NAME

xline - an X11 based real-time system resource observation tool. 

SYNOPSIS

xline [-toolkitoption ...] [-update seconds]

HP-UX COMPATIBILITY

Origin: Hewlett-Packard

Versions: HP-UX 7.0 & later
 

DESCRIPTION

The xline program displays system resource data with line and bar graphs in real time.  Xline has a fixed format for displaying information consisting of three line graph windows and one bar window.  Each window can contain as many resource utilization parameter graphs as desired; three line graphs per line window is a practical limit, four for the bar window. 
 
The bar graphs show instantaneous values of resource utilization parameters and the line graphs show the value of the parameter over a period of time. The line graphs contain a maximum number of points (the most history) when the xline window is maximized horizontally.  The bar graphs have ’high water marks’ which indicate high values reached; they can be reset by clicking the mouse in the xline window.
 
Xline is intended to provide the system administrator with an approximation of the current and recent past utilization of a given system’s most important resources.

OPTIONS

Xline accepts the command line options listed below:

−update seconds
This option specifies the frequency in seconds at which xline updates its display.  Expose events causes automatic updating.  The minimum as well as default time is 1 second.  The maximum is 60 seconds.  Values displayed are the average over the update interval. 

−geometry geometry
This option specifies the preferred size and position of the window; see X(1). 

−display display
This option specifies the X server which is to display the real-time graphs; see X(1). 

−bg color
This option specifies the background color. The default color is “gray”.

−fg color
This option specifies the data graphs’ border color. The default color is “black”.

-fn fontname
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying all text in the xline window. 
 
 

USER SELECTABLE DISPLAY FORMAT

 
This section describes the keywords which can be used to customize the appearance and behavior of xline via the user’s .Xdefaults file.  The user can control what parameters xline displays, where they are located and in what color.  If you are using the Visual User Environment (VUE), then see also the VUE CUSTOMIZATION section, below. 
 
The syntax for xline keywords is:
 
        XLine.<keyword_name>:<value>
 
The keywords are:
 

update
 
This is the update interval in seconds.  The update value should be limited to integers between 1 and 60.
 

geometry
 
This is the standard X11 geometry format "=X1xY1+X2+Y2".
 

foreground
 
The foreground color for text and subwindow borders.
 

background
 
The background color of the main window.
 

machine.type
 
A string you may find useful to identify the  machine where xline is running (such as Client or Server). 
 

graph.title.top The title that appears over the top line graph. 
 

graph.title.middle The title that appears over the middle line graph. 
 

graph.title.bottom The title that appears over the bottom line graph. 
 

graph.title.bar The title that appears over the bar graph. 
 

graph.addgraphs A list of digits starting from 0 separated by spaces.  Each digit represents one parameter to be graphed. 
 

 
The following is a list describing each parameter to graph. The syntax for these keywords is:
 
        XLine.graph.<number>.<keyword>:<value>
 
Where <number> is one of the digits from addgraphs above.  See EXAMPLES section. 
 
 

name
 
The name field must be one of the defined parameters, always entered in capital letters
 

DUX
 
Diskless HP-UX Bytes Transferred over LAN
 
These are bytes of LAN data traveling between HP diskless clients and their file servers.  The value displayed  by xline is the sum of the total number of bytes received and sent by the machine running xline during the last update interval as a percentage of the user selectable maximum. The user selectable maximum (see maximum keyword, below) can be reset.  A value between 10,000 and 20,000 may be appropriate for your system. 
 
CPU
 
Central Processing Unit Activity
 
CPU utilization is the percent busy; it encompasses all activity requested by all processes and users on the workstation running xline.
 
The value Xline reports is the sum of all CPU types excluding idle_cpu as a ratio to the sum of all CPU types.  Idle time is the amount of time the CPU spends with nothing to do.  Because there is an implicit maximum found internally by xline, the user specified maximum (see maximum keyword, below) for CPU has no effect. 
 
DISK
 
Fixed Disk Storage Activity
 
Xline reports the sum of all disk reads and writes for all disks connected to the workstation where xline is running as a percentage of the user specified maximum.  This value is in bytes; the value used for a maximum (see maximum keyword, below) depends on the number of disks connected to the workstation and the workstation type.  A series 300 can support a throughput of about 350000 bytes/sec on one disk while a series 700 may support about 1500000 bytes/sec. 
 
MEM
 
Physical Memory Utilization
 
The MEM value reports the percentage of total physical memory available to the user that is currently in use by all running processes.  Xline internally obtains both the total memory available and the amount of memory currently allocated to executing processes. Therefore a user selected maximum (see maximum keyword, below) has no effect. 
 
PAG
 
Memory Paging Activity
 
PAG reports the sum of physical memory pages paged in and out as a percentage of the user specified maximum.  This value is in pages; the value used for a maximum (see maximum keyword, below) depends on the amount of paging activity expected.  Running many large applications concurrently induces paging and/or swapping to share the limited amount of RAM between the competing processes.  A nominal 10 pages/second will reflect a light level of paging. 
 
