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NAME | DESCRIPTION | FILE FORMAT | SPECIAL SECTIONS | CUSTOM SECTIONS | METRICSET SPECIFICATION | EXAMPLE | FILES | PCP ENVIRONMENT | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
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PMREP.CONF(5) File Formats Manual PMREP.CONF(5)
pmrep.conf - pmrep configuration file
pmrep is a customizable performance metrics reporting tool. Any
available performance metric, live or archived, system and/or
application, can be selected for reporting using one of the
available output alternatives together with applicable formatting
options.
The metrics of interest are named in the metricspec argument(s) on
the pmrep command line. These metricspecs define individual
metrics or pre-defined performance metricsets to be read from
configuration files described below. For command line argument
details see pmrep(1).
The pmrep.conf configuration file allows for setting default
runtime values and defining any number of custom metricsets for
pmrep. A metricset is a user-defined arbitrary set of performance
metrics. This allows users to create specifically crafted
metricsets particularly relevant for their application or
environment. Instead of being dependent on what existing tools
provide or collecting the needed data with several disjoint
utilities users can define custom metricsets by merely editing
pmrep.conf. See below for the metricset specification.
In case pmrep configuration files are read from a directory then
values for the [options] and [global] sections will be combined
from each file where defined. The last definition of a directive
wins, meaning the last definition will be used in case defined
multiple times. However, custom metricset sections will not be
combined, only the last definition found will be used for
reporting.
Options via environment values (see pmGetOptions(3)) override the
corresponding built-in default values (if any). Configuration
file options override the corresponding environment variables (if
any). Command line options override the corresponding
configuration file options (if any).
The file has an ini-style syntax and consists of sections and
settings. A section begins with the name of the section in square
brackets and continues until the next section begins. An example
section with two settings follows:
[section]
key = value
key2 = value2
The supported data types for values are string, integer, and
boolean. Values should not to be quoted expect when the value
consists solely of whitespace (i.e., a whitespace-only column
separator).
A line comment starts with a hash sign (``#'') or a semicolon
(``;''). Inline comments are not supported.
pmrep.conf must be readable by the user invoking pmrep.
Any option described below with a corresponding command line
option contains additional functional description in pmrep(1).
The [options] section
The [options] section is read every time pmrep is run and it
defines the default runtime options. These options may be
overridden by metricspec specific options or by command line
options. Metrics are not allowed in this section.
Allowed settings
version (integer)
Indicates the configuration file version. Defaults to 1. The
only currently supported value is 1.
source (string)
Indicates the source for metrics. Interpreted as a PCP
archive if the value contains a slash (``/''). If set to the
special character ``@'', local DSO PMDA context is used.
Otherwise interpreted as a hostname. Corresponding command
line parameters are -a, -h, and -L. Defaults to local: (see
PCPIntro(1)).
output (string)
Indicates the output target. Corresponding command line
option is -o. For supported output targets, see pmrep(1).
Defaults to stdout.
speclocal (string)
Indicates the local DSO PMDAs to be made available when using
the local DSO PMDA context. Corresponding command line option
is -K. For syntax description, see pmSpecLocalPMDA(3). Use a
semicolon (``;'') to separate more than one spec. Undefined
by default.
derived (string)
Derived metric specifications. Corresponding command line
option is -e. For syntax description, see pmrep(1).
Undefined by default.
daemonize (boolean)
Indicates whether to daemonize on startup. Corresponding
command line option is --daemonize. Defaults to no.
header (boolean)
Indicates whether to print headers. Corresponding command
line option is -H. Defaults to yes.
instinfo (boolean)
Indicates whether to include instance information as part of
headers. Corresponding command line option is --no-inst-info.
Defaults to yes.
unitinfo (boolean)
Indicates whether to include unit information as part of
headers. Corresponding command line option is -U. Defaults
to yes.
globals (boolean)
Indicates whether to include metrics from the [global] section
(see below) for reporting. Corresponding command line option
is -G. Defaults to yes.
timestamp (boolean)
Indicates whether to print the timestamp. Corresponding
command line option is -p. Defaults to no.
samples (integer)
Indicates the number of samples to print. Corresponding
command line option is -s. Undefined by default (meaning
unlimited number of samples if not limited by other options).
interval (string)
Indicates the interval between samples. Corresponding command
line option is -o. Follows the time syntax described in
PCPIntro(1). Defaults to 1s.
delay (boolean)
Indicates whether to pause between samples when replaying from
an archive rather than replaying at full speed. Corresponding
command line option is -d. Defaults to no.
type (string)
Indicates whether to output raw metric values by disabling all
rate conversions or convert cumulative counters to rates
(default). Corresponding command line option is -r. Allowed
values are default or raw.
type_prefer (string)
As type but does not override possible per-metric type
specifications. Corresponding command line option is -R.
Allowed values are default or raw.
ignore_incompat (boolean)
Indicates that incompatible metrics are to be ignored.
Corresponding command line option is -I. Defaults to no.
ignore_unknown (boolean)
Indicates that unknown metrics are to be ignored.
