13. Configuring Automated Reasoning

Contents

• Configuring Automated Reasoning

  • Initial setup - Create a scenario

  • Using pmieconf and pmie

  • Monitoring state with the shping PMDA

  • Custom site rules with pmieconf

13.1. Initial setup - Create a scenario

1. Open the terminal and write:

   $ while true; do sleep 0; done &
   

2. To observe its effect on the system:

   $ pmchart -t 0.5sec -c CPU &
   

3. Create a new chart showing the process context switch rate to the existing display:

   kernel.all.pswitch
   

4. The above test case can be quite intrusive on low processor count machines, so remember to terminate it when you’ve finished this tutorial:

   $ jobs
   [1]- Running     while true; do sleep 0; done &
   [2]+ Running     pmchart -t 0.5sec -c CPU &
   $ fg %1
   

However, you should leave it running throughout all of the tests below.

13.2. Using pmieconf and pmie

1. Create your own pmie rules using pmieconf:

   $ pmieconf -f myrules
   pmieconf> disable all
   pmieconf> enable cpu.context_switch
   pmieconf> modify global delta "5 sec"
   pmieconf> modify global holdoff ""
   pmieconf> modify global syslog_action no
   pmieconf> modify global user_action yes
   pmieconf> quit
   

This command sequence is:

• Inspecting the created file myrules

• Making reference to the pmieconf man page

• Exploring other pmieconf commands (“help” and “list” are useful in this context)

2. Run pmie rules using pmieconf, and see if the alarm messages appear on standard output:

   $ pmie -c myrules
   

3. Terminate pmie and use the reported values from pmchart to determine what the average rate of system calls is. Then re-run pmieconf to adjust the threshold level up or down to alter the behaviour of pmie. Re-run pmie.

   $ pmieconf -f myrules
   pmieconf> modify cpu.context_switch threshold 5000    # <-- insert suitable value here
   pmieconf> quit
   $ pmie -c myrules
   

13.3. Monitoring state with the shping PMDA

1. Install pmdashping to record system state:

   # cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/shping
   # ./Install
   

The default shping configuration is $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/shping/sample.conf. However, we can create a new configuration file, say $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/shping/my.conf, with shell tag and command of the form:

no-pmie    test ! -f /tmp/no-pmie

2. Monitoring pmdashping to observe system state:

   $ pmval -t 5 shping.status
   

Open another command shell, first create the file /tmp/no-pmie, wait ten seconds, and then remove the file. Observe what pmval reports in the other window. Terminate pmval.

13.4. Custom site rules with pmieconf

1. Open an editor, edit the pmieconf output file created earlier, i.e. myrules. Append a new rule at the end (after the END GENERATED SECTION line), that is a copy of the cpu.context_switch rule.

2. To this new rule, add the following conjunct before the action line (containing ->), modify the message in the new rule’s action to be different to the standard rule, make sure the threshold is low enough for the predicate to be true, and then save the file.

   && shping.status #'no-pmie' == 0
   

3. Re-run pmieconf to disable the standard rule:

   $ pmieconf -f myrules
   pmieconf> disable cpu.context_switch
   pmieconf> quit
   

4. Inspect the re-created file myrules. Check your new rule is still there and the standard rule has been removed.

5. Run pmie using myrules, and verify that your new alarm messages appear on standard output. In another window, create the file /tmp/no-pmie, wait a while, then remove the file.

Notice there may be some delay between the creation or removal of /tmp/no-pmie and the change in pmie behaviour.