pmrep(1) — Linux manual page
PMREP(1) General Commands Manual PMREP(1)
NAME
pmrep - performance metrics reporter
SYNOPSIS
pmrep [-12357CdgGHIjkLmnprRuUvVxz?] [-4 action] [-6 sort-metric]
[-8|-9 limit] [-a archive] [-A align] [--archive-folio folio]
[-b|-B space-scale] [-c config] [--container container]
[--daemonize] [-e derived] [-E lines] [-f format] [-F outfile]
[-h host] [-i instances] [--include-texts] [-J rank] [-K spec]
[-l delimiter] [-N predicate] [--no-inst-info] [-o output] [-O
origin] [-P|-0 precision] [-q|-Q count-scale] [-s samples] [-S
starttime] [-t interval] [-T endtime] [-w|-W width] [-X label]
[-y|-Y time-scale] [-Z timezone] metricspec [...]
DESCRIPTION
pmrep is a customizable performance metrics reporting tool. Any
available performance metric, live or archived, system and/or
application, can be selected for reporting using one of the
output alternatives listed below together with applicable
formatting options.
pmrep collects selected metric values through the facilities of
the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP), see PCPIntro(1). The metrics to
be reported are specified on the command line, in configuration
files, or both. Metrics can be automatically converted and
scaled using the PCP facilities, either by default or by per-
metric scaling specifications. In addition to the existing
metrics, derived metrics can be defined using the arithmetic
expressions described in pmRegisterDerived(3).
A wide range of metricsets (see below) is included by default,
providing reports on per-process details, NUMA performance,
mimicking other tools like sar(1) and more, see the pmrep
configuration files in $PCP_SYSCONF_DIR/pmrep (typically
/etc/pcp/pmrep) for details. Tab completion for options,
metrics, and metricsets is available for bash and zsh.
Unless directed to another host by the -h option, pmrep will
contact the Performance Metrics Collector Daemon (PMCD, see
pmcd(1)) on the local host.
The -a option causes pmrep to use the specified set of archives
rather than connecting to a PMCD. The -a and -h options are
mutually exclusive.
The -L option causes pmrep to use a local context to collect
metrics from DSO PMDAs (Performance Metrics Domain Agents,
``plugins'') on the local host without PMCD. Only some metrics
are available in this mode. The -a, -h, and -L options are
mutually exclusive.
The metrics of interest are named in the metricspec argument(s).
If a metricspec specifies a non-leaf node in the Performance
Metrics Name Space (PMNS), then pmrep will recursively descend
the PMNS and report on all leaf nodes (i.e. metrics) for that
metricspec. Use pminfo(1) to list all the metrics (PMNS lead
nodes) and their descriptions.
A metricspec has three different forms. First, on the command
line it can start with a colon (``:'') to indicate a metricset to
be read from pmrep configuration files (see -c and
pmrep.conf(5)), which may then consist of any number of metrics.
Second, a metricspec starting with non-colon specifies a PMNS
node as described above, optionally followed by metric output
formatting definitions. This so-called compact form of a
metricspec is defined as follows:
metric[,label[,instances[,unit/scale[,type[,width[,precision[,limit]]]]]]]
A valid PMNS node (metric) is mandatory. It may be followed by a
text label used with stdout output. The optional instances
definition restricts csv and stdout reporting to the specified
instances of the metric so non-matching instances will be
filtered out (see -i). An optional unit/scale is applicable for
dimension-compatible, non-string metrics. See below for
supported unit/scale specifications. By default, cumulative
counter metrics are converted to rates, an optional type can be
set to raw to disable this rate conversion. For stdout output a
numeric width can be used to set the width of the output column
for this metric. Too wide strings in the output will be
truncated to fit the column. A metric-specific precision can be
provided for numeric non-integer output values. Lastly, a
metric-specific limit can be set for filtering out numeric values
per the limit.
As a special case for metrics that are counters with time units
(nanoseconds to hours), the unit/scale can be used to change the
default reporting (for example, milliseconds / second) to
normalize to the range zero to one by setting this to sec (see
also -y and -Y).
