Examples

There are far too many combinations of switches and output formats so only a few of the more basic ones will be shown below. These examples show both the command and in most cases the resultant output. For more examples see both the FAQ and collectl man page after you install it.

Interactive Commands

The following examples show the results of running collectl interactively and seeing system performance numbers in real-time.

Default

Notice that in this mode you see one line per sampling interval. You are only limited by the width of your terminal window. 
[root@poker]# collectl
#<-------CPU--------><-----------Disks-----------><-----------Network---------->
#cpu sys inter ctxsw KBRead  Reads  KBWrit Writes netKBi pkt-in  netKBo pkt-out
   0   0   134    30      0      0       0      0      0      1       0       1
   0   0   136    39      0      0     200      3      2     20       0       4
   0   0   130    30      0      0       0      0      0      1       0       0
   2   2   134    24      0      0       0      0      2     18       0       2

Default, but in verbose mode

In this mode you give up one line per interval and are rewarded with more details than could fit on a single line. This format always includes the date and time. 
[root@poker]# collectl --verbose
### RECORD    1 >>> cag-dl380-01 <<< (1179493640.005) (Fri May 18 09:07:20 2007) ###

# CPU SUMMARY (INTR, CTXSW & PROC /sec)
# USER  NICE   SYS  WAIT   IRQ  SOFT STEAL  IDLE  INTR  CTXSW  PROC  RUNQ   RUN   AVG1  AVG5 AVG15
     1     0     0     0     0     0     0    98   354    501     1   100     1   0.41  0.12  0.04

# DISK SUMMARY (/sec)
#KBRead RMerged  Reads SizeKB  KBWrite WMerged Writes SizeKB
      0       0      0      0        0       0      0      0

# NETWORK SUMMARY (/sec)
# KBIn  PktIn SizeIn  MultI   CmpI  ErrIn  KBOut PktOut  SizeO   CmpO ErrOut
    17    121    149      0      0      0     15     88    175      0      0

Detail Data

If you would rather see details on specific instances, use the uppercase subsystem names with -s, so rather than the default of -scdn use -sCDN, which also forces --verbose, noting that you can also mix lower and uppercase subsystem types. 
[root@poker]# collectl -sCDN
### RECORD    1 >>> cag-dl380-01 <<< (1179493735.005) (Fri May 18 09:08:55 2007) ###

# SINGLE CPU STATISTICS
#   CPU  USER NICE  SYS WAIT IRQ  SOFT STEAL IDLE
      0     0    0    0    0    0    0     0  100
      1     0    0    0    0    0    0     0   99

# DISK STATISTICS (/sec)
#          <---------reads---------><---------writes---------><--------averages--------> Pct
#Name       KBytes Merged  IOs Size  KBytes Merged  IOs Size  RWSize  QLen  Wait SvcTim Util
cciss/c0d0       0      0    0    0       0      0    0    0       0     0     0      0    0
cciss/c0d1       0      0    0    0       0      0    0    0       0     0     0      0    0
cciss/c0d2       0      0    0    0       0      0    0    0       0     0     0      0    0

# NETWORK STATISTICS (/sec)
#Num    Name   KBIn  PktIn SizeIn  MultI   CmpI  ErrIn  KBOut PktOut  SizeO   CmpO ErrOut
   0     lo:      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0
   1   eth0:      0      2    207      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0
   2   eth1:      0      2    207      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0
   3   eth2:      1     20     72      0      0      0      0      4    122      0      0
   4   eth3:      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0

Mixed Summary and Detail Data

For brevity we're only showing cpu and disk data. Note that we can show both cpu summary as well as detail while we're only showing disk details. 
[root@poker]# collectl -scCD
### RECORD    1 >>> cag-dl380-01 <<< (1192729823.010) (Thu Oct 18 13:50:23 2007) ###

# CPU SUMMARY (INTR, CTXSW & PROC /sec)
# USER  NICE   SYS  WAIT   IRQ  SOFT STEAL  IDLE  INTR  CTXSW  PROC  RUNQ   RUN   AVG1  AVG5 AVG15
     0     0     0     0     0     0     0    99   135     30     0   145     0   0.01  0.01  0.00

# SINGLE CPU STATISTICS
#   CPU  USER NICE  SYS WAIT IRQ  SOFT STEAL IDLE
      0     0    0    0    0    0    0     0  100
      1     0    0    0    0    0    0     0   99

# DISK STATISTICS (/sec)
#          <---------reads---------><---------writes---------><--------averages--------> Pct
#Name       KBytes Merged  IOs Size  KBytes Merged  IOs Size  RWSize  QLen  Wait SvcTim Util
cciss/c0d0       0      0    0    0       0      0    0    0       0     0     0      0    0
cciss/c0d1       0      0    0    0       0      0    0    0       0     0     0      0    0
cciss/c0d2       0      0    0    0       0      0    0    0       0     0     0      0    0

Different Subsystems With Timestamps

[root@poker]# collectl -scft -oT
waiting for 1 second sample...
#         <--------CPU--------><------------TCP-------------><------NFS Totals------>
#Time     cpu sys inter  ctxsw PureAcks HPAcks   Loss FTrans   read  write meta comm
08:12:20    0   0  1007    120        1      0      0      0      0      0    0    0
08:12:21    1   1  1077    400        1      0      0      0      0      0    0    0

When you just don't know...

