topas Command

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Purpose

Reports selected local and remote system statistics.

Syntax

topas [ -d hotdisk ][ -f hotfs ] [ -h ] [ -i interval ] [ -n hotni ] [ -p hotprocess ] [ -w hotwlmclass ] [ -c hotprocessor ][ -I remotepollinterval ][ -@ [ wparname ] ] [ -U username ] | [ -C -D | -G | -F | -L | -P | -V | -T | -M | -t | -E | -W ] [ -m ]

Restriction: You cannot use the -C, -L, -E, -V, -T, -t, -w, -W, -I, -@ options when you issue the command from a workload partition.

Description

The topas command reports selected statistics about the activity on the local system. The command uses the curses library to display its output in a format suitable for viewing on an 80x25 character-based display or in a window of at least the same size on a graphical display. The topas command requires the bos.perf.tools and perfagent.tools file sets to be installed on the system.

The topas command can also report a limited set of performance metrics from remote AIX® partitions that belong to the same hardware platform. This support is described in the Cross-Partition View and Cluster Utilization View sections.

Note: For any dynamic configuration changes to the system, the tool must be restarted to reflect the new changes.
The topas -D command reports the disk details. This report is described in the Disk Panel section. You can run the subcommands from the Disk panel to display the following views:
Adapter Panel
Specified by pressing the d key. This panel provides details on the adapters and the disks that belong to the selected adapters.
Virtual Adapter Panel
Specified by pressing the d key and then the v key. This panel provides details of the virtual adapters that are related to the disks.
MPIO Panel
Specified by pressing the m key. This panel provides the details of the disks and the paths.
Panel Freezing
Specified by pressing the space bar key on the keyboard. The space bar key acts as a toggle for freezing the topas panel.
Scrolling
The Page Up and Page Down keys are used to scroll through the data.
Restriction: Adapter panel, Virtual Adapter panel, and MPIO panel are restricted inside WPAR.

If the topas command is invoked without flags, it runs as if invoked with the following command:

topas -d20 -i2 -n20 -p20 -w20 -c20 -f0
Note: The Central Electronic Complex (CEC) or cluster panel re-spawns when the migration or hibernation of the partition is complete. All other behavior for the CEC and any other panel remains the same in the event of migration or hibernation.

The program extracts statistics from the system with an interval specified by the monitoring_interval_in_seconds argument. The default output, as shown below, consists of two fixed parts and a variable section. The top two lines at the left of the display show the name of the system the topas command runs on, the date and time of the last observation, and the monitoring interval.

The second fixed part fills the rightmost 25 positions of the display. It contains the following subsections of statistics:
Item Description
EVENTS/QUEUES Displays the per-second frequency of selected system-global events and the average size of the thread run and wait queues:
Cswitch
The number of context switches per second over the monitoring interval.
Syscalls
The total number of system calls per second that are run over the monitoring interval.
Reads
The number of read system calls per second that are run over the monitoring interval.
Writes
The number of write system calls per second that are run over the monitoring interval.
Forks
The number of fork system calls per second that are run over the monitoring interval.
Execs
The number of exec system calls per second that are run over the monitoring interval.
Runqueue
The average number of threads that were ready to run but were waiting for a processor to become available.
Waitqueue
The average number of threads that were waiting for paging to complete.
FILE/TTY Displays the per-second frequency of selected file and the TTY statistics. The following data is reported:
Readch
The amount of bytes read per second through the read system call over the monitoring interval.
Writech
The amount of bytes written per second through the write system call over the monitoring interval.
Rawin
The amount of raw bytes read per second from TTYs over the monitoring interval.
Ttyout
The amount of bytes written to TTYs per second over the monitoring interval.
Igets
The number of calls per second to the inode lookup routines over the monitoring interval.
Namei
The number of calls per second to the path name lookup routines over the monitoring interval.
Dirblk
The number of directory blocks scanned per second by the directory search routine over the monitoring interval.
PAGING Displays the per-second frequency of paging statistics. The following data is reported:
Faults
The total number of page faults taken per second over the monitoring interval. This includes page faults that do not cause paging activity.
Steals
The physical memory 4 K frames stolen per second by the virtual memory manager over the monitoring interval.
PgspIn
The number of 4 K pages read from paging space per second over the monitoring interval.
PgspOut
The number of 4 K pages written to paging space per second over the monitoring interval.
PageIn
The number of 4 K pages read per second over the monitoring interval. This includes paging activity associated with reading from file systems. Subtract PgspIn from this value to get the number of 4K pages read from file systems per second over the monitoring interval.
PageOut
The number of 4 K pages written per second over the monitoring interval. This includes paging activity associated with writing to file systems. Subtract PgspOut from this value to get the number of 4K pages written to file systems per second over the monitoring interval.
Sios
The number of I/O requests per second issued by the virtual memory manager over the monitoring interval.
MEMORY Displays the real memory size and the distribution of memory in use. The following data is reported:
Real,MB
The size of real memory in megabytes.
% Comp
The percentage of real memory currently allocated to computational page frames. Computational page frames are generally those that are backed by paging space.
% Noncomp
The percentage of real memory currently allocated to non-computational frames. Non-computational page frames are generally those that are backed by file space, either data files, executable files, or shared library files.
% Client
The percentage of real memory currently allocated to cache remotely mounted files.
PAGING SPACE Displays the size and use of paging space. The following data is reported:
Size,MB
The sum of all paging spaces on the system, in megabytes.
% Used
The percentage of total paging space currently in use.
% Free
The percentage of total paging space currently free.
NFS Displays the NFS statistics in calls per second. The following data is reported:
  • Server V2 calls/sec
  • Client V2 calls/sec
  • Server V3 calls/sec
  • Client V3 calls/sec
Total WPAR Displays the total number of workload partitions that are defined in the system. The total amount of workload partitions can be in the following states: Defined, Active, Broken or Transition.
Active WPAR Displays the total number of resource active workload partitions.
AME Displays memory compression statistics in an Active Memory Expansion enabled system. The following data is reported:
TMEM,MB
True Memory Size, in megabytes.
CMEM,MB
Compressed Pool Size, in megabytes.
EF[T/A]
Expansion Factors: Target & Actual.
CI
Compressed Pool Page-Ins.
CO
Compressed Pool Page-Outs.

The variable part of the topas display can have one, two, three, four, or five subsections. If more than one subsection displays, they are always shown in the following order:

When the topas command is started, it displays all subsections for which hot entities are monitored. The Workload Manager (WLM) Classes subsection is displayed only when WLM is active.

The WLM should be started to view the WLM and WPAR statistics.

Tip: When there is no WPAR specific information for a metric, the system-wide value is displayed for that metric in inverted background (that is, white text and black context).

The following table provides the details for the subsections that the topas command displays:

Item Description
Processor utilization

This subsection displays one-line report summary of all the processor usage. Pressing the c key only once turns this subsection off. If more than one processor exists, a list of processors is displayed by pressing the c key twice. Pressing the c key thrice displays a bar chart showing cumulative processor usage. The following fields are displayed by both formats:

User%
The percentage of processor used by programs running in user mode. (Default sorted by User%)
Kern%
The percentage of processor used by programs running in kernel mode.
Wait%
The percentage of time spent in waiting for I/O.
Idle%
The percentage of time that the processors are idle.
Physc
The number of physical processors that are consumed. Displayed only if the partition is running with shared processor.
%Entc
The percentage of entitled capacity that is consumed. Displayed only if the partition is running with shared processor.

When this subsection displays the list of hot processors, the list is sorted by the User% field. However, the list can be sorted by the other fields by moving the cursor to the top of the desired column.
Network interfaces

This subsection shows a one-line report summary of the activity for all network interfaces. Pressing the n key once turns off this subsection. Pressing the n key twice displays a list of active network interfaces. The maximum number of interfaces displayed is the number of active interfaces being monitored, as specified by using the -n flag. A smaller number of interfaces are displayed if other subsections are also being displayed. Both reports display the following fields:

BPS
The total throughput in kilobytes per second over the monitoring interval. This field is the sum of kilobytes received and kilobytes sent per second.
Interf
The name of the network interface.
I-Pack
The amount of data packets received per second over the monitoring interval.
KB-In
The number of kilobytes received per second over the monitoring interval.
KB-Out
The number of kilobytes sent per second over the monitoring interval.
O-Pack
The amount of data packets sent per second over the monitoring interval.

