Read Me

#	VOS Watcher Script README
#    Copyright (C) <2009>  <John Pipkins>
#
#    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
#    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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#
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INTRODUCTION

	The VOS watcher script is designed to collect performance
	information that would be useful in the resolution of 
	customer reported issues.  It is intended to be a well
	defined tool in terms of what it provides and how it 
	does it.  The hope is that it will provide a reference
	that allows an agreed upon starting point for problem 
	resolution.

	It's a script for a couple of reasons.  First, most companies
	and government agency will not run binaries.  They want to see
	exactly how things work and have to option to remove stuff.
	Second, more people can write scripts than C/C++.  That means
	more people can contribute to the effort.

WHAT IT DOES

	The VOS script provides time correlated output from standard
	Veritas, Oracle, and Sun utilites.  The output is limited to
	a one hour window to focus on the state of the system around
	an anticipated or induced event.  This window can be changed.
	
	The main script runs at a higher priority to assure that it
	is able to keep an accurate record.  The utilities it uses are
	mature and will not 'hog' the system.  Their impact on a multiprocessor
	system is at the noise level.  Should VOS watcher cause an
	observable impact to the monitored system, then you have found
	the issue....Insufficient cpu resources.

WHAT IT PROVIDES

	The script provides the following information by default:

		1. vmstat 1 5
		2. iostat -Cnx 1 5
		3. mpstat 1 5
		4. network stat
		5. lockstat over 5 seconds (solaris only)
		6. both ATT and USB style ps commands
		7. vxstat for each Veritas disk group
		8. last_written file with the number of the last cycle
			written.  (The next file is the beginning of the
			data set.)

	It also has a start script (start_watch) and a stop script
	(stop_watch).

WHAT IT DOES BETTER THAN THE OLD WATCHER

	VOSwatcher now runs on Linux (CentOS/Redhat) and Solaris.  It automatically
	detects which system.

	And note that the file extension (cycle number) is a 3
	digit zero filled number.  All files with the same extension
	were collected during the same cycle.  VOSsort can be run in a log
	directory to product a sorted concatenation of the data files into a single file.
	This should make it easier to peruse the data in chronological order.


WHAT IT NEEDS

	Suggestions and comments on how to improve our data gathering
	on the intial effort.  What would you like added? 
	Oracle stuff on the fly?  vxfsstats?  We have a limited execution
	window that must be met to keep this tool useful.  We need to
	get what has a high probability of shrinking the solution space
	with minimal impact on the customer and us.

CAVEATS


	This was written using the LCD (Lowest common denominator) concept
	and will work on any Solaris or CentOS/Redhat platform.  I'll add other
	platforms as time permits or if someone adds it.


I really would appreciate some help on this...

jp
jp.pipkins@gmail.com