profiler(8)                         CLIX                         profiler(8)



  NAME

    profiler: prfld, prfstat, prfdc, prfsnap, prfpr - Runs a UNIX system
    profiler

  SYNOPSIS

    /etc/prfld [system_namelist]

    /etc/prfstat on

    /etc/prfstat off

    /etc/prfdc file [period [off_hour]]

    /etc/prfsnap file

    /etc/prfpr file [cutoff [system_namelist]]

  DESCRIPTION

    The prfld, prfstat, prfdc, prfsnap, and prfpr commands form a system that
    facilitates an activity study of the operating system.

    The prfld command is used to initialize the recording mechanism in the
    system.  It generates a table containing the starting address of each
    system function as extracted from system_namelist.

    The prfstat command is used to enable or disable the sampling mechanism.
    The profiler overhead is less than 1% as calculated for 500 text
    addresses.  The prfstat command will also reveal the number of text
    addresses being measured.

    The prfdc and prfsnap commands perform the data collection function of the
    profiler by copying the current value of all the text address counters to
    a file where the data can be analyzed.  The prfdc command will store the
    counters into file every period minutes and will turn off at off_hour
    (valid values for off_hour are 0-24).  The prfsnap command collects data
    at the time of invocation only, appending the counter values to file.

    The prfpr command formats the data collected by prfdc or prfsnap.  Each
    text address is converted to the nearest text symbol (as found in
    system_namelist) and is displayed if the percent activity for that range
    is greater than cutoff.

  EXAMPLES

    1.  To initialize system profiling:

        /etc/prfld




  2/94 - Intergraph Corporation                                              1

  profiler(8)                         CLIX                         profiler(8)



    2.  To enable the recording of system profiling data:

        /etc/prfstat on


    3.  To collect system profiling data every ten minutes, until 5:00 pm:

        /etc/prfdc profile.data 10 17

        The data is kept in profile.data.

    4.  To take a snapshot of the system, placing the data in profile.data:

        /etc/prfsnap profile.data


    5.  To display a report based on the data in profile.data:

        /etc/prfpr profile.data 20

        This command line lists the text symbols of those address ranges whose
        activity is greater than twenty percent.

  FILES

    /dev/prf   Interface to profile data and text addresses

    /unix      Default for system namelist file

  EXIT VALUES

    All of the commands associated with the system profiler will exit with a
    value of 1 if a problem is encountered.

  DIAGNOSTICS

    existing file would be truncated
           Both prfdc and prfsnap will display the preceding message and exit
           if file already exists.

    cannot open namelist
    cannot open /dev/prf
    cannot activate profiling
           The preceding messages can probably be attributed to running the
           system profiler without being root.

  RELATED INFORMATION

    Files: prf(7)





  2                                              Intergraph Corporation - 2/94