When this subsection displays the list of hot network interfaces, the list is sorted by the BPS field. However, the list can be sorted by the other fields by moving the cursor to the top of the desired column. Sorting is only valid for up to 16 network adapters.
Physical disks

This subsection shows a one-line report summary of the activity for all physical disks. Pressing the d key turns once off this subsection. Pressing the d key again displays a list of active physical disks. The maximum number of physical disks displayed is the number of active physical disks being monitored, as specified by using the -d flag. A smaller number of physical disks is displayed if other subsections are also being displayed. Both reports display the following fields:

Busy%
The percentage of time the physical disk is active (bandwidth use of the drive).
BPS
The amount of data transferred (read and written) in kilobytes per second over the monitoring interval. This field is the sum of the values of the KB-Read and KB-Writ.
Disk
The name of the physical disk.
KB-Read
The number of kilobytes read per second from the physical disk.
KB-Writ
The number of kilobytes written per second to the physical disk.
TPS
The number of transfers per second that were issued to the physical disk. A transfer is an I/O request to the physical disk. Multiple logical requests can be combined into a single I/O request to the disk. A transfer is of indeterminate size.

When this subsection displays the list of hot physical disks, the list is sorted by the BPS field. However, the list can be sorted by the other fields by moving the cursor to the top of the desired column. Sorting is only valid for up to 128 physical disks.
File system

This subsection shows a one-line report summary of the activity for all of the file systems. Pressing the f key once turns off this section. Pressing the f key twice displays a list of active file systems. The maximum number of file systems that are displayed is the number of active file systems that are monitored when they are specified by using the -f flag. A smaller number of file systems are displayed if other subsections are also being displayed. Both reports display the following fields:

BPS
The amount of data transferred (read and written) in kilobytes per second over the monitoring interval. This field is the sum of the values of the KB-Read and KB-Writ fields.
File System
The name of the file system.
KB-Read
The number of kilobytes read per second from the file system.
KB-Writ
The number of kilobytes written per second to the file system.
TPS
The number of transfers per second that are issued to the file system. A transfer is an I/O request to the file system. Multiple logical requests can be combined into a single I/O request to the file system. The size of a transfer is not determinate.

When this subsection displays the list of the file systems, the list is sorted by the BPS field. However, the list can be sorted by the other fields by moving the cursor to the top of the target column.

Tip: If the file system name exceeds the field width in the display, then the file system name is displayed in a truncated format. The truncation contains the first and last few characters of the file system, the middle part of the name is replaced by periods (..). For example, if the file system name is filesystem001234, then the name is displayed as files..01234.
WLM classes

This subsection displays a list of hot Workload Manager (WLM) Classes. The maximum number of WLM classes displayed is the number of hot WLM classes being monitored as specified with the -w flag. A smaller number of classes will be displayed if other subsections are also being displayed. Pressing the w key turns off this subsection. The following fields are displayed for each class:

% processor Utilization
The average processor use of the WLM class over the monitoring interval.
% Mem Utilization
The average memory use of the WLM class over the monitoring interval.
% Blk I/O
The average percent of block I/O of the WLM class over the monitoring interval.

When this subsection first displays the list of hot WLM classes, the list will be sorted by the CPU% field. However, the list can be sorted by the other fields by moving the cursor to the top of the desired column.

Tip: If the WLM class name exceeds the field width in the display, the WLM class name is truncated. The truncation contains the first and last few characters of the WLM class, and the middle part of the name is replaced by periods (..). For example, if the WLM class name is unclassified00123, then the WLM class name is displayed as uncla..00123.
Workload partitions

The workload partitions subsection replaces WLM subsection if invoked with the -@ flag. This subsection displays a list of hot workload partitions. The maximum number of workload partitions that are displayed is the number of hot WPAR that are monitored (when they are specified with the -w -@ flag). A smaller number of WPAR is displayed if other subsections are also being displayed. To turn off the workload partitions subsection, press the @ key. The following fields are displayed for each WPAR:

WPAR
The name of the workload partition (WPAR).
% processor Utilization
The average processor use of the WPAR over the monitoring interval.
% Mem Utilization
The average memory use of the WPAR over the monitoring interval.
% Blk I/O
The average percent of block I/O of the WPAR over the monitoring interval.

When this subsection displays the list of hot WPAR, the list is sorted by the CPU% field. However, the list can be sorted by the other fields by moving the cursor to the top of the target column that you want to use to sort the list.

Tip: If the WPAR name exceeds the field width in the display, the WPAR name is truncated. The truncation contains the first and last few characters of the WPAR, and the middle part of the name is replaced by periods (..). For example, if the WPAR name is neptune00123, then the WPAR is displayed as neptu..00123.
Processes This subsection displays a list of hot processes. The maximum number of processes displayed is the number of hot processes being monitored as specified with the -p flag. A smaller number of processes will be displayed if other subsections are also being displayed. Pressing the p key turns off this subsection. The processes are sorted by their processor usage over the monitoring interval. The following fields are displayed for each process:
Name
The name of the executable program executing in the process. The name is stripped of any pathname and argument information and truncated to 9 characters in length.
Process ID
The process ID of the process.
% CPU Utilization
The average processor use of the process over the monitoring interval. The first time a process is shown, this value is the average processor use over the lifetime of the process.
Paging Space Used
The size of the paging space allocated to this process. This can be considered an expression of the footprint of the process but does not include the memory used to keep the executable program and any shared libraries it may depend on.
Process Owner (if the WLM section is off)
The user name of the user who owns the process.
Workload Manager (WLM) Class (if the WLM section is on)
The WLM class to which the process belongs.
WPAR (if the WPAR section is on)
The WPAR name that the process belongs to.
Tip: If the WLM Class/WPAR name exceeds the field width in the display, the WLM Class/WPAR name is truncated. The truncation contains the first and last few characters of the WLM Class/WPAR, and the middle part of the name is replaced by periods (..). For example, if the WLM Class/WPAR name is unclassified00123, then the WLM Class/WPAR name is displayed as uncla..00123.

Adapter Panel View

When you use the topas -D command, you can press the d key to display the Adapter panel view. In this panel, the following metrics are displayed:
Item Description
Adapter The name of the adapter.
KBPS The amount of data transferred (read or written) in the adapter in kilobytes per second.
TPS Indicates the average number of transfers per second that the adapter issues.
KB-R The total number of kilobytes that are read from the adapter.
KB-W The total number of kilobytes that are written to the adapter.
If you press the f key, the following details of the disks that belong to the adapter are displayed on the Adapter panel:
Item Description
AQD The average number of requests that are waiting to be sent to the virtual target device or disk.
AQW The average time spent by a transfer request in the waiting queue. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
ART The average time to receive a response from the hosting for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
AWT The average time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
Busy% The percentage of time the virtual target device or disk is active (bandwidth use of the virtual target device or disk).
KBPS The amount of data that is read and written in kilobytes per second over the monitoring interval. This field is the sum of the values of the KB-R and KB-W metrics.
KB-R The number of kilobytes per second that are read from the virtual target device or disk.
KB-W The number of kilobytes per second that are written to the virtual target device or disk.
MRT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
MWT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
TPS The number of transfers per second that are issued to the virtual target device or disk. A transfer is an I/O request to the virtual target device or disk. Multiple logical requests can be combined into a single I/O request to the disk. A transfer is of medium size.
Vtargets/Disk The name of the virtual target device or disk.

