Provided by: sensord_3.3.4-2ubuntu1_amd64 
NAME
sensord - Sensor information logging daemon.
SYNOPSIS
sensord [ options ] [ chips ]
DESCRIPTION
Sensord is a daemon that can be used to periodically log sensor readings from hardware
health-monitoring chips to syslog(3) or a round-robin database (RRD) and to alert when a
sensor alarm is signalled; for example, if a fan fails, a temperature limit is exceeded,
etc.
OPTIONS
-i, --interval time
Specify the interval between scanning for sensor alarms; the default is to scan
every minute.
The time should be specified as a raw integer (seconds) or with a suffix `s' for
seconds, `m' for minutes or `h' for hours; for example, the default interval is
`60' or `1m'.
Specify an interval of zero to suppress scanning explicitly for alarms.
-l, --log-interval time
Specify the interval between logging all sensor readings; the default is to log all
readings every half hour.
The time is specified as before; e.g., `30m'.
Specify an interval of zero to suppress logging of regular sensor readings.
-t, --rrd-interval time
Specify the interval between logging all sensor readings to a round-robin database;
the default is to log all readings every five minutes if a round-robin database is
configured.
The time is specified as before; e.g., `5m'.
-T, --rrd-no-average
Specify that the round-robin database should not be averaged.
-r, --rrd-file file
Specify a round-robin database into which to log all sensor readings; e.g.,
`/var/log/sensord.rrd'. This database will be created if it does not exist. By
default, no round-robin database is used.
See the section ROUND ROBIN DATABASES below for more details.
-c, --config-file file
Specify a libsensors(3) configuration file. If no file is specified, the libsensors
default configuration file is used.
-p, --pid-file file
Specify what PID file to write; the default is to write the file
`/var/run/sensord.pid'. You should always specify an absolute path here. The file
is removed when the daemon exits.
-f, --syslog-facility facility
Specify the syslog(3) facility to use when logging sensor readings and alarms; the
default is to use daemon.
Other possible facilities include local0 through local7, and user.
-g, --rrd-cgi directory
Prints out a sample rrdcgi(1) CGI script that can be used to display graphs of
recent sensor information in a Web page, and exits. You must specify the world-
writable, Web-accessible directory where the graphs should be stored; the CGI
script assumes that this will be accessed under the `/sensord/' directory on the
Webserver. See the section ROUND ROBIN DATABASES below for more details.
-a, --load-average
Include the load average in the RRD database. You should also specify this flag
when you create the CGI script.
-d, --debug
Prints a small amount of additional debugging information.
-h, --help
Prints a help message and exits.
-v, --version
Displays the program version and exits.
CHIPS
To restrict the devices that are scanned by this daemon, you may optionally specify a list
of chip names. By default, all available chips are scanned.
A typical chip name would be `w83782d-*' (you may want to escape the `*' for your shell)
which would scan any W83782D chips on any bus. See sensors.conf(5) for more details.
Another option is to simply not load the sensor modules for chips in which you have no
interest.
SIGNALS
Upon receipt of a SIGTERM (see signal(7) for details) this daemon should gracefully shut
down.
Upon receipt of a SIGHUP, this daemon will rescan the kernel interface for chips and
features, and reload the libsensors configuration file.
LOGGING
All messages from this daemon are logged to syslog(3) under the program name `sensord' and
facility daemon, or whatever is specified on the command line.
Regular sensor readings are logged at the level info. Alarms are logged at the level
alert. Inconsequential status messages are logged at the minimum level, debug, when
debugging is enabled.
You can use an appropriate `/etc/syslog.conf' file to direct these messages in a useful
manner. See syslog.conf(5) for full details. Assuming you set the logging facility to
local4, the following is a sample configuration:
# Sample syslog.conf entries
*.info;...;local4.none;local4.warn /var/log/messages
local4.info -/var/log/sensors
local4.alert /dev/console
local4.alert *
The first line ensures that regular sensor readings do not clutter `/var/log/messages'; we
first say `local4.none' to eliminate informational messages; then `local4.warn' to enable
warnings and above. The second line says to log all regular sensor readings to
`/var/log/sensors'; the leading hyphen `-' means that this file is not flushed after every
message. The final two lines ensure that alarms are printed to the system console as well
as to all connected users (in addition to `/var/log/messages' and `/var/log/sensors').
LOG ROTATION
On a typical system with a good sensor chip, expect about 2KB per sensor reading in the
log file. This works out at about 3MB per month. You should be rotating your syslog files
anyway, but just to be sure you'll want to use something like logrotate(8) or equivalent.
