1RRDGRAPH(1) rrdtool RRDGRAPH(1)
2
6 rrdgraph - Round Robin Database tool graphing functions
7
9 rrdtool graph|graphv filename [option ...] [data definition ...]
10 [data calculation ...] [variable definition ...] [graph element ...]
11 [print 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
16 representation, 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
22 databases (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.
26 Currently this makes no difference, but in a future version of RRDtool
27 you 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 data point 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 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 Use graphv instead of graph to get detailed information about the graph
44 geometry and data once it is drawn. See the bottom of the document for
45 more information.
46
48 filename
49 The name and path of the graph to generate. It is recommended to end
50 this in ".png", ".svg" or ".eps", but RRDtool does not enforce this.
51 filename can be '"-"' to send the image to "stdout". In this case, no
53 other output is generated.
54 Time range
56 [-s|--start time] [-e|--end time] [-S|--step seconds]
57 The start and end of the time series you would like to display, and
59 which RRA the data should come from. Defaults are: 1 day ago until
60 now, with the best possible resolution. Start and end can be specified
61 in several formats, see "AT-STYLE TIME SPECIFICATION" in rrdfetch and
62 rrdgraph_examples. By default, rrdtool graph calculates the width of
63 one pixel in the time domain and tries to get data from an RRA with
64 that resolution. With the step option you can alter this behavior. If
65 you want rrdtool graph to get data at a one-hour resolution from the
66 RRD, set step to 3'600. Note: a step smaller than one pixel will
67 silently be ignored.
68 For non-image --imgformats see "OUTPUT FORMAT" in rrdxport for details
70 on how this affects the output.
71 Labels
73 [-t|--title string]
74 A horizontal string placed at the top of the graph which may be
76 separated into multiple lines using <br/> or \n
77 [-v|--vertical-label string]
79 A vertical string placed at the left hand of the graph.
81 Size
83 [-w|--width pixels] [-h|--height pixels] [-j|--only-graph]
84 [-D|--full-size-mode]
85 By default, the width and height of the canvas (the part with the
87 actual data and such). This defaults to 400 pixels by 100 pixels.
88 If you specify the --full-size-mode option, the width and height
90 specify the final dimensions of the output image and the canvas is
91 automatically resized to fit.
92 If you specify the --only-graph option and set the height < 32 pixels
94 you will get a tiny graph image (thumbnail) to use as an icon for use
95 in an overview, for example. All labeling will be stripped off the
96 graph.
97 Limits
99 [-u|--upper-limit value] [-l|--lower-limit value] [-r|--rigid]
100 [--allow-shrink]
101 By default the graph will be autoscaling so that it will adjust the
103 y-axis to the range of the data. You can change this behavior by
104 explicitly setting the limits. The displayed y-axis will then range at
105 least from lower-limit to upper-limit. Autoscaling will still permit
106 those boundaries to be stretched unless the rigid option is set. allow-
107 shrink alters behavior of rigid by allowing auto down scale, graph will
108 not overrun user specified limits.
109 [-A|--alt-autoscale]
111 Sometimes the default algorithm for selecting the y-axis scale is not
113 satisfactory. Normally the scale is selected from a predefined set of
114 ranges and this fails miserably when you need to graph something like
115 "260 + 0.001 * sin(x)". This option calculates the minimum and maximum
116 y-axis from the actual minimum and maximum data values. Our example
117 would display slightly less than "260-0.001" to slightly more than
118 "260+0.001" (this feature was contributed by Sasha Mikheev).
119 [-J|--alt-autoscale-min]
121 Where "--alt-autoscale" will modify both the absolute maximum AND
123 minimum values, this option will only affect the minimum value. The
124 maximum value, if not defined on the command line, will be 0. This
125 option can be useful when graphing router traffic when the WAN line
126 uses compression, and thus the throughput may be higher than the WAN
127 line speed.
128 [-M|--alt-autoscale-max]
130 Where "--alt-autoscale" will modify both the absolute maximum AND
132 minimum values, this option will only affect the maximum value. The
133 minimum value, if not defined on the command line, will be 0. This
134 option can be useful when graphing router traffic when the WAN line
135 uses compression, and thus the throughput may be higher than the WAN
136 line speed.
137 [-N|--no-gridfit]
139 In order to avoid anti-aliasing blurring effects RRDtool snaps points
141 to device resolution pixels, this results in a crisper appearance. If
142 this is not to your liking, you can use this switch to turn this
143 behavior off.
