NAME

       pminfo - display information about performance metrics

SYNOPSIS

       pminfo  [-dfFLmMtTvxz]  [-a  archive]  [-b  batchsize] [-c dmfile] [-h hostname] [-K spec]
       [-[n|N] pmnsfile] [-O time] [-Z timezone] [metricname ...]

DESCRIPTION

       pminfo displays various types of information about performance metrics  available  through
       the facilities of the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP).

       Normally pminfo 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.
       The  -N  option  supports  the  same  function as -n, except for the handling of duplicate
       Performance Metric Identifiers (PMIDs) in pmnsfile - duplicates are allowed with  -N  they
       are not allowed with -n.

       The  metrics  of  interest are named in the metricname arguments.  If metricname is a non-
       leaf node in the PMNS, then pminfo will recursively descend the PMNS  and  report  on  all
       leaf nodes.  If no metricname argument is given, the root of the PMNS is used.

       Unless  directed  to  another  host  by  the -h option, by default pminfo will contact the
       Performance Metrics Collector Daemon (PMCD) on the local host.  The connection to  a  PMCD
       is  only  required  if  pminfo  requires  distributed  PMNS  information, and/or meta-data
       describing metrics, and/or metric values, and/or help text.

       The -a option causes pminfo to use the specified archive rather than connecting to a PMCD.
       The -a , -h and -L options are mutually exclusive.

       The  -L  option  causes pminfo 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.

       The -b option may be used to define the maximum size of the group of metrics to be fetched
       in a single request for the -f and -v options.  The default value for batchsize is 20.

       Other options control the specific information to be reported.

       -c   The dmfile argument specifies a file that contains derived metric definitions in  the
            format  described  for  pmLoadDerivedConfig(3).  The -c 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 -c
            option  and  the  PCP_DERIVED_CONFIG  environment  variable  to  specify   the   same
            configuration is a bad idea, so choose one or the other method.

       -d   Metric  descriptions  detailing the PMID, data type, data semantics, units, scale and
            associated instance domain.

       -f   Fetch and print values for all instances.  When fetching from an archive, only  those
            instances  present  in  the  first archive record for a metric will be displayed; see
            also the -O option, else use pmdumplog(1) which may be a better  tool  for  examining
            archives.

       -F   Same  as  -f  but try harder to fetch instances for metrics which have non-enumerable
            instance domains (e.g. metrics in the ``proc'' subtree of the default PMNS).

       -K   When using the -L option to fetch metrics from a local context, 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.

       -m   Print the PMID in terse mode.

       -M   Print the PMID in verbose mode.

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

            When the ``ctime'' format is used for the time argument in a -O option, the  timezone
            becomes  an  issue.   The  default  is  to use the local timezone on the system where
            pminfo is run.  The -Z option changes the timezone to timezone in the format  of  the
            environment  variable  TZ  as  described  in  environ(5).   The -z option changes the
            timezone to the local timezone at the host that is  the  source  of  the  performance
            metrics, as identified via the -a option.

       -t   Print the ``one line'' help summary, if available.

       -T   Print the help text, if available.

       -v   Verify mode in which descriptions and values are retrieved, but only error conditions
            are reported.  This option silently disables any output from the options -f, -M,  -m,
            -t and -T.

       -x   Like  the  -f  option,  but  with  the  additional  functionality  that if a value is
            processed that is of type PM_TYPE_EVENT, then the event records will be unpacked  and
            the details of each event record reported.

FILES

       $PCP_VAR_DIR/pmns/*
                 default local 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).

SEE ALSO

       PCPIntro(1),  pmcd(1),  pmchart(1),  pmdumplog(1),  pmdumptext(1),  pmprobe(1),  pmval(1),
       PMAPI(3),   pmLoadDerivedConfig(3),   __pmSpecLocalPMDA(3),  pcp.conf(5),  pcp.env(5)  and
       pmns(5).