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).