144 Grid-fitting is turned off for PDF, EPS, SVG output by default.
146 X-Axis
148 [-x|--x-grid GTM:GST:MTM:MST:LTM:LST:LPR:LFM]
149 [-x|--x-grid none]
151 The x-axis label is quite complex to configure. If you don't have very
153 special needs it is probably best to rely on the auto configuration to
154 get this right. You can specify the string "none" to suppress the grid
155 and labels altogether.
156 The grid is defined by specifying a certain amount of time in the ?TM
158 positions. You can choose from "SECOND", "MINUTE", "HOUR", "DAY",
159 "WEEK", "MONTH" or "YEAR". Then you define how many of these should
160 pass between each line or label. This pair (?TM:?ST) needs to be
161 specified for the base grid (G??), the major grid (M??) and the labels
162 (L??). For the labels you also must define a precision in LPR and a
163 strftime format string in LFM. LPR defines where each label will be
164 placed. If it is zero, the label will be placed right under the
165 corresponding line (useful for hours, dates etcetera). If you specify
166 a number of seconds here the label is centered on this interval (useful
167 for Monday, January etcetera).
168 --x-grid MINUTE:10:HOUR:1:HOUR:4:0:%X
170 This places grid lines every 10 minutes, major grid lines every hour,
172 and labels every 4 hours. The labels are placed under the major grid
173 lines as they specify exactly that time.
174 --x-grid HOUR:8:DAY:1:DAY:1:86400:%A
176 This places grid lines every 8 hours, major grid lines and labels each
178 day. The labels are placed exactly between two major grid lines as they
179 specify the complete day and not just midnight.
180 [--week-fmt strftime format string]
182 By default rrdtool uses "Week %V" to render the week number. With this
184 option you can define your own format, without completely overriding
185 the xaxis format.
186 Y-Axis
188 [-y|--y-grid grid step:label factor]
189 [-y|--y-grid none]
191 Y-axis grid lines appear at each grid step interval. Labels are placed
193 every label factor lines. You can specify "-y none" to suppress the
194 grid and labels altogether. The default for this option is to
195 automatically select sensible values.
196 If you have set --y-grid to 'none' not only the labels get suppressed,
198 also the space reserved for the labels is removed. You can still add
199 space manually if you use the --units-length command to explicitly
200 reserve space.
201 [--left-axis-formatter formatter-name]
203 Specify what formatter to use to render axis values.
205 numeric
207 The default, values are expressed as numeric quantities.
208 timestamp
210 Values are interpreted as unix timestamps (number of seconds since
211 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC) and expressed using strftime format
212 (default is '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'). See also --units-length and
213 --left-axis-format.
214 duration
216 Values are interpreted as duration in milliseconds. Formatting
217 follows the rules of valstrfduration qualified PRINT/GPRINT. See
218 rrdgraph_graph.
219 [--left-axis-format format-string]
221 By default the format of the axis labels gets determined automatically.
223 If you want to do this yourself, use this option with the same %lf
224 arguments you know from the PRINT and GPRINT commands, or others if
225 using different formatter.
226 [-Y|--alt-y-grid]
228 Place the Y grid dynamically based on the graph's Y range. The
230 algorithm ensures that you always have a grid, that there are enough
231 but not too many grid lines, and that the grid is metric. That is the
232 grid lines are placed every 1, 2, 5 or 10 units. This parameter will
233 also ensure that you get enough decimals displayed even if your graph
234 goes from 69.998 to 70.001. (contributed by Sasha Mikheev).
235 [-o|--logarithmic]
237 Logarithmic y-axis scaling.
239 [-X|--units-exponent value]
241 This sets the 10**exponent scaling of the y-axis values. Normally,
243 values will be scaled to the appropriate units (k, M, etc.). However,
244 you may wish to display units always in k (Kilo, 10e3) even if the data
245 is in the M (Mega, 10e6) range, for instance. Value should be an
246 integer which is a multiple of 3 between -18 and 18 inclusively. It is
247 the exponent on the units you wish to use. For example, use 3 to
248 display the y-axis values in k (Kilo, 10e3, thousands), use -6 to
249 display the y-axis values in u (Micro, 10e-6, millionths). Use a value
250 of 0 to prevent any scaling of the y-axis values.