You might, for example, want an entry in `/etc/logrotate.d/syslog' containing:
# Sample logrotate.d entry
/var/log/sensors {
postrotate
/usr/sbin/killall -HUP syslogd
endscript
}
Note, of course, that you want to restart syslogd(8) and not sensord(8)
ALARMS
Alarms generally indicate a critical condition; for example, a fan failure or an
unacceptable temperature or voltage. However, some sensor chips do not support alarms,
while others are incorrectly configured and may signal alarms incorrectly.
Note that some drivers may lack support for alarm reporting even though the chips they
support do have alarms. As of Linux 2.6.23, many drivers still don't report alarms in a
format suitable for libsensors 3.
BEEPS
If you see `(beep)' beside any sensor reading, that just means that your system is
configured to issue an audio warning from the motherboard if an alarm is signalled on that
sensor.
ROUND ROBIN DATABASES
Sensord(8) provides support for storing sensor readings in a round-robin database. This
may be a useful alternative to the use of syslog(3).
Round-robin databases are constant-size databases that can be used to store, for example,
a week's worth of sensor readings. Subsequent readings stored in the database will
overwrite readings that are over a week old. This capability is extremely useful because
it allows useful information to be stored in an easily-accessible manner for a useful
length of time, without the burden of ever-growing log files.
The rrdtool(1) utility and its associated library provide the basic framework for the
round-robin database beneath sensord(8). In addition, the rrdcgi(1) and rrdgraph(1)
utilities provide support for generating graphs of these data for display in a Web page.
If you wish to use the default configuration of round-robin database, which holds one week
of sensor readings at five-minute intervals, then simply start sensord(8) and specify
where you want the database stored. It will automatically be created and configured using
these default parameters.
If you wish readings to be stored for a longer period, or want multiple readings to be
averaged into each database entry, then you must manually create and configure the
database before starting sensord(8). Consult the rrdcreate(1) manual for details. Note
that the database must match exactly the names and order of sensors read by sensord(8).
It is recommended that you create the default database and then use rrdinfo(1) to obtain
this information, and/or rrdtune(1) to change it.
After creating the round-robin database, you must then configure your Web server to
display the sensor information. This assumes that you have a Web server preconfigured and
functioning on your machine. Sensord(8) provides a command-line option --rrd-cgi to
generate a basic CGI script to display these graphs; you can then customize this script as
desired. Consult the rrdcgi(1) manual for details. This CGI script requires a world-
writable, Web-accessible directory into which to write the graphs that it generates.
An example of how to set up Web-accessible graphs of recent sensor readings follows:
sensord --log-interval 0 \
--load-average \
--rrd-file /var/log/sensord.rrd
Here, we start sensord(8) and configure it to store readings in a round-robin database;
note that we disable logging of sensor readings to syslog(3), and enable logging of the
load average.
mkdir /var/www/sensord
chown www-data:staff /var/www/sensord
chmod a=rwxs /var/www/sensord
Here, we create a world-writable, Web-accessible directory in which graphs will be stored;
we set the ownership and permissions on this directory appropriately. You will have to
determine the location and ownership that is appropriate for your machine.
sensord --load-average \
--rrd-file /var/log/sensord.rrd \
--rrd-cgi /var/www/sensord \
> /usr/lib/cgi-bin/sensord.cgi
chmod a+rx /usr/lib/cgi-bin/sensord.cgi
Here, we create a CGI script that will display sensor readings from the database. You
must specify the location of the round-robin database, the location of the directory where
the images should be stored, and whether you want the load average displayed. The --rrd-
cgi command-line parameter causes sensord(8) to display a suitable CGI script on stdout
and then to exit. You will need to write this script to the CGI bin directory of your Web
server, and edit the script if the image directory you chose is not the `/sensord/'
directory of your Web server.
Finally, you should be able to view your sensor readings from the URL
`http://localhost/cgi-bin/sensord.cgi'.
MODULES
It is expected that all required sensor modules are loaded prior to this daemon being
started. This can either be achieved with a system specific module loading scheme (e.g.,
listing the required modules in the file `/etc/modules' under Debian).
ERRORS
Errors encountered by this daemon are logged to syslogd(8) after which the daemon will
exit.
BUGS
Round-robin database support doesn't cope with multiple sensor chips having duplicate
sensor labels.
FILES
/etc/sensors3.conf
/etc/sensors.conf
The system-wide libsensors(3) configuration file. See sensors.conf(5) for further
details.
/etc/syslog.conf
The system-wide syslog(3) / syslogd(8) configuration file. See syslog.conf(5) for
further details.
SEE ALSO
sensors.conf(5)
AUTHORS
Sensord was written by Merlin Hughes <merlin@merlin.org>. Basics of round-robin databases
were misappropriated from Mark D. Studebaker.