1PMPROXY(1) General Commands Manual PMPROXY(1)
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6 pmproxy - proxy for performance metrics collector and querying
7
9 pmproxy [-AFft?] [-C dirname] [-h host[,host ...] [-i ipaddress] [-l
10 logfile] [-L bytes] [-M certname] [-p port[,port ...] [-P passfile]
11 [-r port[,port ...] [-U username] [-x file]
12
14 pmproxy acts as a protocol proxy, allowing Performance Co-Pilot (PCP)
15 monitoring clients to connect to one or more pmcd(1) and/or redis-
16 server(1) instances via pmproxy.
17 In its default mode of operation, on platforms supporting this, pmproxy
19 provides the REST API for all PCP services (see PMWEBAPI(3) for
20 details) and interfaces to the fast, scalable time series query capa‐
21 bilities offered by PCP in conjunction with a redis-server(1) (see
22 pmseries(1) for details).
23 pmproxy can be deployed in a firewall domain, or on a cluster ``head''
25 node where the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the hosts where pmcd
26 and/or redis-server are running may be unknown to the PCP monitoring
27 clients, but where the IP address of the host running pmproxy is known
28 to these clients. Similarly, the clients may have network connectivity
29 only to the host where pmproxy is running, while there is network con‐
30 nectivity from that host to the hosts of interest where pmcd and/or
31 redis-server are running.
32 The behaviour of the PCP monitoring clients is controlled by either the
34 PMPROXY_HOST environment variable or through the extended hostname
35 specification (see PCPIntro(1) for details). If neither of these mech‐
36 anisms is used, clients will make their PMAPI(3) connections directly
37 to pmcd. If the proxy hostname syntax is used or PMPROXY_HOST is set,
38 then this should be the hostname or IP address of the system where
39 pmproxy is running, and the clients will connect to pmcd or redis-
40 server indirectly through the protocol proxy services of pmproxy.
41
43 The available command line options are:
44 -A Disable service advertisement. By default, pmproxy will advertise
46 its presence on the network using any available mechanisms (such
47 as Avahi/DNS-SD), assisting remote monitoring tools with finding
48 it. These mechanisms are disabled with this option.
49 -c file, --config=file
51 Specify the path to an optional configuration file, with format as
52 described in the ``CONFIGURATION'' section. This option implies
53 pmproxy is running in timeseries mode.
54 -C dirname, --certpath=dirname
56 Specify the path to the Network Security Services certificate
57 database, for (optional) secure connections. This option implies
58 pmproxy is running in deprecated mode. The default is
59 /etc/pki/nssdb. Refer also to the -P option. If it does not
60 already exist, this database can be created using the certutil
61 utility. This process and other certificate database maintenance
62 information is provided in the PCPIntro(1) manual page and the
63 online PCP tutorials.
64 -d, --deprecated
66 By default pmproxy prefers to run in the new timeseries mode, pro‐
67 viding REST APIs, asynchronous network I/O, scalable time series,
68 and secure connections using OpenSSL. However, legacy deployments
69 may wish to use the original synchronous pmproxy implementation
70 using NSS and libpcp networking; this can be achieved using this
71 option. Note that the -d and -t options are mutually exclusive.
72 -f, --foreground
74 By default pmproxy is started as a daemon. The -f option indi‐
75 cates that it should run in the foreground. This is most useful
76 when trying to diagnose problems with establishing connections.
77 -F, --systemd
79 Like -f, the -F option runs pmproxy in the foreground, but also
80 does some housekeeping (like create a ``pid'' file and change user
81 id). This is intended for use when pmproxy is launched from sys‐
82 temd(1) and the daemonizing has already been done by systemd(1)
83 and does not need to be done again by pmproxy, which is the case
84 when neither -f nor -F is specified.
85 At most one of -f and -F may be specified.
87 -h host, --redishost=host
89 Specify an alternate Redis host to connect to for time series
90 querying, overriding any configuration file settings. This option
91 implies pmproxy is running in timeseries mode.
92 -i ipaddress
94 This option is usually only used on hosts with more than one net‐
95 work interface (very common for firewall and ``head'' node hosts
96 where pmproxy is likely to be deployed to arbitrate access to an
97 internal network). If no -i options are specified pmproxy accepts
98 PCP client connections on any of its host's IP addresses. The -i
99 option is used to specify explicitly an IP address that PCP client
100 connections should be accepted on. ipaddress should be in the
101 standard dotted form (e.g. 100.23.45.6). The -i option may be
102 used multiple times to define a list of IP addresses. When one or
103 more -i options is specified, attempted connections made on any
104 other IP addresses will be refused.
