Chapter 10. Setting up graphical representation of PCP metrics

Procedure

1. Install the following packages:

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   # yum install grafana grafana-pcp

2. Restart and enable the following service:

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   # systemctl restart grafana-server
   # systemctl enable grafana-server

3. Open the server’s firewall for network traffic to the Grafana service.

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   # firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=grafana
   success
   
   # firewall-cmd --reload
   success

Prerequisites

1. PCP is configured. For more information, see Setting up PCP with pcp-zeroconf.
2. The grafana-server is configured. For more information, see Setting up a grafana-server.

Procedure

1. On the client system, open a browser and access the grafana-server on port 3000, using http://192.0.2.0:3000 link.

   Replace 192.0.2.0 with your machine IP when accessing Grafana web UI from a remote machine, or with localhost when accessing the web UI locally.

2. For the first login, enter admin in both the Email or username and Password field.

   Grafana prompts to set a New password to create a secured account. If you want to set it later, click Skip.

3. From the menu, hover over the Configuration icon and then click Plugins.
4. In the Plugins tab, type performance co-pilot in the Search by name or type text box and then click Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) plugin.
5. In the Plugins / Performance Co-Pilot pane, click Enable.

6. Click Grafana icon. The Grafana Home page is displayed.

   Figure 10.1. Home Dashboard

   
   Note

   The top corner of the screen has a similar icon, but it controls the general Dashboard settings.

7. In the Grafana Home page, click Add your first data source to add PCP Redis, PCP bpftrace, and PCP Vector data sources. For more information about adding data source, see:

   • To add pcp redis data source, view default dashboard, create a panel, and an alert rule, see Creating panels and alert in PCP Redis data source.
   • To add pcp bpftrace data source and view the default dashboard, see Viewing the PCP bpftrace System Analysis dashboard.
   • To add pcp vector data source, view the default dashboard, and to view the vector checklist, see Viewing the PCP Vector Checklist.
8. Optional: From the menu, hover over the admin profile icon to change the Preferences including Edit Profile, Change Password, or to Sign out.

Prerequisites

1. PCP is configured. For more information, see Setting up PCP with pcp-zeroconf.
2. The grafana-server is configured. For more information, see Setting up a grafana-server.
3. Mail transfer agent, for example, sendmail or postfix is installed and configured.

Procedure

1. Install the redis package:

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   # yum module install redis:6

   Note

   From Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4, Redis 6 is supported but the yum update command does not update Redis 5 to Redis 6. To update from Redis 5 to Redis 6, run:

   # yum module switch-to redis:6

2. Start and enable the following services:

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   # systemctl start pmproxy redis
   # systemctl enable pmproxy redis

3. Restart the grafana-server:

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   # systemctl restart grafana-server

Prerequisites

1. The PCP Redis is configured. For more information, see Configuring PCP Redis.
2. The grafana-server is accessible. For more information, see Accessing the Grafana web UI.

Procedure

1. Log into the Grafana web UI.
2. In the Grafana Home page, click Add your first data source.
3. In the Add data source pane, type redis in the Filter by name or type text box and then click PCP Redis.

4. In the Data Sources / PCP Redis pane, perform the following:

   1. Add http://localhost:44322 in the URL field and then click Save & Test.

   2. Click Dashboards tab Import PCP Redis: Host Overview to see a dashboard with an overview of any useful metrics.

      Figure 10.2. PCP Redis: Host Overview

      

5. Add a new panel:

   1. From the menu, hover over the Create icon Dashboard Add new panel icon to add a panel.
   2. In the Query tab, select the PCP Redis from the query list instead of the selected default option and in the text field of A, enter metric, for example, kernel.all.load to visualize the kernel load graph.
   3. Optional: Add Panel title and Description, and update other options from the Settings.
   4. Click Save to apply changes and save the dashboard. Add Dashboard name.

