Ubuntu Manpage: pmview - performance metrics 3D visualization back-end

NAME

       pmview - performance metrics 3D visualization back-end

SYNOPSIS

       pmview  [-Cz]  [-A align] [-a archive[,archive,...]]  [-c configfile] [-h host] [-n pmnsfile] [-O origin]
       [-p port] [-R logconfig] [-r addconfig] [-S starttime]  [-t  interval]  [-T  endtime]  [-x  version]  [-Z
       timezone] [-geometry geometry] [-display display] [-name name] [-title title]

DESCRIPTION

pmview is a generalized 3D performance metrics visualization tool for the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP(1)).

pmview is the base utility behind performance metrics visualization tools such as dkvis(1), mpvis(1),
osvis(1) and nfsvis(1), It is also used by a range of related tools that are specific to optional
Performance Domain Agents (PMDA) and/or PCP add-on products. pmview may also be used to construct
customized 3D performance displays.

pmview displays performance metrics as colored blocks and cylinders arranged on monochrome base planes.
Each object may represent a single performance metric, or a stack of several performance metrics. Since
the objects are modulated by the value of the metric they represent, only numerical metrics may be
visualized. Objects representing a single metric may be modulated in terms of height, color, or height
and color. Objects in a stack may only be height modulated, but the stack can be normalized to the
maximum height. Labels may be added to the scene to help identify groups of metrics.

A configuration file (as specified by the -c option, or read from standard input) is used to specify the
position, color, maximum value and labels of metrics and metric instances in the scene. The maximum
value acts as a normalization factor and is used to scale the object height and/or color in proportion to
the metric values. Metric values which exceed the associated maximum value are displayed as solid white
objects. If a metric is unavailable, the object will have minimum height and will be colored grey.

The full syntax of the scene description language is provided in pmview(5).

Normally, the tool operates in ``live'' mode where performance metrics are fetched in real-time. The
user can view metrics from any host running pmcd(1). pmview can also replay archives of performance
metrics (see pmlogger(1)) and allow the user to interactively control the current replay time and rate
using the VCR paradigm. This is particularly useful for retrospective comparisons and for postmortem
analysis of performance problems where a remote system is not accessible or a performance analyst is not
available on-site.

All metrics in the Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS) with numeric value semantics from any number of
hosts or archives may be visualized. pmview examines the semantics of the metrics and where sensible,
converts metric values to a rate before scaling.

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

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.

The other available options are:

-a archive[,archive,...]]
Specify an archive from which metrics can be obtained for a particular host. archive is the
basename of an archive, or the name of a directory containing archives, previously created by
pmlogger(1). Multiple sets of archives (separated by commas or in different -a options) from
different hosts may be given, but an error will occur if there is more than one set of archives
from the same host. Any metrics that are not associated with a specific host or archive in the
configuration file will use the first set of archives as their source.

-C Parse the configuration file and exit before displaying the pmview window. Any errors in the
configuration file are displayed.

-c configfile
Load the configuration from configfile rather than standard input.

-h host
Fetch performance metrics from pmcd(1) on host, rather than the default localhost. Implies that
pmview will run in live mode, so no archives can be specified on the command line or in the
configuration file. Only one -h option may be given.

-n pmnsfile
Normally pmview operates on the distributed Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS), however if the
-n option is specified an alternative local PMNS is loaded from the file pmnsfile.

-p port
Connect to the time controls (see pmtime(1)) on this port. Used when a tool launches another tool
so that they can connect to the same time controls.

-R logconfig
Use logconfig as the pmlogger(1) config when recording.

-r addconfig
Append addconfig onto the pmlogger(1) config generated by pmview when recording.

-t interval
The update interval used to fetch metrics from the live or archive sources. 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). The default is 2.0 seconds.

-x version
Use the specified version of the pmlaunch(5) specification. The versions currently supported are
``1.0'' and the default version ``2.0''.

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

-z 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 option, or the first -a option.

-geometry geometry
-display display
-name name
-title title

WINDOW

       The pmview window is comprised of a menu bar, time and scale controls, metric and  time  values,  and  an
       ``examiner'' viewer.

