If the corresponding page swapping metrics are
                 unavailable, we report the average rate per second of swap  operations  in  (si)
                 and out (so) during the interval.  It is normal for the ``in'' values to be non-
                 zero, but the system is suffering memory stress if the ``out'' values  are  non-
                 zero over an extended period.

                 If  the  values  become  large, they are reported as thousands of operations per
                 second (K suffix) or millions of operations per second (M suffix).

       io        The bi and bo columns indicate the average rate per second of  block  input  and
                 block  output  operations  (respectfully)  during the interval.  Unless all file
                 systems have a 1 Kbyte block size, these rates do not directly  indicate  Kbytes
                 transferred.

                 If  the  values  become  large, they are reported as thousands of operations per
                 second (K suffix) or millions of operations per second (M suffix).

       system    Interrupt rate (in) and context  switch  rate  (cs).   Rates  are  expressed  as
                 average operations per second during the interval.  Note that the interrupt rate
                 is normally at least HZ (the clock interrupt rate, usually 100)  interrupts  per
                 second.

                 If  the  values  become  large, they are reported as thousands of operations per
                 second (K suffix) or millions of operations per second (M suffix).

       cpu       Percentage of CPU time spent executing user and "nice user"  code  (us),  system
                 and interrupt processing code (sy), idle loop (id).

       If any values for the associated performance metrics are unavailable, the value appears as
       ``?'' in the output.

DIAGNOSTICS

       All are generated on standard error and are intended to be self-explanatory.

FILES

       $PCP_VAR_DIR/pmns/*
            default PMNS specification files

       $PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmlogger/config.pmstat
            pmlogger(1) configuration for creating an archive suitable for replay with pmstat

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).

       For environment variables affecting PCP tools, see pmGetOptions(3).

SEE ALSO

       PCPIntro(1),  pmclient(1),  pmtime(1),  PMAPI(3), pmNewContext(3), pcp.conf(5), pcp.env(5)
       and PMNS(5).