Virtual Adapter Panel View

When you run the topas -D command, you can press the v key to display the Virtual Adapter panel view. In this panel, the following metrics are displayed:
Item Description
AQD The average number of requests waiting to be sent to the adapter.
AQW The average time spent by a transfer request in the waiting queue. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
ART The average time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
AWT The average time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
KBPS The amount of data transferred (read or written) in kilobytes per second in the adapter.
KB-R The number of blocks received per second from the hosting server to the adapter.
KB-W The number of blocks sent per second from this adapter to the hosting server.
MRT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
MWT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
TPS The number of transfers per second that are issued to the adapter.
vAdapter The name of the virtual adapter.
If you press the f key, the following details of the disks that belong to the adapter are displayed on the Virtual Adapter panel:
Item Description
AQD The average number of requests that are waiting to be sent to the virtual target device or disk.
AQW The average time spent by a transfer request in the waiting queue. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
ART The average time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
AWT The average time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
Busy% The percentage of time the virtual target device or disk is active (bandwidth use of the virtual target device or disk).
KBPS The amount of data that is read and written in kilobytes per second over the monitoring interval. This field is the sum of the values of the KB-R and KB-W metrics.
KB-R The number of kilobytes that are read per second from the virtual target device or disk.
KB-W The number of kilobytes that are written per second to the virtual target device or disk.
MRT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
MWT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
TPS The number of transfers per second that are issued to the virtual target device or disk. A transfer is an I/O request to the virtual target device or disk. Multiple logical requests can be combined into a single I/O request to the disk. A transfer is of medium size.
Vtargets/Disk The name of the virtual target device or disk.

MPIO Panel View

When you use the topas -D command, you can press the m key to display the MPIO panel view. In this panel, the top section contains the same metrics that the Disks panel displays.

The bottom section of the panel contains the following fields:
Item Description
Busy% The percentage of time the path is active (bandwidth use of the path).
KBPS The amount of data that is read and written in kilobytes per second over the monitoring interval. This field is the sum of the values of the KB-R and KB-W metrics.
KB-R The number of kilobytes that is read per second in that path.
KB-W The number of kilobytes that is written per second in that path.
Path The name of the path.
TPS The number of transfers per second that are issued in that path.

Panel Freezing

The space bar key on the keyboard acts as a toggle for freezing the topas panel. If frozen, topas stops data collection and continues to display the data from the previous iteration. You can move around the panel and sort the data based on the selected column. In frozen state, if you move between panels, some panels may not display the data. In this case, press the space bar key to unfreeze the topas panel.

Scrolling

If the amount of data is more than the topas window size, then Page Up and Page Down keys are used to scroll though the data. The data is sorted based on the selected column.

Note: The above functionality is available with selected panels in topas.

I/O Memory Entitlement Pools Panel

When a Logical Partition panel (topas -L) is enabled in shared-memory mode, you can press the e key to display the I/O Memory Entitlement Pools panel.

The following metrics are displayed in the lower section of this panel:
Item Description
iompn The name of the I/O memory pool.
iomin The minimum I/O memory entitlement of the pool.
iodes The desired I/O memory entitlement of the pool.
ioinu The current I/O memory entitlement of the pool.
iores The reserved I/O memory entitlement of the pool.
iohwm The maximum I/O memory entitlement in use for the pool (high water mark).
ioafl The total number of times the allocation requests have failed for this pool.

Cross-Partition View and Recording

This panel displays metrics similar to the lparstat command for all the AIX partitions it can identify as belonging to the same hardware platform. Dedicated and shared partitions are displayed in separate sections with appropriate metrics. The top section represents aggregated data from the partition set to show overall partition, memory, and processor activity.

Remote enablement for this panel to collect from other partitions requires to use the latest updates to the perfagent.tools and bos.perf.tools to support this function. For earlier versions of AIX, the topas command also collects remote data from partitions that have the Performance Aide product (perfagent.server) installed. The topas -C command may not be able to locate partitions residing on other sub-nets. To avoid this, create a $HOME/Rsi.hosts file containing the fully qualified host names for each partition (including domains), one host per line.

Note: The topas -C command sends broadcast packet to all the Logical Partitions (LPARs) in the same subnet, but only processes response from the LPARs within the same CEC.

The following metrics display in the initial cross-partition panel. Additional metrics with full descriptive labels can be displayed by using the key toggles identified in the Additional cross-partition panel subcommands section:

Partition totals:
Item Description
Shr The number of shared partitions based on the system processor.
Ded The number of dedicated partitions based on the system processor.
Memory (in GB):
Item Description
Mon The total memory of monitored partitions.
Avl The memory available to partition set.
InUse The memory in use on monitored partitions.
Processor:
Item Description
Shr The number of shared processors.
Ded The number of dedicated processors.
PSz The number of shared physical CPUs in the system.
APP Indicates the available physical processors in the system (default shared processor pool).
Note: Default shared processor pool contains the physical processors that are available on the managed system. The topas command retrieves the APP value from the data that is provided by the LPARs that are in the same managed system. If these LPARs do not belong to the default shared processor pool, the topas command cannot determine the APP value for the managed system. The APP value is indicated by the - (hyphen) character in this case.
Don The total number of processors donated to the pool
Shr_PhysB The total number of physical processors that are consumed by all shared partitions
Ded_PhysB The total number of physical processors that are consumed by all dedicated partitions
Individual partition data:
Item Description
Host The host name
OS The operating system level
Mod The mode of the individual partitions. The mode is displayed in a set of 3 characters.
Character The first character indicates the CPU in the partition. The second character indicates the memory mode of the partition. The third character indicates the energy state of the partition.
Mem The total memory measured in gigabytes.
InU The memory in use measured in gigabytes.
Lp The number of logical processors.
Us The percentage of processor used by programs executing in user mode.
Sy The percentage of processor used by programs executing in kernel mode.
Wa The percentage of time spent waiting for I/O.
Id The percentage of time the processors are idle.
PhysB The number of physical processors that are consumed by each partition.
Ent The entitlement granted (shared-only).
%Entc The percent entitlement consumed (shared-only).
Vcsw The average of virtual context switches per second (shared-only).
PhI The average of phantom interrupts per second (shared-only).
Pmem The physical memory that is backing the partitions logical memory (if in shared-memory mode).
%idon The percentage of physical processor that is used while explicitly donating idle cycles. This metric is applicable only for donating dedicated partitions.
%bdon The percentage of physical processor that is used while busy cycles are being donated. This metric is applicable only for donating dedicated partitions.
%istl The percentage of physical processor that is used while idle cycles are being stolen by the hypervisor. This metric is applicable only for dedicated partitions.
%bstl The percentage of physical processor that is used while busy cycles are being stolen by the hypervisor. This metric is applicable only for dedicated partitions.
For shared partitions:
First Character Description
C SMT enabled and capped
c SMT disabled and capped
U SMT enabled and uncapped
u SMT disabled and uncapped
For dedicated partitions:
First Character Description
S SMT enabled and not donating
d SMT disabled and donating
D SMT enabled and donating
- SMT disabled and not donating
Second Character Description
M AMS enabled and AME disabled
- AME and AMS disabled
E AME enabled and AMS enabled
e AME enabled and AMS disabled
Third Character Description
S Static power save mode is enabled
d Power save mode is disabled
D Dynamic power save mode is enabled
- Unknown / Undefined
E Power save mode has been enabled
d Power save mode has been disabled

The %idon and %bdon metrics are not displayed when there is no donating dedicated partition.