Corresponding command line option is -5. Defaults to no.
names_change (string)
Indicates the action to take on PMNS changes during sampling.
Corresponding command line option is -4. Defaults to ignore.
instances (string)
Indicates the instances to be reported. Corresponding command
line option is -i. Undefined (all instances are reported) by
default.
live_filter (boolean)
Indicates that live filtering should be enabled.
Corresponding command line option is -j. Defaults to no.
rank (integer)
Indicates the value to be used for ranking instances.
Corresponding command line option is -J. Undefined (all
instances are reported) by default.
overall_rank (boolean)
Indicates that overall ranking should be performed.
Corresponding command line option is -2. Defaults to no.
overall_rank_alt (boolean)
Indicates that overall ranking with alternative output format
should be performed. Corresponding command line option is -3.
Defaults to no.
limit_filter (integer)
Indicates the value to be used with limit filtering.
Corresponding command line option is -8. Undefined (all
instances are reported) by default.
limit_filter_force (integer)
As limit_filter but overrides possible possible per-metric
specifications. Corresponding command line option is -9.
Undefined (all instances are reported) by default.
invert_filter (boolean)
Indicates that invert filtering should be performed.
Corresponding command line option is -n. Defaults to no.
predicate (string)
Indicates the metrics to be used as predicate metrics.
Corresponding command line option is -N. Undefined by
default.
sort_metric (string)
Indicates the metrics to be used as sort reference metrics.
Corresponding command line option is -6. Undefined by
default.
omit_flat (boolean)
Indicates that single-valued ``flat'' metrics are to be
omitted from reporting. Corresponding command line option is
-v. Defaults to no.
include_labels (boolean)
Indicates that PCP metric labels should included in the
output. Corresponding command line option is -m. Defaults to
no.
include_texts (boolean)
Indicates that when writing a PCP archive, PCP help texts
shall be included in the created archive. Corresponding
command line option is --include-texts. Defaults to no.
colxrow (string)
Indicates to swap columns and rows in stdout output using the
value as metric text label. Corresponding command line option
is -X. Undefined (no swapping) by default.
width (integer)
Indicates the width of stdout output columns. Corresponding
command line option is -w. Forced minimum is 3. Defaults to
the shortest width that can fit the metric text label.
width_force (integer)
As width but overrides possible possible per-metric
specifications. Corresponding command line option is -W.
Forced minimum is 3.
precision (integer)
Indicates how many decimals to use for numeric non-integer
output values. Corresponding command line option is -P.
Defaults to 3.
precision_force (integer)
As precision but overrides possible per-metric specifications.
Corresponding command line option is -0. Undefined by
default.
delimiter (string)
Indicates the column separator. Corresponding command line
option is -l. Default depends on the output target, see
pmrep(1).
extcsv (boolean)
Indicates whether to write extended CSV output similar to
sadf(1). Corresponding command line option is -k. Defaults
to no.
extheader (boolean)
Indicates whether to print extended header. Corresponding
command line option is -x. Defaults to no.
fixed_header (boolean)
Indicates that a fixed header should be used. Corresponding
command line option is -7. Defaults to no.
repeat_header (integer)
Indicates how often to repeat the header. Corresponding
command line option is -E. auto uses terminal height.
Defaults to 0 (header is not repeated).
dynamic_header (boolean)
Indicates that a dynamic header should be used. Corresponding
command line option is -1. Defaults to no.
separate_header (boolean)
Indicates whether to print a separate header. Corresponding
command line option is -g. Defaults to no.
timefmt (string)
Indicates the format string for formatting the timestamp.
Corresponding command line option is -f. Defaults to
%H:%M:%S.
interpol (boolean)
Indicates whether to interpolate reported archive values.
Corresponding command line option is -u. See pmrep(1) for
complete description. Defaults to yes.
count_scale (string)
Indicates the unit/scale for counter metrics. Corresponding
command line option is -q. For supported syntax, see
pmrep(1). Undefined (no scaling) by default.
count_scale_force (string)
Like count_scale but overrides possible per-metric
specifications. Corresponding command line option is -Q.
Undefined by default.
space_scale (string)
Indicates the unit/scale for space metrics. Corresponding
command line option is -b. For supported syntax, see
pmrep(1). Undefined (no scaling) by default.
space_scale_force (string)
Like space_scale but overrides possible per-metric
specifications. Corresponding command line option is -B.
Undefined by default.
time_scale (string)
Indicates the unit/scale for time metrics. Corresponding
command line option is -y. For supported syntax, see
pmrep(1). Undefined (no scaling) by default.
time_scale_force (string)
Like time_scale but overrides possible per-metric
specifications. Corresponding command line option is -Y.
Undefined by default.
The [global] section
The [global] section is used to define metrics that will be
reported in addition to any other separately defined metric or
metricset. Configuration options are not allowed in this section.
Global metrics are reported by default, the command line option -G
or the configuration file option globals can be used to disable
global metrics.
Allowed settings
Only metricspecs are allowed in this section. See below for
the metricspec specification.
