1PMCLIENT(1) General Commands Manual PMCLIENT(1)
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6 pmclient, pmclient_fg - a simple performance metrics client
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9 pmclient [-a archive] [-h host] [-n pmnsfile] [-P] [-S numsec] [-s sam‐
10 ples] [-t interval] [-Z timezone] [-z]
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13 pmclient and pmclient_fg are simple clients that use the Performance
14 Metrics Application Programming Interface (PMAPI) to report some high-
15 level system performance metrics.
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17 The real value of these tools is as sample clients using the PMAPI(3),
18 interfaces and to this end the source code is included with the Perfor‐
19 mance Co-Pilot (PCP) package (see PCPIntro(1)), and is typically
20 installed in /usr/share/pcp/demos/pmclient.
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22 The pmclient_fg program differs to pmclient in that it uses the fetch‐
23 group API extension to the PMAPI, see pmFetchGroup(3).
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25 Normally pmclient operates on the distributed Performance Metrics Name
26 Space (PMNS), however if the -n option is specified an alternative
27 local PMNS is loaded from the file pmnsfile.
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29 Unless directed to another host by the -h option, or to an archive by
30 the -a option, pmclient will contact the Performance Metrics Collector
31 Daemon (PMCD) on the local host to obtain the required information.
32 The argument to -a is a comma-separated list of names, each of which
33 may be the base name of an archive or the name of a directory contain‐
34 ing one or more archives. The -a and -h options are mutually exclu‐
35 sive.
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37 By default, pmclient reports the time of day according to the local
38 timezone on the system where pmclient is run. The -Z option changes
39 the timezone to timezone in the format of the environment variable TZ
40 as described in environ(7). The -z option changes the timezone to the
41 local timezone at the host that is the source of the performance met‐
42 rics, as identified via either the -h or -a options.
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44 Other options control the specific information to be reported.
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46 -P The default behavior for replaying a set of archives, is to
47 replay at full speed. The -P option may be used in conjunction
48 with a set of archives, to request that the prevailing real-time
49 delay be applied between samples (see -t) to effect a pause.
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51 -S numsec
52 The -S option may be used in conjunction with a set of archives
53 to request that display start at the time numsec seconds from
54 the start of the set of archives.
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56 -s samples
57 The argument samples defines the number of samples to be
58 retrieved and reported. If samples is 0 or -s is not specified,
59 pmclient will sample and report continuously (in real time mode)
60 or until the end of the set of PCP archives (in archive mode).
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62 -t interval
63 The default update interval may be set to something other than
64 the default 5 seconds. The interval argument follows the syntax
65 described in PCPIntro(1), and in the simplest form may be an
66 unsigned integer (the implied units in this case are seconds).
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68 The output from pmclient is directed to standard output, and lists
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70 + Aggregate CPU utilization, in the range 0 to 1.
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72 + If the system has more than 1 CPU, the ordinal number of the busiest
73 CPU, in the range 0 to ...
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75 + If the system has more than 1 CPU, the CPU utilization for the
76 busiest CPU.
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78 + Real free memory in Mbytes.
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80 + Aggregate physical disk I/O operations per second (IOPS).
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82 + Load average over the last 1 minute and over the last 15 minutes.
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85 $PCP_DEMOS_DIR/pmclient
86 source code, documentation, configuration files and Makefile
87 when the PCP development package is installed
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90 Environment variables with the prefix PCP_ are used to parameterize the
91 file and directory names used by PCP. On each installation, the file
92 /etc/pcp.conf contains the local values for these variables. The
93 $PCP_CONF variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration
94 file, as described in pcp.conf(5).
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97 PCPIntro(1), pmcd(1), pmchart(1), pmdumptext(1), pmgenmap(1),
98 pminfo(1), pmrep(1), pmstat(1), pmval(1), PMAPI(3), pmFetchGroup(3),
99 pcp.conf(5) and pcp.env(5).
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102 All are generated on standard error, and are intended to be self-
103 explanatory.
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107Performance Co-Pilot PCP PMCLIENT(1)