Requirement: At least one partition to be monitored must have Pool Utilization Authority (PUA) configured for pool information metrics to be collected.
For cross-partition monitoring/recording, some global data is not available from any partition. The -o option allows you to specify these fields in the command line. Optionally, you can configure a system to allow the topas command to query the HMC directly for this information. This requires the following steps:
  1. Install OpenSSH at the partition.
  2. Enable remote command support on the HMC for user hscroot to allow ssh connections to be opened from the partition.
  3. Configure ssh on the HMC to not require a password for the HMC user hscroot when queried from the selected partition. This requires the .ssh/authorized_keys2 on the HMC for user login hscroot.
  4. Run ssh -l hscroot hmc_address date from the partition to confirm whether the date is displayed without requiring that a password be entered.
  5. Utilize the topas -o options described in the usage table to specify the managed system and HMC names when running the topas command.
Restriction: This functionality is currently available only for HMC version 5 and above, and should only be enabled after careful consideration of any security implications.
The following displays when press the g key in the initial screen, which brings the cross partition view with detailed headers: 
Topas CEC Monitor             Interval:  10             Mon Jan 22 00:08:00 2007
Partition Info    Memory (GB)        Processor         Virtual Pools :   2
Monitored  :  2   Monitored  : 6.2   Monitored  :2.0   Avail Pool Proc: 5 
UnMonitored:  -   UnMonitored:   -   UnMonitored:  -   Shr Physical Busy:  0.00
Shared     :  0   Available  :   -   Available  :  -   Ded Physical Busy:  0.05 
Uncapped   :  0   UnAllocated:   -   UnAllocated:  -   Donated Phys. processors: 0.00
Capped     :  2   Consumed   : 1.9   Shared     :  0   Stolen Phys. processors : 0.01 
Dedicated  :  2                      Dedicated  :  2   Hypervisor
Donating   :  0                      Donated    :  0   Virt. Context Switch: 347
                                     Pool Size  :  0   Phantom Interrupts  :   0

Host       OS  M Mem InU Lp  Us Sy Wa Id  PhysB  Vcsw Ent  %EntC PhI
-------------------------------------shared-------------------------------------
ptoolsl1   A53 U 3.1 1.9  4   1  2  0 96   0.01  398  0.20   5.3   0k
Host       OS  M Mem InU Lp  Us Sy Wa Id  PhysB  Vcsw  %istl %bstl %bdon %idon
------------------------------------dedicated-----------------------------------
ptools1    A54 S 3.1 0.9  2   0  0  0 99   0.00  177    0.1   0.0   0.0   0.0
ptoolsl3   A54 S 3.1 0.9  2   0  0  0 99   0.00  170    0.2   0.0   0.0   0.0

The following headers are in the previous screen:

Partition Info:
Item Description
Monitored The number of partitions that are monitored
Unmonitored The number of partitions that are not monitored
Shared The number of shared partitions
Uncapped The number of uncapped shared partitions
Capped The number of capped partitions
Dedicated The number of dedicated partitions
Donating The number of partitions that are currently donating
Memory:
Item Description
Monitored The total memory that is monitored
UnMonitored The total memory that is not monitored
Available The total memory that is available
UnAllocated The total memory that is not allocated to any partition
Consumed The total memory that is consumed by the partitions
Processor:
Item Description
Monitored The number of physical processors that are monitored
UnMonitored The number of physical processors that are not monitored
Available The number of physical processors that are available in CEC system
UnAllocated The number of physical processors that are not allocated to any partition
Shared The number of processors that are in shared partitions
Dedicated The number of processors that are in dedicated partitions
Donated The sum of the number of processors in all the partitions donating
Pool Size The number of shared physical CPUs in the system.
Avail Proc Pool Indicates the available physical processors in the system (default shared processor pool).
Note: Default shared processor pool contains the physical processors that are available on the managed system. The topas command retrieves the APP value from the data that is provided by the LPARs that are in the same managed system. If these LPARs do not belong to the default shared processor pool, the topas command cannot determine the APP value for the managed system. The APP value is indicated by the - (hyphen) character in this case.
Shr Physical Busy The sum of physical busy of all of the shared partitions
Ded Physical Busy The sum of dedicated busy of all of the dedicated partitions
Donated Phys. processors The sum of the donated processor cycles from all of the partitions reported as a number of processors
Stolen Phys. processors The sum of stolen processor cycles from all of the partitions reported as a number of processors
Virtual Pools The number of virtual pools
Virt. Context Switch The total number of virtual context switches per second in the monitoring interval
Phantom Interrupts The total number of phantom interrupts per second in the monitoring interval
When the topas command is running inside any cross partition view, press the p key to bring up the pool panel. The following is an example that displays: 
pool  psize entc maxc physb app   mem  muse
0     3.0    2.0  4.0  0.1  2.0   1.0  1.5
1     4.0    3.0  5.0  0.5  1.5   1.0  0.5
2     3.0    2.5  4.0  0.2  2.0   1.0  0.5
You can scroll up or down in the pool ID column and press the f key to list only the shared partitions that belong to the poolid where cursor is positioned. The following headers might be displayed in the screen:
Item Description
psize The effective maximum capacity of the pool
entc The entitled capacity of the pool
maxc The maximum capacity of the pool
physb The sum of physical busy of processors in shared partitions of a pool
app The available physical processor in the pool
mem The sum of monitored memory for all shared partitions in the pool
muse The sum of memory consumed for all shared partitions in the pool
When the topas command is running inside any cross-partition view, press the v key to display the Virtual I/O Server/Client Throughput panel. The following metrics are displayed:
Item Description
AQD The average number of requests that are waiting to be sent.
AQW The average time spent by a transfer request in the waiting queue. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
ART The average time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
AWT The average time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
Client The name of the VIO Client.
KBPS The amount of data that is read and written in kilobytes per second over the monitoring interval. This field is the sum of the values of the KB-R and KB-W metrics.
KB-R The number of kilobytes that are read per second.
KB-W The number of kilobytes that are written per second.
MRT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
MWT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default unit of time is millisecond.
Server The name of the VIO Server.
TPS The number of transfers that are issued per second.

When the topas command is running inside the Virtual I/O Server/Client Throughput panel, press the d key after selecting a server from the Virtual I/O Server/Client Throughput panel to toggle to VIO Server/Client Disk Details panel. This panel displays the server adapter details in the top section and displays the target device and client disk details in the bottom of the section. To list the target devices and client disks belong to that adapter, select the adapter and press the f key.

The following metrics are displayed in a Virtual I/O Server/Client Disk Details panel:
Item Description
Adapter The name of the server adapter.
Vtargets The name of the virtual target device that belongs to the server adapter.
Client_disk The name of the client disk that is mapped to the virtual target device of the server adapter.
The following details of the adapters are displayed on the top section of the panel:
Item Description
KBPS The amount of data transferred (read or written) in the adapter in kilobytes per second.
TPS The number of transfers per second that are issued to the adapter.
KB-R The total number of kilobytes read from the adapter.
KB-W The total number of kilobytes written to the adapter.
AQD The number of requests waiting to be sent to the adapter.
AQW The average time spent by a transfer request in the waiting queue. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
ART The time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
AWT The time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
MRT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
MWT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
The following details for the virtual target device and client disk are displayed on the panel:
Item Description
Busy% The percentage of time the that the virtual target device or disk is active (bandwidth use of the virtual target device or disk).
KBPS The number of kilobytes read and written per second over the monitoring interval. This field is the sum of the values of the KB-R and KB-W metrics.
TPS The number of transfers per second that are issued to the virtual target device or disk. A transfer is an I/O request to the virtual target device or disk. Multiple logical requests can be combined into a single I/O request to the virtual target device or disk. A transfer is of medium size.
KB-R The number of kilobytes read per second from the virtual target device or disk.
KB-W The number of kilobytes written per second to the virtual target device or disk.
AQD The average number of requests waiting to be sent to virtual target device or disk.
AQW The average time spent by a transfer request in the waiting queue. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
ART The average time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
AWT The average time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
MRT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
MWT The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.

To display the Memory Pool panel from the CEC panel, press the m key. This panel displays the statistics of all of the memory pools in the system. To display the partitions corresponding to that pool in the lower section of the panel, select a particular memory pool and press the f key.

