Within the collection infrastructure of Performance Co-Pilot, the pmcd process (the Performance Metrics Collector Daemon) is responsible for gathering performance metrics relating to the systems on which it is run. The pmcd process manages a group of Performance Metrics Domain Agents (PMDAs, or simply agents), each of which is responsible for gathering data within a specified domain.

ORACLE database performance metrics are collected by an agent called pmdaoracle; see pmdaoracle(1) for more information.

As of PCP release 2.0, the Performance Metric Name Space (PMNS) is distributed. Because PMDAs now transmit their namespace as part of the protocol, it is not necessary to install a special namespace on remote PCP monitoring systems.

See the pmcd(1) reference page for more detailed information about pmcd, agents, and domains. Refer to the Performance Co-Pilot User's and Administrator's Guide for more information on PCP in general, especially if you do not understand the terms, concepts, or instructions presented in this document.

PCP for ORACLE Requirements

If you wish to use metrics from an ORACLE database (for example, using the orachart command to plot database performance; see orachart(1) or Chapter 5), there are certain requirements on the system where the database resides and the system from which the database is to be monitored:

• On the system where the database(s) reside, there must be a pmcd process running. Furthermore, the pmcd process must be configured to run pmdaoracle for the database(s) being monitored. This is the pcp_ora.sw.collector subsystem.

• On the monitoring system, PCP monitoring tools must be installed, along with some ORACLE performance monitoring tools. This is the pcp_ora.sw.monitor subsystem.

Figure 1-1 shows a typical use of the Performance Co-Pilot to monitor an ORACLE database running on a server system. The server system often has no graphics capability, so a graphical workstation is used to monitor the database.

Figure 1-1. Monitoring an ORACLE Instance on a Remote Server

Figure 1-2 shows a more complicated arrangement, with multiple ORACLE servers to be monitored. The server system contains namespace entries for each monitored database. (Although server systems do not need to monitor themselves, PCP requires export of namespaces for each ORACLE database to enable fully distributed operation.)

Figure 1-2. Monitoring Several ORACLE Instances on Multiple Servers

Overview of Installation Scenarios

Installation of PCP for ORACLE involves at least one PCP collector system installation, and typically at least one PCP monitor system installation. These two installations are performed with the Install shell script located in the /var/pcp/pmdas/oracle directory.

Run the Install script once per database instance, after the PCP software and PCP for ORACLE packages have been installed.

PCP Collector Systems

On a system with an ORACLE database running:

1. Make and install the ORACLE agent, pmdaoracle.

2. Alter the PMCD configuration file to run pmdaoracle.

3. Augment the PCP namespace to include the ORACLE metrics.

4. Create an ORACLE database user for pmdaoracle to use.

This series of operations, largely automated by the Install script, must be repeated for each ORACLE database instance running on a system.

PCP Monitor Systems

On a system used to monitor the ORACLE metrics on a remote system, install only the PCP monitor components.