### Table of contents
-**1. General questions**
-
-1.1. When I compile sysstat, it fails with the following message: `make: msgfmt: Command not found`
-1.2. When I try to compile sysstat, it fails and says it cannot find some include files.
-1.3. I don't understand why sysstat displays the time sometimes as `HH:MM:SS` and sometimes as `HH:MM:SS AM/PM`...
-
-**2. Questions related to sar, sadc and sadf**
-
-2.1. The sar command complains with the following message: `Invalid system activity file: ...`
-2.2. The sar command complains with the following message: `Cannot append data to that file (...)`
-2.3. The sar command complains with the following message: `Inconsistent input data`
-2.4. I get the following error message when I try to run sar: `Cannot open /var/log/sa/sa30: No such file or directory`
-2.5. Are sar daily data files fully compatible with Sun Solaris format sar files?
-2.6 The `Average:` results from the sar command are just rubbish...
-2.7. My database (e.g. MySQL) doesn't appear to understand the time zone displayed by 'sadf -d'...
-2.8. I tried to use options -s and -e with sadf. Unfortunately, I have nothing displayed at all.
-2.9. I cannot see all my disks when I use the sar -d command...
-2.10. Do you know a tool which can graphically plot the data collected by sar?
-2.11. When I launch sadc, I get the error message: `flock: Resource temporarily unavailable`
-2.12. How should I run sysstat / sar so that I get a reading for `00:00:00`?
-2.13. The sar command complains with the following message: `Requested activities not available in file ...`
-2.14. Does sar need a lot of resources to run?
-2.15. Are the measurements gathered by sadc cumulative or instantaneous?
-2.16. Some fields are always displayed as `0.00` when I use the `sar -d` command.
-2.17. The sar command complains with the following message: `Requested activities not available`
-2.18. How can I keep sar data for more than one month?
-2.19. How can I load sar data into an Oracle database for performance analysis and capacity planning?
-2.20. The sar command displays some weird output values...
-2.21. What happened to sar's options -h, -H, -x and -X?
-2.22. What is the exact meaning of the `count` parameter for sar and sadc?
-2.23. Why doesn't sar deal with sub-second sampling/monitoring?
-2.24. Is it possible to make sadc save only some specific activities in my binary daily data files?
-
-**3. Questions related to iostat**
-
-3.1. I can't see all my disks when I use the iostat command...
-3.2. iostat -x doesn't report disk I/O statistics...
-3.3. Why can't iostat display extended statistics for partitions with 2.6.x kernels?
-3.4. I don't understand the output of iostat. It doesn't match what I expect it to be...
-3.5. Why values displayed by iostat are so different in the first report from those displayed in subsequent ones?
-3.6. iostat -x displays huge numbers for some fields...
-
-**4. Questions related to pidstat**
-
-4.1. pidstat -d doesn't report task I/O statistics...
-4.2. The pidstat command complains with the following message: `Requested activities not available`
-4.3. pidstat doesn't display statistics for process (task) _xyz_...
-4.4. I noticed that the total CPU utilization for threads running on an individual CPU can exceed 100%...
-
----
-
-### 1. General questions
-
-1.1. When I compile sysstat, it fails with the following message:
+**[1. General questions](#general)**
+
+[1.1.](#1_1) When I compile sysstat, it fails with the following message: `make: msgfmt: Command not found`
+[1.2.](#1_2) When I try to compile sysstat, it fails and says it cannot find some include files.
+[1.3.](#1_3) I don't understand why sysstat displays the time sometimes as `HH:MM:SS` and sometimes as `HH:MM:SS AM/PM`...
+
+**[2. Questions related to sar, sadc and sadf](#sar)**
+
+[2.1.](#2_1) The sar command complains with the following message: `Invalid system activity file: ...`
+[2.2.](#2_2) The sar command complains with the following message: `Cannot append data to that file (...)`
+[2.3.](#2_3) The sar command complains with the following message: `Inconsistent input data`
+[2.4.](#2_4) I get the following error message when I try to run sar: `Cannot open /var/log/sa/sa30: No such file or directory`
+[2.5.](#2_5) Are sar daily data files fully compatible with Sun Solaris format sar files?