105 -l file, --log=file
107 By default a log file named pmproxy.log is written in the current
108 directory. The -l option causes the log file to be written to a
109 given file instead of the default. If this file cannot be created
110 or is not writable, output is written to the standard error
111 instead.
112 -L bytes
114 PDUs received by pmproxy from PCP monitoring clients are
115 restricted to a maximum size of 65536 bytes by default to defend
116 against Denial of Service attacks. The -L option may be used to
117 change the maximum incoming PDU size.
118 -M name, --certname=name
120 By default pmproxy will try to use a certificate called PCP Col‐
121 lector certificate in its server role. The -M option allows this
122 certificate name to be changed. This option implies pmproxy is
123 running in deprecated mode.
124 -p port, --port=port
126 Specify an alternate port number to listen on for client connec‐
127 tions. The default value is 44322.
128 -P file, --passfile=file
130 Specify the path to a file containing the Network Security Ser‐
131 vices certificate database password for (optional) secure connec‐
132 tions, and for databases that are password protected. This option
133 implies pmproxy is running in deprecated mode. Refer also to the
134 -C option. When using this option, great care should be exercised
135 to ensure appropriate ownership ("pcp" user, typically) and per‐
136 missions on this file (0400, so as to be unreadable by any user
137 other than the user running the pmproxy process).
138 -r port, --redisport=port
140 Specify an alternate Redis port number to connect to for time
141 series querying, overriding any configuration file settings. This
142 option implies pmproxy is running in timeseries mode.
143 -s sockname, --socket=sockname
145 Specify the path to a local unix domain socket (for platforms sup‐
146 porting this socket family only). The default value is
147 $PCP_RUN_DIR/pmproxy.socket. This option implies pmproxy is run‐
148 ning in timeseries mode.
149 -t, --timeseries
151 Operate in automatic archive timeseries discovery mode. This mode
152 of operation will enable the PMWEBAPI(3) REST APIs, detect system
153 archives created by pmlogger(1) and import them into a redis-
154 server(1) automatically, for fast, scalable time series querying
155 described in pmseries(1).
156 -U user, --username=user
158 Assume the identity of the given user before starting to accept
159 incoming packets from PCP monitoring clients.
160 -x file
162 Before the pmproxy logfile can be opened, pmproxy may encounter a
163 fatal error which prevents it from starting. By default the out‐
164 put describing this error is sent to /dev/tty but it may redi‐
165 rected to file.
166
168 When running in the timeseries mode of operation, runtime configuration
169 is relatively complex and typically handled via the
170 $PCP_SYSCONF_DIR/pmproxy/pmproxy.conf file. This file is in the common
171 ``ini'' format, with section headers and individual variables and val‐
172 ues with each section. The configuration file installed as part of PCP
173 documents every available section and option.
174 At a high level, the [pmproxy] section can be used to explicitly enable
176 or disable each of the different protocols.
177 The [pmseries] section allows connection information for one or more
179 backing redis-server processes to be configured (hostnames and ports).
180 Note to access multiple (scalable) Redis servers, the servers variable
181 in this section can be a comma-separated list of hostname:port pairs.
182 Alternatively, it can be a single redis-server host that will be
183 queried using the "CLUSTER INFO" command to automatically configure
184 multiple backing hosts, described at https://redis.io/topics/cluster-
185 spec.
186
188 Normally, pmproxy is started automatically at boot time and stopped
189 when the system is being brought down. Under certain circumstances it
190 is necessary to start or stop pmproxy manually. To do this one must
191 become superuser and type
192 # $PCP_RC_DIR/pmproxy start
194 to start pmproxy, or
196 # $PCP_RC_DIR/pmproxy stop
198 to stop pmproxy. Starting pmproxy when it is already running is the
200 same as stopping it and then starting it again.