251 This option is very effective at confusing the heck out of the default
253 RRDtool autoscaling function and grid painter. If RRDtool detects that
254 it is not successful in labeling the graph under the given
255 circumstances, it will switch to the more robust --alt-y-grid mode.
256 [-L|--units-length value]
258 How many digits should RRDtool assume the y-axis labels to be? You may
260 have to use this option to make enough space once you start fiddling
261 with the y-axis labeling.
262 [--units=si]
264 With this option y-axis values on logarithmic graphs will be scaled to
266 the appropriate units (k, M, etc.) instead of using exponential
267 notation. Note that for linear graphs, SI notation is used by default.
268 Right Y Axis
270 [--right-axis scale:shift] [--right-axis-label label]
271 A second axis will be drawn to the right of the graph. It is tied to
273 the left axis via the scale and shift parameters. You can also define a
274 label for the right axis.
275 [--right-axis-formatter formatter-name]
277 Specify what formatter to use to render axis values.
279 numeric
281 The default, values are expressed as numeric quantities.
282 timestamp
284 Values are interpreted as unix timestamps (number of seconds since
285 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC) and expressed using strftime format
286 (default is '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'). See also --units-length and
287 --right-axis-format.
288 duration
290 Values are interpreted as duration in milliseconds. Formatting
291 follows the rules of valstrfduration qualified PRINT/GPRINT. See
292 rrdgraph_graph.
293 [--right-axis-format format-string]
295 By default the format of the axis labels gets determined automatically.
297 If you want to do this yourself, use this option with the same %lf
298 arguments you know from the PRINT and GPRINT commands, or others if
299 using different formatter.
300 Legend
302 [-g|--no-legend]
303 Suppress generation of the legend; only render the graph.
305 [-F|--force-rules-legend]
307 Force the generation of HRULE and VRULE legends even if those HRULE or
309 VRULE will not be drawn because out of graph boundaries (mimics
310 behavior of pre 1.0.42 versions).
311 [--legend-position=(north|south|west|east)]
313 Place the legend at the given side of the graph. The default is south.
315 In west or east position it is necessary to add line breaks manually.
316 [--legend-direction=(topdown|bottomup|bottomup2)]
318 Place the legend items in the given vertical order. The default is
320 topdown. Using bottomup the legend items appear in the same vertical
321 order as a stack of lines or areas. Using bottomup2 will keep leading
322 and trailing COMMENT lines in order, this might be useful for
323 generators that use them for table headers and the like.
324 Miscellaneous
326 [-z|--lazy]
327 Only generate the graph if the current graph is out of date or not
329 existent. Note, that all the calculations will happen regardless so
330 that the output of PRINT and graphv will be complete regardless. Note
331 that the behavior of lazy in this regard has seen several changes over
332 time. The only thing you can really rely on before RRDtool 1.3.7 is
333 that lazy will not generate the graph when it is already there and up
334 to date, and also that it will output the size of the graph.
335 [-d|--daemon address]
337 Address of the rrdcached daemon. If specified, a "flush" command is
339 sent to the server before reading the RRD files. This allows the graph
340 to contain fresh data even if the daemon is configured to cache values
341 for a long time. For a list of accepted formats, see the -l option in
342 the rrdcached manual.
343 rrdtool graph [...] --daemon unix:/var/run/rrdcached.sock [...]
345 [-f|--imginfo printfstr]
347 After the image has been created, the graph function uses printf
349 together with this format string to create output similar to the PRINT
350 function, only that the printf function is supplied with the parameters
351 filename, xsize and ysize. In order to generate an IMG tag suitable for
352 including the graph into a web page, the command line would look like
353 this:
354 --imginfo '<IMG SRC="/img/%s" WIDTH="%lu" HEIGHT="%lu" ALT="Demo">'
356 [-c|--color COLORTAG#rrggbb[aa]]
358 Override the default colors for the standard elements of the graph. The
360 COLORTAG is one of "BACK" background, "CANVAS" for the background of
361 the actual graph, "SHADEA" for the left and top border, "SHADEB" for
362 the right and bottom border, "GRID", "MGRID" for the major grid, "FONT"
363 for the color of the font, "AXIS" for the axis of the graph, "FRAME"
364 for the line around the color spots, and finally "ARROW" for the arrow
365 head pointing up and forward. Each color is composed out of three
366 hexadecimal numbers specifying its rgb color component (00 is off, FF
367 is maximum) of red, green and blue. Optionally you may add another
368 hexadecimal number specifying the transparency (FF is solid). You may
369 set this option several times to alter multiple defaults.
