pmdamailq - mail queue performance metrics domain agent
(PMDA)
$PCP_PMDAS_DIR/mailq/pmdamailq [-b binlist]
[-d domain] [-l logfile] [-r
regex] [-U username] [queuedir]
pmdamailq is a Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA)
which extracts performance metrics describing the state of the e-mail queues
managed by sendmail(1) and other mail transfer agents.
The mailq PMDA exports metrics that measure the total
number of entries in the mail queue, and the subtotals for entries that have
been queued for various time periods.
A brief description of the pmdamailq command line options
follows:
- -b
- The binlist argument specifies a list of delay thresholds used to
``bin'' the entries in the queue into a a histogram based on how long the
entry has been in the mail queue. The default thresholds are: 1 hour, 4
hours, 8 hours, 1 day, 3 days and 7 days. The entries in binlist
are comma separated time intervals, using the syntax described in
PCPIntro(1) for an update or reporting interval, e.g. the default
list could be specified using the value
1hr,4hrs,8hrs,1day,3days,7days.
Values in binlist are assumed to be in ascending order, and
mail items in the queue less than the first threshold are binned into a
special bin labeled ``recent''.
- -d
- It is absolutely crucial that the performance metrics domain number
specified here is unique and consistent. That is, domain should be
different for every PMDA on the one host, and the same domain
number should be used for the same PMDA on all hosts.
- -l
- Location of the log file. By default, a log file named mailq.log is
written in the current directory of pmcd(1) when pmdamailq
is started, i.e. $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd . If the log file cannot be
created or is not writable, output is written to the standard error
instead.
- -r
- Use an extended regular expression to match file names in the mail queue
directory, rather than assuming all "df" prefixed files in the
directory are mail files (the "df" prefix is the sendmail
convention, but this convention is not followed by other mail daemons).
The regex pattern specified should conform to the POSIX format
described in regex(3), and it describes file names that should be
considered mail.
- -U
- User account under which to run the agent. The default is the unprivileged
"pcp" account in current versions of PCP, but in older versions
the superuser account ("root") was used by default.
The optional queuedir argument defines the directory in
which pmdamailq expects to find the mail queue. The default is
/var/spool/mqueue.
If you want access to the names, help text and values for the
mailq performance metrics, do the following as root:
# cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/mailq
# ./Install
If you want to undo the installation, do the following as
root:
# cd $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/mailq
# ./Remove
pmdamailq is launched by pmcd(1) and should never be
executed directly. The Install and Remove scripts notify pmcd(1) when
the agent is installed or removed.
- $PCP_PMCDCONF_PATH
- command line options used to launch pmdamailq
- $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/mailq/help
- default help text file for the mailq metrics
- $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/mailq/Install
- installation script for the pmdamailq agent
- $PCP_PMDAS_DIR/mailq/Remove
- undo installation script for the pmdamailq agent
- $PCP_LOG_DIR/pmcd/mailq.log
- default log file for error messages and other information from
pmdamailq
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).