+[2.6.](#2_6) The `Average:` results from the sar command are just rubbish...
+[2.7.](#2_7) My database (e.g. MySQL) doesn't appear to understand the time zone displayed by 'sadf -d'...
+[2.8.](#2_8) I tried to use options -s and -e with sadf. Unfortunately, I have nothing displayed at all / the output doesn't match that of sar.
+[2.9.](#2_9) I cannot see all my disks when I use the sar -d command...
+[2.10.](#2_10) Do you know a tool which can graphically plot the data collected by sar?
+[2.11.](#2_11) When I launch sadc, I get the error message: `flock: Resource temporarily unavailable`
+[2.12.](#2_12) How should I run sysstat / sar so that I get a reading for `00:00:00`?
+[2.13.](#2_13) The sar command complains with the following message: `Requested activities not available in file ...`
+[2.14.](#2_14) Does sar need a lot of resources to run?
+[2.15.](#2_15) Are the measurements gathered by sadc cumulative or instantaneous?
+[2.16.](#2_16) Some fields are always displayed as `0.00` when I use the `sar -d` command.
+[2.17.](#2_17) The sar command complains with the following message: `Requested activities not available`
+[2.18.](#2_18) How can I keep sar data for more than one month?
+[2.19.](#2_19) How can I load sar data into an Oracle database for performance analysis and capacity planning?
+[2.20.](#2_20) The sar command displays some weird output values...
+[2.21.](#2_21) What happened to sar's options -h, -H, -x and -X?
+[2.22.](#2_22) What is the exact meaning of the `count` parameter for sar and sadc?
+[2.23.](#2_23) Why doesn't sar deal with sub-second sampling/monitoring?
+[2.24.](#2_24) Is it possible to make sadc save only some specific activities in my binary daily data files?
+[2.25.](#2_25) The sar and/or sadf command complain(s) with the following message: `End of system activity file unexpected`
+
+**[3. Questions related to iostat](#iostat)**
+
+[3.1.](#3_1) I can't see all my disks when I use the iostat command...
+[3.2.](#3_2) iostat -x doesn't report disk I/O statistics...
+[3.3.](#3_3) Why can't iostat display extended statistics for partitions with 2.6.x kernels?
+[3.4.](#3_4) I don't understand the output of iostat. It doesn't match what I expect it to be...
+[3.5.](#3_5) Why values displayed by iostat are so different in the first report from those displayed in subsequent ones?
+[3.6.](#3_6) iostat -x displays huge numbers for some fields...
+
+**[4. Questions related to pidstat](#pidstat)**
+
+[4.1.](#4_1) pidstat -d doesn't report task I/O statistics...
+[4.2.](#4_2) The pidstat command complains with the following message: `Requested activities not available`
+[4.3.](#4_3) pidstat doesn't display statistics for process (task) _xyz_...
+[4.4.](#4_4) I noticed that the total CPU utilization for threads running on an individual CPU can exceed 100%...
+
+---
+
+### 1. General questions<a name="general"></a>
+
+1.1.<a name="1_1"></a> When I compile sysstat, it fails with the following message:
```
make: msgfmt: Command not found
make: ***[locales] Error 127
```
A: The **msgfmt** command belongs to the GNU gettext package.
-If you don't have it on your system, just configure sysstat with NLS disabled like this:
+If you don't have it on your system, just configure sysstat with NLS disabled like this:
```
$ ./configure --disable-nls
```
-or answer 'y' (for "yes") to the question
+or answer 'y' (for "yes") to the question
```
Disable National Language Support (NLS)? (y/n) [--disable-nls]
```
some more about National Language Support.
---
-1.2. When I try to compile sysstat, it fails and says it cannot find some include files:
+1.2.<a name="1_2"></a> When I try to compile sysstat, it fails and says it cannot find some include files:
```
In file included from /usr/include/bits/errno.h:25,
from /usr/include/errno.h:36,
In fact, only the Linux kernel headers should be necessary to be able to compile sysstat.
