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ghabitat - Gtk+ Graphical interface to Habitat suite
ghabitat [-c <purl>] [-C <cfcmd>] [-e <fmt>] [-dDhsv]
This is the standard graphical interface for Habitat, including the ability to view repository data provided by Harvest.
When the tool starts, a check is made for the existence of the local collection agent, clockwork. If it is not running, the user is asked if they wish to run it and what starting behaviour they wish in the future.
In appearance, clockwork resembles that of a file manager, with choices on the left and visualisation on the right. If files or other data sources have been opened before, then their re-opening is attempted by ghabitat and will be placed under the my files node in the tree.
See DATA SOURCES section for details of the data that can be viewed, NAVIGATION for how to interpret the data structures and VISUALISATION for how to examine the data once displayed.
This GUI requires Xwindows to run, use other front ends or command line tools if you do not have that facility.
Currently, data can be obtained from four types of sources:-
Files can be removed by selecting their entry from the list brought up with File->Close (^C).
The repository source is special, in that the hierarchical nature of the group organisation is shown. To get to a machine, one needs to know its organisational location and traverse it in the tree. Whilst this aids browsing, one may wish to use the File->Host option to go directly to a machine.
Opening the data source trees will reveal the capabilities of the data source, which include the following:-
Under the performance nodes will be the available data collections, also known as rings. The names of these collections are decided when data is inserted into the storage. For example, sending data to the route tab:fred.ts,mydata and mounting it under ghabitat, will cause the data to appear here as mydata.
There are conventions for the names of standard probes, but they will only appear in a data store if their collection is configured in the job table (usually just uncommenting it: see clockwork(1)):-
The final set of nodes below the ring names are a set of time scales by which to examine the data. These dictate how much data is extracted from the data source and generally the speed at which the data will be visualised. These are preset to useful values, commonly 5 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 1 day, 7 days, 1 month, 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, etc.
The right hand section of the window is used for visualisation. Its major uses are for charting and displaying tables.
When charting, the section is divided into several parts. The greatest is used for the graph itself, with other areas being used for curve selection, zooming and data scaling. If the data is multi-instance, such as with multiple disks, then a further area is added to control the number of instance graphs being displayed.
The standard sets of data, such as sys and io have default curves that are displayed when the graph is first drawn. The list of curves down the right hand side are buttons used to draw or remove data on the graph. When drawn, the button changes colour to that of of the curve displayed.
Whilst the largest amount of data displayed is selected from the choice tree, it is possible to 'zoom-in' to particular times very easily using the graph. There are two methods: either drag the mouse of the area of interest, creating a rectangle and click the left button inside or use the x and y axis zoom buttons from the Zoom & Scale area. The display shows the enlarged view and changes the scale the x & y rulers. The time ruler is changes mode to show the most useful feedback of time at that scale. To move back and forth along time, move the horizontal scrollbar. To zoom out, either click the right mouse button over the graph or use the zoom-out button in the Zoom & Scale area.
It is possible to alter the scale and offset of the curves by clicking on the additional fields button in the Zoom & Scale area. This will create addition scale and offset controls next to each curve button. The values relate to the formula y = mx + c, where the offset is c and the scale is m. Moving the scale changes the magnitude of the curve, whereas the offset changes the point at which the curve originates. Using these tools, simple parity can be gained between two curves that you wish to superimpose on the same chart but do not share the same y scale.
The File menu adds and removes file and other data sources to the choice tree. It also contains import and export routines to convert between native datastores and plain text, such as csv and tsv files.
The View menu controls the display and refresh of choice and visualisation. It also give the ability to save or send data being displayed to e-mail, applications or a file.
The Collect menu controls data collection, if you own the collection process.
The Graph menu changes the appearance of the chart and is only displayed when the graph appears.
Finally, the Help menu gives access to spot help, documentation and links to the system garden web site for product information. Most help menu items need a common browser on the users path to show help information.
Ghabitat generates information and error messages. By default, errors are captured internally and can be displayed in the visualisation area by clicking on the logs node under this client.
Also available in this area are the log routes, which shows the how information of different severity is dealt with and configuration, which shows the values of all the current configuration directives in effect.
See habconf(5) for more information.
Locations alter depending on how the application is installed.
Nigel Stuckey <nigel.stuckey@systemgarden.com>
clockwork(1), killclock(1), habget(1), habput(1), irs(1), habedit(1), habprobe(1), habmeth(1), habconf(5)