src/collectors/proc.plugin/integrations/inter_process_communication.md
Plugin: proc.plugin Module: ipc
IPC stands for Inter-Process Communication. It is a mechanism which allows processes to communicate with each other and synchronize their actions.
This collector exposes information about:
Message Queues: This allows messages to be exchanged between processes. It's a more flexible method that allows messages to be placed onto a queue and read at a later time.
Shared Memory: This method allows for the fastest form of IPC because processes can exchange data by reading/writing into shared memory segments.
Semaphores: They are used to synchronize the operations performed by independent processes. So, if multiple processes are trying to access a single shared resource, semaphores can ensure that only one process accesses the resource at a given time.
This collector is supported on all platforms.
This collector only supports collecting metrics from a single instance of this integration.
This integration doesn't support auto-detection.
The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.
The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system.
No action required.
There are no configuration options.
There is no configuration file.
There are no configuration examples.
The following alerts are available:
| Alert name | On metric | Description |
|---|---|---|
| semaphores_used | system.ipc_semaphores | IPC semaphore utilization |
| semaphore_arrays_used | system.ipc_semaphore_arrays | IPC semaphore arrays utilization |
Metrics grouped by scope.
The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.
This scope has no labels.
Metrics:
| Metric | Dimensions | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| system.ipc_semaphores | semaphores | semaphores |
| system.ipc_semaphore_arrays | arrays | arrays |
| system.message_queue_message | a dimension per queue | messages |
| system.message_queue_bytes | a dimension per queue | bytes |
| system.shared_memory_segments | segments | segments |
| system.shared_memory_bytes | bytes | bytes |