PMIECONF(1)PMIECONF(1)PMIECONF(1)PMIECONF(1)NAMEpmieconf - display and set configurable pmie rule variables
SYNOPSISpmieconf [-cFv] [-f file] [-r rulepath] [command [args...]]
DESCRIPTIONpmieconf is a utility for viewing and configuring variables from gener‐
alized pmie(1) rules. The set of generalized rules is read in from
rulepath, and the output file produced by pmieconf is a valid input
file for pmie.
A brief description of the pmieconf command line options follows:
-c When run from automated pmie setup processes, this option is
used to add a specific message and timestamp indicating that
this is the case. It is not appropriate when using the tool
interactively.
-f file Any rule modifications resulting from pmieconf manipulation of
variable values will be written to file. The default value of
file is dependent on the user ID - for the root user, the file
$PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmieconf/config.pmie is used, for other
users the default is $HOME/.pcp/pmie/config.pmie.
-F Forces the pmieconf output file to be created (or updated),
after which pmieconf immediately exits.
-r rulepath
Allows the source of generalized pmie rules to be changed -
rulepath is a colon-delimited list of pmieconf(5) rule files
and/or subdirectories. The default value for rulepath is
$PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmieconf. Use of this option overrides the
PMIECONF_PATH environment variable which has a similar func‐
tion.
-v Verbose mode. Additional information associated with each rule
and its associated variables will be displayed. This is the
complete list of variables which affects any given rule (by
default, global variables are not displayed with the rule).
The pmieconf commands allow information related to the various rules
and configurable variables to be displayed or modified. If no pmieconf
commands are presented on the command line, pmieconf prompts for com‐
mands interactively.
The pmieconf command language is described here:
help [ { . | all | global | <rule> | <group> } [<variable>] ]
Without arguments, the help command displays the syntax for all
of the available pmieconf commands. With one argument, a
description of one or more of the generalized rules is dis‐
played. With two arguments, a description of a specific vari‐
able relating to one or more of the generalized rules is dis‐
played.
rules [ enabled | disabled ]
Display the name and short summary for all of the generalized
rules found on rulepath. Each of the rule names can be used in
place of the keyword <rule> in this command syntax description.
The enabled and disabled options can be used to filter the set
of rules displayed to just those which are enabled or disabled
respectfully.
groups Display the name of all of the rule groups that were found on
rulepath. Each of the group names can be used in place of the
keyword <group> in this command syntax description, which
applies the command to all rules within the rule group.
status Display status information relating to the current pmieconf
session, including a list of running pmie processes which are
currently using file.
enable { . | all | <rule> | <group> }
Enables the specified rule or group of rules. An enabled rule
is one which will be included in the pmie configuration file
generated by pmieconf. Any enabled "actions" will be appended
to the rule's "predicate", in a manner conforming to the pmie
syntax ("actions" can be viewed using the list global command,
described below).
disable { . | all | <rule> | <group> }
Disables the specified rule or group of rules. If the rule was
previously enabled, it will be removed from the pmie configura‐
tion file generated by pmieconf, and hence no longer evaluated
when pmie is restarted (using pmieconf does not affect any
existing pmie processes using file).
list { . | all | global | <rule> | <group> } [<variable>]
Display the values for a specific rule variable; or for all
variables of a rule, a rule group, all rules, or the global
variables.
modify { . | all | global | <rule> | <group> } <variable> <value>
Enable, disable, or otherwise change the value for one or more
rule variables. This value must be consistent with the type of
the variable, which can be inferred from the format of the
printed value - e.g. strings will be enclosed in double-quotes,
percentages have the ``%'' symbol appended, etc. Note that
certain rule variables cannot be modified through pmieconf-
"predicate" and "help", for example.
undo { . | all | global | <rule> | <group> } [<variable>]
Applicable only to a variable whose value has been modified -
this command simply reverts to the default value for the given
variable.
quit Save any changes made to file and then exit pmieconf.
abort Exit pmieconf immediately without saving any changes to file.
Each of the commands above can be shortened by simply using the first
character of the command name, and also ``?'' for help.
Use of the all keyword causes the command to be applied to all of the
rules. The global keyword refers to those variables which are applied
to every rule. Such variables can be changed either globally or
locally, for example:
pmieconf> modify global delta "5 minutes"
pmieconf> modify memory delta "1 minute"
causes all rules to now be evaluated once every five minutes, except
for rules in the "memory" group which are to be evaluated once per
minute.
The ``.'' character is special to pmieconf - it refers to the last suc‐
cessfully used value of all, global, <rule> or <group>.
EXAMPLES
Specify that all of the rules in the "memory" group should be evalu‐
ated:
pmieconf> modify memory enabled yes
Change your mind, and revert to using only the "memory" rules which
were enabled by default:
pmieconf> undo memory enabled
Specify that notification of rules which evaluate to true should be
sent to syslogd(1):
pmieconf> modify global syslog_action yes
Specify that rules in the "per_cpu" group should use a different hold‐
off value to other rules:
pmieconf> help global holdoff
rule: global [generic parameters applied to all rules]
var: holdoff
help: Once the predicate is true and the action is executed,
this variable allows suppression of further action
execution until the specified interval has elapsed.
A value of zero enables execution of the action if
the rule predicate is true at the next sample. Default
units are seconds and common units are "second", "sec",
"minute", "min" and "hour".
pmieconf> modify per_cpu holdoff "1 hour"
Lower the threshold associated with a particular variable for a speci‐
fied rule:
pmieconf> l cpu.syscall predicate
rule: cpu.syscall [High aggregate system call rate]
predicate =
some_host (
( kernel.all.syscall $hosts$ )
> $threshold$ count/sec * hinv.ncpu $hosts$
)
pmieconf> m . threshold 7000
pmieconf> l . threshold
rule: cpu.syscall [High aggregate system call rate]
threshold = 7000
ENVIRONMENT
The environment variable PMIECONF_PATH has a similar function to the -r
option described above, and if set will be used provided no -r option
is presented.
FILES
$PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmieconf/*/*
generalized system resource monitoring rules
$PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmieconf/config.pmie
default super-user settings for system resource monitoring
rules
$HOME/.pcp/pmie/config.pmie
default user settings for system resource monitoring rules
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 ALSOPCPIntro(1), pmie(1), pmie_check(1) and pmieconf(5).
Performance Co-Pilot PCP PMIECONF(1)