Any other section than [options] or [global] will be interpreted
as a new metricset specification. The section name is arbitrary,
typically a reference to its coverage or purpose. A custom
section may contain options, metricspecs, or both.
All the metrics specified in a custom section (metricset) will be
reported when pmrep reports that particular metricset. More than
one metricset (custom section) can be defined on the command line
in which case pmrep reports the combination of all the metrics
specified in the selected metricsets.
Allowed settings
Any option valid in the [options] section is also valid in a
custom section. Any option or metric defined in a custom
section will override the same option or metric possibly
defined earlier. See below for the metricspec specification.
There are three forms of the metricspec. First, on the command
line a metricspec can start with a colon (``:'') to indicate a
reference to a metricset (custom section) to be read from a pmrep
configuration file. Second, the compact form of a metricspec is a
one-line metric specification which can be used both on the
command line and in the [global] and custom sections of the
configuration file. The only difference of its usage in the
configuration file is that the metric name is used as the key and
the optional specifiers as values. The compact form of the
metricspec is specified in detail in pmrep(1). The third, verbose
form of a metricspec, is valid only in the configuration file (see
below).
In a custom section a key containing a dot (``.'') is interpreted
as a metric name and a non-option key not containing a dot is
interpreted as an identifier (handle) to bind related declarations
together. The identifier is arbitrary and is not used otherwise
except for binding the below specifiers and the metric together.
The verbose form of a metricspec starts with a declaration
consisting of a mandatory identifier as the key and a performance
metric name (a PMNS node) as its value. This equals to the
compact form of the metricspec defining the same performance
metric without any of the optional specifiers defined.
The following specifiers are optional in the verbose form and can
be used as keys in any order with an earlier declared identifier
followed by a dot and the specifier (as in identifier.specifier).
See also the example later below.
label
Defines text label for the metric used by supporting
output targets.
formula
Defines the needed arithmetic expression for the metric.
For details, see pmRegisterDerived(3).
instances
Defines the instances to be reported for the metric. For
details, see pmrep(1).
unit
Defines the unit/scale conversion for the metric. Needs
to be dimension-compatible and is used with non-string
metrics. For allowed values, see pmrep(1).
type
If set to raw rate conversion for the metric will be
disabled.
width
Defines the width of the output column for the metric.
precision
Defines precision for numeric non-integer output values.
limit
Defines value limit filter for numeric metric values.
The following example contains a short [options] section setting
some locally wanted default values. It then goes on to define the
global metrics kernel.all.sysfork using the compact form and
mem.util.allcache using the verbose form of a metricspec. The
latter is a derived metric using the specified formula. Both of
these metrics will be included in reporting unless disabled with
-G or globals = no.
Three different metricsets are also specified: db1, db2, and
sar-w.
The DB sets define a host to be used as the source for the
metrics. Both use the verbose form of a metricspec (as the non-
option key set does not contain the dot) to include all postgresql
related metrics.
The sar-w set is an example how to mimic an existing tool with
pmrep.
The system default pmrep configuration files contain many more
examples. The tab key on the command line after a colon completes
available metricsets (with bash and zsh).
[options]
timestamp = yes
interval = 2s
extheader = yes
repeat_header = auto
space_scale = MB
[global]
kernel.all.sysfork = forks,,,,8
cacheall = mem.util.allcache
cacheall.formula = mem.util.bufmem + mem.util.cached + mem.util.slab
cacheall.width = 12
[db1]
source = db-host1.example.com
set = postgresql
[db2]
source = db-host2.example.com
set = postgresql
[sar-w]
header = yes
unitinfo = no
globals = no
timestamp = yes
precision = 2
delimiter = " "
kernel.all.sysfork = proc/s,,,,12
kernel.all.pswitch = cswch/s,,,,9
$PCP_SYSCONF_DIR/pmrep/*.conf
system provided default pmrep configuration files
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. The $PCP_CONF variable may be used to specify an
alternative configuration file, as described in pcp.conf(5).
For environment variables affecting PCP tools, see
pmGetOptions(3).
PCPIntro(1), pmrep(1), pmGetOptions(3), pmRegisterDerived(3) and
pmSpecLocalPMDA(3).
This page is part of the PCP (Performance Co-Pilot) project.
Information about the project can be found at
⟨http://www.pcp.io/⟩. If you have a bug report for this manual
page, send it to pcp@groups.io. This page was obtained from the
project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://github.com/performancecopilot/pcp.git⟩ on 2025-08-11.
(At that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found
in the repository was 2025-08-11.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
Performance Co-Pilot PCP PMREP.CONF(5)
Pages that refer to this page: pcp2arrow(1), pcp2elasticsearch(1), pcp2graphite(1), pcp2influxdb(1), pcp2json(1), pcp2openmetrics(1), pcp2spark(1), pcp2template(1), pcp2xlsx(1), pcp2xml(1), pcp2zabbix(1), pmlogger_daily_report(1), pmrep(1), pmrepconf(1), pcp-dstat(5)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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