1RRDGRAPH(1) rrdtool RRDGRAPH(1)
2
6 rrdgraph - Round Robin Database tool grapher functions
7
9 rrdtool graph filename [option ...] [data definition ...] [data cal‐
10 culation ...] [variable definition ...] [graph element ...] [print
11 element ...]
12
14 The graph function of RRDtool is used to present the data from an RRD
15 to a human viewer. Its main purpose is to create a nice graphical rep‐
16 resentation, but it can also generate a numerical report.
17
19 rrdtool graph needs data to work with, so you must use one or more data
20 definition statements to collect this data. You are not limited to one
21 database, it's perfectly legal to collect data from two or more data‐
22 bases (one per statement, though).
23 If you want to display averages, maxima, percentiles, etcetera it is
25 best to collect them now using the variable definition statement. Cur‐
26 rently this makes no difference, but in a future version of rrdtool you
27 may want to collect these values before consolidation.
28 The data fetched from the RRA is then consolidated so that there is
30 exactly one datapoint per pixel in the graph. If you do not take care
31 yourself, RRDtool will expand the range slightly if necessary. Note, in
32 that case the first and/or last pixel may very well become unknown!
33 Sometimes data is not exactly in the format you would like to display
35 it. For instance, you might be collecting bytes per second, but want to
36 display bits per second. This is what the data calculation command is
37 designed for. After consolidating the data, a copy is made and this
38 copy is modified using a rather powerful rrdgraph_rpn command set.
39 When you are done fetching and processing the data, it is time to graph
41 it (or print it). This ends the rrdtool graph sequence.
42
44 filename
45 The name and path of the graph to generate. It is recommended to
46 end this in ".png", ".svg" or ".eps", but RRDtool does not enforce
47 this.
48 filename can be '"-"' to send the image to "stdout". In this case,
50 no other output is generated.
51 Time range
53 [-s|--start time] [-e|--end time] [-S|--step seconds]
54 The start and end of the time series you would like to display, and
56 which RRA the data should come from. Defaults are: 1 day ago until
57 now, with the best possible resolution. Start and end can be speci‐
58 fied in several formats, see rrdfetch and rrdgraph_examples. By
59 default, rrdtool graph calculates the width of one pixel in the
60 time domain and tries to get data from an RRA with that resolution.
61 With the step option you can alter this behaviour. If you want
62 rrdtool graph to get data at a one-hour resolution from the RRD,
63 set step to 3'600. Note: a step smaller than one pixel will
64 silently be ignored.
65 Labels
67 [-t|--title string] [-v|--vertical-label string]
68 A horizontal string at the top of the graph and/or a vertically
70 placed string at the left hand side of the graph.
71 Size
73 [-w|--width pixels] [-h|--height pixels] [-j|--only-graph]
74 The width and height of the canvas (the part of the graph with the
76 actual data and such). This defaults to 400 pixels by 100 pixels.
77 If you specify the --only-graph option and set the height < 32 pix‐
79 els you will get a tiny graph image (thumbnail) to use as an icon
80 for use in an overview, for example. All labeling will be stripped
81 off the graph.
82 Limits
84 [-u|--upper-limit value] [-l|--lower-limit value] [-r|--rigid]
85 By default the graph will be autoscaling so that it will adjust the
87 y-axis to the range of the data. You can change this behaviour by
88 explicitly setting the limits. The displayed y-axis will then range
89 at least from lower-limit to upper-limit. Autoscaling will still
90 permit those boundaries to be stretched unless the rigid option is
91 set.
92 [-A|--alt-autoscale]
94 Sometimes the default algorithm for selecting the y-axis scale is
96 not satisfactory. Normally the scale is selected from a predefined
97 set of ranges and this fails miserably when you need to graph some‐
98 thing like "260 + 0.001 * sin(x)". This option calculates the mini‐
99 mum and maximum y-axis from the actual minimum and maximum data
100 values. Our example would display slightly less than "260-0.001" to
101 slightly more than "260+0.001" (this feature was contributed by
102 Sasha Mikheev).
103 [-J|--alt-autoscale-min]
105 Where "--alt-autoscale" will modify both the absolute maximum AND
107 minimum values, this option will only affect the minimum value. The
108 maximum value, if not defined on the command line, will be 0. This
109 option can be useful when graphing router traffic when the WAN line
110 uses compression, and thus the throughput may be higher than the
111 WAN line speed.
112 [-M|--alt-autoscale-max]
114 Where "--alt-autoscale" will modify both the absolute maximum AND
116 minimum values, this option will only affect the maximum value. The
117 minimum value, if not defined on the command line, will be 0. This
118 option can be useful when graphing router traffic when the WAN line
119 uses compression, and thus the throughput may be higher than the
120 WAN line speed.
121 [-N|--no-gridfit]
123 In order to avoid anti-aliasing effects gridlines are placed on
125 integer pixel values. This is by default done by extending the
126 scale so that gridlines happens to be spaced using an integer num‐
127 ber of pixels and also start on an integer pixel value. This might
128 extend the scale too much for some logarithmic scales and for lin‐
129 ear scales where --alt-autoscale is needed. Using --no-gridfit
130 disables modification of the scale.
