Provided by: pcp_6.0.5-1_amd64 bug

NAME

       pmdanetcheck - netcheck PMDA

DESCRIPTION

       pmdanetcheck is a Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA) which
       does basic network checks on the local host by using simple Python modules  and,  in  some
       cases, external utilities such as ping(1).

       pmdanetcheck  loads  and  acts  as  a  bridge  for  any number of configured, separate PCP
       netcheck PMDA Python modules running Python code or external  programs.   Existing  Python
       modules and programs should be possible to be utilized with PCP netcheck PMDA modules with
       minimal effort.

       Note that on SELinux enabled systems for pmdanetcheck  to  be  able  to  use  the  ping(1)
       command the pcp group must be able to create ICMP Echo sockets; please make sure the group
       id for pcp is included in the range at /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ping_group_range  and  refer  to
       icmp(7) for more details on this.

CONFIGURATION

       pmdanetcheck reads a mandatory ini-style configuration file:

              $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck/netcheck.conf

       This  file must contain a [pmda] section.  The following PMDA options are available (their
       default values are shown  in  parenthesis),  options  marked  with  asterisk  (*)  can  be
       overridden in module-specific configuration sections:

       modules (unset)
                      The  pmdanetcheck  PMDA reads module-specific configuration for each module
                      listed in the comma-separated list of modules (mandatory).

       hosts (DGW,DNS) *
                      A comma-separated list of hosts (optional) specifies the hosts to  run  the
                      checks  for.   The  special  values DGW, DNS, NTP will be translated to the
                      default gateway, nameservers listed in  /etc/resolv.conf,  and  timeservers
                      listed in /etc/chrony.conf, respectively, on PMDA startup.

       background_check (True) *
                      A  boolean  value  for  background_check (optional) controls whether to run
                      checks constantly in the background  or  only  on  demand.   Refer  to  the
                      default configuration file for more discussion about this.

       check_hosts_parallel (True) *
                      check_hosts_parallel (optional) controls whether modules should check hosts
                      one by one or in parallel.

       check_interval (1m) *
                      check_interval  (optional)  specifies  the  time   interval   between   two
                      consecutive checks for hosts when checks are done in the background.  Refer
                      to PCPIntro(1) for a complete  description  of  the  syntax  for  the  time
                      interval.

       align_interval (True) *
                      align_interval  (optional)  specifies  whether  to  take the previous check
                      duration into account when pausing between checks.

       module_failure_fatal (True)
                      A boolean value for  module_failure_fatal  (optional)  controls  whether  a
                      module  failing to initialize should cause the whole PMDA to abort (this is
                      the default) or to start up with  possibly  remaining  functional  modules.
                      Module  configuration  errors  and  internal  errors  (such  as  failing to
                      register the provided PMNS metrics, see pmns(5)) will always cause the PMDA
                      to fail to start.

       For  each module listed in modules a corresponding [module] section must be defined.  Each
       [module] section can contain at least the following  options  (their  default  values  are
       shown in parenthesis):

       timeout (1)    Force   a  hard  timeout  (optional)  for  each  individual  network  check
                      operation.

       debug (False)  Enable logging of internal debug messages (rarely used).

       The module-specific options modules accept are  described  in  the  default  configuration
       file.

       Modules  expect  basic  network functionality to be present on the system, for example the
       localhost address being reachable.

INSTALLATION

       To install, the following must be done as root:

           # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck
           # ./Install

       To uninstall, the following must be done as root:

           # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck
           # ./Remove

       pmdanetcheck 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.

       In  case  module_failure_fatal  is  set to False, the PMDA installation will be considered
       successful if some (but not all) configured modules fail to load, in  such  cases  metrics
       provided  by  the  failing modules will not be available.  The pmdanetcheck agent log file
       (see below) will contain detailed information about activation of each module.

       Modules will provide real values only after having collected data.  For example,  for  the
       ping module the metric value is the exit value of the ping(1) command and for ping_latency
       the average packet latency as reported by  ping(1).   For  metrics  indicating  status,  0
       denotes success.  In case a check has not finished yet its metric value is -1.  If a check
       was terminated during execution due to timeout the value is -2.

FILES

       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck/netcheck.conf
            configuration file for the pmdanetcheck agent

       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck/netcheck/*.{py,python}
            PCP netcheck PMDA Python modules for the pmdanetcheck agent

       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck/Install
            installation script for the pmdanetcheck agent

       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck/Remove
            undo installation script for the pmdanetcheck agent

       $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd/netcheck.log
            default log file for messages from the pmdanetcheck agent

       Note that the usual/default value for $PCP_PMDAS_DIR is /var/lib/pcp/pmdas and the default
       for $PCP_LOG_DIR is /var/log/pcp but these settings are platform dependent.

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), ping(1), pmcd(1), getaddrinfo(3), resolver(3),  gai.conf(5),  resolv.conf(5),
       resolver(5), icmp(7) and ip(8).