The following metricspec requests the metric kernel.all.sysfork
to be reported under the text label forks, converting to the
metric default rate count/s in an 8 wide column. Although the
definitions in this compact form are optional, they must always
be provided in the order specified above, thus the commas.
kernel.all.sysfork,forks,,,,8
The third form of a metricspec, verbose form, is described and
valid only in pmrep.conf(5).
Derived metrics are specified like regular PMNS leaf node
metrics.
Options via environment values (see pmGetOptions(3)) override the
corresponding built-in default values (if any). Configuration
file options override the corresponding environment variables (if
any). Command line options override the corresponding
configuration file options (if any).
OPTIONS
The available command line options are:
-0 precision, --precision-force=precision
Like -P but this option will override per-metric
specifications.
-1, --dynamic-header
Print a new dynamically adjusted header every time changes
in the availability of metric and instance values occur. By
default a static header that never changes is printed once.
See also -4, -7, and -E.
-2, --overall-rank
Perform overall ranking of instances in archive. By default
ranking (see -J) and reporting happens on each interval.
With this option all instances and values are ranked before
a summary is reported. See pmlogsummary(1) for further
archive summary reporting alternatives, including averages
and peak times for values.
-3, --overall-rank-alt
Like -2 but print metric instances in pmrep metricspec
format, to allow easily selecting the instances for further
investigation.
-4 action, --names-change=action
Specify which action to take on receiving a metric names
change event during sampling. These events occur when a
PMDA discovers new metrics sometime after starting up, and
informs running client tools like pmrep. Valid values for
action are update (refresh metrics being sampled), ignore
(do nothing - the default behaviour) and abort (exit the
program if such an event occurs). update implies
--dynamic-header.
-5, --ignore-unknown
Silently ignore any metric name that cannot be resolved. At
least one metric must be found for the tool to start.
-6, --sort-metric=sort-metric
Specify a sort reference metric to sort output by values
with -X. By default sorting order is descending, prepending
the metric name with the minus sign (``-'') will change the
order to be ascending. See also -J and -N.
-7, --fixed-header
With -X print a fixed header once (unless using -E)
including all metrics being reported. Unlike with the
default (static) header, only instances with values
available are reported. Unlike with the dynamic header, the
header is not updated even if values for some metrics later
become (un)available. See also -1 and -E.
-8 limit, --limit-filter=limit
Limit results to instances with values above/below limit. A
positive integer will include instances with values at or
above the limit in reporting. A negative integer will
include instances with values at or below the limit in
reporting. A value of zero performs no limit filtering.
This option will not override possible per-metric
specifications. See also -J and -N.
-9 limit, --limit-filter-force=limit
Like -8 but this option will override per-metric
specifications.
-a archive, --archive=archive
Performance metric values are retrieved from the set of
Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) archive files identified by the
archive argument, which is a comma-separated list of names,
each of which may be the base name of an archive or the name
of a directory containing one or more archives. See also
-u.
-A align, --align=align
Force the initial sample to be aligned on the boundary of a
natural time unit align. Refer to PCPIntro(1) for a
complete description of the syntax for align.
--archive-folio=folio
Read metric source archives from the PCP archive folio
created by tools like pmchart(1) or, less often, manually
with mkaf(1).
-b scale, --space-scale=scale
Unit/scale for space (byte) metrics, possible values include
bytes, Kbytes, KB, Mbytes, MB, and so forth. This option
will not override possible per-metric specifications. See
also pmParseUnitsStr(3).
-B scale, --space-scale-force=scale
Like -b but this option will override per-metric
specifications.
-c config, --config=config
Specify the config file or directory to use. In case config
is a directory all files in it ending .conf will be
included. The default is the first found of: ./pmrep.conf,
$HOME/.pmrep.conf, $HOME/pcp/pmrep.conf,
$PCP_SYSCONF_DIR/pmrep/pmrep.conf, and
$PCP_SYSCONF_DIR/pmrep. See pmrep.conf(5).
--container=container
Fetch performance metrics from the specified container,
either local or remote (see -h).
-C, --check
Exit before reporting any values, but after parsing the
configuration and metrics and printing possible headers.
-d, --delay
When replaying from an archive, this option requests that
the prevailing real-time delay be applied between samples
(see -t) to effect a pause, rather than the default
behaviour of replaying at full speed.
