PMNSDEL(1)

NAME
pmnsdel - delete a subtree of names from the Performance Co-Pilot PMNS

SYNOPSIS
$PCP_BINADM_DIR/pmnsdel [-n namespace] metricpath [ ... ]

DESCRIPTION
pmnsdel removes subtrees of names from a Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS), as used by the components of the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP).

Normally pmnsdel operates on the default Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS), however if the -n option is specified an alternative namespace is used from the file namespace.

The default PMNS is found in the file $PCP_VAR_DIR/pmns/root unless the environment variable PMNS_DEFAULT is set, in which case the value is assumed to be the pathname to the file containing the default PMNS.

The metric names to be deleted are all those for which one of the metricpath arguments is a prefix in the PMNS, see pmns(5).

All of the files defining the PMNS must be located within the directory that contains the root of the PMNS, and this would typically be $PCP_VAR_DIR/pmns for the default PMNS, and this would typically imply running pmnsdel as root.

Provided some initial integrity checks are satisfied, pmnsdel will update the necessary PMNS files. Should an error be encountered the original namespace is restored. Note that any PMNS files that are no longer referenced by the modified namespace will not be removed, even though their contents are not part of the new namespace.

CAVEAT
Once the writing of the new namespace file has begun, the signals SIGINT, SIGHUP and SIGTERM will be ignored to protect the integrity of the new files.

FILES
$PCP_VAR_DIR/pmns/root
    the default PMNS, when then environment variable PMNS_DEFAULT is unset

PCP ENVIRONMENT
Environment variables with the prefix PCP_ are used to parameterize the file and directory names used by PCP. On each installation, the file /etc/pcp.conf contains the local values for these variables. The $PCP_CONF variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration file, as described in pcp.conf(5).

SEE ALSO
pmnsadd(1), pmnsmerge(1), pcp.conf(5), pcp.env(5) and pmns(5).