PMDALOGGER(1)						      General Commands Manual						     PMDALOGGER(1)

NAME

       pmdalogger - log file performance metrics domain agent (PMDA)

SYNOPSIS

       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/logger/pmdalogger [-d domain] [-l logfile] [-m memory] [-s interval] [-U username] [configfile]

DESCRIPTION

       pmdalogger  is a configurable log file monitoring Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA).  It can be seen as analagous to the -f option to
       tail(1) and converts each new log line into a performance event.  It was the first PMDA to make extensive use of event metrics,	which  can
       be consumed by client tools like pmevent(1).

       The  logger PMDA exports both event-style metrics reflecting timestamped event records for text logged to a file (or set of files or output
       from a process), as well as the more orthodox sample-style metrics such as event counts and throughput size values.

       The PMDA is configured via a configfile which contains one line for each source of events (file or process).  This file	is  setup  by  the
       Install script described in the later section on ``INSTALLATION'' of the PMDA.

       A brief description of the pmdalogger command line options follows:

       -d   It	is  absolutely crucial that the performance metrics domain number specified here is unique and consistent.  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 logger.log is written in the current directory of pmcd(1) when  pmdalogger	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 error
	    instead.

       -m   Limit the physical memory used by the PMDA to buffer event records to maxsize bytes.  As log events arrive at the PMDA, they  must	be
	    buffered  until  individual  client  tools	request  the  next  batch  since their previous batch of events.  The default maximum is 2
	    megabytes.

       -s   Sets the polling interval for detecting newly arrived log lines.  Mirrors the same option from the tail(1) command.

       -U   User account under which to run the agent.	The default is the unprivileged "pcp" account in current versions of  PCP,  but  in  older
	    versions the superuser account ("root") was used by default.

INSTALLATION

       If you want access to the names, help text and values for the logger performance metrics, do the following as root:

	    # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/logger
	    # ./Install

       This  is an interactive installation process which prompts for each log file path to be monitored (or command to be run), a metric instance
       name to identify it, and whether access should be restricted (refer to the -x option to pmevent(1) for further details).

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

	    # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/logger
	    # ./Remove

       pmdalogger is launched by pmcd(1) and should never be executed directly.  The Install and Remove scripts notify pmcd(1) when the  agent	is
       installed or removed.

FILES

       $PCP_PMCDCONF_PATH
		 command line options used to launch pmdalogger
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/logger/logger.conf
		 default configuration file for the logger metrics
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/logger/help
		 default help text file for the logger metrics
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/logger/Install
		 installation script for the pmdalogger agent
       $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/logger/Remove
		 undo installation script for the pmdalogger agent
       $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd/logger.log
		 default log file for error messages and other information from pmdalogger

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	configura-
       tion file, as described in pcp.conf(5).

SEE ALSO

       PCPIntro(1), pmevent(1), pmcd(1), tail(1), pcp.conf(5) and pcp.env(5).

Performance Co-Pilot							PCP							     PMDALOGGER(1)