--daemonize
Daemonise on startup.
-e derived, --derived=derived
Specify derived performance metrics. If derived starts with
a slash (``/'') or with a dot (``.'') it will be interpreted
as a PCP derived metrics configuration file, otherwise it
will be interpreted as comma- or semicolon-separated derived
metric expressions. For complete description of derived
metrics and PCP derived metrics configuration files see
pmLoadDerivedConfig(3) and pmRegisterDerived(3).
Alternatively, using pmrep.conf(5) configuration syntax
allows defining derived metrics as part of metricsets.
-E lines, --repeat-header=lines
Repeat the header every lines of output. When not using -1
or -7 use auto to repeat the header based on terminal
height. See also -1 and -7.
-f format, --timestamp-format=format
Use the format string for formatting the timestamp. The
format will be used with Python's datetime.strftime method
which is mostly the same as that described in strftime(3).
An empty format string (i.e. "") will remove the timestamps
from the output. Defaults to %H:%M:%S when using the stdout
output target. Defaults to %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S when using the
csv output target.
-F outfile, --output-file=outfile
Specify the output file outfile. See -o.
-g, --separate-header
Output the column number and complete metric information,
one-per-line, before printing the metric values.
-G, --no-globals
Do not include global metrics in reporting (see
pmrep.conf(5)).
-h host, --host=host
Fetch performance metrics from pmcd(1) on host, rather than
from the default localhost.
-H, --no-header
Do not print any headers.
-i instances, --instances=instances
Retrieve and report only the specified metric instances. By
default all initially present instances are reported, except
when writing an archive (see -o), where also all future
instances will be reported.
The specified instances are filtered from the initially
present instances when the tool is starting up. Thus
instances which would match the filter appearing after the
tool has started up will not be reported, use -j to change
this.
This is a global option that is used for all set-valued
metrics unless a metric-specific instance filter is provided
as part of a metricspec. By default single-valued ``flat''
metrics without instances are still reported as usual, use
-v to change this.
instances is a comma-separated list of one or more instance
filter specifications. Filters containing commas or
whitespace must be quoted with single (') or double (")
quotes. Note that as part of a metricspec on command line a
list with more than one filter both the list and each filter
must be quoted as shown below. It is also possible to
define a single filter with bars (|) as instance separating
regex in order to make quoting easier, see below.
Multiple -i options are allowed as an alternative way of
specifying more than one non-metric-specific instance
filters.
An individual instance filter can be one of the following:
name Full instance name. For example, sda for disk.dev
instances or eth0 for network.interface instances.
PID Process ID for proc instances.
command
Base name of a process for proc instances. For
example, pmcd would match all pmcd(1) processes
regardless of their path or PID.
regex Regular expression. For example, .*python.* would
match all instances having the string python as part
of their instance name, meaning that this would match
all Python processes regardless of their path, PID,
or version.
As an example, the following would report the same
instances:
$ pmrep -i '. minute' kernel.all.load
$ pmrep -i '1 minute','5 minute' kernel.all.load
$ pmrep -i "'1 minute','5 minute'" kernel.all.load
$ pmrep -i '1 minute' -i '5 minute' kernel.all.load
$ pmrep kernel.all.load,,"'1 minute','5 minute'"
$ pmrep kernel.all.load,,'1 minute|5 minute'
However, this would report only the 1-minute instance:
$ pmrep -i '1 minute','5 minute' kernel.all.load,,'1 minute'
And this would report all instances (due to per-metric
regex):
$ pmrep -i '1 minute','5 minute' 'kernel.all.load,,.*'
-I, --ignore-incompat
Ignore incompatible metrics. By default incompatible
metrics (that is, their type is unsupported or they cannot
be scaled as requested) will cause pmrep to terminate with
an error message. With this option all incompatible metrics
are silently omitted from reporting. This may be especially
useful when requesting non-leaf nodes of the PMNS tree for
reporting.
--include-texts
When writing a PCP archive, include PCP metric help texts in
the created archive.
-j, --live-filter
Perform instance live filtering. This allows capturing all
named instances even if processes are restarted at some
point (unlike without live filtering). Performing live
filtering over a huge number of instances will add some
internal overhead so a bit of user caution is advised. See
also -1 and -n.
