PMDANETFILTER(1)

💖 pmdanetfilter(1) — the netfilter IP connection tracking PMDA 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the man page for pmdanetfilter, straight out of the General Commands Manual section of the Unix manual. she's a Performance Metrics Domain Agent, she lives in PCP land, and she's here to spill the tea on your kernel's IP connection tracking. let's get into it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

pmdanetfilter — Linux netfilter IP connection tracking performance metrics domain agent (PMDA). yes, that whole mouthful is her government name 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so like, pmdanetfilter is a Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA, iykyk), and her whole job — her entire main character era — is exporting metric values from the IP connection tracking module in the Linux kernel. that's it. that's the gig. she takes your kernel's conntrack numbers and serves them up to PCP. lowkey iconic 🔥

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🎀 INSTALLATION 🎀

wanna install the netfilter PMDA? you gotta use the Install script, and you gotta do it as root. no cap, root only:

# cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netfilter
# ./Install

and if you ever wanna break up with her (😭), the uninstall also has to happen as root:

# cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netfilter
# ./Remove

heads up bestie: pmdanetfilter is launched by pmcd(1) and should never be executed directly. like, ever. don't do it. the Install and Remove scripts are the ones that go tell pmcd(1) when the agent gets installed or removed — that's their whole thing 💫

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🦋 FILES 🦋

here's where all her stuff lives, bestie:

• $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netfilter/Install — the installation script for the pmdanetfilter agent ✨
• $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/netfilter/Remove — the undo installation script for the pmdanetfilter agent (the breakup script 💔)
• $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd/netfilter.log — the default log file where error messages from pmdanetfilter go to vent 📝

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🌈 PCP ENVIRONMENT 🌈

so PCP uses environment variables with the prefix PCP_ to parameterize all the file and directory names it works with. cute, right?

on every installation, the file /etc/pcp.conf holds the local values for these variables. and if you wanna be extra and use a different config file, the $PCP_CONF variable lets you specify an alternative configuration file — exactly as described in pcp.conf(5). periodt 💅

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

go read PCPIntro(1) and pmcd(1). fr fr, they're the supporting cast and they matter 💜

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Performance Co-Pilot ✦ PCP ✦ PMDANETFILTER(1)

and that's a wrap, bestie 🎀 this lil page came to you courtesy of Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) and it's filed under PMDANETFILTER(1) in the General Commands Manual. go forth and track those connections 💖✨🦋