---
-1.3. I don't understand why sysstat displays the time sometimes as `HH:MM:SS` and sometimes as `HH:MM:SS AM/PM`...
+1.3.<a name="1_3"></a> I don't understand why sysstat displays the time sometimes as `HH:MM:SS` and sometimes as `HH:MM:SS AM/PM`...
A: The time format used by sysstat tools depends on the locale of your system.
The locale is defined by several environment variables, among which the **LANG**
even some words (like "Average") have changed according to the specified locale.
---
-### 2. Questions related to sar, sadc and sadf
+### 2. Questions related to sar, sadc and sadf<a name="sar"></a>
-2.1. The sar command complains with the following message:
+2.1.<a name="2_1"></a> The sar command complains with the following message:
```
Invalid system activity file: ...
```
-A: You are trying to use a file which is not a system activity file, or whose format is no longer compatible with that of files created by current version of sar.
+A: You are trying to use a file which is not a system activity file, or whose
+format is no longer compatible with that of files created by current version of sar.
If you were trying to use the standard system activity files located in the
`/var/log/sa` directory then the solution is easy: just log in as root and
remove by hand all the files located in the `/var/log/sa` directory:
```
---
-2.2. The sar command complains with the following message:
+2.2.<a name="2_2"></a> The sar command complains with the following message:
```
Cannot append data to that file (...)
```
can then append data to the data file as usual.
---
-2.3. The sar command complains with the following message:
+2.3.<a name="2_3"></a> The sar command complains with the following message:
```
Inconsistent input data
```
to determine which data collector is called by sar.
---
-2.4. I get the following error message when I try to run sar:
+2.4.<a name="2_4"></a> I get the following error message when I try to run sar:
```
Cannot open /var/log/sa/sa30: No such file or directory
```
```
---
-2.5. Are sar daily data files fully compatible with Sun Solaris format
+2.5.<a name="2_5"></a> Are sar daily data files fully compatible with Sun Solaris format
sar files?
For the same reason, sysstat cannot work on platforms other than Linux...
---
-2.6. The `Average:` results from the sar command are just rubbish, e.g.:
+2.6.<a name="2_6"></a> The `Average:` results from the sar command are just rubbish, e.g.:
```
11:00:00 AM CPU %user %nice %system %idle
11:10:00 AM all 0.54 0.00 0.89 98.57
Then compile sysstat as usual and run 'make install' as the last stage.
---
-2.7. My database (e.g. MySQL) doesn't appear to understand the time zone
+2.7.<a name="2_7"></a> My database (e.g. MySQL) doesn't appear to understand the time zone
displayed by 'sadf -d'...
to strip the "UTC" characters from the data being loaded into the database.
---
-2.8. I tried to use options -s and -e with sadf. Unfortunately, I have
-nothing displayed at all.
+2.8.<a name="2_8"></a> I tried to use options -s and -e with sadf. Unfortunately, I have
+nothing displayed at all / the output doesn't match that of sar.
-A: This is because no data belong to the specified time interval!
-The time specified with options -s and -e is now always considered as
-being given in local time to be consistent with sar default output.
-Remember that timestamps are displayed by sadf in UTC (Coordinated
-Universal Time) by default. Use option -T to tell sadf to display them
-in local time.
+A: The way how options -s and -e are interpreted has changed with sysstat's
+versions.
+First if you don't have any data displayed by sadf, this is because no data
+belong to the specified time interval! Up to sysstat version 12.1.4, the
+time specified with options -s and -e was always considered as being given
+in local time to be consistent with sar's default output. Yet sadf displays
+its timestamps in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) by default (and in local
+time with option -T). This could lead to some misunderstandings, as if sadf's
+options -s and -e didn't work properly.
+So with sysstat version 12.1.5, the time specified with options -s and -e
+is now consistent with the timestamps displayed by sadf (either in UTC by
+default or in local time with option -T), even if the output doesn't match
+that of sar.
---
-2.9. I cannot see all my disks when I use the sar -d command...