-J rank, --rank=rank
Limit results to highest/lowest ranked instances of set-
valued metrics. A positive integer will include highest
valued instances in reporting. A negative integer will
include lowest valued instances in reporting. A value of
zero performs no ranking. Ranking does not imply sorting,
see -6. See also -2 and -8.
-k, --extended-csv
Write extended CSV output, similar to sadf(1).
-K spec, --spec-local=spec
When fetching metrics from a local context (see -L), the -K
option may be used to control the DSO PMDAs that should be
made accessible. The spec argument conforms to the syntax
described in pmSpecLocalPMDA(3). More than one -K option
may be used.
-l delimiter, --delimiter=delimiter
Specify the delimiter that separates each column of csv or
stdout output. The default for stdout is two spaces (``
'') and comma (``,'') for csv. When using a non-whitespace
delimiter, all instances of the delimiter in string values
will be replaced by the underscore (``_'') character. Note
that many default metricsets specify a delimiter (that may
not be a comma) so it might be necessary to use this option
with metricsets to explicitly set the delimiter as comma for
CSV output, i.e. --delimiter=,
-L, --local-PMDA
Use a local context to collect metrics from DSO PMDAs on the
local host without PMCD. See also -K.
-m, --include-labels
Include PCP metric labels in the output.
-n, --invert-filter
Perform ranking before live filtering. By default instance
live filtering (when requested, see -j) happens before
instance ranking (when requested, see -J). With this option
the logic is inverted and ranking happens before live
filtering.
-N predicate, --predicate=predicate
Specify a comma-separated list of predicate filter reference
metrics. By default ranking (see -J) happens for each
metric individually. With predicates, ranking is done only
for the specified predicate metrics. When reporting, rest
of the metrics sharing the same instance domain (see
PCPIntro(1)) as the predicate will include only the
highest/lowest ranking instances of the corresponding
predicate. Ranking does not imply sorting, see -6.
So for example, using proc.memory.rss (resident memory size
of process) as the predicate metric together with
proc.io.total_bytes and mem.util.used as metrics to be
reported, only the processes using most/least (as per -J)
memory will be included when reporting total bytes written
by processes. Since mem.util.used is a single-valued metric
(thus not sharing the same instance domain as the process
related metrics), it will be reported as usual.
--no-inst-info
Omit instance information from headers. Not applicable with
separate header (see -g).
-o output, --output=output
Use output target for reporting. The default target is
stdout. The available output target alternatives are:
archive
Record metrics into a PCP archive which can later be
replayed with PCP tools, including pmrep itself. See
LOGARCHIVE(5) and PCPIntro(1) for details about PCP
archive files. Requires -F.
csv
Print metrics in CSV format (subject to formatting
options).
stdout
Print metrics to stdout (format subject to formatting
options).
-O origin, --origin=origin
When reporting archived metrics, start reporting at origin
within the time window (see -S and -T). Refer to
PCPIntro(1) for a complete description of the syntax for
origin.
-p, --timestamps
Print timestamps. By default no timestamps are printed.
-P precision, --precision=precision
Use precision for numeric non-integer output values. If the
value is too wide for its column width, precision is reduced
one by one until the value fits, or not printed at all if it
does not. The default is to use 3 decimal places (when
applicable). This option will not override possible per-
metric specifications.
-q scale, --count-scale=scale
Unit/scale for count metrics, possible values include count
x 10^-1, count, count x 10, count x 10^2, and so forth from
10^-8 to 10^7. (These values are currently space-
sensitive.) This option will not override possible per-
metric specifications. See also pmParseUnitsStr(3).
-Q scale, --count-scale-force=scale
Like -q but this option will override per-metric
specifications.
-r, --raw
Output raw metric values, do not convert cumulative counters
to rates. When writing archives, raw values are always
used. This option will override possible per-metric
specifications.
-R, --raw-prefer
Like -r but this option will not override per-metric
specifications.
-s samples, --samples=samples
The samples argument defines the number of samples to be
retrieved and reported. If samples is 0 or -s is not
specified, pmrep will sample and report continuously (in
real time mode) or until the end of the set of PCP archives
(in archive mode). See also -T.
