Performance Co-Pilot PMDA for Exporting Metric Summaries
========================================================

This Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA) is capable of collecting
performance metrics values from other PMDAs, computing derived
(summary) values, and exporting these derived values as performance
metrics.

This agent uses the Performance Metrics Inference Engine pmie(1) to
periodically collect the data and compute the summary values.  These
derived values are typically computed by expressions that aggregate a
number of base performance values, perhaps from a number of subsystems
on the one host or even from multiple hosts, and perhaps over an
extended period of time.

All of the exported metrics have a singular instance and the values are
"instantaneous", i.e. the exported value is the value as of the last
time the summary was computed.  Refer to the PMAPI(3) man page for more
information about these terms.

Metrics
=======

See the file ./help, or install the agent and execute the command

	$ pminfo -fT summary

Note that customization of the metrics made available by the summary
PMDA is possible, as described below.

Installation
============

 +  # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/summary

 +  Check that there is no clash in the Performance Metrics Domain
    defined in ./domain.h and the other PMDAs currently in use (see
    $PCP_PMCDCONF_PATH).  If there is, edit ./domain.h to choose another
    domain number.

 +  This PMDA caches the most recent value for the performance metrics
    computed by pmie(1).  The cached values are the ones returned via
    the Performance Metrics Collection Demon pmcd(1) to clients.  By
    default pmie(1) evaluates the expressions once every 10 seconds.
    The installation procedure will offer you the option to change this
    interval.

 +  Then simply use

	# ./Install

    and choose both the "collector" and "monitor" installation
    configuration options.

    You will be prompted for the necessary information to set up
    the summary agent.

De-installation
===============

 +  Simply use

	# cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/summary
	# ./Remove

Troubleshooting
===============

 +  After installing or restarting the agent, the PMCD log file
    ($PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd/pmcd.log) and the PMDA log file
    ($PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd/summary.log) should be checked for any warnings
    or errors.

Customization
=============

New summary metrics may be added as follows.

 +  Choose new Performance Metric Name Space (PMNS) names for the new
    metrics.  These must begin with "summary." and follow the rules
    described in pmns(4).

    For example summary.fs.wr_cache_hit and summary.fs.rd_cache_hit

 +  Edit the file ./pmns to add the new PMNS names in the format
    described in pmns(4).  You must choose a unique Performance Metric
    Id (PMID) for each metric ... in the ./pmns file these will appear
    as SYSSUMMARY:0:x for some x that is arbitrary in the range 0 to
    1023 and unique in this file.

    For example
 
    summary {
 	    cpu
 	    disk
 	    netif
    /*new*/ fs
    }
 
    ...
 
    summary.fs {
	    wr_cache_hit     SYSSUMMARY:0:10
	    rd_cache_hit     SYSSUMMARY:0:11
    }

 +  Use the local fake PMNS ./root and validate that the PMNS changes
    are correct.

    For example

    $ pminfo -n root -m summary.fs
    summary.fs.wr_cache_hit PMID: 27.0.10
    summary.fs.rd_cache_hit PMID: 27.0.11

 +  Create a file (./expr.pmie in the examples below) containing the
    new expressions.  If the name to the left of the assignment
    operator (=) is one of the PMNS names, then the pmie(1) expression
    to the right will be evaluated and returned by the summary PMDA.
    The expression must return a numeric value, which is exported as a
    double precision floating point number.

    If the expression has a set value, then only the first value is
    exported (in most cases, the pmie aggregate operators should be used
    to produce a scalar sum or average from a set of numeric values).

    The exported metric has the dimension (space, time and count) of
    the expression, and the scale is the canonical scale used by
    pmie(1), namely bytes, seconds and counts.

