1PMDANETCHECK(1) General Commands Manual PMDANETCHECK(1)
2
6 pmdanetcheck - netcheck PMDA
7
9 pmdanetcheck is a Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) Performance Metrics Domain
10 Agent (PMDA) which does basic network checks on the local host by using
11 simple Python modules and, in some cases, external utilities such as
12 ping(1).
13 pmdanetcheck loads and acts as a bridge for any number of configured,
15 separate PCP netcheck PMDA Python modules running Python code or exter‐
16 nal programs. Existing Python modules and programs should be possible
17 to be utilized with PCP netcheck PMDA modules with minimal effort.
18
20 pmdanetcheck reads a mandatory ini-style configuration file:
21 $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck/netcheck.conf
23 This file must contain a [pmda] section. The following PMDA options
25 are available (their default values are shown in parenthesis), options
26 marked with asterisk (*) can be overridden in module-specific configu‐
27 ration sections:
28 modules (unset)
30 The pmdanetcheck PMDA reads module-specific configura‐
31 tion for each module listed in the comma-separated list
32 of modules (mandatory).
33 hosts (DGW,DNS) *
35 A comma-separated list of hosts (optional) specifies the
36 hosts to run the checks for. The special values DGW,
37 DNS, NTP will be translated to the default gateway,
38 nameservers listed in /etc/resolv.conf, and timeservers
39 listed in /etc/chrony.conf, respectively, on PMDA
40 startup.
41 background_check (True) *
43 A boolean value for background_check (optional) controls
44 whether to run checks constantly in the background or
45 only on demand. Refer to the default configuration file
46 for more discussion about this.
47 check_hosts_parallel (True) *
49 check_hosts_parallel (optional) controls whether modules
50 should check hosts one by one or in parallel.
51 check_interval (1m) *
53 check_interval (optional) specifies the time interval
54 between two consecutive checks for hosts when checks are
55 done in the background. Refer to PCPIntro(1) for a com‐
56 plete description of the syntax for the time interval.
57 align_interval (True) *
59 align_interval (optional) specifies whether to take the
60 previous check duration into account when pausing
61 between checks.
62 module_failure_fatal (True)
64 A boolean value for module_failure_fatal (optional) con‐
65 trols whether a module failing to initialize should
66 cause the whole PMDA to abort (this is the default) or
67 to start up with possibly remaining functional modules.
68 Module configuration errors and internal errors (such as
69 failing to register the provided PMNS metrics, see
70 pmns(5)) will always cause the PMDA to fail to start.
71 For each module listed in modules a corresponding [module] section must
73 be defined. Each [module] section can contain at least the following
74 options (their default values are shown in parenthesis):
75 timeout (1) Force a hard timeout (optional) for each individual net‐
77 work check operation.
78 debug (False) Enable logging of internal debug messages (rarely used).
80 The module-specific options modules accept are described in the default
82 configuration file.
83 Modules expect basic network functionality to be present on the system,
85 for example the localhost address being reachable.
86
88 To install, the following must be done as root:
89 # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck
91 # ./Install
92 To uninstall, the following must be done as root:
94 # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck
96 # ./Remove
97 pmdanetcheck is launched by pmcd(1) and should never be executed
99 directly. The Install and Remove scripts notify pmcd(1) when the agent
100 is installed or removed.
101 In case module_failure_fatal is set to False, the PMDA installation
103 will be considered successful if some (but not all) configured modules
104 fail to load, in such cases metrics provided by the failing modules
105 will not be available. The pmdanetcheck agent log file (see below)
106 will contain detailed information about activation of each module.
107 Modules will provide real values only after having collected data. For
109 example, for the ping module the metric value is the exit value of the
110 ping(1) command and for ping_latency the average packet latency as
111 reported by ping(1). For metrics indicating status, 0 denotes success.
112 In case a check has not finished yet its metric value is -1. If a
113 check was terminated during execution due to timeout the value is -2.
114
116 $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck/netcheck.conf
117 configuration file for the pmdanetcheck agent
118 $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck/netcheck/*.{py,python}
120 PCP netcheck PMDA Python modules for the pmdanetcheck agent
121 $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck/Install
123 installation script for the pmdanetcheck agent
124 $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netcheck/Remove
126 undo installation script for the pmdanetcheck agent
127 $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd/netcheck.log
129 default log file for messages from the pmdanetcheck agent
130 Note that the usual/default value for $PCP_PMDAS_DIR is
132 /var/lib/pcp/pmdas and the default for $PCP_LOG_DIR is /var/log/pcp but
133 these settings are platform dependent.
134
136 Environment variables with the prefix PCP_ are used to parameterize the
137 file and directory names used by PCP. On each installation, the file
138 /etc/pcp.conf contains the local values for these variables. The
139 $PCP_CONF variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration
140 file, as described in pcp.conf(5).
141
143 PCPIntro(1), ping(1), pmcd(1), getaddrinfo(3), resolver(3),
144 gai.conf(5), resolv.conf(5), resolver(5), and ip(8).
145Performance Co-Pilot PCP PMDANETCHECK(1)