NAME

       pmdaespping  -  generic  probe  performance metrics domain
       agent


SYNOPSIS

       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/espping/pmdaespping [-C]  [-d  domain]  [-l
       logfile] [-I interval] [-t timeout] configfile


DESCRIPTION

       pmdaespping  is  a Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA)
       which exports quality of service and  response  time  mea­
       surements  for  arbitrary  commands as might be run from a
       shell such as sh(1).

       These measurements are intended to  be  used  to  quantify
       service  quality  and  service availability for those ser­
       vices that are either mission critical  or  act  as  early
       indicators  of adverse system performance.  For these rea­
       sons, pmdaespping is used to provide service  probe  capa­
       bilities  for  the System Group Management (SGM) component
       of the Embedded Support Partner (ESP) tools.

       The sample configuration can be used  to  monitor  various
       services, both locally and remotely, such as ICMP response
       (using ping(1)), DNS lookup via nslookup(1), bind/portmap­
       per service using rpcbind(1), SMTP by connecting to telnet
       port 25 and sending an ``expn root'' request, NNTP by con­
       necting  to  telnet  port  119 and running a ``listgroup''
       command, and numerous others.

       It is expected that other commands would follow the  exam­
       ples  in the sample configuration files (see the ``FILES''
       section below).

       A  brief  description  of  the  pmdaespping  command  line
       options follows:

       -C   Parse  configfile,  reporting  any errors and exiting
            with non-zero status if the file contains syntactical
            errors.

       -d   It is absolutely crucial that the performance metrics
            domain number specified here is  unique  and  consis­
            tent.   That is, domain should be different for every
            PMDA on the one host,  and  the  same  domain  number
            should be used for the same PMDA on all hosts.

       -l   Location  of  the  log  file.  By default, a log file
            named espping.log is written in the current directory
            of   pmcd(1)   when   pmdaespping  is  started,  i.e.
            $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd.  If the log file cannot be created
            or is not writable, output is written to the standard


       -I   Amount of time (in seconds) between subsequent execu­
            tions  of  the list of commands provided via the con­
            figuration file configfile.  The default  is  2  min­
            utes.

       -t   Amount of time (in seconds) to wait before timing out
            awaiting a response for a  command  from  configfile.
            The default is 20 seconds.

       The  required configfile specifies ``tag'' and ``command''
       pairs, each on a separate line.  All of the  commands  are
       run one after another, with the whole group rescheduled to
       be run once per interval.  For each command that  is  run,
       pmdaespping records information related to the success (or
       timeout), exit status, elapsed time and CPU  time  (system
       and  user),  and this information is exported by the PMDA.
       The tags are used  to  identify  the  individual  commands
       amongst  the  values  exported  by  the PMDA, and form the
       external instance domain identifiers for  the  pmdaespping
       metrics which relate to each command.


INSTALLATION

       In  order  for  a  host to export the names, help text and
       values for the espping performance metrics, do the follow­
       ing as root:

            # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/espping
            # cp sample.map sgm.map
            # vi sgm.map
            # ./Configure

       The  map  file  which is passed in to the Configure script
       associates host names with services  to  be  monitored  on
       each  hostname.   The list of services is contained in the
       file $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/espping/template.conf, and  this  file
       can  be extended with customized service probe mechanisms.

       The set of ``tag'' and ``command'' pairs may be  generated
       via  the  Configure script (as above), or specified from a
       default (sample) configuration file, a customized file  or
       entered  interactively  as part of the Install script (use
       of the Install script is automated using Configure).

       If you want to undo the installation, do the following  as
       root:

            # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/espping
            # ./Remove

       pmdaespping  is  launched  by  pmcd(1) and should never be

       pmcd(1) when the agent is installed or removed.


FILES

       $PCP_PMCDCONF_PATH
                 command line options used to launch pmdaespping
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/espping/help
                 default help text file for the espping metrics
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/espping/template.conf
                 template  configuration  file  with  a number of
                 common service probe mechanisms
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/espping/sample.map
                 example mapping file for configuring which  ser­
                 vices to monitor, and at which hosts
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/espping/sample.conf
                 example configuration file with a number of com­
                 mon commands
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/espping/Configure
                 installation script for pmdaespping
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/espping/Install
                 direct installation  script  (bypass  Configure)
                 for pmdaespping
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/espping/Remove
                 undo installation script for pmdaespping
       $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd/espping.log
                 default  log  file  for error messages and other
                 information from pmdaespping


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(4).


SEE ALSO

       pmcd(1)


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