201 Normally pmproxy listens for PCP client connections on TCP/IP port num‐
203 ber 44322 (as well as 44323 with timeseries enabled) registered at
204 https://www.iana.org/. Either the environment variable PMPROXY_PORT or
205 the -p command line option may be used to specify alternative port num‐
206 ber(s) when pmproxy is started; in each case, the specification is a
207 comma-separated list of one or more numerical port numbers. Should
208 both methods be used or multiple -p options appear on the command line,
209 pmproxy will listen on the union of the set of ports specified via all
210 -p options and the PMPROXY_PORT environment variable. If non-default
211 ports are used with pmproxy care should be taken to ensure that
212 PMPROXY_PORT is also set in the environment of any client application
213 that will connect to pmproxy, or that the extended host specification
214 syntax is used (see PCPIntro(1) for details).
215
217 If pmproxy is already running the message "Error: OpenRequestSocket
218 bind: Address already in use" will appear. This may also appear if
219 pmproxy was shutdown with an outstanding request from a client. In
220 this case, a request socket has been left in the TIME_WAIT state and
221 until the system closes it down (after some timeout period) it will not
222 be possible to run pmproxy.
223 In addition to the standard PCP debugging options, see pmdbg(1),
225 pmproxy currently supports the debugging option context for tracing
226 client connections and disconnections.
227
229 PCP_PMPROXYOPTIONS_PATH
230 command line options for pmproxy when launched from
231 $PCP_RC_DIR/pmproxy All the command line option lines should start
232 with a hyphen as the first character.
233 $PCP_SYSCONFIG_DIR/pmproxy
235 additional environment variables that will be set when pmproxy
236 executes. Only settings of the form "PMPROXY_VARIABLE=value" will
237 be honoured.
238 ./pmproxy.log
240 (or $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmproxy/pmproxy.log when started automatically)
241 All messages and diagnostics are directed here
242 /etc/pki/tls
244 default OpenSSL certificate database directory, used for optional
245 Secure Socket Layer connections in timeseries mode of operation.
246 These certificates can be created and queried using the openssl
247 tool, amongst others.
248 /etc/pki/nssdb
250 default Network Sercity Services (NSS) database directory, used
251 for optional Secure Socket Layer connections in deprecated mode of
252 operation. This database can be created and queried using the NSS
253 certutil tool, amongst others. This is only used when pmproxy is
254 running in deprecated mode.
255
257 In addition to the PCP environment variables described in the PCP ENVI‐
258 RONMENT section below, there are several environment variables that
259 influence the interactions between a PCP monitoring client, pmproxy and
260 pmcd.
261 PMCD_PORT
263 For the PCP monitoring client this (or the default port number)
264 is passed to pmproxy and used to connect to pmcd. In the envi‐
265 ronment of pmproxy PMCD_PORT is not used.
266 PMPROXY_HOST
268 For the PCP monitoring client this is the hostname or IP address
269 of the host where pmproxy is running. In recent versions of PCP
270 (since version 3) this has been superseded by the extended host‐
271 name syntax (see PCPIntro(1) for details).
272 PMPROXY_PORT
274 For the PCP monitoring client this is the port on which pmproxy
275 will accept connections. The default is 44322, as well as 44323
276 with timeseries enabled.
277 PMCD_CONNECT_TIMEOUT, PMCD_RECONNECT_TIMEOUT and PMCD_REQUEST_TIMEOUT
279 (see PCPIntro(1)) For the PCP monitoring client, setting these
280 environment variables will modify the timeouts used for interac‐
281 tions between the client and pmproxy (independent of which pmcd
282 is being used). For pmproxy these same environment variables
283 control the timeouts between pmproxy and all pmcd(1) instances
284 (independent of which monitoring client is involved).
285 If set to the value 1, the PMPROXY_LOCAL environment variable will
287 cause pmproxy to run in a localhost-only mode of operation, where it
288 binds only to the loopback interface.
289 The PMPROXY_MAXPENDING variable can be set to indicate the maximum
291 length to which the queue of pending client connections may grow.
292
294 Environment variables with the prefix PCP_ are used to parameterize the
295 file and directory names used by PCP. On each installation, the file
296 /etc/pcp.conf contains the local values for these variables. The
297 $PCP_CONF variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration
298 file, as described in pcp.conf(5).
299 For environment variables affecting PCP tools, see pmGetOptions(3).
301
303 PCPIntro(1), pmcd(1), pmdbg(1), pmlogger(1), pmseries(1), redis-
304 server(1), PMAPI(3), PMWEBAPI(3), pmGetOptions(3), pcp.conf(5) and
305 pcp.env(5).
306Performance Co-Pilot PCP PMPROXY(1)