--- name: "pmlogger_check" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "pcp" version: "7.2.2-2" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/pmlogger_check" --- # pmlogger\_check(1) administration of Performance Co-Pilot archive files ## NAME **pmlogger\_check** - administration of Performance Co-Pilot archive files ## SYNOPSIS **$PCP\_BINADM\_DIR/pmlogger\_check** \[**-CNnPpqsTV?**\] \[**-c** *control*\] \[**-l** *logfile*\] ## DESCRIPTION **pmlogger\_check** and the related [**pmlogger\_daily**(1)](/pmlogger_daily/1.md) tools along with associated control files (see [**pmlogger.control**(5)](/pmlogger.control/5.md)) may be used to create a customized regime of administration and management for historical archives of performance data within the Performance Co-Pilot (see [**PCPIntro**(1)](/PCPIntro/1.md)) infrastructure. **pmlogger\_check** may be run at any time of the day and is intended to check that a desired set of [**pmlogger**(1)](/pmlogger/1.md) processes are running. If not, it (re-)starts any missing logger processes. By default, **pmlogger\_check** also calls [**pmlogger\_daily**(1)](/pmlogger_daily/1.md) with a **-K** option to execute any required archive compression tasks. ## OPTIONS - **-C** This option causes **pmlogger\_check** to query the system service runlevel information for **pmlogger**, and use that to determine whether to start processes or not. - **-c** *control*, **--control**=*control* Both **pmlogger\_check** and [**pmlogger\_daily**(1)](/pmlogger_daily/1.md) are controlled by PCP logger control file(s) that specifies the **pmlogger** instances to be managed. The default *control* file is *$PCP\_PMLOGGERCONTROL\_PATH* but an alternate may be specified using the **-c** option. If the directory *$PCP\_PMLOGGERCONTROL\_PATH*.d (or *control*.d from the **-c** option) exists, then the contents of any additional *control* files therein will be appended to the main control file (which must exist). - **-l** *file*, **--logfile**=*file* In order to ensure that mail is not unintentionally sent when these scripts are run from [**cron**(8)](/cron/8.md) or [**systemd**(1)](/systemd/1.md) diagnostics are always sent to log files. By default, this file is *$PCP\_LOG\_DIR/pmlogger/pmlogger\_check.log* but this can be changed using the **-l** option. If this log *file* already exists when the script starts, it will be renamed with a *.prev* suffix (overwriting any log file saved earlier) before diagnostics are generated to the log file. The **-l** and **-t** options cannot be used together. - **-N**, **--showme** This option enables a \`\`show me'' mode, where the actions are echoed, but not executed, in the style of \`\`make -n''. Using **-N** in conjunction with **-V** maximizes the diagnostic capabilities for debugging. - **-n**, **--noerror** Force the exit status to be 0 other than for catastrophic errors. Useful when called from a [**systemd**(1)](/systemd/1.md) service or timer unit so that the associated unit is not marked as failed in a way that would prevent subsequent execution from [**systemd**(1)](/systemd/1.md). - **-P**, **--only-primary** If this option is specified for **pmlogger\_check** then only the primary logger entry in the control files will be processed. This is the logical opposite of the **-p** option described above and is intended for use by RC scripts that start only the primary logger, such as the **pmlogger.service** unit. The **-p** and **-P** options are mutually exclusive. - **-p**, **--skip-primary** If this option is specified for **pmlogger\_check** then any line from the control files for the *primary* **pmlogger** will be ignored. This option is intended for environments where some system daemon, like [**systemd**(1)](/systemd/1.md), is responsible for controlling (starting, stopping, restarting, etc.) the *primary* **pmlogger**. - **-q**, **--quick** If this option is specified for **pmlogger\_check** then the script will \`\`quickstart'' avoiding any optional processing like calling [**pmlogger\_daily**(1)](/pmlogger_daily/1.md) to perform archive compression tasks. - **-s**, **--stop** Use of this option provides the reverse **pmlogger\_check** functionality, allowing the set of **pmlogger** processes to be cleanly shutdown. - **-T**, **--terse** This option to **pmlogger\_check** produces less verbose output than the default. This is most suitable for a **pmlogger** \`\`farm'' where many instances of **pmlogger** are expected to be running. - **-V**, **--verbose** The **-V** option enables verbose tracing. By default **pmlogger\_check** generates no output unless some error or warning condition is encountered. A second **-V** increases the verbosity. Using **-N** in conjunction with **-V** maximizes the diagnostic capabilities for debugging. - **-?