Chapter 7. Monitoring performance with Performance Co-Pilot

Procedure

1. Install the following packages:

   1. Install the pcp-system-tools:

      # dnf install pcp-system-tools

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

      # dnf install pcp-pmda-postfix postfix

   3. Install the logging daemon:

      # dnf install rsyslog

   4. Install the mail client for testing:

      # dnf install mutt

2. Enable the postfix and rsyslog services:

   # systemctl enable postfix rsyslog
   # systemctl restart postfix rsyslog

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

   # setsebool -P pcp_read_generic_logs=on

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

Procedure

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

   # pmchart

   Figure 7.1. PCP Charts application

   

   The pmtime server settings are located at the bottom. The start and pause button allows you to 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. 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:

   #kmchart
   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"

Procedure

1. Install PCP:

   # dnf install pcp-zeroconf

2. Install packages required for the pyodbc driver:

   # dnf install python3-pyodbc

3. Install the mssql agent:

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

      # dnf install pcp-pmda-mssql

   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

      Replace user_name with the SQL Server account 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
   [...]