The following values are displayed in the header section of the panel:
Item Description
Mshr The number of logical partitions (LPAR) running in the shared-memory mode.
Mded The number of LPARrunning in dedicated-memory mode.
Pools The total number of memory pools in the system.
Mpsz The total size of physical memory of all the memory pools in gigabytes.
MPuse The total memory used by LPAR associated with all of the pools in gigabytes.
Entl The total I/O memory entitlement of all of the LPAR in all the pools in gigabytes.
Use The total I/O memory entitlement in use of all of the LPAR in all the pools in gigabytes.
Mon The total monitored memory of the system ( sum of the values of the Mpsz metric and the Total memory of dedicated memory partitions metric).
InUse The total memory in use of the system (sum of the MPuse metric and Total memory inuse for dedicated memory partitions metric).
Avl The total memory available for the system (the value of the Mon metric minus the value of the InUse metric).
The following values of the pools are displayed:
Item Description
mpid The ID of the memory pool.
mpsz The size of the total physical memory of the memory pool in gigabytes.
mpus The total memory of the memory pool in use ( this is the sum of the physical memory allocated to all of the LPAR in the pool).
mem The size of the aggregate logical memory of all the partitions in the pool in gigabytes.
memu The aggregate logical memory that is used for all the partitions in the pool in gigabytes.
iome The aggregate of I/O memory entitlement that is configured for all the LPAR in the pool in gigabytes.
iomu The aggregate of the I/O memory entitlement that is used for all the LPAR in the pool in gigabytes.
hpi The aggregate number of hypervisor page faults that have occurred for all of the LPAR in the pool.
hpit The aggregate of time spent in waiting for hypervisor page-ins by all of the LPAR in the pool in milliseconds.
The following values of the partitions in the pools are displayed:
Item Description
mem The size of logical memory of the partition in gigabytes.
memu The logical memory that is used for the partition in gigabytes.
meml The logical memory loaned to hypervisor by the LPAR.
pmem The physical memory that is allocated to the partition from the memory pool in gigabytes.
iom The amount of I/O memory entitlement that is configured for the LPAR in gigabytes.
iomu The amount of I/O memory entitlement that is used for the LPAR in gigabytes.
hpi The number of hypervisor page faults.
hpit The time spent in waiting for hypervisor page-ins in milliseconds.
vcsw The virtual context switches average per second.
physb The physical processor that is busy.
%entc The percentage of the consumed processor entitlement.

Cluster Utilization View

A cluster is a group of related partitions or nodes. The Cluster Utilization view can either show utilization of an HA cluster or a user-defined cluster. This panel displays metrics similar to the lparstat command for all the AIX partitions it can identify as belonging to the same hardware platform. The dedicated and shared partitions are displayed in separate sections with appropriate metrics. The top section represents aggregated data from the partition set to show overall partition, memory, and processor activity.

The following metrics are displayed in an initial cluster utilization panel. Additional metrics with full descriptive labels can be displayed using the key toggles identified in the Additional Cluster Utilization Panel Subcommands topic.

Partition totals:
Item Description
Shr The number of shared partitions based on the system processor.
Ded The number of dedicated partitions based on the system processor.
Memory (in GB):
Item Description
Mon The total memory of monitored partitions.
InUse The memory in use on monitored partitions.
Processor:
Item Description
Shr The number of shared processors.
Ded The number of dedicated processors.
Shr_PhysB The total number of physical processors that are busy for all shared partitions.
Ded_PhysB The total number of physical processors that are busy for all dedicated partitions.
Individual partition data:
Item Description
Host The host name.
CEC The CEC identifier.
OS The operating system level
Mem The total memory measured in gigabytes.
M The mode of the individual partitions.
InU The memory in use measured in gigabytes.
Lp The number of logical processors.
Us The percentage of the processor used by programs executing in user mode.
Sy The percentage of the processor used by programs executing in kernel mode.
Wa The percentage of time spent waiting for I/O.
Id The percentage of time the processors are idle.
PhysB The number of physical processors that are busy.
Ent The entitlement granted (shared-only).
%Entc The percentage entitlement consumed (shared-only).
Vcsw The average of virtual context switches per second (shared-only).
For shared partitions
Character Description
C SMT enabled and capped
c SMT disabled and capped
U SMT enabled and uncapped
u SMT disabled and uncapped
For dedicated partitions
Character Description
S SMT enabled and not donating
d SMT disabled and donating
D SMT enabled and donating
- SMT disabled and not donating
The following data is displayed when you press the g key on the initial screen, which generates the cluster utilization view with detailed headers: 
	Topas CEC Cluster Monitor ID:        Interval:  10             Thu Apr 2 16:13:18 2009
Partitions 		    Memory (GB)        Processor
Shr  :2			      Mon : 6.0          Shr  :1.5         Shr_PhyB : 0.01 
Ded  :2			      InU : 3.0          Ded  :2           Ded_PhyB : 0.00 

Host        CEC    OS   M  Mem  InU Lp Us Sy Wa Id  PhysB  Vcsw Ent  %EntC
-------------------------------------shared-------------------------------
clock16  19318230  A61  U  2.0  1.1 2  0  0  0  99  0.00   423  0.75  0.6
clock15  19318230  A61  U  2.0  1.6 2  0  0  0  99  0.01   985  0.75  0.9
  
Host        CEC    OS   M  Mem  InU Lp Us Sy Wa Id  PhysB  Vcsw
------------------------------------dedicated------------------
ses10    19318230  A61  D  2.0  1.1  2 0  0  0  99  0.00   0
clock10  19318230  A61  D  0.0  0.0  2 0  0  0  99  0.00   742

The following display when press g key from the above panel, 
which brings the cluster utilization view with detailed headers:

Topas Cluster Monitor ID:         Interval:  10      Thu Apr  2 16:13:44 2009
Partition Info    Memory (GB)      Processor         Supplier: ses10.in.ibm.com
Monitored :4      Monitored:6.0    Monitored :3.5    Shr Physical Busy :0.01
Shared    :2      Consumed :3.0    Shared    :1.5    Ded Physical Busy :0.00
Uncapped  :2                       Dedicated :2
Capped    :2
Dedicated :2

Host        CEC    OS   M  Mem  InU Lp Us Sy Wa Id  PhysB  Vcsw Ent  %EntC
-------------------------------------shared-------------------------------
clock16  19318230  A61  U  2.0  1.1 2  0  0  0  99  0.00   423  0.75  0.6
clock15  19318230  A61  U  2.0  1.6 2  0  0  0  99  0.01   985  0.75  0.9
  
Host        CEC    OS   M  Mem  InU Lp Us Sy Wa Id  PhysB  Vcsw
------------------------------------dedicated------------------
ses10    19318230  A61  D  2.0  1.1  2 0  0  0  99  0.00   0
clock10  19318230  A61  D  0.0  0.0  2 0  0  0  99  0.00   742

Implementation Specifics

Disks and network adapters added after starting topas or any other SPMI consumer will not be reflected in topas. You must stop topas and all clients that use SPMI and then restart after the changes to disks and network adapters are made.

Flags

Item Description
-@wparname Shows the WPAR-specific metrics. If you specify a WPAR name with the wparname parameter, the topas monitors that WPAR.
-chotprocessor Specifies with thehotprocessor parameter the number of hot processors to be monitored. This is also the maximum number of processors displayed when enough room is available on the screen. If this number exceeds the number of processors available, only the installed processors will be monitored and displayed. If this argument is omitted, a default of 2 is assumed. If a value of 0 (zero) is specified, no processor information is monitored.
-C Displays the Cross-partition panel. The topas command collects a set of metrics from AIX partitions running on the same hardware platform. The metrics are similar to those collected by the lparstat command. Dedicated and shared partitions are displayed, and a set of aggregated values provide an overview of the entire hardware systems partition set. Certain values only available from the HMC platform can be set through the line command if an HMC connection is not available.
-G Displays the Cluster Utilization panel. The topas command collects a set of metrics from AIX partitions that are running on the same hardware platform. The metrics are similar to those collected by the lparstat command. Dedicated and shared partitions are displayed.
-D Displays the Disk Metrics display (Disk panel view). The display reports disk service times, disk queuing metrics, and disk throughput. The following metrics are reported:
Disk
The name of the physical disk.
Busy%
The percentage of time that the physical disk is active (bandwidth use for the disk).
KBPS
The number of kilobytes that are read and written per second over the monitoring interval. This field is the sum of the values of the KB-R and KB-W metrics.
TPS
The number of transfers per second that are issued to the physical disk. A transfer is an I/O request to the physical disk. Multiple logical requests can be combined into a single I/O request to the disk. A transfer is of medium size.
KB-R
The number of kilobytes read per second from the physical disk.
ART
The average time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
MRT
The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
KB-W
The number of kilobytes written per second to the physical disk.
AWT
The average time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
MWT
The maximum time to receive a response from the hosting server for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
AQW
The average time spent by a transfer request in the waiting queue. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
AQD
The average number of requests that are waiting to be sent to disk.
With the -D flag specified, you can run the following subcommands:
  • To view the Adapter Panel, press the d key.
  • To display all of the virtual adapters present in the partition (Virtual Adapter Panel), press the v key.
  • To display the disks that belong to the adapter or the virtual adapter, press the f key.
  • To display the MPIO Panel, press the m key. This panel displays the disks details and the path details. To list the paths of the disks, press the f key.

