From: oetiker Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 05:11:07 +0000 (+0000) Subject: integrated from debian X-Git-Url: https://git.octo.it/?p=rrdtool.git;a=commitdiff_plain;h=b8fe61b41eef2c0b67f00df1ff82802bd65f0f50 integrated from debian git-svn-id: svn://svn.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/trunk/program@257 a5681a0c-68f1-0310-ab6d-d61299d08faa --- diff --git a/doc/rrd-beginners.pod b/doc/rrd-beginners.pod new file mode 100644 index 0000000..363cc2e --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/rrd-beginners.pod @@ -0,0 +1,316 @@ +=head1 NAME + +rrd-beginners - Beginners guide + +=head1 SYNOPSIS + +Helping new RRDtool users to understand the basics of RRDtool + +=head1 DESCRIPTION + +This manual is an attempt to assist beginners in understanding the concepts +of RRDtool. It sheds a light on differences between RRDtool and other +databases. With help of an example, it explains structure of RRDtool +database. This is followed by an overview of the "graph" feature of RRDtool. +At the end, it has sample scripts that illustrates the +usage/wrapping of RRDtool within Shell or Perl scripts. + +=head2 What makes RRDtool so special? + +RRDtool is GNU licensed software developed by Tobias Oetiker, a system +manager at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Though it is a +database, there are distinct differences between RRDtool database and other +databases as listed below: + +=over + +=item * + +RRDtool stores data; that makes it a back end tool. The RRDtool command set +allows the creation of graphs; that makes it a front end tool as well. Other +databases just stores data and can not create graphs. + +=item * + +In case of linear databases, new data gets appended at the bottom of +the database table. Thus its size keeps on increasing, whereas size of an RRDtool +database is determined at creation time. Imagine an RRDtool database as the +perimeter of a circle. Data is added along the perimeter. When new data +reaches the starting point, it overwrites existing data. This way, the size of +an RRDtool database always remains constant. The name "Round Robin" stems from this +attribute. + +=item * + +Other databases store the values as supplied. RRDtool can be configured to +calculate the rate of change from the previous to the current value and +store this information instead. + +=item * + +Other databases get updated when values are supplied. The RRDtool database +is structured in such a way that it needs data at predefined time +intervals. If it does not get a new value during the interval, it stores an +UNKNOWN value for that interval. So, when using the RRDtool database, it is +imperative to use scripts that runs at regular intervals to ensure a constant +data flow to update the RRDtool database. + +=back + +RRDtool has a lot to do with time. With every data update, it also needs to +know the time when that update occurred. Time is always expressed in +seconds passed since epoch (01-01-1971). RRDtool can be installed on Unix as +well as Windows. It has command set to carry out various +operations on RRD database. This command set can be accessed from the command line, +and from Shell or Perl scripts. The scripts +act as wrappers for accessing data stored in RRDtool database. + +=head2 Understanding by an example + +The structure of an RRD database is different than other linear databases. +Other databases define tables with columns, and many other parameters. These +definitions sometime are very complex, especially in large databases. +RRDtool databases are primarily used for monitoring purposes and +hence are very simple in structure. The parameters +that need to be defined are variables that hold values and archives of those +values. Being time sensitive, a couple of time related parameters are also +defined. Because of its structure, the definition of an RRDtool database also +includes a provision to specify specific actions to take in the absence of +update values. Data Source (DS), heartbeat, Date Source Type (DST), Round +Robin Archive (RRA), and Consolidation Function (CF) are some of the +terminologies related to RRDtool databases. + +The structure of a database and the terminology associated with it can be +best explained with an example. + + rrdtool create target.rrd + --start 1023654125 + --step 300 + DS:mem:GAUGE:600:0:671744 + RRA:AVERAGE:0.5:12:24 + RRA:AVERAGE:0.5:288:31 + +This example creates a database named F. Start time (1023654125) is +specified in total number of seconds since epoch (time in seconds since +01-01-1970). While updating the database, update time is also specified. +This update time MUST occur after start time and MUST be in seconds since +epoch. + +The step of 300 seconds indicates that database expects new values every +300 seconds. The wrapper script should be scheduled to run every B +seconds so that it updates the database every B seconds. + +DS (Data Source) is the actual variable which relates to the parameter on +the