SYS
 
System Call Activity
 
SYS is the number of system calls incurred over the update interval as a percentage of the user specified maximum.  The value used for a maximum (see maximum keyword, below) depends on the amount of system activity expected.  Some applications can produce several ten of thousands of system calls in a one second interval. 2000 system calls per second is a reasonable maximum. 
 

type
 
The type field specifies the type of graph display format.  The legal entries are either of "bar" or "line".  A single parameter can be displayed in either bar or line graphs as many times as desired.
 

position
 
The position field tells xline where to put the graph.  For bar graphs it is the position among the other bar graphs counting from left to right.  For the line graphs it indicates which of the three line windows.  For bar graphs the choices are digits from 1 to the number of bar graphs defined;  For line graphs the choices are:
 

top
middle
bottom

The line graph choices must be in lower case letters. 
 

foreground
 
The foreground field is the color in which the line or bar graph is drawn.
 

maximum
 
Maximum corresponds to 100% saturation of a parameter.  This field is only relevant to DISK, DUX, PAG and SYS.  The maximum varies depending on the DISK used, the DUX loading or system activity causing PAGing and SYStem calls.
 

REMOTE DISPLAY

 
Xline has the capability of gathering resource utilization data on one machine and displaying on another.  Xline reads the .Xdefaults file on the machine where it is running but supplements this information with the current resource manager settings on the display machine.  See VUE CUSTOMIZATION section, below for information on setting resource manager characteristics. 
 
To run xline on a remote workstation named "remwork" and display on your local workstation named "locwork", type the following:
 

xhost remwork
remsh remwork "xline -display locwork:0.0"

 
If you already have a .xhosts file defined, the xhost command is unnecessary. Executing xhost multiple times has no negative effects.
 
Recall that xline only runs on 7.0 and latter versions of HP-UX.
 

OTHER FEATURES

 
Clicking any mouse button in the xline window pulls the high water marks back to the current maximum of each bar graph.
 
Titles and names are not displayed when there is not sufficient space to show them legibly.
 
The resource utilization information displayed by xline is collected by a process called midaemon.  Xline requires midaemon to be running in order to display accurate information.  Accordingly, xline initiates and terminates midaemon as needed.  In addition, a program called micreate must be executed each time the system is rebooted.  Micreate sets up a shared memory segment for use by midaemon and xline, then terminates. 
 

EXAMPLES

 
A typical .Xdefaults file might have the following entries.  This file would make a small window in the upper right hand corner of the workstation’s screen with black text on a gray background.  Five data items are described; two are to be displayed in the bar window, one in the top line window, one in the middle line window, and the last two in the bottom line window.  Each graphing window has an appropriate title:
 

xline.geometry:                 =505x340+750+70
xline*background:               gray
xline*foreground:               black
 xline.machine.type:             Client
xline.graph.title.top:          DUX Activity
xline.graph.title.middle:       Disk I/O
xline.graph.title.bottom:       CPU & Memory
xline.graph.title.bar:          Percent Utilization
 xline.graph.addgraphs:          0 1 2 3 4 5
 xline.graph.0.name:             MEM
xline.graph.0.type:             bar
xline.graph.0.position:         1
xline.graph.0.foreground:       blue
 xline.graph.1.name:             DISK
xline.graph.1.type:             bar
xline.graph.1.position:         2
xline.graph.1.foreground:       green
xline.graph.1.maximum:          350000
 xline.graph.2.name:             DUX
xline.graph.2.type:             line
xline.graph.2.position:         top
xline.graph.2.foreground:       red
xline.graph.2.maximum:          10000
 xline.graph.3.name:             CPU
xline.graph.3.type:             line
xline.graph.3.position:         bottom
xline.graph.3.foreground:       blue
 xline.graph.4.name:             DISK
xline.graph.4.type:             line
xline.graph.4.position:         middle
xline.graph.4.foreground:       white
xline.graph.4.maximum:          350000
 xline.graph.5.name:             MEM
xline.graph.5.type:             line
xline.graph.5.position:         bottom
xline.graph.5.foreground:       orange

VUE CUSTOMIZATION

  If you are using the Visual User Environment (VUE) then you must let VUE know when you make changes to your .Xdefaults file.  In order for your changes to take effect, run:
 
        xrdb -nocpp -merge $HOME/.Xdefaults
 
VUE automatically saves your new defaults in the file $HOME/.vue/$DISPLAY/current/vue.resources. 
 
You can also edit the vue.resources file directly.  If you do so, and want to store your changes for the next time you login, then run:
 
        xrdb -load $HOME/.vue.$DISPLAY.current/vue.resources
 
 
Background Information for the X-Knowledgeable Reader
 
The X Resource Data Base (xrdb) allows users to customize the look and behavior of their applications.  The advantage of using xrdb becomes apparent in a distributed environment where a program may be running on one machine and displaying output on another machine.  This allows users to specify different defaults for the different systems they use.  The xrdb is kept on the server side (the display side), not on the client side (where the program is running).  Therefore, at run time the program can check to see what kind of display it is displaying to.
 
You can use any file (not just .Xdefaults ) to specify customizations, and then run:
 
        xrdb -nocpp -merge <filename>
 
But this is not recommended, because some clients do not use xrdb. Any additions or changes of defaults should be made to both .Xdefaults and the xrdb files. 
 
See xrdb(1) for more information on setting and observing resource manager characteristics. 
 

  —  November 10, 1991