Limitation:

The -D option provides Disk panel view where it reports disk service times, disk queuing metrics, and disk throughput. Whenever -D option is started, it resets the disk minimum and maximum service time metrics during the first interval. Because the service time metrics are reset during first interval of -D option, the existing instance of -D option or some other consumer's use of the disk service time metrics is affected.
-d hotdisk Specifies the number of disks to be monitored. The hotdisk parameter specifies the number of the hot disks to be monitored. This is also the maximum number of disks displayed when enough room is available on the screen. When this number exceeds the number of disks installed, only the installed disks will be monitored and displayed. If this argument is omitted, a default of 2 is assumed. If a value of 0 (zero) is specified, no disk information is monitored.
-E Displays the statistics of the shared Ethernet adapter on a Virtual I/O Server. The following metrics are displayed:
KBPS
The total throughput in kilobytes per second over the monitoring interval. This field is the sum of the kilobytes received and kilobytes sent per second.
I-Pack
The number of data packets received per second over the monitoring interval.
O-Pack
The number of data packets sent per second over the monitoring interval.
KB-In
The number of kilobytes received per second over the monitoring interval.
KB-Out
The number of kilobytes sent per second over the monitoring interval.
-F

Displays the file system display. When you specify the flag with the -@ flag or the @ subcommand, file system is shown in two windows. The top part of the display shows a list of active WPAR. This list can be sorted on any column. The display reports file system service times, file system queuing metrics, and file system throughput. The following metrics are reported:

File System
The name of file system.
KBPS
The amount of data transferred (read and written) per second over the monitoring interval. This field is the sum of the values of KB-Read and KB-Writ.
TPS
The number of transfers per second that are issued to the file system. A transfer is an I/O request to the file system. Multiple logical requests can be combined into a single I/O request to the file system. The size of a transfer is not determinate.
KB-Read
The amount of kilobytes read per second from the file system.
KB-Writ
The amount of kilobytes written per second from the file system.
Open
The logical number of files open.
Create
The logical number of files creates.
Lock
The number of files lock file system.
Tip: If the file system name exceeds the field width in the display, then the file system name is displayed is truncated. The truncation contains the first and last few characters of the file system, and the middle part of the name is replaced by periods (..). For example, if the file system name is filesystem001234, then the file system name is displayed as files..01234.
-f HotFS

Specifies with the HotFS parameter the number of file system to be monitored. This is also the maximum number of file system displayed when enough room is available. When this number exceeds the number of file system mounted, only the mounted file system is monitored and displayed. If you do not specify the -f flag, the default value is two. If you specify a value of zero, the file system information is monitored.
-h Displays help information in the following format: 
usage: topas [-d number-of-monitored-hot-disks]
              [-h]
              [-i monitoring-interval_in_seconds]
              [-n number-of-monitored-hot-network-interfaces]
              [-p number-of-monitored-hot-processes]
              [-w number-of-monitored-hot-WLM classes]
              [-c number-of-monitored-hot-processors]
              [-U username_owned_processes]
              [-D|-P|-W|-L]
              [-m]
-i interval Sets the monitoring interval or the recording interval in seconds. If you specify the -i flag with the interval parameter, the interval parameter sets the monitoring intervals. The default value for theinterval parameter is two seconds.

If you specify the -i flag with the -R mode, the interval parameter becomes the recording interval for partition metrics. The default value for theinterval parameter is 300 seconds. Valid values are 10, 15, 30, 60, 120, and 300 seconds.
-I remotepollinterval For cross-partition display, sets with the remotepollinterval parameter the sampling interval to collect data from remote partitions. The default value for the remotepollinterval parameter is 10 seconds. Values of 10, 15, 30, 60 and 120 seconds are allowed.
-L Displays the logical partition display. This display reports similar data to what is provided to mpstat and lparstat.
In shared-memory mode, this panel displays information about I/O memory entitlement of the partition. The existing %lbusy, %hypv and hcalls metrics are replaced by the following metrics:
IOME
The I/O memory entitlement of the partition in gigabytes.
iomu
The I/O memory entitlement of the partition in use in gigabytes.
pmem
The physical memory that is backing logical memory of the partition in gigabytes.
hpi
The number of hypervisor page-ins.
hpit
The time in milliseconds waiting for hypervisor page-ins.

With the -L flag specified, you can press the e key to display the I/O Memory Entitlement Pools panel. For more information about this panel, see I/O Memory Entitlement Pools Panel.
-M Displays the Memory topology panel.

The display reports similar data to what is provided by the lssrad command.

There are two sections in this panel:
  • The first section gives us the memory topology from an SRAD point of view. Under every REF1 system detail level, it provides the individual SRAD IDs and the resources (memory, processors) associated with each of them.
  • The second section, the CPU RAD display, gives the relevant data at a processor level.

The following metrics are displayed as part of this panel.