device that has to be monitored. Its syntax is + + DS:variable_name:DST:heartbeat:min:max + +B is a key word. C is a name under which the parameter is +saved in database. There can be as many DSs in a database as needed. After +every step interval, a new value of DS is supplied to update the database. +This value is also called as Primary Data Point B<(PDP)>. In our example +mentioned above, a new PDP is generated every 300 seconds. + +Note, that if you do NOT supply new datapoints exactly every 300 seconds, +this is not problem, RRDtool will interpolate the data accordingly. + +B (Data Source Type) defines type of DS. It can be COUNTER, DERIVE, +ABSOLUTE, GAUGE. A DS declared as COUNTER will save the rate of change of +the value over a step period. This assumes that the value is always +increasing (difference between last two values is more than 0). Traffic +counters on a router is an ideal candidate for using COUNTER as DST. DERIVE +is same as COUNTER but it allows negative values as well. If you want to see +the rate of I in free diskspace on your server, then you might want to +use the DERIVE data type. ABSOLUTE also saves the rate of change but it assumes +that previous value is set to 0. The difference between current and previous +value is always equal to the current value. So, it stores the current value divided +by step interval (300 seconds in our example). GAUGE does not save the rate of +change. It saves the actual value itself. There are no +divisions/calculations. Memory consumption in a server is an ideal +example of gauge. Difference among different types DSTs can be explained +better with following example: + + Values = 300, 600, 900, 1200 + Step = 300 seconds + COUNTER DS = 1, 1, 1, 1 + DERIVE DS = 1, 1, 1, 1 + ABSOLUTE DS = 1, 2, 3, 4 + GAUGE DS = 300, 600, 900, 1200 + +The next parameter is B. In our example, heartbeat is 600 +seconds. If database does not get a new PDP within 300 +seconds, it will wait for another 300 seconds (total 600 seconds). +If it doesn't receive any PDP with in 600 seconds, it will save an UNKNOWN value +into database. This UNKNOWN value is a special feature of RRDtool - it is +much better than to assume a missing value was 0 (zero). +For example, the traffic flow counter on a router +keeps on increasing. Lets say, a value is missed for an interval and 0 is stored +instead of UNKNOWN. Now when next value becomes available, it will calculate +difference between current value and previous value (0) which is not +correct. So, inserting value UNKNOWN makes much more sense here. + +The next two parameters are the minimum and maximum value respectively. If variable +to be stored has predictable maximum and minimum value, this should be +specified here. Any update value falling out of this range will be saved as +UNKNOWN. + +The next line declares a round robin archive (RRA). The syntax for declaring an RRA is + + RRA:CF:xff:step:rows + +RRA is the keyword to declare RRAs. The consolidation function (CF) can be +AVERAGE, MINIMUM, MAXIMUM, and LAST. The concept of the consolidated data point (CDP) +comes into the picture here. A CDP is CFed (averaged, maximum/minimum value or +last value) from I number of PDPs. This RRA will hold I CDPs. + +Lets have a look at the example above. For the first RRA, 12 (steps) PDPs +(DS variables) are AVERAGEed (CF) to form one CDP. 24 (rows) of theses CDPs +are archived. Each PDP occurs at 300 seconds. 12 PDPs represent 12 times 300 +seconds which is 1 hour. It means 1 CDP (which is equal to 12 PDPs) +represents data worth 1 hour. 24 such CDPs represent 1 day (1 hour times 24 +CDPs). It means, this RRA is an archive for one day. After 24 CDPs, CDP +number 25 will replace the 1st CDP. Second RRA saves 31 CDPs; each CPD +represents an AVERAGE value for a day (288 PDPs, each covering 300 seconds = +24 hours). Therefore this RRA is an archive for one month. A single database +can have many RRAs. If there are multiple DSs, each individual RRA will save +data for all the DSs in the database. For example, if a database has 3 DSs; +and daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly RRAs are declared, then each RRA will +hold data from all 3 data sources. + +=head2 Graphical Magic + +Another important feature of RRDtool is its ability to create graphs. The +"graph" command uses "fetch" command internally to retrieve values from the +database. With the retrieved values, it draws graphs as defined by the +parameters supplied on the command line. A single graph can show different +DS (Data Sources0) from a database. It is also possible to show the +values from more than one databases into a single graph. Often, it is +necessary to perform some math on the values retrieved from database, before +plotting them. For example, in SNMP replies, memory consumption values are +usually specified in KBytes and traffic flow on interfaces is specified in +Bytes. Graphs for these values will be more senseful if values are +represented in MBytes and