**, **--help** Display usage message and exit. ## CONFIGURATION Refer to [**pmlogger.control**(5)](/pmlogger.control/5.md) for a description of the control file(s) that are used to control which **pmlogger** instances and which archives are managed by **pmlogger\_check** and [**pmlogger\_daily**(1)](/pmlogger_daily/1.md). The [**pmlogctl**(1)](/pmlogctl/1.md) utility may invoke **pmlogger\_check** using the **sudo**(1) command to run it under the $PCP\_USER \`\`pcp'' account. If **sudo** is configured with the non-default *requiretty* option (see below), **pmlogger\_check** may fail to run due to not having a tty configured. This issue can be resolved by adding a second line (expand $PCP\_BINADM\_DIR according to your platform) to the */etc/sudoers* configuration file as follows: ``` Defaults requiretty Defaults!$PCP_BINADM_DIR/pmlogger_check !requiretty ``` Note that the unprivileged PCP account under which these commands run uses */sbin/nologin* as the shell, so the *requiretty* option is ineffective here and safe to disable in this way. ## FILES - *$PCP\_VAR\_DIR/config/pmlogger/config.default* default **pmlogger** configuration file location for the local primary logger, typically generated automatically by [**pmlogconf**(1)](/pmlogconf/1.md). - *$PCP\_ARCHIVE\_DIR/\* default location for archives of performance information collected from the host *hostname* - *$PCP\_ARCHIVE\_DIR/\/lock* transient lock file to guarantee mutual exclusion during **pmlogger** administration for the host *hostname* - if present, can be safely removed if neither [**pmlogger\_daily**(1)](/pmlogger_daily/1.md) nor **pmlogger\_check** are running - *$PCP\_ARCHIVE\_DIR/\/Latest* PCP archive folio created by [**mkaf**(1)](/mkaf/1.md) for the most recently launched archive containing performance metrics from the host *hostname* - *$PCP\_LOG\_DIR/NOTICES* PCP \`\`notices'' file used by [**pmie**(1)](/pmie/1.md) and friends - *$PCP\_LOG\_DIR/pmlogger/pmlogger\_check.log* if the previous execution of **pmlogger\_check** produced any output it is saved here. The normal case is no output in which case the file does not exist. - *$PCP\_ARCHIVE\_DIR/SaveLogs* if this directory exists, then the log file from the **-l** argument for **pmlogger\_check** will be saved in this directory with the name of the format \-**pmlogger\_check**.**log**.\ This allows the log file to be inspected at a later time, even if several **pmlogger\_check** executions have been launched in the interim. Because the PCP archive management tools run under the $PCP\_USER account \`\`pcp'', *$PCP\_ARCHIVE\_DIR/SaveLogs* typically needs to be owned by the user \`\`pcp''. - *$PCP\_ARCHIVE\_DIR/\/SaveLogs* if this directory exists, then the log file from the **-l** argument of a newly launched [**pmlogger**(1)](/pmlogger/1.md) for *hostname* will be saved in this directory with the name *archive***.log** where *archive* is the basename of the associated [**pmlogger**(1)](/pmlogger/1.md) PCP archive files. This allows the log file to be inspected at a later time, even if several [**pmlogger**(1)](/pmlogger/1.md) instances for *hostname* have been launched in the interim. Because the PCP archive management tools run under the $PCP\_USER account \`\`pcp'', *$PCP\_ARCHIVE\_DIR/\/SaveLogs* typically needs to be owned by the user \`\`pcp''. ## 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 **$PCP\_CONF** variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration file, as described in [**pcp.conf**(5)](/pcp.conf/5.md). The default behaviour, when [**pmlogger**(1)](/pmlogger/1.md) configuration comes from [**pmlogconf**(1)](/pmlogconf/1.md), is to regenerate the configuration file and check for changes whenever [**pmlogger**(1)](/pmlogger/1.md) is started from **pmlogger\_check**. If the PMDA configuration is stable, this is not necessary, and setting **$PMLOGGER\_CHECK\_SKIP\_LOGCONF** to **yes** disables the regeneration and checking. ## SEE ALSO [**mkaf**(1)](/mkaf/1.md), [**PCPIntro**(1)](/PCPIntro/1.md), [**pmie**(1)](/pmie/1.md), [**pmlc**(1)](/pmlc/1.md), [**pmlogconf**(1)](/pmlogconf/1.md), [**pmlogctl**(1)](/pmlogctl/1.md), [**pmlogger**(1)](/pmlogger/1.md), [**pmlogger\_daily**(1)](/pmlogger_daily/1.md), [**pmlogger\_daily\_report**(1)](/pmlogger_daily_report/1.md), [**pmlogger\_janitor**(1)](/pmlogger_janitor/1.md), **sudo**(1), [**systemd**(1)](/systemd/1.md), [**pmlogger.control**(5)](/pmlogger.control/5.md) and [**cron**(8)](/cron/8.md).