Provided by: pcp_3.8.12ubuntu1_amd64 bug

NAME

       pmprobe - lightweight probe for performance metrics

SYNOPSIS

       pmprobe  [-fIiLVvz]  [-a  archive]  [-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.

       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 archive rather than connecting to a
       PMCD.  The -a and -h options are mutually exclusive.

       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.

       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.

       Other options control the output of additional information when  one  or  more  values  is
       available.

       -f   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.

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

       -i   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.

       -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.

       -O   When used in conjunction with an archive source of metrics and the -v option 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
            pmprobe  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.

       -v   Report the value for each instance, as per the formatting rules  of  pmPrintValue(3).
            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.

       The -v option is mutually exclusive with either the -I or -i options.

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

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 "dks0d1" "dks0d2"
       disk.dev.write 2 "dks0d1" "dks0d2"
       disk.all.total 1 PM_IN_NULL

       $ pmprobe -v pmcd.numagents pmcd.version pmcd.control.timeout
       pmcd.numagents 1 9
       pmcd.version 1 "2.0 beta-1"
       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).

SEE ALSO

       PCPIntro(1),     pmcd(1),     pmdumplog(1),     pminfo(1),     PMAPI(3),      pmErrStr(3),
       __pmSpecLocalPMDA(3), pcp.conf(5), pcp.env(5) and pmns(5).