Provided by: pcp-export-pcp2json_6.0.5-1_amd64 
NAME
pcp2json - pcp-to-json metrics exporter
SYNOPSIS
pcp2json [-5CEGHIjLmnrRvVxXz?] [-4 action] [-8|-9 limit] [-a archive] [-A align]
[--archive-folio folio] [-b|-B space-scale] [-c config] [--container container]
[--daemonize] [-e derived] [-f format] [-F outfile] [-h host] [-i instances] [-J rank] [-K
spec] [-N predicate] [-o timeout] [-O origin] [-p password] [-P|-0 precision] [-q|-Q
count-scale] [-s samples] [-S starttime] [-t interval] [-T endtime] [-u url] [-U username]
[-y|-Y time-scale] [-Z timezone] metricspec [...]
DESCRIPTION
pcp2json is a customizable performance metrics exporter tool from PCP to JSON. Any
available performance metric, live or archived, system and/or application, can be selected
for exporting using either command line arguments or a configuration file.
pcp2json is a close relative of pmrep(1). Refer to pmrep(1) for the metricspec
description accepted on pcp2json command line. See pmrep.conf(5) for description of the
pcp2json.conf configuration file syntax. This page describes pcp2json specific options
and configuration file differences with pmrep.conf(5). pmrep(1) also lists some usage
examples of which most are applicable with pcp2json as well.
Only the command line options listed on this page are supported, other options available
for pmrep(1) are not supported.
Options via environment values (see pmGetOptions(3)) override the corresponding built-in
default values (if any). Configuration file options override the corresponding
environment variables (if any). Command line options override the corresponding
configuration file options (if any).
CONFIGURATION FILE
pcp2json uses a configuration file with syntax described in pmrep.conf(5). The following
options are common with pmrep.conf: version, source, speclocal, derived, header, globals,
samples, interval, type, type_prefer, ignore_incompat, names_change, instances,
live_filter, rank, limit_filter, limit_filter_force, invert_filter, predicate, omit_flat,
include_labels, precision, precision_force, count_scale, count_scale_force, space_scale,
space_scale_force, time_scale, time_scale_force. The rest of the pmrep.conf options are
recognized but ignored for compatibility.
pcp2json specific options
extended (boolean)
Write extended information about metrics. Corresponding command line option is -x.
Defaults to no.
everything (boolean)
Write everything known about metrics, including PCP internal IDs. Labels are,
however, omitted for backward compatibility. Enable include_labels to include them as
well. Corresponding command line option is -X. Defaults to no.
exact_types (boolean)
Write numbers as number data types, not as strings, potentially losing some precision.
Corresponding command line option is -E. Defaults to no.
url (string)
Send JSON output as a HTTP POST to the given url. Corresponding command line option
is -u. Defaults to None.
http_pass (string)
Use given password for Basic Authentication when sending a HTTP POST. Corresponding
command line option is -p. Defaults to None.
http_user (string)
Use given username for Basic Authentication when sending a HTTP POST. Corresponding
command line option is -U. Defaults to None.
http_timeout (number)
Maximum time (in seconds) when sending a HTTP POST. Corresponding command line option
is -o. Defaults to 2.5 seconds.
OPTIONS
The available command line options are:
-0 precision, --precision-force=precision
Like -P but this option will override per-metric specifications.
-4 action, --names-change=action
Specify which action to take on receiving a metric names change event during
sampling. These events occur when a PMDA discovers new metrics sometime after
starting up, and informs running client tools like pcp2json. Valid values for action
are update (refresh metrics being sampled), ignore (do nothing - the default
behaviour) and abort (exit the program if such an event occurs).
-5, --ignore-unknown
Silently ignore any metric name that cannot be resolved. At least one metric must be
found for the tool to start.
-8 limit, --limit-filter=limit
Limit results to instances with values above/below limit. A positive integer will
include instances with values at or above the limit in reporting. A negative integer
will include instances with values at or below the limit in reporting. A value of
zero performs no limit filtering. This option will not override possible per-metric
specifications. See also -J and -N.