    For example

    // filesystem buffer cache hit percentages
    prefix = "kernel.all.io";          // variable, not exported
    summary.fs.wr_cache_hit =
	   100 - 100 * $prefix.bwrite / $prefix.lwrite;
    summary.fs.rd_cache_hit =
	   100 - 100 * $prefix.bread / $prefix.lread;

 +  Run pmie in debug mode to verify the expressions are being
    evaluated correctly, and the values make sense.

    For example

    $ pmie -t2 -v expr.pmie
    summary.fs.wr_cache_hit:      ?
    summary.fs.rd_cache_hit:      ?
 
    summary.fs.wr_cache_hit:  45.83
    summary.fs.rd_cache_hit:   83.2
 
    summary.fs.wr_cache_hit:  39.22
    summary.fs.rd_cache_hit:  84.51

    Once you are happy with the new expressions, add them to the existing
    expressions in the file ./summary.pmie.

 +  Edit the ./help file to add help text for the new metrics ... see
    newhelp(1) for a description of the syntax.

    For example

    @ summary.fs.wr_cache_hit Filesystem cache read hit ratio
    Percentage of filesystem block writes that involve a block currently
    found in the filesystem cache.

    @ summary.fs.rd_cache_hit Filesystem cache write hit ratio
    Percentage of filesystem block reads that involve a block currently
    found in the filesystem cache, and thereby avoid a physical read.

 +  Install the new PMDA

    For example

    # ./Install

    You will need to choose an appropriate configuration for installation of
    the "summary" Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA).

      collector     collect performance statistics on this system
      monitor       allow this system to monitor local and/or remote systems
      both          collector and monitor configuration for this system
    Please enter c(ollector) or m(onitor) or b(oth) [b] 

    Updating the Performance Metrics Name Space ...
    Installing pmchart view(s) ...

    Interval between summary expression evaluation (seconds)? [10] 
    Terminate PMDA if already installed ...
    Installing files ..
	    rm -f help.pag help.dir
	    $PCP_BINADM_DIR/newhelp help
    Updating the PMCD control file, and notifying PMCD ...
    Wait 15 seconds for the agent to initialize ...
    Check summary metrics have appeared ... 8 metrics and 8 values

 +  Check the metrics ...

    For example

    $ pminfo -fT summary.fs

    summary.fs.wr_cache_hit
    Help:
    Percentage of filesystem block writes that involve a block currently
    found in the filesystem cache.
	value 11.97916666666666

    summary.fs.rd_cache_hit
    Help:
    Percentage of filesystem block reads that involve a block currently
    found in the filesystem cache, and thereby avoid a physical read.
	value 74.31192660550458

    $ pmval -t5 -s4 summary.fs.wr_cache_hit

    metric:    summary.fs.wr_cache_hit
    host:      localhost
    semantics: instantaneous value
    units:     none
    samples:   8
    interval:  5.00 sec

	63.60132158590308
	62.71878646441073
	62.71878646441073
	58.73968492123031
	58.73968492123031
	65.33822758259046
	65.33822758259046
	 72.6099706744868

    Note the values are being sampled here by pmval(1) every 5 seconds,
    but pmie(1) is only passing new values to the sample PMDA every
    10 seconds.  Both rates could be changed to suit the dynamics of
    your new metrics.

 +  Create pmchart(1) views, pmview(1) scenes and pmlogger(1)
    configurations to monitor and archive your new performance
    metrics.

    For example, a pmchart view could be created using pmchart and
    the View->Save Configuration menu option.  Copy the view from
    $HOME/.pcp/pmchart into $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/summary and rename it to have
    the suffix ".pmchart", and a prefix that identifies the view and
    is unique amongst the view names in $PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmchart,
    e.g. Summary.FScache.pmchart

    Then
	# cp Summary.FScache.pmchart $PCP_VAR_DIR/config/pmchart/Summary.FScache

    will install the view in a place where pmchart(1) will be able
    to find it.  Provided the name of the file ends in ".pmchart" in
    $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/summary the view will be re-installed as a side-effect
    of any subsequent ./Install of the summary PMDA.