   5. Click Apply to apply changes and go back to the dashboard.

      Figure 10.3. PCP Redis query panel

      

6. Create an alert rule:

   1. In the PCP Redis query panel, click Alert and then click Create Alert.
   2. Edit the Name, Evaluate query, and For fields from the Rule, and specify the Conditions for your alert.

   3. Click Save to apply changes and save the dashboard. Click Apply to apply changes and go back to the dashboard.

      Figure 10.4. Creating alerts in the PCP Redis panel

      
   4. Optional: In the same panel, scroll down and click Delete icon to delete the created rule.

   5. Optional: From the menu, click Alerting icon to view the created alert rules with different alert statuses, to edit the alert rule, or to pause the existing rule from the Alert Rules tab.

      To add a notification channel for the created alert rule to receive an alert notification from Grafana, see Adding notification channels for alerts.

Prerequisites

1. The grafana-server is accessible. For more information, see Accessing the Grafana web UI.
2. An alert rule is created. For more information, see Creating panels and alert in PCP Redis data source.

3. Configure SMTP and add a valid sender’s email address in the grafana/grafana.ini file:

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   # vi /etc/grafana/grafana.ini
   
   [smtp]
   enabled = true
   from_address = abc@gmail.com

   Replace abc@gmail.com by a valid email address.

4. Restart grafana-server

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   # systemctl restart grafana-server.service

Procedure

1. From the menu, hover over the Alerting icon click Notification channels Add channel.

2. In the Add notification channel details pane, perform the following:

   1. Enter your name in the Name text box
   2. Select the communication Type, for example, Email and enter the email address. You can add multiple email addresses using the ; separator.
   3. Optional: Configure Optional Email settings and Notification settings.
3. Click Save.

4. Select a notification channel in the alert rule:

   1. From the menu, hover over the Alerting icon and then click Alert rules.
   2. From the Alert Rules tab, click the created alert rule.
   3. On the Notifications tab, select your notification channel name from the Send to option, and then add an alert message.
   4. Click Apply.

Procedure

1. Install the sasl framework for the scram-sha-256 authentication mechanism:

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   # yum install cyrus-sasl-scram cyrus-sasl-lib

2. Specify the supported authentication mechanism and the user database path in the pmcd.conf file:

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   # vi /etc/sasl2/pmcd.conf
   
   mech_list: scram-sha-256
   
   sasldb_path: /etc/pcp/passwd.db

3. Create a new user:

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   # useradd -r metrics

   Replace metrics by your user name.

4. Add the created user in the user database:

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   # saslpasswd2 -a pmcd metrics
   
   Password:
   Again (for verification):

   To add the created user, you are required to enter the metrics account password.

5. Set the permissions of the user database:

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   # chown root:pcp /etc/pcp/passwd.db
   # chmod 640 /etc/pcp/passwd.db

6. Restart the pmcd service:

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   # systemctl restart pmcd

Prerequisites

1. PCP is configured. For more information, see Setting up PCP with pcp-zeroconf.
2. The grafana-server is configured. For more information, see Setting up a grafana-server.
3. The scram-sha-256 authentication mechanism is configured. For more information, see Setting up authentication between PCP components.

Procedure

1. Install the pcp-pmda-bpftrace package:

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   # yum install pcp-pmda-bpftrace

2. Edit the bpftrace.conf file and add the user that you have created in Setting up authentication between PCP components:

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   # vi /var/lib/pcp/pmdas/bpftrace/bpftrace.conf
   
   [dynamic_scripts]
   enabled = true
   auth_enabled = true
   allowed_users = root,metrics

   Replace metrics by your user name.

3. Install bpftrace PMDA:

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   # cd /var/lib/pcp/pmdas/bpftrace/
   # ./Install
   Updating the Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS) ...
   Terminate PMDA if already installed ...
   Updating the PMCD control file, and notifying PMCD ...
   Check bpftrace metrics have appeared ... 7 metrics and 6 values

   The pmda-bpftrace is now installed, and can only be used after authenticating your user. For more information, see Viewing the PCP bpftrace System Analysis dashboard.

