Provided by: pcp_6.3.0-1_amd64 bug

NAME

       pmprobe - lightweight probe for performance metrics

SYNOPSIS

       pmprobe [-dfFiILvVz?]  [-a archive] [-b batchsize] [--container=name] [--derived=file] [-h
       hostname] [-K spec] [-n pmnsfile] [-O time] [-Z timezone] [metricname ...]

DESCRIPTION

       pmprobe determines the availability of performance metrics exported through the facilities
       of the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP).

       The  metrics  of  interest are named in the metricname arguments.  If metricname is a non-
       leaf node in the Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS(5)), then pmprobe  will  recursively
       descend  the  PMNS  and report on all leaf nodes.  If no metricname argument is given, the
       root of the namespace is used.

       This recursive expansion of the PMNS can be inhibited by the -F (go faster) option,  which
       reduces  the number of roundtrips to pmcd(1) when the metricname arguments are known to be
       leaf nodes ahead of time.

       The  output  format  is  spartan  and  intended  for  use  in  wrapper  scripts   creating
       configuration  files  for  other  PCP  tools.  By default, there is one line of output per
       metric, with the metric name followed by a count of the number of available values.  Error
       conditions  are  encoded as a negative value count (as per the PMAPI(3) protocols, but may
       be decoded using pmerr(1)) and followed by a textual description of the error.

       Unless directed to another host by the -h option, pmprobe  will  contact  the  Performance
       Metrics Collector Daemon (PMCD) on the local host.

       The  -a  option causes pmprobe to use the specified set of archives rather than connecting
       to a PMCD.

       The -L option causes pmprobe to use a local context to collect metrics from PMDAs  on  the
       local host without PMCD.  Only some metrics are available in this mode.

       The -a, -h and -L options are mutually exclusive.

OPTIONS

       The available command line options are:

       -a archive, --archive=archive
            Performance  metric  values  are retrieved from the set of Performance Co-Pilot (PCP)
            archive 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.

       -b, --batch
            This option may be used to define the maximum number of metrics to be  fetched  in  a
            single  request  for the -v option and any pmLookupName(3) request that pmprobe calls
            with a list of leaf metric names.  The default value  for  batchsize  is  128.   This
            option  is  useful  to  avoid  limitations  on  PDU request sizes and also to stagger
            fetches, which may otherwise timeout if  pmcd(1)  or  a  PMDA  is  slow  to  respond,
            particularly if a large number of metrics are probed.

       --container=container
            Specify an individual container to be queried.

       -d, --version
            Display version number and exit.

       --derived=dmfile
            The  dmfile argument specifies a file that contains derived metric definitions in the
            format described for pmLoadDerivedConfig(3).  This option  provides  a  way  to  load
            derived  metric  definitions  that  is  an alternative to the more generic use of the
            PCP_DERIVED_CONFIG environment variable  as  described  in  PCPIntro(1).   Using  the
            --derived  option and the PCP_DERIVED_CONFIG environment variable to specify the same
            configuration is a bad idea, so choose one or the other method.

       -f, --force
            When used with -i or -I the set of instances reported will be all of those  known  at
            the  source  of  the  performance data.  By default the set of reported instances are
            those for which values are currently available, which may be  smaller  than  the  set
            reported with -f.

       -F, --faster
            Assume given metric names are PMNS leaf nodes.

       -h host, --host=host
            Connect to pmcd(1) on host, rather than on the default localhost.

       -i, --internal
            Report  the  internal  identifiers  for each instance.  The values are in decimal and
            prefixed by ``?''.  As a special case, the literal string PM_IN_NULL is reported  for
            singular metrics.

       -I, --external
            Report  the external identifiers for each instance.  The literal string PM_IN_NULL is
            reported for singular metrics.

       -K spec, --spec-local=spec
            When using the -L/ option to fetch metrics from a local context, this option controls
            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 pmnsfile, --namespace=pmnsfile
            Normally  pmprobe  operates on the distributed Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS),
            however, if the -n option is specified an alternative local PMNS file is loaded  from
            the file pmnsfile.

       -O time, --origin=time
            When  used  in conjunction with an archive source of metrics and the options -f/, the
            time argument defines a time origin at which the metrics should be fetched  from  the
            set of archives.  Refer to PCPIntro(1) for a complete description of this option, and
            the syntax for the time argument.

       -v, --values
            Report the value for each instance, as per the formatting rules  of  pmPrintValue(3).
            When  fetching  from  a  set  of  archives, only those instances present in the first
            archive record for a metric will be displayed; see also the -O option.  The -v option
            is mutually exclusive with either the -I or -i options.

       -V, --verbose
            This  option  provides  a cryptic summary of the number of messages sent and received
            across the PMAPI interface.

       -z, --hostzone
            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 or -a options.

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

       -?, --help
            Display usage message and exit.

EXAMPLES

       $ pmprobe disk.dev
       disk.dev.read 2
       disk.dev.write 2
       disk.dev.total 2
       disk.dev.blkread 2
       disk.dev.blkwrite 2
       disk.dev.blktotal 2
       disk.dev.active 2
       disk.dev.response 2

       $ pmprobe -I disk.dev.read disk.dev.write disk.all.total
       disk.dev.read 2 "sda" "sdb"
       disk.dev.write 2 "sda" "sdb"
       disk.all.total 1 PM_IN_NULL

       $ pmprobe -v pmcd.numagents pmcd.version pmcd.control.timeout
       pmcd.numagents 1 9
       pmcd.version 1 "5.0.0"
       pmcd.control.timeout 1 5

       $ pmprobe -v disk.dev.total disk.all.total
       disk.dev.total -1012 Unknown metric name
       disk.all.total 1 4992466

FILES

       $PCP_VAR_DIR/pmns/*
            default PMNS specification 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), pmcd(1), pminfo(1),  pmlogdump(1),  PMAPI(3),  pmErrStr(3),  pmGetOptions(3),
       pmSpecLocalPMDA(3), pcp.conf(5), pcp.env(5) and PMNS(5).