A great way to familiarize yourself with the types of data collectl can generate is to do (as of Version 2.6.0) --all --verbose and see all the summary data generated at once, excluding processes and slabs. Since this can be a lot to watch, especially as it scrolls off the screen between samples, the --home can be your friend. It will clear the screen between samples and remove extra lines to give an appearance of a continuously refreshing screen-based utility. Try it with different combinations of subsystems to reduce the amount of information displayed. 
### RECORD    1 >>> hadesn1 <<< (1214918640.001) (Tue Jul  1 09:24:00 2008) ###
# CPU SUMMARY (INTR, CTXSW & PROC /sec)
# USER  NICE   SYS  WAIT   IRQ  SOFT STEAL  IDLE  INTR  CTXSW  PROC  RUNQ   RUN   AVG1  AVG5 AVG15
     0     0     0     0     0     0     0   100  1327    647     1   341     0   0.00  0.00  0.00
# INTERRUPT SUMMARY
#    Cpu0   Cpu1   Cpu2   Cpu3   Cpu4   Cpu5   Cpu6   Cpu7
      999      0    300      0      0      0     26      0
# DISK SUMMARY (/sec)
#KBRead RMerged  Reads SizeKB  KBWrite WMerged Writes SizeKB
      0       0      0      0        0       0      0      0
# NFS SUMMARY (/sec)
#<---------------------------server---------------------------><----------------client---------------->
# Reads Writes Meta Comm  UDP   TCP  TCPConn  BadAuth  BadClnt  Reads Writes Meta Comm Retrans  Authref
      0      0    0    0    0     0        0        0        0      0      0    0    0       0        0
# INODE SUMMARY
#    Dentries      File Handles    Inodes
# Number  Unused   Alloc   % Max   Number
   42532   39837     510    0.03    39011
# LUSTRE CLIENT SUMMARY
# KBRead  Reads  KBWrite Writes
       0      0        0      0
# MEMORY STATISTICS
#<------------------------Physical Memory-----------------------><-----------Swap----------><-Inactive->
#   TOTAL    USED    FREE    BUFF  CACHED    SLAB  MAPPED  COMMIT     TOTAL    USED    FREE     TOTAL     IN    OUT
   16053M   1276M  14776M 130816K 403696K 587884K  80992K 130684K    15308M       0  15308M   201028K      0      0
# NETWORK SUMMARY (/sec)
# KBIn  PktIn SizeIn  MultI   CmpI  ErrIn  KBOut PktOut  SizeO   CmpO ErrOut
     1     15    103      0      0      0      0      2    150      0      0
# SOCKET STATISTICS
#      <-------------Tcp------------->   Udp   Raw   <---Frag-->
#Used  Inuse Orphan    Tw  Alloc   Mem  Inuse Inuse  Inuse   Mem
   90      8      0     1     11     0      8     0      0     0
# TCP SUMMARY (/sec)
# PureAcks HPAcks   Loss FTrans
         0      1      0      0
# INFINIBAND SUMMARY (/sec)
#  KBIn   PktIn  SizeIn   KBOut  PktOut SizeOut  Errors
      0       0       0       0       0       0       0

Record Mode

This mode is often used when running a test of a limited duration from a couple of minutes to several hours or more and since collectl is not being run as a daemon, the default sampling rate is 1 second.

Collect 100 Samples and Exit

[root@poker]# collectl -c100 -f/tmp

Run Until Terminated With ^C

[root@poker]# collectl -f/tmp

Playback Mode

There are a couple of things to remember about playback:

Playback Between 2 Time Periods

In this example we're not selecting any device details and so the output defaults to brief mode and all data is printing on the same line. We've also chosen to display time in msecs and use --from to specify both times. 
collectl -scdn -p /var/log/collectl/cag-dl380-01-20070830-082013.raw.gz --from 08:29-08:30 -oTm
#             <--------CPU--------><-----------Disks-----------><-----------Network---------->
#Time         cpu sys inter  ctxsw KBRead  Reads  KBWrit Writes netKBi pkt-in  netKBo pkt-out
08:29:00.012    0   0   135     38      0      0       2      0      0     11       0       2
08:29:10.012    2   0   142    142      0      0     142      2      1     14       1       5
08:29:20.012    1   0   138     45      0      0      33      1      1     14       0       3
08:29:30.012    0   0   135     52      0      0       5      0      1     11       0       3
08:29:40.012    0   0   136     44      0      0      21      0      1     11       0       3
08:29:50.012    1   0   177    123     14      2     385     38      1     13       1       4

