[Orca-users] Multiple disk space percentage graphs

[Blair Zajac]

On Feb 9, 2006, at 2:32 PM, Tonij T. wrote:

> More updates...
>
>
>> You may be interested in drraw then, which is basically a web  
>> front-end to your rrdtool command:
>> http://web.taranis.org/drraw/
>>
>
> I like this tool; combined with the tutorials on the RRDtool site  
> this is a great way to pull the information out of Orca that I am  
> looking for.
>
>> But it sounds like if you can get Orca to at least present you the  
>> filesystems in a format you're most often going to need, then  
>> you'd rarely need to go out of your way to generate specific files  
>> for review.  This should be a simple matter of modifying the  
>> corresponding plot {} entry(ies), and stopping/restarting Orca.
>>
>
> This would be my first preference;
>
> Something else wierd is going on here...in using the above  
> mentioned drraw, I noticed that there are a lot of rrd files that  
> reference file systems that no longer exist.  In fact, doing a df - 
> k | wc -l on one system and comparing to how many rrd files Orca is  
> using, there is a huge discrepancy (sometimes the amount of Orca  
> RRD files are 3 or 4 times as many, and they reference file systems  
> that have been gone for months but they are still updating).   It  
> appears that Orca doesnt like it when file systems "dissapear".   
> These systems are pretty dynamic and new filesystems are added and  
> removed pretty often;  I wonder if this is contributing to the  
> multiple disk space percent graphs I am getting?

No, Orca should be smart enough in the latest releases to put into a  
single plot all the disk percentage data, even if the specific data  
files for the filesystem are not being updated any more.

>
>> As you mention below, you're using 0.27.  While this was a good  
>> release at the time, there have been many improvements made  
>> since.  r525 is the latest 'r'elease, and in it you'll find  
>> references to 0.28.  0.28 and beyond were evidently not considered  
>> good enough to be stable releases, but it's my experience that  
>> they're superior to 0.27 in every conceivable way.
>>
>
> Ah, I see.  I think I need to investigate 525, if for no other  
> reason than the multiple graph bug.  I have it downloaded but I am  
> nervous about trashing my existng install of 027.

You can install Orca r525 into a new location, but still have it  
point to the same RRD files you have.

>
>
>>
>> I believe Orca is instructing RRD to compute the averages and  
>> other stats as it generates the files.  I'm not sure of the exact  
>> commands Orca passes to RRD, either, but the drraw tool mentioned  
>> above, which uses RRD files only, is able to generate this  
>> information.  So I conclude that RRD must be capable of doing that  
>> part independent of Orca.
>
> Indeed it can!  Orca is doing a lot of behind the scenes magic   
> that I have not yet figured out.  :)
>
>>
>>> Oh and another question:  I am using Orca version 027.  I dont  
>>> see a later version anywhere but I did find something called  
>>> "orca-snapshot-r525".  Is that an update?  Its all rather  
>>> confusing to me, I would expect a newer version to be 028 or 030  
>>> or something...
>>
>
> I am pretty sold on at least trying 525, but a couple things  
> concern me:
>
> - if I install it to a new location, I lose all of the data I have  
> already collected.  Unless I point to the existing RRD files, in  
> which case I would either have to figure out which ones to get rid  
> of (based on the above mentioned lack of house cleaning) or, is 525  
> better at handleing metrics that are no longer in existance? i.e.  
> if I remove a file system, will  525 know that it is no longer  
> there and stop trying to collect information on it?
>
> - if I install it over the top of 027 I have no backout plan, short  
> of restoring from a backup  if things go south.

You can install orca with a --prefix option different than the one  
you used for 0.27.  But you'll want to add a --with-var-dir and point  
it at your existing location.

Also, even if you don't mess something up here, you can always copy/ 
move your existing raw data files into the new location.

You won't loose any data unless you explicitly delete files yourself.

Regards,
Blair