Chapter 6. Monitoring performance with Performance Co-Pilot

Procedure

1. Install the following packages:

   1. Install the pcp-system-tools:

      # dnf install pcp-system-tools

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   2. Install the pmda-postfix package to monitor postfix:

      # dnf install pcp-pmda-postfix postfix

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   3. Install the logging daemon:

      # dnf install rsyslog

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   4. Install the mail client for testing:

      # dnf install mutt

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2. Enable the postfix and rsyslog services:

   # systemctl enable postfix rsyslog
   # systemctl restart postfix rsyslog

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3. Enable the SELinux boolean, so that pmda-postfix can access the required log files:

   # setsebool -P pcp_read_generic_logs=on

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4. Install the PMDA:

   # cd /var/lib/pcp/pmdas/postfix/
   # ./Install
   Updating the Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS) ...
   Terminate PMDA if already installed ...
   Updating the PMCD control file, and notifying PMCD ...
   Waiting for pmcd to terminate ...
   Starting pmcd ...
   Check postfix metrics have appeared ... 7 metrics and 58 values

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Procedure

1. Launch the PCP Charts application from the command line:

   # pmchart

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   The pmtime server settings are located at the bottom. With start and pause buttons you can control:

   • The interval in which PCP polls the metric data
   • The date and time for the metrics of historical data
2. Click File and then New Chart to select metric from both the local machine and remote machines by specifying their host name or address. Advanced configuration options include the ability to manually set the axis values for the chart, and to manually choose the color of the plots.

3. Record the views created in the PCP Charts application:

   Following are the options to take images or record the views created in the PCP Charts application:

   • Click File and then Export to save an image of the current view.
   • Click Record and then Start to start a recording.
   • Click Record and then Stop to stop the recording. After stopping the recording, the recorded metrics are archived to be viewed later.
4. Optional: In the PCP Charts application, the main configuration file, known as the view, allows the metadata associated with one or more charts to be saved. This metadata describes all chart aspects, including the metrics used and the chart columns.

5. Optional: Save the custom view configuration by clicking File and then Save View, and load the view configuration later.

   The following example of the PCP Charts application view configuration file describes a stacking chart graph showing the total number of bytes read and written to the given XFS file system loop1:

   # pmchart
   version 1
   chart title "Filesystem Throughput /loop1" style stacking antialiasing off
       plot legend Read rate   metric xfs.read_bytes   instance  loop1
       plot legend Write rate  metric xfs.write_bytes  instance  loop1

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Procedure

1. Install PCP:

   # dnf install pcp-zeroconf

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2. Install packages required for the pyodbc driver:

   # dnf install gcc-c++ python3-devel unixODBC-devel
   # dnf install python3-pyodbc

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3. Install the mssql agent:

   1. Install the Microsoft SQL Server domain agent for PCP:

      # dnf install pcp-pmda-mssql

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   2. Edit the /etc/pcp/mssql/mssql.conf file to configure the SQL server account’s username and password for the mssql agent. Ensure that the account you configure has access rights to performance data.

      username: user_name
      password: user_password

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      Replace user_name with the SQL Server account username and user_password with the SQL Server user password for this account.

4. Install the agent:

   # cd /var/lib/pcp/pmdas/mssql
   # ./Install
   Updating the Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS) ...
   Terminate PMDA if already installed ...
   Updating the PMCD control file, and notifying PMCD ...
   Check mssql metrics have appeared ... 168 metrics and 598 values
   [...]

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   Verification

   • Using the pcp command, verify if the SQL Server PMDA (mssql) is loaded and running:

     $ pcp
     Performance Co-Pilot configuration on rhel.local:
     platform: Linux rhel.local 4.18.0-167.el8.x86_64 #1 SMP Sun Dec 15 01:24:23 UTC 2019 x86_64
      hardware: 2 cpus, 1 disk, 1 node, 2770MB RAM
      timezone: PDT+7
      services: pmcd pmproxy
          pmcd: Version 5.0.2-1, 12 agents, 4 clients
          pmda: root pmcd proc pmproxy xfs linux nfsclient mmv kvm mssql
                jbd2 dm
      pmlogger: primary logger: /var/log/pcp/pmlogger/rhel.local/20200326.16.31
         pmie: primary engine: /var/log/pcp/pmie/rhel.local/pmie.log

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   • View the complete list of metrics that PCP can collect from the SQL Server:

     # pminfo mssql

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   • After viewing the list of metrics, you can report the rate of transactions. For example, to report on the overall transaction count per second, over a five second time window:

     # pmval -t 1 -T 5 mssql.databases.transactions

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   • View the graphical chart of these metrics on your system by using the pmchart command. For more information, see Visually tracing PCP log archives with the PCP Charts application.