Re: [RFC PATCH 0/7] Add script for real-time telemetry monitoring

[Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com>]

On Fri, Dec 12, 2025 at 02:32:49PM +0900, Stephen Hemminger wrote:
> On Wed, 10 Dec 2025 16:55:25 +0000
> Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com> wrote:
> 
> > TL;DR
> > ------
> > 
> > For a  quick demo, apply patces, run e.g. testpmd and then in a separate
> > terminal run:
> > 
> >   ./usertools/dpdk-telemetry-watcher.py -d1T eth.tx
> > 
> > Output, updated once per second, will be traffic rate per port e.g.:
> > 
> > Connected to application: "dpdk-testpmd"
> > Time       /ethdev/stats,0.opackets /ethdev/stats,1.opackets        Total
> > 16:29:12                  5,213,119                5,214,304   10,427,423
> > 
> > 
<snip>
> > 
> >  usertools/dpdk-telemetry-watcher.py | 429 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >  usertools/meson.build               |   1 +
> >  2 files changed, 430 insertions(+)
> >  create mode 100755 usertools/dpdk-telemetry-watcher.py
> > 
> > --
> > 2.51.0
> 
> 
> The TUI patch was
> https://patchwork.dpdk.org/project/dpdk/patch/20220831115250.362189-2-conor.walsh@intel.com/
>

Took a look at that patch proposal, and here are some of the main
differences between the two scripts:

* the telemetry-tui is a full-screen app which is a lot prettier and
  probably much more suitable for non-experts.
* the script I provided is FAR less user friendly and operates at a much
  more "techie" level
* on the other hand, it's more flexible because of that:
  - can be used to display any numeric stats - the tui is hard-coded to show
    particular NIC stats - including e.g. cryptodev, or dmadev ones
  - can show deltas and totals as desired
  - can quit after a certain fixed amount of time
* my script is probably more limited in terms of what can be displayed,
  since it assumes that you want one-line of output per update. TUI
  displays lots of (fixed)stats simultaneously
* TUI as proposed has a few glitches - got a divide by zero error when run
  against a testpmd instance that didn't have traffic running, so all stats
  were zero. (That's an easy fix though)
* The new script I propose has one major feature that I would look to add
  to the TUI if we merged that - the reconnection support. I find it very
  handy to run the watcher script and leave it running while I start and
  stop whatever app(s) I'm using.
* My script has no additional dependencies beyond stock python, while the
  TUI requires one additional dependency "rich" to manage the TUI. It also
  can use a second dependency "plotext" (not Ubuntu packaged) to display
  charts if so desired.

Just my quick assessment of the two from a quick try of the TUI one.

/Bruce