EXAMINER VIEWER

The left, right and bottom edges of the examiner viewer contain a variety of thumb wheels and buttons
that can be used to adjust the visualization of the 3D scene. The Rotx and Roty thumb wheels allow the
user to rotate the scene about the x and y axes, respectively. The dolly thumb wheel moves the virtual
camera closer and further from the scene allowing the user to examine specific parts in detail or view
the entire scene. On the right edge of the viewer are eight buttons which affect the way the user can
interact with the scene.

Pointer
Changes the cursor to a pointer which allows blocks to be selected in the scene. See the Metric
Selection section below.

Hand
Changes the cursor to a hand which allows the scene to be rotated, translated and dollied using a
combination of mouse buttons. The left mouse button can be used to rotate the scene in the direction
of the mouse. Releasing the left mouse button before the mouse has stopped moving will cause the
scene to continue to rotate, which can be stopped by pressing the left mouse button again. The
middle mouse button will ``pan'' the scene, and both mouse buttons act as a dolly for the virtual
camera.

Question Mark
Displays the SGI Help information for the examiner viewer.

Home
Changes the scene back to its original position, unless the home position has been changed by the
home pointer button.

Home Pointer
Changes the home position of the scene to be the scene currently in view.

Eye Resizes the scene so that it completely fits into the 3D viewing area.

Cross-hairs
Moves the object under the cursor to the center of the viewing area, if the hand cursor has been
selected. Pressing the ``s'' key while the cursor is over an object has the same effect.

Perspective Box
Switches the display between perspective and orthogonal projections.

Pressing the right mouse button within the scene window will bring up a menu of options which affect how
the 3D scene is drawn. The options include drawing the blocks as wire frames, and turning on stereo
viewing.

METRIC SELECTION

When the pointer cursor is active, more information about the 3D scene can be obtained. Text describing
the metric represented by the block under the cursor will be displayed in the top text box of the pmview
window. The text contains the source and name of the metric, current value and units, and the percentage
of the expected maximum (or normalization) value. The text box is updated whenever the scene is updated
with the latest metric values or when the cursor is moved over another block in the scene. Moving the
cursor over a base plane block, text or the surrounding space will clear the text box.

Clicking the left mouse button on a block will bind the text box on that metric instance so that the
metric can be monitored while performing other actions with the mouse. The block will be highlighted
with a red wire frame. Clicking the left mouse button on text or the space surrounding the scene will
unselect the object, causing the text box to revert to the original behavior of showing the metric
underneath the cursor.

Selecting a base plane instead of a modulated block will cause all the blocks on that base plane to be
selected. When more than one object is selected, the text box behaves as if nothing is selected, so the
metric displayed is the metric currently under the cursor. Multiple selections are also possible by
pressing the SHIFT key while selecting an object with the left mouse button.

MENUS

There are four menus in pmview's user interface which allow scenes to be recorded, saved and printed
(File), access to the time controls (Options), launching other tools (Launch) and online help (Help).

File/Record
When in ``live'' mode, this option will launch pmlogger(1) processes to record the current scene into
an archive folio (see pmafm(1)) so that it may be replayed at a later time. This option is not
available in ``replay'' mode.

When File/Record is selected, a file chooser dialog will prompt for the name of the new archive
folio. If the directory to the folio does not exist, pmview will attempt to create it. It is
usually convenient to keep each folio within its own directory as there will be several other files
associated with the folio, including the generated archives.

Once a valid folio has been created, pmview will launch a pmlogger(1) process for each host to
collect the metrics required from that host in the current scene. The current selections do not
affect the set of metrics that are recorded.

While recording is in progress, a red dot will appear in the time controls button in the top left-
hand corner of the pmview window. The File/Record option will also change to File/Stop Recording as
only one recording session is possible at any one time. Selecting blocks or launching other tools
will have no affect on the recording session.

The record session may be terminated by selecting File/Stop Recording. This will display dialogs for
each pmlogger(1) instance describing the size and location of the archive files before terminating
each process. When all pmlogger(1) processes have been terminated, the red dot is removed from the
time controls button, and the menu reverts back to File/Record to allow another recording session to
take place.

If the application exists while recording, a dialog will appear allowing you to terminate each
pmlogger(1) process, or leave it running unattached.

An archive folio may be replayed using the command: ``pmafm folio replay''. See pmafm(1) for more
details.