REF1
The first hardware provided reference point, that identifies sets of resources that are near to each other.
SRAD
Scheduler Resource Allocation Domain ID.
TOTALMEM
The total memory in MB under the SRAD.
INUSE
The memory in use under the SRAD.
FREE
Free memory under the SRAD.
FILECACHE
The number of file cache bytes that are taken by the LRU daemon.
HOMETHRDS
The number of threads for which the SRAD is home. Threads typically run on the CPUs contained in the home SRAD, but it is not guaranteed. The system chooses a home SRAD for a thread when it is created. A thread’s home SRAD may change during a thread’s lifetime.
CPUS
The processors which are associated with this SRAD. 0 would indicate that cpu0 is associated with the corresponding SRAD id. 0 - 28 would indicate that all cpus from cpu0 to cpu28 are associated with the corresponding SRAD. If the cpu ids are not contiguous, then the values will be separated by commas.
TOTALDISP
Total number of threads dispatched from the corresponding processor during that interval.
LOCALDISP%
Percentage of threads that were dispatched locally within this SRAD, usually at the chip level.
NEARDISP%
Percentage of threads that were dispatched to a CPU that is not local, and that is not far. Typically, these may be resources that share the same hardware node.
FARDISP%
Percentage of threads that were dispatched to a processor typically outside the hardware node.
Note: The hardware meanings for local, near and far vary with varying architectures.
-m Displays in monochrome mode (no colors).
-n hotni Specifies with the hotni parameter the number of hot network interfaces to be monitored. This is also the maximum number of network interfaces displayed when enough room is available on the screen. When this number exceeds the number of network interfaces installed, only the installed network interfaces will be monitored and displayed. If this argument is omitted, a default of value of 2 is assumed. If a value of 0 (zero) is specified, no network information is monitored.
-P Similar to the ps command, the -P flag displays the full-screen process display. This display shows a list of the busiest processes, similar to the process subsection on the default display, only with more columns showing more metrics per process. This list can be sorted by any column. Following are the metrics displayed.
USER
The login name of the process owner. Truncates the user name to 8 characters.
PID
The process ID of the process.
PPID
The process ID of the parent process.
PRI
The priority of the process or kernel thread; higher numbers mean lower priority.
NI
The priority of a process specified with the nice command ; used in calculating priority for the sched other policy.
DATA RES
The real-memory data (resident set) size of the process (4 KB pages).
TEXT RES
The real-memory text (resident set) size of the process (4 KB pages).
PAGE SPACE
The virtual working set size used by process (4 KB pages). Note: The true paging space allocations per process are not available using the topas command. For more detailed reports, see the svmon command.
TIME
The total execution time for the process.
CPU%
The percentage of processor usage.
PGFAULTS
The number of I/O and other page faults.
COMMAND
The command name. Truncates the command name to 9 characters.
When specified with -@ (topas -P -@), a new field WPAR is displayed and the PPID field is removed. All other metrics remains the same.
WPAR
The WPAR name that the process belongs to.
Tip: If the WPAR class name exceeds 12 characters and it need to be displayed in a 12 character format, the first five characters will be followed by two periods (.), and then follows the last five characters. For example, if the WPAR class name is neptune001234, then the WPAR name is displayed as neptu..01234.
-photprocess Specifies with the hotprocess parameter the number of hot processes to be monitored. This is also the maximum number of processes shown when enough room is available on the screen. If this argument is omitted, a default of 20 is assumed. If a value of 0 is specified, no process information will be monitored. Retrieval of process information constitutes the majority of the topas overhead. If process information is not required, always use this option to specify that you do not want process information.
-t Toggles the tape display section on or off in the main topas display.
-T Displays the full screen tape display panel.
Note: Only the Atape device utilization is reported.
The following metrics are displayed in this panel:
Tape
The name of the tape device.
Busy%
The bandwidth use of the tape.
KBPS
The amount of data transferred (read or written) to the tape in kilobytes per second.
TPS
The average number of transfers per second issued to the tape.
KB-R
The total number of kilobytes read from the tape.
ART
The average time to receive a response for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
MRT
The maximum time to receive a response for the read request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
KB-W
The total number of kilobytes written to the adapter.
AWT
The average time to receive a response for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
MWT
The maximum time to receive a response for the write request sent. The suffix indicates the unit of time. The default time unit is millisecond.
-U username With the -P flag, this flag shows the processes owned by the user specified with the username parameter. Only processes owned by the user that is specified will be shown in the All Process Display.
-V Displays the Volume Group panel. The panel reports the following metrics of the volume groups in the top section of the panel, and the same metrics of the logical volumes in the bottom section of the panel.
LogicalVolume/VolumeGroup
The name of the logical volume or the volume group.
TPS
The total number of I/O requests over the interval that the metrics are displayed.
KB-R
The total number of kilobytes read over the interval.
KB-W
The total number of kilobytes written over the interval.
KBPS
The amount of data transferred (read or written) in kilobytes per second in the enquiring logical volume or volume group.
-W Displays the full-screen WLM class display, which is a split display. The top part of the display shows a list of hot WLM classes, similar to the WLM classes subsection on the default display, but with enough space available to display the full class names. This list can be sorted on any column.

If you specify the -@ flag, or if you press the @ subcommand, the WPAR section is displayed and the WLM section is not displayed. The WPAR section shows the list of hot WPAR. This list can be sorted on any column.

The bottom part of the display shows a list of busiest processes, similar to the full screen process display, but only displays processes that belong to one WLM class or WPAR that are selected with the f key.
Note: If the WLM class is not active then the default system processes will be displayed in the bottom part of the display.
-w [number of monitored hot WLM classes] Specifies with the hotwlmclass parameter the number of hot Workload Manager (WLM) classes to be monitored. This is also the maximum number of WLM classes displayed when enough room is available on the screen. If this number exceeds the number of WLM classes installed, only the installed WLM classes will be monitored and displayed. If this argument is omitted, a default of 2 is assumed. If a value of 0 (zero) is specified, no WLM class information is monitored.

General Subcommands

While topas is running, it accepts 1-character subcommands. Each time the monitoring interval elapses, the program checks for one of the following subcommands and responds to the action requested.

Item Description
a Shows all of the variable subsections being monitored (processor, network, disk, WLM, and process). Pressing the a key always returns the topas command to the initial main display.
c Replaces the current display of the cumulative report with the processor subsection. When you press the c key again, it displays the cumulative report. The number of busiest processors displayed will depend upon the space available on the screen.
C Activates the Cross-Partition panel. If the panel is currently active, the C key resets the panel to display the global summary, dedicated, and shared sections. See the Additional Cross-partition Panel Subcommands section below for options specific to this panel.
d Replaces the current display of the total disk activity with a list of the busiest disks. When you press the d key again, it displays the total disk activity. The number of busiest disks displayed will depends on the space available on the screen.
D Replaces the current display with the Disk Metric display. This display offers additional information about disk access times and disk queuing. If the D key is pressed again, the display toggles back to the default main screen.
E Shows the shared Ethernet adapter panel in VIO Server.
f Press the f key while moving the cursor over a WLM class to display the list of top processes in the class at the bottom of the WLM screen. In the file system subsection of the topas command main panel, press the f key to replace the default report of total file system activity of the system with a list of busiest file system. When you press the f key again, it returns to the default display of the total file system activity. The number of busiest file system depends upon the space available on the screen. In the Volume Group panel (topas -V), you can select a volume group name and press the f key to display the list of top logical volumes that belong to the volume group at the bottom of the LVM panel.
F Replaces the default display with the full-screen file system display. This display provides more detailed information about file systems on the system than the file system section of the main display. When the you press the F key again, it returns to the default main display.
G Activates the Cluster Utilization panel. If the panel is currently active, the Gkey resets the panel to display the global summary, dedicated, and shared sections. See the Additional Cluster Utilization Panel Subcommands topic for options specific to this panel.
h Shows the help screen.
H Shows the help screen for the local panel, if available.
L Replaces the current display with the logical partition display; LPAR, Micro-Partitioning®, and simultaneous multithreading metrics similar to what lparstat and mpstat provide are displayed.
n Replaces the report on the total network activity of the system with the list of the busiest interfaces. Press the n key in the network interfaces subsection. The number of busiest interfaces displayed will depend upon the space available on the screen.
p Toggles the hot processes subsection on and off. The number of busiest processes displayed will depend upon the space available on the screen.
P Replaces the default display with the full-screen process display. This display provides more detailed information about processes running on the system than the process section of the main display. When the P key is pressed again, it toggles to the default main display.
q Quits the program.
r Refreshes the display.
t Toggles the tape display on or off in the main panel.
T Shows the full-screen tape display.
V Shows the Volume Group panel.
w Toggles the Workload Manager (WLM) classes subsection on and off. The number of busiest WLM classes displayed will depend upon the space available on the screen.
W Replaces the default display with the full-screen WLM class display. This display provides more detailed information about WLM classes, WPAR classes, and processes assigned to classes. When you press the @ key, the WLM class subsection is replaced by WPAR subsection. When you press the W key again, it toggles back to the default main display.
@ Toggles between the WLM class metric and WPAR metrics, that is, WPAR is monitored instead of WLM. This is the at (@) key. This key is valid for the Main panel, Process panel, File System panel, and WLM panel. If you press the @ key from any other panel, it is ignored. The @ key is restricted inside a WPAR, that is, it is ignore inside a WPAR. The @ key is valid in the following panels:
Main Panel
The WLM and Process subsections are replaced by the WPAR metric.
Process Panel
The default mode of the process panel is replaced by the WPAR mode.
File System Panel
The file system panel contains WPAR names if you press the f key. The per WPAR file-system metrics are displayed on the lower section of this panel.
WLM Panel
The WLM subsection is replaced by the WPAR subsection.
Arrow and Tab keys Subsections from the main display such as the processor, Network, Disk, WLM Classes, and the full-screen WLM and Process displays can be sorted by different criteria. Positioning the cursor over a column activates sorting on that column. The entries are always sorted from highest to lowest value. The cursor can be moved by using the Tab key or the arrow keys. Sorting is only valid for 128 disks and 16 network adapters.
~ Shows the nmon screen. This is the tilde (~) key.