+2.9.<a name="2_9"></a> I cannot see all my disks when I use the sar -d command...
A: See question "I can't see all my disks when I use the iostat command" below.
---
-2.10. Do you know a tool which can graphically plot the data collected by sar?
+2.10.<a name="2_10"></a> Do you know a tool which can graphically plot the data collected by sar?
A: You can now draw graphs with sysstat's standard tools!
that automatically generates and sends an email report every day/week/month
with graphs generated from sysstat data.
I've also heard of commercial tools which use sysstat: PerfMan comes to mind,
-among others.
+among others.
---
-2.11. When I launch sadc, I get the error message:
+2.11.<a name="2_11"></a> When I launch sadc, I get the error message:
```
flock: Resource temporarily unavailable
```
file. Stop all sadc instances and try again.
---
-2.12. I have sysstat setup to run via cron:
+2.12.<a name="2_12"></a> I have sysstat setup to run via cron:
```
0 * * * * /usr/local/lib/sa/sa1 600 6
```
50 23 * * * /usr/lib/sa/sa1 600 2
10,20,30,40,50 0 * * * /usr/lib/sa/sa1 1 1
```
+Things are much easier with recent sysstat versions (12.5.1 and later): You simply have to run
+sa1 with its option `--rotate` shortly after midnight to add a statistics record to the system
+activity daily data file of the previous day. So your full crontab could be:
+```
+# Rotate file at midnight
+0 0 * * * /usr/lib/sa/sa1 --rotate
+# Run system activity accounting tool every 10 minutes
+0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * /usr/lib/sa/sa1 1 1
+# Generate a text summary of previous day process accounting at 00:07
+7 0 * * * /usr/lib/sa/sa2 -A
+```
+
---
-2.13. The sar command complains with the following message:
+2.13.<a name="2_13"></a> The sar command complains with the following message:
```
Requested activities not available in file ...
```
(without mentioning `in file`), then see question 2.17 below.
---
-2.14. Does sar need a lot of resources to run?
+2.14.<a name="2_14"></a> Does sar need a lot of resources to run?
A: No, sar doesn't need a lot of CPU to run, nor does it make your system slow,
configuration file.
---
-2.15. Are the measurements gathered by sadc cumulative or instantaneous values?
+2.15.<a name="2_15"></a> Are the measurements gathered by sadc cumulative or instantaneous values?
A: Each counter maintained by the kernel is cumulative since system boot. As a
where dt is the interval given on the command line.
---
-2.16. Some fields are always displayed as 0.00 when I use the sar -d
+2.16.<a name="2_16"></a> Some fields are always displayed as 0.00 when I use the sar -d
command.
A: See question 3.2 below.
---
-2.17. The sar command complains with the following message:
+2.17.<a name="2_17"></a> The sar command complains with the following message:
```
Requested activities not available
```
another file or create a new one. See also question 2.13 above.
---
-2.18. How can I keep sar data for more than one month?
+2.18.<a name="2_18"></a> How can I keep sar data for more than one month?
A: By default sar saves its data in the standard system activity data file,
(`/var/log/sa` by default).
---
-2.19. How can I load sar data into an Oracle database for performance
+2.19.<a name="2_19"></a> How can I load sar data into an Oracle database for performance
analysis and capacity planning?
load the data into the Oracle database.
---
-2.20. The sar command displays some weird CPU values, e.g.:
+2.20.<a name="2_20"></a> The sar command displays some weird CPU values, e.g.:
```
10:50:01 AM CPU %user %nice %system %iowait %idle
11:00:01 AM all 90.90 0.00 5.17 3.93 0.00
Also see question 2.6 above.
---
-2.21. What happened to sar's options -h, -H, -x and -X?
+2.21.<a name="2_21"></a> What happened to sar's options -h, -H, -x and -X?
A: These old options have been removed from sar because new commands have been
their manual page to learn some more about their respective options.
---
-2.22. What is the exact meaning of the `count` parameter for sar and sadc?
+2.22.<a name="2_22"></a> What is the exact meaning of the `count` parameter for sar and sadc?
