NAME

       pmstat - high-level system performance overview


SYNOPSIS

       pmstat [-Llpz] [-A align] [-a archive] [-h host] [-H file]
       [-n pmnsfile] [-O offset] [-S starttime] [-s samples]  [-T
       endtime] [-t interval] [-Z timezone]


DESCRIPTION

       pmstat  provides  a one line summary of system performance
       every interval unit of time (the default  is  5  seconds).
       pmstat  is  intended  to monitor system performance at the
       highest level, after which other  tools  may  be  used  to
       examine subsystems in which potential performance problems
       may be observed in greater detail.

       Multiple hosts may be monitored by supplying more than one
       host  with  multiple  -h flags (for live monitoring) or by
       providing a name of the hostlist  file,  where  each  line
       contain  one host name, with -H, or multiple -a flags (for
       retrospective monitoring from an archive).

       The -t option may be used to change the default  reporting
       interval.    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).

       By default, pmstat fetches metrics by  connecting  to  the
       Performance  Metrics  Collector Daemon (PMCD) on the local
       host.  If the -L option  is  specified,  then  pmcd(1)  is
       bypassed,  and  metrics  are  fetched  from the local host
       using the standalone PM_CONTEXT_LOCAL variant of pmNewCon­
       text(3).  When the -h option is specified, pmstat connects
       to the pmcd(1) on host and fetches metrics from there.  As
       mentioned  above,  multiple hosts may be monitored by sup­
       plying multiple -h flags.

       Alternatively, if the -a option is used, the  metrics  are
       retrieved  from the Performance Co-Pilot archive log files
       identified by the base name  archive.   Multiple  archives
       may  be replayed by supplying multiple -a flags.  When the
       -a flag is used, the -p flag may also be used to pause the
       output after each interval.

       Standalone  mode can only connect to the local host, using
       an archive implies a host name, and nominating a host pre­
       cludes  using an archive, so the options -L, -a and -h are
       mutually exclusive.

       Normally pmstat operates on the default  Performance  Met­
       rics  Name  Space  (PMNS),  however  if  the  -n option is

       pmnsfile.

       If  the  -s  the  option is specified, samples defines the
       number of samples to be retrieved and reported.   If  sam­
       ples  is  0 or -s is not specified, pmstat will sample and
       report continuously - this is the default behavior.

       The -S, -T, -O and -A options may be used to define a time
       window  to  restrict the samples retrieved, set an initial
       origin within the time window, or  specify  a  ``natural''
       alignment  of the sample times; refer to PCPIntro(1) for a
       complete description of these options.

       The -l option prints the last 7 characters of  a  hostname
       in  summaries involving more than one host (when more than
       one -h option has been specified on the command line).

       The output from pmstat is directed to standard output, and
       the columns in the report are interpreted as follows:

       loadavg   The 1 minute load average.

       memory    The  swpd  column  indicates  average swap space
                 used during the interval, in Kbytes.   The  free
                 column  indicates average free memory during the
                 interval, in Kbytes.  The buff column  indicates
                 average  buffer  memory in use during the inter­
                 val, in  Kbytes.   The  cache  column  indicates
                 average  cached  memory in use during the inter­
                 val, in Kbytes.

       swap      The si and so indicate  the  average  rate  (per
                 second)  of  page swap in and out (respectfully)
                 during the interval.  It is normal for si to  be
                 non-zero,  but  the  system  is suffering memory
                 stress if so is non-zero.

       io        The bi and bo columns indicate the average  rate
                 (per  second)  of  block  input and block output
                 operations (respectfully) during  the  interval.
                 Unless  all  file  systems  have a 1 Kbyte block
                 size,  these  rates  do  not  directly  indicate
                 Kbytes transfered.

       system    Interrupt  rate  (in)  and  context  switch rate
                 (cs).  Rates are expressed as average operations
                 per  second  during the interval.  Note that the
                 interrupt rate is  normally  at  least  HZ  (the
                 clock  interrupt  rate,  usually 100) interrupts
                 per-second.

       cpu       Percentage of CPU time spent executing user  and

                 processing code (sys), idle loop (idl).

       If any values for the associated performance  metrics  are
       unavailable, the value appears as ``?'' in the output.

       By  default,  pmstat  reports the time of day according to
       the local timezone on the system where pmstat is run.  The
       -Z  option  changes the timezone to timezone in the format
       of the environment variable TZ as described in environ(5).
       The  -z  option changes the timezone to the local timezone
       at the host that is the source of the performance metrics,
       as identified via either the -h or -a options.


FILES

       $PCP_VAR_DIR/pmns/*
                 default PMNS specification files
       $PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmlogger/config.pmstat
                 pmlogger(1)   configuration   for   creating  an
                 archive suitable for replay with pmstat


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

       PCPIntro(1),   pmclient(1),   PMAPI(3),   pmNewContext(3),
       pcp.conf(4) and pcp.env(4).


DIAGNOSTICS

       All are generated on standard error, and are  intended  to
       be self-explanatory.


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