Same Data File, Shorter Interval, Disk Details

As expected this defaults to --verbose mode. Also notice we left off the leading 0 in the from time. 
collectl -sD -p /var/log/collectl/cag-dl380-01-20070830-082013.raw.gz -from 8:29 --thru 08:29:10 -oD
# DISK STATISTICS (/sec)
#                   <---------reads---------><---------writes---------><--------averages--------> Pct
#         Name       KBytes Merged  IOs Size  KBytes Merged  IOs Size  RWSize  QLen  Wait SvcTim Util
08:29:00 c0d0             0      0    0    0       2      0    0    6       6     0     6      6    0
08:29:00 c0d1             0      0    0    0       0      0    0    0       0     0     0      0    0
08:29:00 c0d2             0      0    0    0       0      0    0    0       0     0     0      0    0

Same Data File, Different Data

Notice here that we're using -oD instead of -T and so both the date and time are displayed. We could have also chosen to force the time in msecs but chose not to in order to save screen real estate. 
collectl -sms -p /var/log/collectl/cag-dl380-01-20070830-082013.raw.gz --from 08:29-08:30 -oD
#                  <-----------Memory----------><------Sockets----->
#Date    Time      free buff cach inac slab  map   Tcp  Udp  Raw Frag
20070830 08:29:00   64M 529M   2G 483M    0    0    89   17    0    0
20070830 08:29:10   64M 529M   2G 483M    0    0    89   17    0    0
20070830 08:29:20   64M 529M   2G 483M    0    0    89   17    0    0
20070830 08:29:30   64M 529M   2G 483M    0    0    89   17    0    0
20070830 08:29:40   64M 529M   2G 483M    0    0    89   17    0    0
20070830 08:29:50   64M 529M   2G 483M    0    0    89   17    0    0

Same As Last Command But Display In Plot Format

This format is rarely used, but nothing prevents one from doing so. 
[root@poker]# collectl -P -sms -p /var/log/collectl/cag-dl380-01-20070830-082013.raw.gz --from 08:29-08:30
#Date Time [MEM]Tot [MEM]Used [MEM]Free [MEM]Shared [MEM]Buf [MEM]Cached [MEM]Slab [MEM]Map [MEM]Commit [MEM]SwapTot [MEM]SwapUsed
[MEM]SwapFree [MEM]Dirty [MEM]Clean [MEM]Laundry [MEM]Inactive [MEM]PageIn [MEM]PageOut [SOCK]Used [SOCK]Tcp [SOCK]Orph [SOCK]Tw  [SOCK]Alloc
[SOCK]Mem [SOCK]Udp [SOCK]Raw [SOCK]Frag [SOCK]FragMem
20070830 08:29:00 3098632 3032208 66424 0 542188 2258744 0 0 0 2044056 36596 2007460 336 62176 432280 494792 0 2 89 39 0 0 39 2 17 0 0 0
20070830 08:29:10 3098632 3032412 66220 0 542244 2258744 0 0 0 2044056 36596 2007460 1208 62176 431404 494788 0 142 89 39 0 0 39 1 17 0 0 0
20070830 08:29:20 3098632 3032440 66192 0 542276 2258776 0 0 0 2044056 36596 2007460 1412 62176 431232 494820 0 34 89 39 0 0 39 2 17 0 0 0
20070830 08:29:30 3098632 3032464 66168 0 542292 2258776 0 0 0 2044056 36596 2007460 1412 62176 431232 494820 0 5 89 39 0 0 39 2 17 0 0 0
20070830 08:29:40 3098632 3032464 66168 0 542300 2258776 0 0 0 2044056 36596 2007460 1584 62176 431060 494820 0 22 89 39 0 0 39 2 17 0 0 0
20070830 08:29:50 3098632 3033020 65612 0 542532 2258700 0 0 0 2044056 36596 2007460 2504 61628 430748 494880 14 386 89 39 0 0 39 1 17 0 0 0

Playback and Convert To Non-Compressed Plot File

There's really not much to see here since the only output this command will produce is error messages. 
[root@poker]# collectl -p /var/log/collectl/cag-dl380-01-20070830-082013.raw.gz -P -f /tmp -oz
updated Feb 18, 2009