SADF

Section: Linux User's Manual (1)
Updated: MAY 2016
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NAME

sadf - Display data collected by sar in multiple formats.  

SYNOPSIS

sadf [ -C ] [ -c | -d | -g | -j | -p | -x ] [ -H ] [ -h ] [ -T | -t | -U ] [ -V ] [ -O opts [,...] ] [ -P { cpu [,...] | ALL } ] [ -s [ hh:mm[:ss] ] ] [ -e [ hh:mm[:ss] ] ] [ -- sar_options ] [ interval [ count ] ] [ datafile | -[0-9]+ ]  

DESCRIPTION

The sadf command is used for displaying the contents of data files created by the sar(1) command. But unlike sar, sadf can write its data in many different formats (CSV, XML, etc.) The default format is one that can easily be handled by pattern processing commands like awk (see option -p). The sadf command can also be used to draw graphs for the various activities collected by sar and display them as SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) graphics in your web browser (see option -g).

The sadf command extracts and writes to standard output records saved in the datafile file. This file must have been created by a version of sar which is compatible with that of sadf. If datafile is omitted, sadf uses the standard system activity daily data file. It is also possible to enter -1, -2 etc. as an argument to sadf to display data of that days ago. For example, -1 will point at the standard system activity file of yesterday.

The standard system activity daily data file is named saDD or saYYYYMMDD, where YYYY stands for the current year, MM for the current month and DD for the current day. sadf will look for the most recent of saDD and saYYYYMMDD, and use it. By default it is located in the /var/log/sa directory. Yet it is possible to specify an alternate location for it: If datafile is a directory (instead of a plain file) then it will be considered as the directory where the standard system activity daily data file is located.

The interval and count parameters are used to tell sadf to select count records at interval seconds apart. If the count parameter is not set, then all the records saved in the data file will be displayed.

All the activity flags of sar may be entered on the command line to indicate which activities are to be reported. Before specifying them, put a pair of dashes (--) on the command line in order not to confuse the flags with those of sadf. Not specifying any flags selects only CPU activity.

 

OPTIONS

-C

Tell sadf to display comments present in file.

-c

Convert an old system activity binary datafile (version 9.1.6 and later) to current up-to-date format. Use the following syntax:

sadf -c old_datafile > new_datafile

-d

Print the contents of the data file in a format that can easily be ingested by a relational database system. The output consists of fields separated by a semicolon. Each record contains the hostname of the host where the file was created, the interval value (or -1 if not applicable), the timestamp in a form easily acceptable by most databases, and additional semicolon separated data fields as specified by sar_options command line options. Note that timestamp output can be controlled by options -T, -t and -U.

-e [ hh:mm[:ss] ]

Set the ending time of the report, given in local time. The default ending time is 18:00:00. Hours must be given in 24-hour format.

-g

Print the contents of the data file in SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format. This option enables you to display some fancy graphs in your web browser. Use the following syntax:

sadf -g your_datafile [ -- sar_options ] > output.svg

and open the resulting SVG file in your favorite web browser.

-H

Display only the header of the report (when applicable). If no format has been specified, then the header data (metadata) of the data file are displayed.

-h

When used in conjunction with option -d, all activities will be displayed horizontally on a single line.

-j

Print the contents of the data file in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format. Timestamps can be controlled by options -T and -t.

-O opts [,...]

Use the specified options to control SVG output displayed by sadf -g. Possible options are:

autoscale

Draw all the graphs of a given view as large as possible based on current view's scale. To do this, a factor (10, 100, 1000...) is used to enlarge the graph drawing. This option may be interesting when several graphs are drawn on the same view, some with only very small values, and others with high ones, the latter making the former hardly visible.

oneday

Display graphs data over a period of 24 hours. Note that hours are still printed in UTC by default: You should use option -T to print them in local time and get a time window starting from midnight.

skipempty

Do not display views where all graphs have only zero values.

-P { cpu [,...] | ALL }

Tell sadf that processor dependent statistics are to be reported only for the specified processor or processors. Specifying the ALL keyword reports statistics for each individual processor, and globally for all processors. Note that processor 0 is the first processor.

-p

Print the contents of the data file in a format that can easily be handled by pattern processing commands like awk. The output consists of fields separated by a tab. Each record contains the hostname of the host where the file was created, the interval value (or -1 if not applicable), the timestamp, the device name (or - if not applicable), the field name and its value. Note that timestamp output can be controlled by options -T, -t and -U.

-s [ hh:mm[:ss] ]

Set the starting time of the data (given in local time), causing the sadf command to extract records time-tagged at, or following, the time specified. The default starting time is 08:00:00. Hours must be given in 24-hour format.

-T

Display timestamp in local time instead of UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).

-t

Display timestamp in the original local time of the data file creator instead of UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).

-U

Display timestamp (UTC - Coordinated Universal Time) in seconds from the epoch.

-V

Print version number then exit.

-x

Print the contents of the data file in XML format. Timestamps can be controlled by options -T and -t. The corresponding DTD (Document Type Definition) and XML Schema are included in the sysstat source package. They are also available at http://pagesperso-orange.fr/sebastien.godard/download.html

 

ENVIRONMENT

The sadf command takes into account the following environment variable:

S_TIME_DEF_TIME

If this variable exists and its value is UTC then sadf will use UTC time instead of local time to determine the current daily data file located in the /var/log/sa directory.

 

EXAMPLES

sadf -d /var/log/sa/sa21 -- -r -n DEV

Extract memory and network statistics from system activity file 'sa21', and display them in a format that can be ingested by a database.

sadf -p -P 1

Extract CPU statistics for processor 1 (the second processor) from current daily data file, and display them in a format that can easily be handled by a pattern processing command.

 

BUGS

SVG output (as created by option -g) is fully compliant with SVG 1.1 standard. Graphics have been succesfully displayed in various web browsers, including Firefox, Chrome and Opera. Yet SVG rendering is broken on Microsoft browsers (tested on Internet Explorer 11 and Edge 13.1): So please don't use them.

 

FILES

/var/log/sa/saDD
/var/log/sa/saYYYYMMDD

The standard system activity daily data files and their default location. YYYY stands for the current year, MM for the current month and DD for the current day.

 

AUTHOR

Sebastien Godard (sysstat <at> orange.fr)  

SEE ALSO

sar(1), sadc(8), sa1(8), sa2(8), sysstat(5)

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/sebastien.godard/

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Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS

ENVIRONMENT

EXAMPLES

BUGS

FILES

AUTHOR

SEE ALSO