A: For sadc, `count` is the number of data samples collected.
when first running sadc then the above is true.
---
-2.23. Why doesn't sar deal with sub-second sampling/monitoring?
+2.23.<a name="2_23"></a> Why doesn't sar deal with sub-second sampling/monitoring?
A: There are two reasons for sar to not handle sub-second intervals:
the interval of time is small.
---
-2.24. Is it possible to make sadc save only some specific activities
+2.24.<a name="2_24"></a> Is it possible to make sadc save only some specific activities
in my binary daily data files?
This way you can tell sadc to collect only the desired activities.
---
-### 3. Questions related to iostat
+2.25.<a name="2_25"></a> The sar and/or sadf command complain(s) with the following message:
+```
+End of system activity file unexpected
+```
+A: sadc, the data collector, was unable to write all its data to the
+system activity data file (`/var/log/sa/saDD` by default).
+This is probably because there was no space left on the device where
+the data file is located.
+Make sure there is enough free space on the device. Sometimes it seems
+there is enough free space but there may be some jobs run by crontab
+(particularly during the night) that can temporarily consume all of
+your free space, making sadc fail.
+
+Another reason could be linked to the system activity daily data file
+being corrupted. This could possibly happen when several instances of
+sadc are trying to update the same data file, especially around midnight
+when making a file rotation. See question 2.12 to know how to make such
+a file rotation properly.
+
+---
+### 3. Questions related to iostat<a name="iostat"></a>
-3.1. I can't see all my disks when I use the iostat command...
+3.1.<a name="3_1"></a> I can't see all my disks when I use the iostat command...
A: Yes. This is a kernel limit. Old kernels (2.2.x for instance) used to
by the system.
---
-3.2. iostat -x doesn't report disk I/O statistics...
+3.2.<a name="3_2"></a> iostat -x doesn't report disk I/O statistics...
A: For `iostat -x` to be able to report extended disk I/O statistics,
providing that the kernel has been compiled with CONFIG_BLK_STATS=y.
---
-3.3. Why can't iostat display extended statistics for partitions with
+3.3.<a name="3_3"></a> Why can't iostat display extended statistics for partitions with
some 2.6.x kernels?
2.6.25 and later.
---
-3.4. I don't understand the output of iostat. It doesn't match what I expect it
+3.4.<a name="3_4"></a> I don't understand the output of iostat. It doesn't match what I expect it
to be...
I have never seen anything other than 512 bytes.
---
-3.5. Why values displayed by iostat are so different in the first report
+3.5.<a name="3_5"></a> Why values displayed by iostat are so different in the first report
from those displayed in subsequent ones?
of time entered on the command line).
---
-3.6. iostat -x displays huge numbers for some fields...
+3.6.<a name="3_6"></a> iostat -x displays huge numbers for some fields...
A: Because of a Linux kernel bug, iostat -x may display huge I/O response times
counters in `/proc/{partitions,diskstats}`.
---
-### 4. Questions related to pidstat
+### 4. Questions related to pidstat<a name="pidstat"></a>
-4.1. pidstat -d doesn't report task I/O statistics...
+4.1.<a name="4_1"></a> pidstat -d doesn't report task I/O statistics...
A: For pidstat -d to be able to report I/O statistics for tasks, you need
CONFIG_TASK_IO_ACCOUNTING compiled in.
---
-4.2. The pidstat command complains with the following message:
+4.2.<a name="4_2"></a> The pidstat command complains with the following message:
```
Requested activities not available
```
to know which statistics are available for child processes.
---
-4.3. pidstat doesn't display statistics for process (task) _xyz_...
+4.3.<a name="4_3"></a> pidstat doesn't display statistics for process (task) _xyz_...
A: This must be because pidstat only displays statistics for active tasks
the processes are listed in the report.
---
-4.4. I noticed that the total CPU utilization for threads running on
+4.4.<a name="4_4"></a> I noticed that the total CPU utilization for threads running on
an individual CPU can exceed 100%...
projects / sysstat / blobdiff