-9 limit, --limit-filter-force=limit
Like -8 but this option will override per-metric specifications.
-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.
--archive-folio=folio
Read metric source archives from the PCP archive folio created by tools like
pmchart(1) or, less often, manually with mkaf(1).
-b scale, --space-scale=scale
Unit/scale for space (byte) metrics, possible values include bytes, Kbytes, KB,
Mbytes, MB, and so forth. This option will not override possible per-metric
specifications. See also pmParseUnitsStr(3).
-B scale, --space-scale-force=scale
Like -b but this option will override per-metric specifications.
-c config, --config=config
Specify the config file or directory to use. In case config is a directory all files
in it ending .conf will be included. The default is the first found of:
./pcp2json.conf, $HOME/.pcp2json.conf, $HOME/pcp/pcp2json.conf, and
$PCP_SYSCONF_DIR/pcp2json.conf. For details, see the above section and
pmrep.conf(5).
--container=container
Fetch performance metrics from the specified container, either local or remote (see
-h).
-C, --check
Exit before reporting any values, but after parsing the configuration and metrics and
printing possible headers.
--daemonize
Daemonize on startup.
-e derived, --derived=derived
Specify derived performance metrics. If derived starts with a slash (``/'') or with
a dot (``.'') it will be interpreted as a PCP derived metrics configuration file,
otherwise it will be interpreted as comma- or semicolon-separated derived metric
expressions. For complete description of derived metrics and PCP derived metrics
configuration files see pmLoadDerivedConfig(3) and pmRegisterDerived(3).
Alternatively, using pmrep.conf(5) configuration syntax allows defining derived
metrics as part of metricsets.
-E, --exact-types
Write numbers as number data types, not as strings, potentially losing some
precision.
-f format, --timestamp-format=format
Use the format string for formatting the timestamp. The format will be used with
Python's datetime.strftime method which is mostly the same as that described in
strftime(3). The default is %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.
-F outfile, --output-file=outfile
Specify the output file outfile.
-G, --no-globals
Do not include global metrics in reporting (see pmrep.conf(5)).
-h host, --host=host
Fetch performance metrics from pmcd(1) on host, rather than from the default
localhost.
-H, --no-header
Do not print any headers.
-i instances, --instances=instances
Retrieve and report only the specified metric instances. By default all instances,
present and future, are reported.
Refer to pmrep(1) for complete description of this option.
-I, --ignore-incompat
Ignore incompatible metrics. By default incompatible metrics (that is, their type is
unsupported or they cannot be scaled as requested) will cause pcp2json to terminate
with an error message. With this option all incompatible metrics are silently
omitted from reporting. This may be especially useful when requesting non-leaf nodes
of the PMNS tree for reporting.
-j, --live-filter
Perform instance live filtering. This allows capturing all named instances even if
processes are restarted at some point (unlike without live filtering). Performing
live filtering over a huge number of instances will add some internal overhead so a
bit of user caution is advised. See also -n.
-J rank, --rank=rank
Limit results to highest/lowest ranked instances of set-valued metrics. A positive
integer will include highest valued instances in reporting. A negative integer will
include lowest valued instances in reporting. A value of zero performs no ranking.
Ranking does not imply sorting, see -6. See also -8.
-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, --local-PMDA
Use a local context to collect metrics from DSO PMDAs on the local host without PMCD.
See also -K.
-n, --invert-filter
Perform ranking before live filtering. By default instance live filtering (when
requested, see -j) happens before instance ranking (when requested, see -J). With
this option the logic is inverted and ranking happens before live filtering.
-m, --include-labels
Include PCP metric labels in the output.
-N predicate, --predicate=predicate
Specify a comma-separated list of predicate filter reference metrics. By default
ranking (see -J) happens for each metric individually. With predicates, ranking is
done only for the specified predicate metrics. When reporting, rest of the metrics
sharing the same instance domain (see PCPIntro(1)) as the predicate will include only
the highest/lowest ranking instances of the corresponding predicate. Ranking does
not imply sorting, see -6.