Prerequisites

1. The PCP bpftrace is installed. For more information, see Installing PCP bpftrace.
2. The grafana-server is accessible. For more information, see Accessing the Grafana web UI.

Procedure

1. Log into the Grafana web UI.
2. In the Grafana Home page, click Add your first data source.
3. In the Add data source pane, type bpftrace in the Filter by name or type text box and then click PCP bpftrace.

4. In the Data Sources / PCP bpftrace pane, perform the following:

   1. Add http://localhost:44322 in the URL field.
   2. Toggle the Basic Auth option and add the created user credentials in the User and Password field.

   3. Click Save & Test.

      Figure 10.5. Adding PCP bpftrace in the data source

      

   4. Click Dashboards tab Import PCP bpftrace: System Analysis to see a dashboard with an overview of any useful metrics.

      Figure 10.6. PCP bpftrace: System Analysis

      

Prerequisites

1. PCP is configured. For more information, see Setting up PCP with pcp-zeroconf.
2. The grafana-server is configured. For more information, see Setting up a grafana-server.

Procedure

1. Install the pcp-pmda-bcc package:

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   # yum install pcp-pmda-bcc

2. Install the bcc PMDA:

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   # cd /var/lib/pcp/pmdas/bcc
   # ./Install
   [Wed Apr  1 00:27:48] pmdabcc(22341) Info: Initializing, currently in 'notready' state.
   [Wed Apr  1 00:27:48] pmdabcc(22341) Info: Enabled modules:
   [Wed Apr  1 00:27:48] pmdabcc(22341) Info: ['biolatency', 'sysfork',
   [...]
   Updating the Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS) ...
   Terminate PMDA if already installed ...
   Updating the PMCD control file, and notifying PMCD ...
   Check bcc metrics have appeared ... 1 warnings, 1 metrics and 0 values

Prerequisites

1. The PCP Vector is installed. For more information, see Installing PCP Vector.
2. The grafana-server is accessible. For more information, see Accessing the Grafana web UI.

Procedure

1. Log into the Grafana web UI.
2. In the Grafana Home page, click Add your first data source.
3. In the Add data source pane, type vector in the Filter by name or type text box and then click PCP Vector.

4. In the Data Sources / PCP Vector pane, perform the following:

   1. Add http://localhost:44322 in the URL field and then click Save & Test.

   2. Click Dashboards tab Import PCP Vector: Host Overview to see a dashboard with an overview of any useful metrics.

      Figure 10.7. PCP Vector: Host Overview

      

5. From the menu, hover over the Performance Co-Pilot plugin and then click PCP Vector Checklist.

   In the PCP checklist, click help or warning icon to view the related troubleshooting or reference links.

   Figure 10.8. Performance Co-Pilot / PCP Vector Checklist

   

Procedure

1. Hover the cursor over the Dashboards tab and click + New dashboard.
2. In the Add panel menu, click Add a new panel.

3. In the Query tab:

   1. Select PCP Redis from the query list instead of the selected default option.
   2. In the text field of A, enter a metric, for example, kernel.all.load to visualize the kernel load graph.
4. Click the visualization dropdown menu, which is set to Time series by default, and then click Heatmap.
5. Optional: In the Panel Options dropdown menu, add a Panel Title and Description.

6. In the Heatmap dropdown menu, under the Calculate from data setting, click Yes.

   Heatmap

   

7. Optional: In the Colors dropdown menu, change the Scheme from the default Orange and select the number of steps (color shades).

8. Optional: In the Tooltip dropdown menu, under the Show histogram (Y Axis) setting, click the toggle to display a cell’s position within its specific histogram when hovering your cursor over a cell in the heatmap. For example:

   Show histogram (Y Axis) cell display