T4 graphing with data from HPUX

[Bill Costigan]

Hi,

I have a client that has both OpenVMS and HPUX. They are using the T4 tool to graph performance data and they like it.

I don't know much at all about T4 except that the input to the graphing tool is a cvs file.

The performance tool on HPUX can also produce a cvs tool. I'm thinking that I could create an awk script to reformat the HPUX csv file into one that the T4 graphing tool could use.
[I think the graphing tool runs on windows]

Questions:

Has anyone already done this?
Where can a download a copy of the graphing tool so I can test my converted csv files?
Is there documentation as to what the format of the T4 csv file needs to look like?

I have a copy of one that works, but I don't know which fields are required and which can be changed.

[Hein van den Heuvel]

>> Has anyone already done this?

Yes, for all sorts of data.
For mere money I'll write you a script :-)

>> Where can a download a copy of the graphing tool so I can test my converted csv files?

Same old 'T4 and friends' web page

>> is there documentation as to what the format of the T4 csv file needs to look like?

Just EDIT an example. You'll see.
But yeah it is documented through help text and presentations:
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/products/t4/t4_faq.html

>> I have a copy of one that works, but I don't know which fields are required and which can be changed.

Why don't you attach a TEXT file with a SMALL example data set?


Cheers,
Hein van den Heuvel

[Andy Bustamante]

See the OpenVMS Technical Journal http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/journal/v3/t4.html has an excellent write up of of the T4 format. There are additonal T4 articles at http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/journal/toc.html, including "Adding a Friend to T4"

The T4 download page is http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/products/t4/index.html.

TLViz is one tool that runs on Windows. There are also native VMS options such as CSVPNG.

Good Luck, and let us know if you need a beta tester. I have some HPUX systems as well.

Andy

[Bill Costigan]

Thank you.

I downloaded the TLViz tool was anble to manually edit the HPUX csv file so that TLViz can use it.

I'm now trying to figure out the best tool to use to automate this. I'm thinking of a perl script becase I'm not so good at awk.

Thanks again.

Bill

[John Gillings · Accepted solution]

Bill,

Despite its name, CSVPNG doesn't just graph data. It can also be used to manipulate T4 data files. Slicing up or merging horizontally or vertically, or resampling data. There are versions of CSVPNG that run on multiple platforms. I'm not sure if HP-UX is one of them (but it's a strong possibility).

All you need for a working T4 file is a valid header and data. A minimal header has first line with the node name, second the date in OpenVMS format "dd-mmm-yyyy" (where mmm is the 3 letter contraction of the month name), third line is the start time.

I think these lines require at least two comma separated values. I usually repeat the first one.

Fourth line is a comma separated list of the column names (the first column name must contain the string "Sample Time").

If it's very long, the column headers line can be folded across multiple lines. Start with "$$$ START COLUMN HEADERS $$$". Following lines contain comma separated lists of column names. End with "$$$ END COLUMN HEADERS $$$".

First entry on each data line is the date and/or time stamp in OpenVMS format.

That's it in a nutshell, see T4 documentation for more detail. Also read through the CSVPNG help before you start writing code. Chances are CSVPNG already does what you want.

[Bill Costigan]

Thanks John,

I wasn't too sure what the second and third lines were. I saw the second were dates. In the sample I had, the third line was "1:00." I wasn't sure if that was a time or sampling period (e.g. 1 hour or 1 minute.)

I found I could skip the second and third lines and go right to the "heading line." If I find I need to put them back in, it's nice to know what they are.

BTW - I'm making process with awk, so that might be the way to go.

[Bill Costigan]

Thank you all for your help!

I successfully created the awk script and it works great with TLVIZ

[Rafiq Ahamed K]

Bill, which was the tool used to generate the CSV file on HPUX. I couldnt find a tool.

Thanks!

[Bill Costigan]

I wrote a script. I'll send it to you if you wish.

[Andy Bustamante]

Bill, if you have a T4 collector for HP-UX available, I'd appreciate a copy as well.

Andy Bustamante

firstname + "." + lastname
at sysmanager . net