-S starttime, --start=starttime
When reporting archived metrics, the report will be
restricted to those records logged at or after starttime.
Refer to PCPIntro(1) for a complete description of the
syntax for starttime.
-t interval, --interval=interval
Set the reporting interval to something other than the
default 1 second. The interval argument follows the syntax
described in PCPIntro(1), and in the simplest form may be an
unsigned integer (the implied units in this case are
seconds). See also the -T and -u options.
-T endtime, --finish=endtime
When reporting archived metrics, the report will be
restricted to those records logged before or at endtime.
Refer to PCPIntro(1) for a complete description of the
syntax for endtime.
When used to define the runtime before pmrep will exit, if
no samples is given (see -s) then the number of reported
samples depends on interval (see -t). If samples is given
then interval will be adjusted to allow reporting of samples
during runtime. In case all of -T, -s, and -t are given,
endtime determines the actual time pmrep will run.
-u, --no-interpol
When reporting archived metrics, by default values are
reported according to the selected sample interval (-t
option), not according to the actual record interval in an
archive. To this effect PCP interpolates the values to be
reported based on the records in the archive. With the -u
option uninterpolated reporting is enabled, every recorded
value for the selected metrics is reported and the requested
sample interval (-t) is ignored.
So for example, if a PCP archive contains recorded values
for every 10 seconds and the requested sample interval is 1
hour, by default pmrep will use an interpolation scheme to
compute the values of the requested metrics from the values
recorded in the proximity of these requested metrics and
values for every 1 hour are reported. With -u every record
every 10 seconds are reported as such (the reported values
are still subject to rate conversion, use -r or -R to
disable).
-U, --no-unit-info
Omit unit information from headers.
-v, --omit-flat
Report only set-valued metrics with instances (e.g.
disk.dev.read) and omit single-valued ``flat'' metrics
without instances (e.g. kernel.all.sysfork). See -i and
-I.
-V, --version
Display version number and exit.
-w width, --width=width
Set the stdout output column width. Strings will be
truncated to this width. The default width is the shortest
that can fit the metric text label, the forced minimum is 3.
This option will not override possible per-metric
specifications.
-W width, --width-force=width
Like -w but this option will override per-metric
specifications.
-x, --extended-header
Print extended header.
-X label, --colxrow=label
Swap columns and rows in stdout output, reporting one
instance per line, using label as the text label for the
instance column. Use an empty string ("") to enable
swapping without a specific column label. This change in
output allows using grep(1) to filter results or to more
closely mimic other tools. See also -i and -6.
-y scale, --time-scale=scale
Unit/scale for time metrics, possible values include
nanosec, ns, microsec, us, millisec, ms, and so forth up to
hour, hr. This option will not override possible per-metric
specifications. See also pmParseUnitsStr(3).
-Y scale, --time-scale-force=scale
Like -y but this option will override per-metric
specifications.
-z, --hostzone
Use the local timezone of the host that is the source of the
performance metrics, as identified by either the -h or the
-a options. The default is to use the timezone of the local
host.
-Z timezone, --timezone=timezone
Use timezone for the date and time. Timezone is in the
format of the environment variable TZ as described in
environ(7). Note that when including a timezone string in
output, ISO 8601 -style UTC offsets are used (so something
like -Z EST+5 will become UTC-5).
-?, --help
Display usage message and exit.
EXAMPLES
The following examples use the standard PCP facilities for
collecting the metric values, no external utilities are needed.
The referenced colon-starting metricsets are part of the default
pmrep configuration. With bash and zsh tab completes available
options, metrics, and after a colon metricsets.
