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NAME

       cpu_sup - A CPU Load and CPU Utilization Supervisor Process

DESCRIPTION

       cpu_sup  is a process which supervises the CPU load and CPU utilization. It is part of the
       OS_Mon application, see os_mon(7). Available for Unix,  although  CPU  utilization  values
       (util/0,1) are only available for Solaris, Linux and FreeBSD.

       The  load values are proportional to how long time a runnable Unix process has to spend in
       the run queue before it is scheduled. Accordingly, higher values mean  more  system  load.
       The  returned  value  divided by 256 produces the figure displayed by rup and top. What is
       displayed as 2.00 in rup, is displayed as load up to the second mark in xload.

       For example, rup displays a load of 128 as 0.50, and 512 as 2.00.

       If the user wants to view load values as percentage of machine capacity, then this way  of
       measuring  presents  a  problem,  because  the  load  values are not restricted to a fixed
       interval. In this case, the following simple mathematical transformation can  produce  the
       load value as a percentage:

             PercentLoad = 100 * (1 - D/(D + Load))

       D  determines which load value should be associated with which percentage. Choosing D = 50
       means that 128 is 60% load, 256 is 80%, 512 is 90%, and so on.

       Another way of measuring system load is to divide the number of busy  CPU  cycles  by  the
       total  number of CPU cycles. This produces values in the 0-100 range immediately. However,
       this method hides the fact that a machine can be more or less saturated.  CPU  utilization
       is therefore a better name than system load for this measure.

       A  server  which  receives  just  enough  requests  to  never become idle will score a CPU
       utilization of 100%. If the server receives 50% more requests, it will still  score  100%.
       When  the system load is calculated with the percentage formula shown previously, the load
       will increase from 80% to 87%.

       The avg1/0, avg5/0, and avg15/0 functions can be used for retrieving system  load  values,
       and the util/0 and util/1 functions can be used for retrieving CPU utilization values.

       When run on Linux, cpu_sup assumes that the /proc file system is present and accessible by
       cpu_sup. If it is not, cpu_sup will terminate.

EXPORTS

       nprocs() -> UnixProcesses | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 UnixProcesses = int()
                 Reason = term()

              Returns the number of UNIX processes running on this machine. This is a  crude  way
              of measuring the system load, but it may be of interest in some cases.

              Returns 0 if cpu_sup is not available.

       avg1() -> SystemLoad | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 SystemLoad = int()
                 Reason = term()

              Returns  the  average  system  load  in  the  last  minute,  as  described above. 0
              represents no load, 256 represents the load reported as 1.00 by rup.

              Returns 0 if cpu_sup is not available.

       avg5() -> SystemLoad | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 SystemLoad = int()
                 Reason = term()

              Returns the average system load in the last five minutes,  as  described  above.  0
              represents no load, 256 represents the load reported as 1.00 by rup.

              Returns 0 if cpu_sup is not available.

       avg15() -> SystemLoad | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 SystemLoad = int()
                 Reason = term()

              Returns  the  average  system  load  in  the last 15 minutes, as described above. 0
              represents no load, 256 represents the load reported as 1.00 by rup.

              Returns 0 if cpu_sup is not available.

       util() -> CpuUtil | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 CpuUtil = float()
                 Reason = term()

              Returns CPU utilization since the last call to util/0  or  util/1  by  the  calling
              process.

          Note:
              The  returned value of the first call to util/0 or util/1 by a process will on most
              systems be the CPU utilization since system boot, but this is  not  guaranteed  and
              the  value  should therefore be regarded as garbage. This also applies to the first
              call after a restart of cpu_sup.

              The CPU utilization is defined as the sum of  the  percentage  shares  of  the  CPU
              cycles  spent  in  all  busy  processor states (see util/1 below) in average on all
              CPUs.

              Returns 0 if cpu_sup is not available.

       util(Opts) -> UtilSpec | {error, Reason}

              Types:

                 Opts = [detailed | per_cpu]
                 UtilSpec = UtilDesc | [UtilDesc]
                  UtilDesc = {Cpus, Busy, NonBusy, Misc}
                  Cpus = all | int() | [int()]()
                  Busy = NonBusy = {State, Share} | Share
                  State = user | nice_user | kernel
                  | wait | idle | atom()
                  Share = float()
                  Misc = []
                 Reason = term()

              Returns CPU utilization since the last call to util/0  or  util/1  by  the  calling
              process, in more detail than util/0.

          Note:
              The  returned value of the first call to util/0 or util/1 by a process will on most
              systems be the CPU utilization since system boot, but this is  not  guaranteed  and
              the  value  should therefore be regarded as garbage. This also applies to the first
              call after a restart of cpu_sup.

              Currently recognized options:

                detailed:
                  The returned UtilDesc(s) will be even more detailed.

                per_cpu:
                  Each CPU will  be  specified  separately  (assuming  this  information  can  be
                  retrieved from the operating system), that is, a list with one UtilDesc per CPU
                  will be returned.

              Description of UtilDesc = {Cpus, Busy, NonBusy, Misc}:

                Cpus:
                  If the detailed and/or per_cpu option is given, this is the CPU  number,  or  a
                  list of the CPU numbers.

                  If  not,  this  is  the  atom  all  which  implies  that  the UtilDesc contains
                  information about all CPUs.

                Busy:
                  If the detailed option is given, this is a list of {State, Share} tuples, where
                  each  tuple  contains  information  about  a  processor  state  that  has  been
                  identified as a busy processor state (see below). The atom State is the name of
                  the  state,  and  the  float  Share  represents the percentage share of the CPU
                  cycles spent in this state since the last call to util/0 or util/1.

                  If not, this is the sum of the percentage shares of the CPU cycles spent in all
                  states identified as busy.

                  If  the  per_cpu  is  not  given, the value(s) presented are the average of all
                  CPUs.

                NonBusy:
                  Similar to Busy, but for processor states that have been identified as non-busy
                  (see below).

                Misc:
                  Currently unused; reserved for future use.

              Currently these processor states are identified as busy:

                user:
                  Executing code in user mode.

                nice_user:
                  Executing  code  in low priority (nice) user mode. This state is currently only
                  identified on Linux.

                kernel:
                  Executing code in kernel mode.

              Currently these processor states are identified as non-busy:

                wait:
                  Waiting. This state is currently only identified on Solaris.

                idle:
                  Idle.

          Note:
              Identified processor states may be different on different operating systems and may
              change  between different versions of cpu_sup on the same operating system. The sum
              of the percentage shares of the CPU cycles spent  in  all  busy  and  all  non-busy
              processor states will always add up to 100%, though.

              Returns {all,0,0,[]} if cpu_sup is not available.

SEE ALSO

       os_mon(3erl)