It is not uncommon for a front-end script which generates a pmview scene to use metrics that are not
contained in the scene. For example, osvis(1) uses several hinv metrics to determine the size and
layout of some objects. As these metrics are also needed when replaying the generated archive with
the front-end script, a complete pmlogger(1) config can be specified (-R) that overrides the pmview
generated config, or an additional config can be appended (-r) to the pmview generated config.

File/Save
Saves the current scene to a human-readable Open Inventor file (see inventor(1)). A file dialog will
prompt for the location of the file. The default file extension is ``.iv'' which is recognized by
ivview(1) and some Web browsers.

File/Print
Outputs the current scene to a printer. A print dialog will be displayed allowing a specific printer
to be selected.

File/Quit
pmview immediately exits. If recording was active, dialogs will be displayed for each pmlogger(1)
process so that they may be terminated.

Options/Show Time Control
Displays the time controls (see pmtime(1)) that are driving this instance of pmview. The time
controls may be shared by other tools, including pmchart(1), that have been launched by other
instances of pmview and oview(1). Therefore, this menu item may appear to have no affect if the time
controls are already visible.

Options/New Time Control
Disconnect with the current time controls (which may be shared by other tools, see pmtime(1)) and use
a new time control that is not connected to any other tools. The new time control will be
immediately displayed.

Launch
The launch menu is generated from a menu specification file (see pmlaunch(5)). The menu contains
tools that may be launched based on the sources and names of the selected metrics in the scene. For
example, if the selected metrics are from three different hosts, then three copies of a tool may be
launched, one for each host. The behavior of a launch depends on the selected metrics and the tools
being launched.

On selection of a Launch menu item pmview generates state information in the pmlaunch(5) metrics
specification format. This provides a description of the selected metrics (or if there are no
selections, all the metrics) in the scene without any geometry information.

Tools which can monitor multiple hosts and user specified metrics may be launched only once for those
metrics (eg pmdumptext(1)). Other tools which have a fixed view for one host (eg mpvis(1)), may be
launched multiple times, once for each host in the selected metric list. If the launched tools have
time controls, they will share the time controls with the launching pmview.

The set of launched tools is configurable, and may include IRIX and user applications. See
pmlaunch(5) for more details.

Help/...
If pcp.books.help has been installed, then the insight(1) books for pmview are displayed.

TIME CONTROLS

       In addition to the menu options for time controls, the  current  direction  of  the  time  controls  (see
       pmtime(1))  is  shown in a button in the top-left corner of the pmview window.  Pressing this button will
       display the time control and is identical in behavior to Options/Show Time Control.

SCALE CONTROLS

       Above the examiner window is a thumb wheel and an editable text box which  allow  the  user  to  apply  a
       multiplier to all values represented in the scene.  Spinning the wheel to the right and/or increasing the
       text value for the scale will increase the height of the bars.  Spinning the wheel  to  the  left  and/or
       lowering the text value will decrease the height of the bars.  The button to the right of the thumb wheel
       will reset the scale so that the bars appear at the original height for their current value.

TIME INFORMATION

       Beside the scale controls is another text box which displays the time of the fetched metrics.   The  time
       will change with the time controller (see pmtime(1)).

DIAGNOSTICS

       Are  intended  to  be  self-explanatory.   The  environment  variable PCP_STDERR can be set to force most
       startup warnings and errors to be sent to the standard error stream rather than posted in a dialog.

FILES

       $PCP_VAR_DIR/pmns/*
            default PMNS specification files

       $PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmlaunch/pmlaunchrc
            menu specification file - provides a mapping between menu item and launched program

       $HOME/.pcp/pmlaunch/pmlaunchrc
            individual users menu specification

       /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/PmView
            application resources

       /usr/lib/images/PmView.icon
            icon for pmview

       $PCP_SHARE_DIR/lib/pmview-args
            shell procedures for parsing pmview command line options in front end scripts

       /usr/lib/DPS/outline/base/
            directory where Inventor normally looks for the outlines of Type1 fonts.

ENVIRONMENT

       The default face of the 3D font in the pmview window can be altered via PMVIEW_FONT environment  variable
       which can be set to the base name of a Type1 font file in the default Inventor fonts directory.

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).