Display network interface metrics on the local host:
$ pmrep network.interface.total.bytes
Display all outgoing network metrics for the wlan0 interface:
$ pmrep -i wlan0 -v network.interface.out
Display the slab total usage (in MB) of two specific slab
instances:
$ pmrep mem.slabinfo.slabs.total_size,,'kmalloc-4k|xfs_inode',MB
Display timestamped vmstat(8) like information using megabytes
instead of kilobytes and also include the number of inodes used:
$ pmrep -p -B MB :vmstat vfs.inodes.count
Display per-device disk reads and writes from the host server1
using two seconds interval and sadf(1) like CSV output format:
$ pmrep -h server1 -t 2s -o csv -k disk.dev.read disk.dev.write
Display processes using at least 100MB of memory using dynamic
headers, additionally use -g to display instance (process) names
in full:
$ pmrep -b MB --limit-filter 100 --dynamic-header proc.memory.rss
Display the predefined set of metrics from the default
pmrep.conf(5) containing details about I/O requests by current
pmlogger process(es):
$ pmrep -gp -i pmlogger :proc-io
Display the three most CPU-using processes:
$ pmrep -1gUJ 3 proc.hog.cpu
Display sar -w and sar -W like information at the same time from
the PCP archive ./20150921.09.13 showing values recorded between
3 - 5 PM:
$ pmrep -a ./20150921.09.13 -S @15:00 -T @17:00 :sar-w :sar-W
Record most relevant CPU, memory, and I/O related information
about every Java process on the system, present and future, to an
archive ./a on one minute interval at every full minute in a
background process:
$ pmrep --daemonize -A 1m -t 1m -i '.*java.*' -j -o archive -F ./a \
:proc-info :proc-cpu :proc-mem :proc-io
Record all 389 Directory Server, XFS file system, and
CPU/memory/disk metrics every five seconds for five minutes to a
PCP archive ./a:
$ pmrep -t 5s -T 5m -o archive -F ./a ds389 xfs kernel.all.cpu mem disk
Record process memory and I/O information for those processes
which are the three most memory-consuming processes:
$ pmrep -o archive -F ./a -J 3 -N proc.memory.rss proc.memory proc.io
FILES
pmrep.conf
pmrep configuration file (see -c)
$PCP_SYSCONF_DIR/pmrep/*.conf
system provided default pmrep configuration files
PCP ENVIRONMENT
Environment variables with the prefix PCP_ are used to
parameterize the file and directory names used by PCP. On each
installation, the file /etc/pcp.conf contains the local values
for these variables. The $PCP_CONF variable may be used to
specify an alternative configuration file, as described in
pcp.conf(5).
For environment variables affecting PCP tools, see
pmGetOptions(3).
SEE ALSO
PCPIntro(1), mkaf(1), pcp(1), pcp2elasticsearch(1),
pcp2graphite(1), pcp2influxdb(1), pcp2json(1), pcp2spark(1),
pcp2xlsx(1), pcp2xml(1), pcp2zabbix(1), pcp-atop(1), pmcd(1),
pmchart(1), pmdiff(1), pmdumptext(1), pminfo(1), pmiostat(1),
pmlogdump(1), pmlogextract(1), pmlogsummary(1), pmprobe(1),
pmstat(1), pmval(1), sadf(1), sar(1), PMAPI(3), pmGetOptions(3),
pmLoadDerivedConfig(3), pmParseUnitsStr(3), pmRegisterDerived(3),
pmSpecLocalPMDA(3), strftime(3), LOGARCHIVE(5), PMNS(5),
pcp.conf(5), pmrep.conf(5), environ(7) and vmstat(8).
COLOPHON
This page is part of the PCP (Performance Co-Pilot) project.
Information about the project can be found at
⟨http://www.pcp.io/⟩. If you have a bug report for this manual
page, send it to pcp@groups.io. This page was obtained from the
project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://github.com/performancecopilot/pcp.git⟩ on 2024-06-14.
(At that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found
in the repository was 2024-06-14.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
Performance Co-Pilot PCP PMREP(1)
Pages that refer to this page: pcp2arrow(1), pcp2elasticsearch(1), pcp2graphite(1), pcp2influxdb(1), pcp2json(1), pcp2openmetrics(1), pcp2spark(1), pcp2template(1), pcp2xlsx(1), pcp2xml(1), pcp2zabbix(1), pcpcompat(1), pcpintro(1), pmcd(1), pmchart(1), pmclient(1), pmdumptext(1), pminfo(1), pmlogger_daily_report(1), pmlogsummary(1), pmrepconf(1), pmval(1), pmdiscoversetup(3), zbxpcp(3), pcp-dstat(5), pmrep.conf(5)