Additional Cross-Partition Panel Subcommands

When the topas Cross-partition panel is active, it accepts the following additional 1-character subcommands. Each time the monitoring interval elapses, the program checks for one of the following subcommands and responds to any requested action.

Item Description
d Toggles the dedicated partition section on and off.
g Toggles the top global section of the panel between brief listing, detailed listing, and off.
r Forces topas to search the for HMC configuration changes if a connection is available. This includes the discovery of new partitions, processors, or memory allocations.
s Toggles the shared partition section on and off.
p Toggles the pool panel section on or off. Inside the pool panel, user can select one pool ID and press the f key to list the shared partitions that belong to the pool.
v Toggles the Virtual I/O Server/Client Throughput details on or off. You can select one virtual I/O server and press the f key to list the VIO clients that belong to that server.
m Toggles the memory pool panel on or off. You can select a memory pool and press the f key to view the partitions in that pool.

Additional Cluster Utilization Panel Subcommands

When the topas Cluster Utilization panel is active, it accepts the following additional 1-character subcommands. Each time the monitoring interval elapses, the program checks for one of the following subcommands and responds to any requested action:

Item Description
d Toggles the dedicated partition section on and off.
g Toggles the top global section of the panel between brief listing, detailed listing, and off.
s Toggles the shared partition section on and off.

Additional Disk Panel (topas -D) Subcommands

When the topas Disk panel is active, it accepts the following additional 1-character subcommands. Each time the monitoring interval elapses, the program checks for one of the following subcommands and responds to any requested action:

Item Description
d Toggles the Adapter panel on or off.
m Toggles the MPIO panel on or off.

Additional Adapter Panel Subcommands

When the topas Adapter panel is active, it accepts the following additional 1-character subcommand. Each time the monitoring interval elapses, the program checks for one of the following subcommands and responds to any requested action:

Item Description
v Toggles the Virtual Adapter panel on or off. Press this key from the Adapter panel.

Additional Logical Partition Panel (topas -L) Subcommands

When the topas Logical panel is active, it accepts the following additional 1-character subcommand. Each time the monitoring interval elapses, the program checks for one of the following subcommands and responds to any requested action:

Item Description
e Toggles the I/O Memory Entitlement Pools panel.

Additional Virtual I/O Server/Client Throughput Panel Subcommands

When the topas Virtual I/O Server/Client Throughput panel is active, it accepts the following additional 1-character subcommand. Each time the monitoring interval elapses, the program checks for one of the following subcommands and responds to any requested action:

Item Description
d Turns the Virtual I/O Server/Client Disk panel on or off for the Virtual I/O Server that is selected in the Virtual I/O Server/Client Throughput panel. You can select the server adapters and press the f key to list the disks and the clients that belong to that adapter.

Sample Full-Screen Workload Manager Classes Output

The following is an example of the display generated by the topas -W command:

Topas Monitor for host:    ptoolsl3    Interval:   2    Mon Feb 12 06:25:11 2007
WLM-Class (Active)              CPU%      Mem%     Blk-I/O%
System                           0        57            0
Shared                           0         4            0
Default                          0         0            0
Unmanaged                        0        14            0
Unclassified                     0        38            0

==============================================================================
                             DATA  TEXT  PAGE               PGFAULTS
USER       PID  PPID PRI NI   RES   RES SPACE    TIME CPU%  I/O  OTH COMMAND
root         1     0 108 20   197     9   180    0:24  0.0    0    0 init
root      1032     0  16 41     3  3374     3    0:00  0.0    0    0 lrud
root      1290     0  60 41     4  3374     4    0:02  0.0    0    0 xmgc
root      1548     0  36 41     4  3374     4    0:26  0.0    0    0 netm
root      1806     0  37 41    16  3374    16   13:25  0.0    0    0 gil
root      2064     0  16 41     4  3374     4    0:04  0.0    0    0 wlmsched
root      2698     1 108 20    14     2    14    0:00  0.0    0    0 shlap
root      3144     1 108 20    40     1    36    5:19  0.0    0    0 syncd
root      3362     0 108 20     4  3374     4    0:00  0.0    0    0 lvmbb
root      3666     1 108 20   135    23   123    0:00  0.0    0    0 errdemon
root      3982     0 108 20     4  3374     4    0:01  0.0    0    0 rtcmd

The following is an example of the display generated by topas -W -@ command:

Topas Monitor for host:    ptoolsl3    Interval:   2    Mon Feb 12 06:25:11 2007
WPAR                            CPU%       Mem%     Blk-I/O%
neptune001234                     0         1            0








==============================================================================
                                DATA  TEXT  PAGE               PGFAULTS
USER        PID  PPID   PRI NI   RES   RES SPACE    TIME CPU%  I/O  OTH COMMAND
root     356372  491650  58 41   370    67   370    0:00  0.1    0    0 topas
root     262246  188508  24 41   256    21   256    6:27  0.1    0    0 xmtopas
root     192626       1  60 20   113    17   113   11:17  0.1    0    0 getty
root      61470       0  16 41    17     0    17    0:31  0.0    0    0 wlmsched
root     290818       1  58 41   284    67   284    1:54  0.0    0    1 topas
root      57372       0  37 41    30     0    30    3:39  0.0    0    0 gil
root      86248       1  60 20    47     0    47    1:04  0.0    0    0 rpc.lock
root     385224  237728  60 20   254   197   254    0:00  0.0    0    0 sendmail
root     131174  176242  60 20   175    79   175    0:03  0.0    0    0 aixmibd
root      53274       0  36 41    13     0    13    0:05  0.0    0    0 netm
root      90244       1  60 20   126     2   126    2:35  0.0    0    0 syncd
root      45078       0  60 41    14     0    14    0:58  0.0    0    0 xmgc
root     266384  176242  60 20   644   160   644    0:27  0.0    0    0 IBM.CSMA
root     250004  176242  60 20   617   157   617    0:26  0.0    0    0 rmcd
root     184410  176242  60 20   254   197   254    0:14  0.0    0    0 sendmail
root     151640       0  60 20    13     0    13    0:02  0.0    0    0 rgsr
root      40980       0  59 41    71     0    71    0:02  0.0    0    0 pilegc
root     110738       0  60 20    13     0    13    0:01  0.0    0    0 n4bg
root     180368       1  60 20    98    14    98    0:01  0.0    0    0 cron
root          1       0  60 20   158    10   158    0:01  0.0    0    0 init

Examples

  1. To display up to twenty "hot" disks every five seconds and omit network interface, WLM classes, file system information and process information, enter the following command: 
    topas -i5 -n0 -p0 -w0 -f0
  2. To display the five most active processes and up to twenty most active WLM classes (which is the default when omitting the -w flag) but no network , disk, or file system information, enter the following command: 
    topas -p5 -n0 -d0 -f0
  3. To run the program with default options, enter the following command: 
    topas
  4. To go directly to the process display, enter the following command: 
    topas -P
  5. To go directly to the WLM classes display, enter the following command: 
    topas -W
  6. To go directly to the logical partition display, enter the following command: 
    topas -L
  7. To go directly to the disk metric display, enter the following command: 
    topas -D
  8. To go directly to the file system display, enter the following command: 
    topas -F
  9. To go directly to WPAR monitoring mode abc, enter the following command: 
    topas -@ abc
  10. To go directly to the topas WPAR mode, enter the following command: 
    topas -@
  11. To go directly to the LVM display, enter the following command: 
    topas -V
  12. To go directly to the tape display, enter the following command: 
    topas -T
  13. To go to the shared Ethernet adapter on the VIO Server panel, enter the following command: 
    topas -E
  14. To go directly to the cluster utilization display, enter the following command: 
    topas -G
  15. To go directly to the Memory topology panel and view SRAD statistics, enter the following command: 
    topas -M
  16. To display the process utilization specific to the user guest, enter the following command:
    topas -P -U guest
  17. To display top two processors with high processor utilization, enter the following command:
    topas -c2

Files

Item Description
/usr/bin/topas Contains the topas command.