Re: Basic iocStats database

[Mark Rivers via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>]

Hi Sean,

> One thing that didn't work for me were the variables $(DEVIOCSTATS) and $(PREFIX),

synApps has traditionally used DEVIOCSTATS for the directory containing the iocStats module in configure/RELEASE files.  You used IOCSTATS instead, which is fine.  You then just need to replace $(DEVIOCSTATS) with $(IOCSTATS) in your st.cmd file.

$(PREFIX) is a convenience you can add near the start of your st.cmd file like this:

epicsEnvSet("PREFIX", "MYIOC")

Then everywhere you use MYIOC in your st.cmd you can substitute $(PREFIX).  This is helpful when the prefix is used in many places in st.cmd and you want to be able to change it in just one place.

Mark

---

From: Sean Leavey <sean.leavey at stfc.ac.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, September 7, 2022 5:05 AM
To: Mark Rivers <rivers at cars.uchicago.edu>; tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
Subject: Re: Basic iocStats database

 

Hi Mark,

Thanks, that worked (mostly - see below)!

For anyone else interested, here is everything I did to create an app
with iocStats support after compiling EPICS Base 7 and iocStats as a
support module (hope I didn't miss anything):

$ mkdir /path/to/new/ioc
$ makeBaseApp.pl -t ioc myioc
$ makeBaseApp.pl -t ioc -i myioc
$ cd configure
$ nano RELEASE  # define paths to EPICS_BASE and IOCSTATS
$ cd ..
$ nano myiocApp/src/Makefile  # add `myioc_DBD += devIocStats.dbd` and
`myioc_LIBS += devIocStats`
$ make
$ cd iocBoot/iocmyapp
$ nano st.cmd  # add
`dbLoadRecords("/path/to/iocStats/db/iocAdminSoft.db", "IOC=MYIOC")`
$ ../../bin/linux-x86_64/myioc st.cmd  # runs softIOC

One thing that didn't work for me were the variables $(DEVIOCSTATS) and
$(PREFIX), so I had to hard-code them above. When I start the IOC I get
the following errors:

macLib: macro DEVIOCSTATS is undefined (expanding string
dbLoadRecords("$(DEVIOCSTATS)/db/iocAdminSoft.db", "IOC=$(PREFIX)"))
macLib: macro PREFIX is undefined (expanding string
dbLoadRecords("$(DEVIOCSTATS)/db/iocAdminSoft.db", "IOC=$(PREFIX)"))

I guess I need to do something to ensure these are defined?

Another thing is the steps in [1] mention to compile MSI support, but I
found this was already available on my path after installing EPICS Base.
I skipped editing CONFIG_SITE to define MSI and it all appeared to still
work.

Cheers,
Sean

[1] https://www.slac.stanford.edu/grp/ssrl/spear/epics/site/devIocStats/

On 02/09/2022 14:48, Mark Rivers wrote:
> Hi Sean,
>
> To load the iocStats records in your IOC you just need to build your
> application with the iocStats dbd and library files like this:
>
>      $(DBD_NAME)_DBD += devIocStats.dbd
>      PROD_LIBS        += devIocStats
>
> And add a command like this to your IOC startup script:
>
> dbLoadRecords("$(DEVIOCSTATS)/db/iocAdminSoft.db", "IOC=$(PREFIX)")
>
> Mark
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Tech-talk <tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov> on behalf of Sean
> Leavey via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
> *Sent:* Friday, September 2, 2022 8:25 AM
> *To:* tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
> *Subject:* Basic iocStats database
> Hi all,
>
> Following on from my first question a couple weeks ago about the
> feasibility of setting up EPICS for a small lab, I've provisioned a
> Debian 11 VM and gotten EPICS Base set up. While I wait for the arrival
> of the Modbus-based sensors I plan to use EPICS to read, I thought I'd
> set up iocStats
> (https://www.slac.stanford.edu/grp/ssrl/spear/epics/site/devIocStats/
> <https://www.slac.stanford.edu/grp/ssrl/spear/epics/site/devIocStats/>)
> so I have some real world values to play with - CPU usage, etc.
>
> Following various guides I've managed to compile the example application
> with iocStats module support. However, I don't actually have any of the
> records provided by iocStats configured, and that's where I've gotten
> stuck. What I'd really like to see are examples of databases others have
> made that make use of the various records provided by iocStats (if such
> an example is provided with iocStats itself, I missed it). Ultimately I
> want to be able to caget my VM's CPU load, so I can play with archiving
> and plotting it later. Google has failed me so I thought I'd ask here.
> So, is anyone willing to share their iocStats configurations with me?
>
> Cheers,
> Sean
>
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