PMSTORE(1)

NAME
pmstore - modify performance metric values

SYNOPSIS
pmstore [-fFLV?] [-h host] [-i instances] [-K spec] [-n pmnsfile] metricname value

DESCRIPTION
Under certain circumstances, it is useful to be able to modify the values of performance metrics, for example to re-initialize counters or to assign new values to metrics that act as control variables.

pmstore changes the current values for the nominated instances of a single performance metric, as identified by metricname and the list of instance identifiers following the -i argument. instances must be a single argument, with elements of the list separated by commas and/or white space. By default all instances of metricname will be updated.

Normally pmstore operates on the default Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS), see PMNS(5), however if the -n option is specified an alternative namespace is loaded from the file pmnsfile.

Unless directed to another host by the -h option, pmstore will interact with the Performance Metric Collector Daemon (PMCD) on the local host.

The -L option causes pmstore to use a local context to store to metrics from PMDAs on the local host without PMCD. Only some metrics are available in this mode. The -h and -L options are mutually exclusive.

The -f option forces the given value to be stored, even if there is no current value set.

The interpretation of value is dependent on the syntax used in its specification and the underlying data type of metricname, as follows.

1.  If the metric has an integer type, then value should be an optional leading hyphen, followed either by decimal digits or ``0x'' and some hexadecimal digits. ``0X'' is also acceptable in lieu of ``0x''. See strtol(3) and the related routines.

2.  If the metric has a floating point type, then value should be either in the form of an integer described above, or a fixed point number, or a number in scientific notation. See strtod(3).

3.  If the metric has a string type, then value is interpreted as a literal string of ASCII characters.

4.  If the metric has any other type (i.e. PM_TYPE_EVENT or PM_TYPE_AGGREGATE) then no encoding of value from the command line makes sense, and the values of these metrics cannot be modified with pmstore.

The output reports the old value and the new value for each updated instance of the requested metric.

When using the -L option to fetch metrics from a local context, the -K option may be used to control the DSO PMDAs that should be made accessible. The spec argument conforms to the syntax described in pmSpecLocalPMDA(3). More than one -K option may be used.

Normally pmstore will report the old value (as initially retrieved using pmFetch(3)) and the new value from the command line. The -F option forces another pmFetch(3) after the pmStore(3) and the returned value is reported as the new value. This is useful in cases where metricname is a metric that provides different semantics for the store operation, e.g. to increment the current value or reset a counter (independent of the value from the command line).

OPTIONS
The available command line options are:

-f, --force
    Store the value even if no current value set.

-F, --fetch
    Report the metric value after setting it.

-i insts, --insts=insts
    Restrict store to the comma-separated list of instances.

-h host, --host=host
    Connect to pmcd(1) on host, rather than on the default localhost.

-K spec, --spec-local=spec
    When fetching metrics from a local context (see -L), the -K option may be used to control the DSO PMDAs that should be made accessible. The spec argument conforms to the syntax described in pmSpecLocalPMDA(3). More than one -K option may be used.

-L, --local-PMDA
    Use a local context to collect metrics from DSO PMDAs on the local host without PMCD. See also -K.

-n pmnsfile, --namespace=pmnsfile
    Normally pmcd loads the default Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS) from $PCP_VAR_DIR/pmns/root, however if the -n option is specified an alternative namespace is loaded from the file pmnsfile.

-V, --version
    Display version number and exit.

-?, --help
    Display usage message and exit.

DIAGNOSTICS
Two messages indicate a mismatch between the internal data type for metricname and the value provided.

The value "???" is out of range for the data type (PM_TYPE_...)

The value "???" is incompatible with the data type (PM_TYPE_...)

PCP ENVIRONMENT
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).

SEE ALSO
pmcd(1), pminfo(1), pmval(1), PMAPI(3), pmFetch(3), pmSpecLocalPMDA(3), pmStore(3), strtod(3), strtol(3) and PMNS(5).