So for example, using proc.memory.rss (resident memory size of process) as the
predicate metric together with proc.io.total_bytes and mem.util.used as metrics to be
reported, only the processes using most/least (as per -J) memory will be included
when reporting total bytes written by processes. Since mem.util.used is a single-
valued metric (thus not sharing the same instance domain as the process related
metrics), it will be reported as usual.
-o, --http-timeout
Timeout (in seconds) when sending a HTTP POST with the -u option. Default value is
2.5 seconds.
-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, --http-pass
Password when using HTTP basic authentication with the -u option.
-P precision, --precision=precision
Use precision for numeric non-integer output values. The default is to use 3 decimal
places (when applicable). This option will not override possible per-metric
specifications.
-q scale, --count-scale=scale
Unit/scale for count metrics, possible values include count x 10^-1, count, count x
10, count x 10^2, and so forth from 10^-8 to 10^7. (These values are currently
space-sensitive.) This option will not override possible per-metric specifications.
See also pmParseUnitsStr(3).
-Q scale, --count-scale-force=scale
Like -q but this option will override per-metric specifications.
-r, --raw
Output raw metric values, do not convert cumulative counters to rates. This option
will override possible per-metric specifications.
-R, --raw-prefer
Like -r but this option will not override per-metric specifications.
-s samples, --samples=samples
The samples argument defines the number of samples to be retrieved and reported. If
samples is 0 or -s is not specified, pcp2json will sample and report continuously (in
real time mode) or until the end of the set of PCP archives (in archive mode). See
also -T.
-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). See
also the -T option.
-T endtime, --finish=endtime
When reporting archived metrics, the report will be restricted to those records
logged before or at endtime. Refer to PCPIntro(1) for a complete description of the
syntax for endtime.
When used to define the runtime before pcp2json will exit, if no samples is given
(see -s) then the number of reported samples depends on interval (see -t). If
samples is given then interval will be adjusted to allow reporting of samples during
runtime. In case all of -T, -s, and -t are given, endtime determines the actual time
pcp2json will run.
-u, --url
URL for sending an HTTP POST (instead of default standard output).
-U, --http-user
Username when using HTTP basic authentication with the -u option.
-v, --omit-flat
Report only set-valued metrics with instances (e.g. disk.dev.read) and omit single-
valued ``flat'' metrics without instances (e.g. kernel.all.sysfork). See -i and -I.
-V, --version
Display version number and exit.
-x, --with-extended
Write extended information.
-X, --with-everything
Write everything known about metrics, including PCP internal IDs. Labels are,
however, omitted for backward compatibility, use -m to include them as well.
-y scale, --time-scale=scale
Unit/scale for time metrics, possible values include nanosec, ns, microsec, us,
millisec, ms, and so forth up to hour, hr. This option will not override possible
per-metric specifications. See also pmParseUnitsStr(3).
-Y scale, --time-scale-force=scale
Like -y but this option will override per-metric specifications.
-z, --hostzone
Use the local timezone of the host that is the source of the performance metrics, as
identified by either the -h or the -a options. The default is to use the timezone of
the local host.
-Z timezone, --timezone=timezone
Use timezone for the date and time. Timezone is in the format of the environment
variable TZ as described in environ(7). Note that when including a timezone string
in output, ISO 8601 -style UTC offsets are used (so something like -Z EST+5 will
become UTC-5).
-?, --help
Display usage message and exit.
FILES
pcp2json.conf
pcp2json configuration file (see -c)
$PCP_SYSCONF_DIR/pmrep/*.conf
system provided default pmrep configuration files
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), mkaf(1), pcp(1), pcp2elasticsearch(1), pcp2graphite(1), pcp2influxdb(1),
pcp2spark(1), pcp2xlsx(1), pcp2xml(1), pcp2zabbix(1), pmcd(1), pminfo(1), pmrep(1),
pmGetOptions(3), pmLoadDerivedConfig(3), pmParseUnitsStr(3), pmRegisterDerived(3),
pmSpecLocalPMDA(3), LOGARCHIVE(5), pcp.conf(5), pmrep.conf(5), PMNS(5) and environ(7).