131 X-Grid
133 [-x|--x-grid GTM:GST:MTM:MST:LTM:LST:LPR:LFM]
134 [-x|--x-grid none]
136 The x-axis label is quite complex to configure. If you don't have
138 very special needs it is probably best to rely on the autoconfigu‐
139 ration to get this right. You can specify the string "none" to sup‐
140 press the grid and labels altogether.
141 The grid is defined by specifying a certain amount of time in the
143 ?TM positions. You can choose from "SECOND", "MINUTE", "HOUR",
144 "DAY", "WEEK", "MONTH" or "YEAR". Then you define how many of these
145 should pass between each line or label. This pair (?TM:?ST) needs
146 to be specified for the base grid (G??), the major grid (M??) and
147 the labels (L??). For the labels you also must define a precision
148 in LPR and a strftime format string in LFM. LPR defines where each
149 label will be placed. If it is zero, the label will be placed right
150 under the corresponding line (useful for hours, dates etcetera).
151 If you specify a number of seconds here the label is centered on
152 this interval (useful for Monday, January etcetera).
153 --x-grid MINUTE:10:HOUR:1:HOUR:4:0:%X
155 This places grid lines every 10 minutes, major grid lines every
157 hour, and labels every 4 hours. The labels are placed under the
158 major grid lines as they specify exactly that time.
159 --x-grid HOUR:8:DAY:1:DAY:1:0:%A
161 This places grid lines every 8 hours, major grid lines and labels
163 each day. The labels are placed exactly between two major grid
164 lines as they specify the complete day and not just midnight.
165 Y-Grid
167 [-y|--y-grid grid step:label factor]
168 [-y|--y-grid none]
170 Y-axis grid lines appear at each grid step interval. Labels are
172 placed every label factor lines. You can specify "-y none" to sup‐
173 press the grid and labels altogether. The default for this option
174 is to automatically select sensible values.
175 If you have set --y-grid to 'none' not only the labels get
177 supressed, also the space reserved for the labels is removed. You
178 can still add space manually if you use the --units-length command
179 to explicitly reserve space.
180 [-Y|--alt-y-grid]
182 Place the Y grid dynamically based on the graph's Y range. The
184 algorithm ensures that you always have a grid, that there are
185 enough but not too many grid lines, and that the grid is metric.
186 That is the grid lines are placed every 1, 2, 5 or 10 units. This
187 parameter will also ensure that you get enough decimals displayed
188 even if your graph goes from 69.998 to 70.001. (contributed by
189 Sasha Mikheev).
190 [-o|--logarithmic]
192 Logarithmic y-axis scaling.
194 [-X|--units-exponent value]
196 This sets the 10**exponent scaling of the y-axis values. Normally,
198 values will be scaled to the appropriate units (k, M, etc.). How‐
199 ever, you may wish to display units always in k (Kilo, 10e3) even
200 if the data is in the M (Mega, 10e6) range, for instance. Value
201 should be an integer which is a multiple of 3 between -18 and 18
202 inclusively. It is the exponent on the units you wish to use. For
203 example, use 3 to display the y-axis values in k (Kilo, 10e3, thou‐
204 sands), use -6 to display the y-axis values in u (Micro, 10e-6,
205 millionths). Use a value of 0 to prevent any scaling of the y-axis
206 values.
207 This option is very effective at confusing the heck out of the
209 default rrdtool autoscaler and grid painter. If rrdtool detects
210 that it is not successful in labeling the graph under the given
211 circumstances, it will switch to the more robust --alt-y-grid mode.
212 [-L|--units-length value]
214 How many digits should rrdtool assume the y-axis labels to be? You
216 may have to use this option to make enough space once you start
217 fideling with the y-axis labeling.
218 [--units=si]
220 With this option y-axis values on logarithmic graphs will be scaled
222 to the appropriate units (k, M, etc.) instead of using exponential
223 notation. Note that for linear graphs, SI notation is used by
224 default.
225 Miscellaneous
227 [-z|--lazy]
228 Only generate the graph if the current graph is out of date or not
230 existent.
