PMDATXMON(1)

💖 PMDATXMON(1) 💖

okay bestie, pull up a chair, we're talking about pmdatxmon, txrecord, and genload — the whole txmon performance metrics domain agent (PMDA) squad 🎀 (that's the page title, iykyk)

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✨ NAME ✨

pmdatxmon, txrecord, genload — the txmon performance metrics domain agent (PMDA), no cap 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

$PCP_PMDAS_DIR/txmon/pmdatxmon [-D debug] [-d domain] [-l logfile] [-U
username] tx_type ...
$PCP_PMDAS_DIR/txmon/txrecord [-l]
$PCP_PMDAS_DIR/txmon/txrecord tx_type servtime [tx_type servtime ... ]
$PCP_PMDAS_DIR/txmon/genload

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so pmdatxmon is an example Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA) that exports a lil handful of performance metrics from a simulated transaction monitor. it's giving demo energy but make it useful 💜

the txmon PMDA ships as both binary and source code, and it's literally designed to be an aid for PMDA developers. what it's doing is showing you how performance data can be exported from an application (in this case txrecord) into the PCP infrastructure via a shared memory segment. and because convenience is the moment, pmdatxmon creates that shared memory segment for you — and destroys it on exit 🫶

the tx_type arguments are arbitrary unique tags used to identify different transaction types. pick your faves ✨

the txrecord application simulates processing one or more transactions identified by tx_type, with an observed service time of servtime. (note the space before that period in the original — we respect the vibe 😌)

with the -l option, txrecord displays the current summary of the transaction activity from the shared memory segment. like a little status report, slay 📊

genload is a shell and awk(1) script that acts as a front-end to txrecord, generating a constant load of simulated transaction activity. stress test but make it cute 🔥

a brief rundown of the pmdatxmon command line options, bestie:

• -d — bestie, listen to me. it is absolutely crucial that the performance metrics domain number you specify here is unique and consistent. that means 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. do not play with this one 🙈
• -l — location of the log file. by default, a log file named txmon.log gets written in the current directory of pmcd(1) when pmdatxmon is started, i.e. $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd. if the log file can't be created or isn't writable, output goes to standard error instead. so it always ends up somewhere 💅
• -U — the user account under which to run the agent. default is the unprivileged "pcp" account in current versions of PCP, but in older versions the superuser account ("root") was used by default. glow-up moment ✨

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🌈 INSTALLATION 🌈

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

# cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/txmon
# ./Install

you will be prompted for the tx_type tags 📝

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

# cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/txmon
# ./Remove

pmdatxmon is launched by pmcd(1) and should never be executed directly. like, ever. the Install and Remove scripts notify pmcd(1) when the agent is installed or removed, so it's all handled, no cap 🫶

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🎀 FILES 🎀

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

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💜 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. and the $PCP_CONF variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration file, as described in pcp.conf(5). very configurable, very demure 🌸

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⭐ DEBUGGING OPTIONS ⭐

the -D or --debug option enables the output of additional diagnostics on stderr to help triage problems — although ngl, the information is sometimes cryptic and primarily intended to provide guidance for developers rather than for end-users. so if you're confused, it's not just you 😭

debug is a comma separated list of debugging options; use pmdbg(1) with the -l option to get a list of the available debugging options and their meaning. go get that list, bestie 📋

debugging options specific to pmdatxmon are as follows:

• appl0 — shared memory operations

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

PCPIntro(1), pmcd(1), pmdasample(1), pmdatrivial(1), txmonvis(1) and PMDA(3). go read them, they're iconic 👑

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one came from Performance Co-Pilot (PCP), and it's the PMDATXMON(1) page 💖 tysm for reading, you ate, periodt ✨🦋🎀