mbps. the RRDtool graph command allows to define +such conversions. Apart from mathematical calculations, it is also possible +to perform logical operations such as greater than, less than, and if then +else. If a database contains more than one RRA archive, then a question may +arise - how does RRDtool decide which RRA archive to use for retrieving the +values? RRDtool takes looks at several things when making its choice. First +it makes sure that the RRA covers as much of the graphing time frame as +possible. Second it looks at the resolution of the RRA compared to the +resolution of the graph. It tries to find one which has the same or better +resolution. With the "-r" option you can force RRDtool to assume a different +resolution than the one calculated from the pixel width of the graph. + +Values of different variables can be presented in 5 different shapes in a +graph - AREA, LINE1, LINE2, LINE3, and STACK. AREA is represented by a solid +colored area with values as the boundary of this area. LINE1/2/3 (increasing +width) are just plain lines representing the values. STACK is also an area +but it is "stack"ed on AREA or LINE1/2/3. Another important thing to note, +is that variables are plotted in the order they are defined in graph +command. So, care must be taken to define STACK only after defining +AREA/LINE. It is also possible to put formatted comments within the graph. +Detailed instructions be found under graph manual. + +=head2 Wrapping RRDtool within Shell/Perl script + +After understanding RRDtool, it is now a time to actually use RRDtool in +scripts. Tasks involved in network management are data collection, data +storage, and data retrieval. In the following example, +the previously created target.rrd database is used. Data collection and data +storage is done using Shell scrip. Data retrieval +and report generation is done using Perl script. These +scripts are as shown below: + +=head3 Shell script (collects data, updates database) + + #!/bin/sh + a=0 + while [ "$a" == 0 ]; do + snmpwalk -c public 192.168.1.250 hrSWRunPerfMem > snmp_reply + total_mem=`awk 'BEGIN {tot_mem=0} + { if ($NF == "KBytes") + {tot_mem=tot_mem+$(NF-1)} + } + END {print tot_mem}' snmp_reply` + # I can use N as a replacement for the current time + rrdtool update target.rrd N:$total_mem + # sleep until the next 300 seconds are full + perl -e 'sleep 300 - time % 300' + done # end of while loop + +=head3 Perl script (retrieves data from database and generates graphs and statistics) + + #!/usr/bin/perl -w + #This script fetch data from target.rrd, creates graph of memory consumption + on target (Dual P3 Processor 1 GHz, 656 MB RAM) + + #calling RRD perl module + use lib qw( /usr/local/rrdtool-1.0.41/lib/perl ../lib/perl ); + use RRDs; + my $cur_time = time(); # setting current time + my $end_time = $cur_time - 86400; # setting end time to 24 hours behind current time + my $start_time = $end_time - 2592000; # setting start time to 30 days from end time + + #fetching average values from RRD database between start and end time + my ($start,$step,$ds_names,$data) = + RRDs::fetch("target.rrd", "AVERAGE", + "-r", "600", "-s", "$start_time", "-e", "$end_time"); + #saving fetched values in 2-dimensional array + my $rows = 0; + my $columns = 0; + my $time_variable = $start; + foreach $line (@$data) { + $vals[$rows][$columns] = $time_variable; + $time_variable = $time_variable + $step; + foreach $val (@$line) { + $vals[$rows][++$columns] = $val;} + $rows++; + $columns = 0; + } + my $tot_time = 0; + my $count = 0; + #saving values from 2-dimensional into 1-dimensional array + for $i ( 0 .. $#vals ) { + $tot_mem[$count] = $vals[$i][1]; + $count++; + } + my $tot_mem_sum = 0; + #calculating total of all values + for $i ( 0 .. ($count-1) ) { + $tot_mem_sum = $tot_mem_sum + $tot_mem[$i]; + } + #calculating average of array + my $tot_mem_ave = $tot_mem_sum/($count); + #creating graph + RRDs::graph ("/images/mem_$count.png", \ + "--title= Memory Usage", \ + "--vertical-label=Memory Consumption (MB)", \ + "--start=$start_time", \ + "--end=$end_time", \ + "--color=BACK#CCCCCC", \ + "--color=CANVAS#CCFFFF", \ + "--color=SHADEB#9999CC", \ + "--height=125", \ + "--upper-limit=656", \ + "--lower-limit=0", \ + "--rigid", \ + "--base=1024", \ + "DEF:tot_mem=target.rrd:mem:AVERAGE", \ + "CDEF:correct_tot_mem=tot_mem,0,671744,LIMIT,UN,0,tot_mem,IF,1024,/",\ + "CDEF:machine_mem=tot_mem,656,+,tot_mem,-",\ + "COMMENT:Memory Consumption between $start_time",\ + "COMMENT: and $end_time ",\ + "HRULE:656#000000:Maximum Available Memory - 656 MB",\ + "AREA:machine_mem#CCFFFF:Memory Unused", \ + "AREA:correct_tot_mem#6699CC:Total memory consumed in MB"); + my $err=RRDs::error; + if ($err) {print "problem generating the graph: $err\n";} + #printing the output + print "Average memory consumption is "; + printf "%5.2f",$tot_mem_ave/1024; + print " MB. Graphical representation can be found at /images/mem_$count.png."; + +=head1 AUTHOR + +Ketan Patel Ek2pattu@yahoo.comE +