231 [-f|--imginfo printfstr]
233 After the image has been created, the graph function uses printf
235 together with this format string to create output similar to the
236 PRINT function, only that the printf function is supplied with the
237 parameters filename, xsize and ysize. In order to generate an IMG
238 tag suitable for including the graph into a web page, the command
239 line would look like this:
240 --imginfo '<IMG SRC="/img/%s" WIDTH="%lu" HEIGHT="%lu" ALT="Demo">'
242 [-c|--color COLORTAG#rrggbb[aa]]
244 Override the default colors for the standard elements of the graph.
246 The COLORTAG is one of "BACK" background, "CANVAS" for the back‐
247 ground of the actual graph, "SHADEA" for the left and top border,
248 "SHADEB" for the right and bottom border, "GRID", "MGRID" for the
249 major grid, "FONT" for the color of the font, "AXIS" for the axis
250 of the graph, "FRAME" for the line around the color spots and
251 finally "ARROW" for the arrow head pointing up and forward. Each
252 color is composed out of three hexadecimal numbers specifying its
253 rgb color component (00 is off, FF is maximum) of red, green and
254 blue. Optionally you may add another hexadecimal number specifying
255 the transparency (FF is solid). You may set this option several
256 times to alter multiple defaults.
257 A green arrow is made by: "--color ARROW#00FF00"
259 [--zoom factor]
261 Zoom the graphics by the given amount. The factor must be > 0
263 [-n|--font FONTTAG:size:[font]]
265 This lets you customize which font to use for the various text ele‐
267 ments on the RRD graphs. "DEFAULT" sets the default value for all
268 elements, "TITLE" for the title, "AXIS" for the axis labels, "UNIT"
269 for the vertical unit label, "LEGEND" for the graph legend.
270 Use Times for the title: "--font TITLE:13:/usr/lib/fonts/times.ttf"
272 If you do not give a font string you can modify just the sice of
274 the default font: "--font TITLE:13:".
275 If you specify the size 0 then you can modify just the font without
277 touching the size. This is especially usefull for altering the
278 default font without resetting the default fontsizes: "--font
279 DEFAULT:0:/usr/lib/fonts/times.ttf".
280 RRDtool comes with a preset default font. You can set the environ‐
282 ment variable "RRD_DEFAULT_FONT" if you want to change this.
283 Truetype fonts are only supported for PNG output. See below.
285 [-R|--font-render-mode {normal,light,mono}]
287 This lets you customize the strength of the font smoothing, or dis‐
289 able it entirely using mono. By default, normal font smoothing is
290 used.
291 [-B|--font-smoothing-threshold size]
293 This specifies the largest font size which will be rendered
295 bitmapped, that is, without any font smoothing. By default, no text
296 is rendered bitmapped.
297 [-E|--slope-mode]
299 RRDtool graphs are composed of stair case curves by default. This
301 is in line with the way RRDtool calculates its data. Some people
302 favor a more 'organic' look for their graphs even though it is not
303 all that true.
304 [-a|--imgformat PNG|SVG|EPS|PDF]
306 Image format for the generated graph. For the vector formats you
308 can choose among the standard Postscript fonts Courier-Bold,
309 Courier-BoldOblique, Courier-Oblique, Courier, Helvetica-Bold, Hel‐
310 vetica-BoldOblique, Helvetica-Oblique, Helvetica, Symbol,
311 Times-Bold, Times-BoldItalic, Times-Italic, Times-Roman, and ZapfD‐
312 ingbats.
313 [-i|--interlaced]
315 If images are interlaced they become visible on browsers more
317 quickly.
318 [-g|--no-legend]
320 Suppress generation of the legend; only render the graph.
322 [-F|--force-rules-legend]
324 Force the generation of HRULE and VRULE legends even if those HRULE
326 or VRULE will not be drawn because out of graph boundaries (mimics
327 behaviour of pre 1.0.42 versions).
328 [-T|--tabwidth value]
330 By default the tab-width is 40 pixels, use this option to change
332 it.
333 [-b|--base value]
335 If you are graphing memory (and NOT network traffic) this switch
337 should be set to 1024 so that one Kb is 1024 byte. For traffic mea‐
338 surement, 1 kb/s is 1000 b/s.
339 [-W|--watermark string]
341 Adds the given string as a watermark, horizontally centred, at the
343 bottom of the graph.
344 Data and variables
346 DEF:vname=rrdfile:ds-name:CF[:step=step][:start=time][:end=time]
347 CDEF:vname=RPN expression
349 VDEF:vname=RPN expression
351 You need at least one DEF statement to generate anything. The other
353 statements are useful but optional. See rrdgraph_data and rrd‐
354 graph_rpn for the exact format.
355 Graph and print elements
357 You need at least one graph element to generate an image and/or at
358 least one print statement to generate a report. See rrdgraph_graph
359 for the exact format.
360
362 rrdgraph gives an overview of how rrdtool graph works. rrdgraph_data
363 describes DEF,CDEF and VDEF in detail. rrdgraph_rpn describes the RPN
364 language used in the ?DEF statements. rrdgraph_graph page describes
365 all of the graph and print functions.
366 Make sure to read rrdgraph_examples for tips&tricks.
368
370 Program by Tobias Oetiker <tobi@oetiker.ch>
371 This manual page by Alex van den Bogaerdt <alex@ergens.op.het.net>
3731.2.27 2008-02-17 RRDGRAPH(1)