370 A green arrow is made by: "--color ARROW#00FF00"
372 [--grid-dash on:off]
374 by default the grid is drawn in a 1 on, 1 off pattern. With this option
376 you can set this yourself
377 --grid-dash 1:3 for a dot grid
379 --grid-dash 1:0 for uninterrupted grid lines
381 [--border width]
383 Width in pixels for the 3d border drawn around the image. Default 2, 0
385 disables the border. See "SHADEA" and "SHADEB" above for setting the
386 border color.
387 [--dynamic-labels]
389 Pick the shape of the color marker next to the label according to the
391 element drawn on the graph.
392 [-m|--zoom factor]
394 Zoom the graphics by the given amount. The factor must be > 0
396 [-n|--font FONTTAG:size[:font]]
398 This lets you customize which font to use for the various text elements
400 on the RRD graphs. "DEFAULT" sets the default value for all elements,
401 "TITLE" for the title, "AXIS" for the axis labels, "UNIT" for the
402 vertical unit label, "LEGEND" for the graph legend, "WATERMARK" for the
403 watermark on the edge of the graph.
404 Use Times for the title: "--font TITLE:13:Times"
406 Note that you need to quote the argument to --font if the font-name
408 contains whitespace: --font "TITLE:13:Some Font"
409 If you do not give a font string you can modify just the size of the
411 default font: "--font TITLE:13:".
412 If you specify the size 0 then you can modify just the font without
414 touching the size. This is especially useful for altering the default
415 font without resetting the default fontsizes: "--font
416 DEFAULT:0:Courier".
417 RRDtool comes with a preset default font. You can set the environment
419 variable "RRD_DEFAULT_FONT" if you want to change this.
420 RRDtool uses Pango for its font handling. This means you can to use the
422 full Pango syntax when selecting your font:
423 The font name has the form "[FAMILY-LIST] [STYLE-OPTIONS] [SIZE]",
425 where FAMILY-LIST is a comma separated list of families optionally
426 terminated by a comma, STYLE_OPTIONS is a whitespace separated list of
427 words where each WORD describes one of style, variant, weight, stretch,
428 or gravity, and SIZE is a decimal number (size in points) or optionally
429 followed by the unit modifier "px" for absolute size. Any one of the
430 options may be absent.
431 [-R|--font-render-mode {normal,light,mono}]
433 There are 3 font render modes:
435 normal: Full Hinting and Anti-aliasing (default)
437 light: Slight Hinting and Anti-aliasing
439 mono: Full Hinting and NO Anti-aliasing
441 [-B|--font-smoothing-threshold size]
443 (this gets ignored in 1.3 for now!)
445 This specifies the largest font size which will be rendered bitmapped,
447 that is, without any font smoothing. By default, no text is rendered
448 bitmapped.
449 [-P|--pango-markup]
451 All text in RRDtool is rendered using Pango. With the --pango-markup
453 option, all text will be processed by pango markup. This allows one to
454 embed some simple html like markup tags using
455 <span key="value">text</span>
457 Apart from the verbose syntax, there are also the following short tags
459 available.
460 b Bold
462 big Makes font relatively larger, equivalent to <span size="larger">
463 i Italic
464 s Strikethrough
465 sub Subscript
466 sup Superscript
467 small Makes font relatively smaller, equivalent to <span size="smaller">
468 tt Monospace font
469 u Underline
470 More details on
472 <http://developer.gnome.org/pango/stable/PangoMarkupFormat.html>.
473 [-G|--graph-render-mode {normal,mono}]
475 There are 2 render modes:
477 normal: Graphs are fully Anti-aliased (default)
479 mono: No Anti-aliasing
481 [-E|--slope-mode]
483 RRDtool graphs are composed of stair case curves by default. This is in
485 line with the way RRDtool calculates its data. Some people favor a more
486 'organic' look for their graphs even though it is not all that true.
487 [-a|--imgformat PNG|SVG|EPS|PDF|XML|XMLENUM|JSON|JSONTIME|CSV|TSV|SSV]
489 Image format for the generated graph. For the vector formats you can
491 choose among the standard Postscript fonts Courier-Bold, Courier-
492 BoldOblique, Courier-Oblique, Courier, Helvetica-Bold, Helvetica-
493 BoldOblique, Helvetica-Oblique, Helvetica, Symbol, Times-Bold, Times-
494 BoldItalic, Times-Italic, Times-Roman, and ZapfDingbats.
495 For Export type you can define XML, XMLENUM (enumerates the value tags
497 <v0>,<v1>,<v2>,...), JSON, JSONTIME (adds a timestamp to each data
498 row), CSV (=comma separated values), TSV (=tab separated values), SSV
499 (=semicolon separated values), (for comma/tab/semicolon separated
500 values the time format by default is in the form of unix time. to
501 change it to something else use: --x-grid
502 MINUTE:10:HOUR:1:HOUR:4:0:"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
503 For non-image --imgformats see "OUTPUT FORMAT" in rrdxport for details
505 on the output.
506 [-i|--interlaced]
508 (this gets ignored in 1.3 for now!)
510 If images are interlaced they become visible on browsers more quickly.
512 [-T|--tabwidth value]
514 By default the tab-width is 40 pixels, use this option to change it.
516 [-b|--base value]
518 If you are graphing memory (and NOT network traffic) this switch should
520 be set to 1024 so that one Kb is 1024 byte. For traffic measurement, 1
521 kb/s is 1000 b/s.
522 [-W|--watermark string]
524 Adds the given string as a watermark, horizontally centered, at the
526 bottom of the graph.
527 [-Z|--use-nan-for-all-missing-data]
529 If one DS is missing, either because the RRD is not available or
531 because it does not contain the requested DS name, just assume that we
532 got empty values instead of raising a fatal error.
533 [--add-jsontime]
535 Adds xport data in JSONTIME format, giving both graph image data and
537 data point values in one call to graphv command.
538 [--utc]
540 Force the timezone to be UTC. Equivalent to doing TZ=UTC rrdtool graph
542 .... This is useful to calculate daily average ranging from midnight
543 to midnight rather than say the last 24 hours.
544 Data and variables
546 DEF:vname=rrdfile:ds-name:CF[:step=step][:start=time][:end=time]
547 CDEF:vname=RPN expression
549 VDEF:vname=RPN expression
551 You need at least one DEF and one LINE, AREA, GPRINT, PRINT statement
553 to generate anything useful.
554 See rrdgraph_data and rrdgraph_rpn for the exact format.
556 NOTE: Graph and print elements
558 You need at least one graph element to generate an image and/or at
560 least one print statement to generate a report. See rrdgraph_graph for
561 the exact format.
562 graphv
564 Calling RRDtool with the graphv option will return information in the
565 RRDtool info format. On the command line this means that all output
566 will be in key=value format. When used from the Perl and Ruby bindings
567 a hash pointer will be returned from the call.
568 When the filename '-' is given, the contents of the graph itself will
570 also be returned through this interface (hash key 'image'). On the
571 command line the output will look like this:
572 print[0] = "0.020833"
574 print[1] = "0.0440833"
575 graph_left = 51
576 graph_top = 22
577 graph_width = 400
578 graph_height = 100
579 graph_start = 1232908800
580 graph_end = 1232914200
581 image_width = 481
582 image_height = 154
583 value_min = 0.0000000000e+00
584 value_max = 4.0000000000e-02
585 image = BLOB_SIZE:8196
586 [... 8196 bytes of image data ...]
587 There is more information returned than in the standard interface.
589 Especially the 'graph_*' keys are new. They help applications that want
590 to know what is where on the graph.
591
593 The following environment variables may be used to change the behavior
594 of "rrdtool graph":
595 RRDCACHED_ADDRESS
597 If this environment variable is set it will have the same effect as
598 specifying the "--daemon" option on the command line. If both are
599 present, the command line argument takes precedence.
600 RRD_DEFAULT_FONT
602 RRDtool comes with a preset default font. You can set the
603 environment variable RRD_DEFAULT_FONT if you want to change this.
604
606 rrdgraph gives an overview of how rrdtool graph works. rrdgraph_data
607 describes DEF,CDEF and VDEF in detail. rrdgraph_rpn describes the RPN
608 language used in the ?DEF statements. rrdgraph_graph page describes
609 all of the graph and print functions.
610 Make sure to read rrdgraph_examples for tips&tricks.
612
614 Program by Tobias Oetiker <tobi@oetiker.ch>
615 This manual page by Alex van den Bogaerdt <alex@vandenbogaerdt.nl> with
617 corrections and/or additions by several people
6181.8.0 2022-03-14 RRDGRAPH(1)