CLI: Director
Overview
VirtualMetric Director™ is the core orchestration and data processing engine of the DataStream platform, designed to manage high-volume log ingestion, processing, and routing with enterprise-grade performance and reliability. It serves as the central command center that coordinates devices, pipelines, routes, and targets to create comprehensive data processing workflows.
Director handles everything from simple syslog collection to complex multi-protocol data ingestion scenarios, providing real-time processing capabilities, advanced routing logic, and seamless integration with various storage and analysis systems. Its architecture supports both standalone deployments and distributed enterprise environments with built-in scalability and fault tolerance.
Synopsis
vmetric-director [OPTIONS]
Options
The following command line options are available.
General Options
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-compare-version | - | Compare with specified version |
-config | - | Run configuration wizard |
-example | - | Show configuration examples |
-path | - | Specify configuration file or directory path |
-validate | - | Validate configuration files |
-version | - | Display version information |
Operating Modes
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-console | - | Run in console monitoring mode |
-generator | - | Generate test data |
-mode | director | Operating mode (director, supervisor, console, pipeline, generator, update) |
-pipeline | - | Execute pipeline processing mode |
-sentinel | - | Run network discovery and monitoring |
-snmpwalk | - | Perform SNMP device discovery |
-stats | - | Display performance statistics |
-supervisor | - | Run in supervisor mode |
-update | - | Run update process |
Service Management
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-agentless | - | Run without installing as a service |
-background | - | Run in background mode |
-info | - | Display service information |
-service | - | Service operation (install, uninstall, start, stop, restart) |
-service-name | - | Custom service name for installation |
-vpc | - | Display product code |
Pipeline Operations
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-name | - | Pipeline name for processing |
-definition-id | - | Pipeline definition identifier |
-diff | - | Show differences between actual and expected output |
-expected | - | Expected output file for validation |
-export-json | - | Export pipeline results as JSON |
-extended | - | Show extended processing information |
-input | - | Input data file or JSON string |
-output | - | Output file for processed data |
-visualize | - | Display pipeline processing visualization |
Console Monitoring
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-debug-level | - | Set debug verbosity level (1-5) |
-filter | - | Filter console output by keywords |
Network Discovery
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-autodiscovery | - | Enable automatic network discovery |
-snmp-community | - | SNMP community string |
-snmp-device-id | - | SNMP device identifier |
-snmp-host | - | Target SNMP host address |
-snmp-oid | .1.3 | Starting OID for SNMP walk |
-snmp-port | 161 | SNMP port number |
-snmp-version | 2c | SNMP version (1, 2c, 3) |
Data Generation
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-address | 127.0.0.1:514 | Target address for generated data |
-count | 1000 | Number of messages to generate |
-duration | 300 | Total generation duration (seconds) |
-file-path | - | File path for file-based operations |
-interval | 1 | Interval between messages (seconds) |
-message | VirtualMetric Test Message | Message content |
-now | - | Generate messages immediately |
-protocol | syslog | Protocol for data generation |
-severity | Error | Syslog severity level |
Utility Options
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
-clear | - | Clear statistics (used with -stats) |
-pfx2pem | - | Convert PFX certificate to PEM format |
-stats | - | Display performance statistics |
Common Uses
The following are the valid switch combinations for the indicated tasks:
General Tasks
-
Display version information:
vmetric-director -version -
Show example configuration:
vmetric-director -example -
Run configuration tool:
vmetric-director -config [config_file_path] -
Compare version:
vmetric-director -compare-version [version_string] -
Convert PFX certificate to PEM:
vmetric-director -pfx2pem [certificate_path] -
Validate configuration:
vmetric-director -validate
Service Management
-
Install service:
vmetric-director -service install [-service-name custom_name] [-path installation_path] -
Uninstall service:
vmetric-director -service uninstall [-service-name custom_name] -
Start service:
vmetric-director -service start [-service-name custom_name] -
Stop service:
vmetric-director -service stop [-service-name custom_name] -
Restart service:
vmetric-director -service restart [-service-name custom_name] -
Run in background (without service):
vmetric-director -background [-mode director|supervisor] -
Run in agentless mode:
vmetric-director -agentless [-mode director|supervisor] -
Show service information:
vmetric-director -info [-mode director|supervisor] -
Show product code:
vmetric-director -vpc [-mode director|supervisor] -
Stop running process:
vmetric-director -stop [-mode director|supervisor]
Operational Modes
-
Console mode:
vmetric-director -mode console [-filter filter_string] [-debug-level level]-or-
vmetric-director -console [-filter filter_string] [-debug-level level] -
Pipeline mode:
vmetric-director -mode pipeline -name [pipeline_name] [-path path] [-definition-id id] [-input input_file] [-output output_file] [-expected expected_file] [-filter filter] [-diff] [-validate] [-visualize] [-extended] [-export-json]-or-
vmetric-director -pipeline -name [pipeline_name] [-path path] [-definition-id id] [-input input_file] [-output output_file] [-expected expected_file] [-filter filter] [-diff] [-validate] [-visualize] [-extended] [-export-json] -
Generator mode:
vmetric-director -mode generator [-protocol syslog|tcp|http|netflow|vmf] [-address target_address] [-severity level] [-message message_text] [-count message_count] [-interval seconds] [-duration seconds] [-now] [-file-path file_path]-or-
vmetric-director -generator [-protocol syslog|tcp|http|netflow|vmf] [-address target_address] [-severity level] [-message message_text] [-count message_count] [-interval seconds] [-duration seconds] [-now] [-file-path file_path] -
Sentinel mode:
vmetric-director -mode sentinel [-autodiscovery]-or-
vmetric-director -sentinel [-autodiscovery] -
SNMPWalk mode:
vmetric-director -mode snmpwalk -snmp-device-id [device_id] -snmp-host [host] [-snmp-port port] [-snmp-version 1|2c|3] [-snmp-community community_string] [-snmp-oid oid]-or-
vmetric-director -snmpwalk -snmp-device-id [device_id] -snmp-host [host] [-snmp-port port] [-snmp-version 1|2c|3] [-snmp-community community_string] [-snmp-oid oid] -
Update mode:
vmetric-director -mode update-or-
vmetric-director -update -
Supervisor mode:
vmetric-director -mode supervisor-or-
vmetric-director -supervisor -
Statistics mode:
vmetric-director -mode stats [-clear]-or-
vmetric-director -stats [-clear] -
Director mode (default):
vmetric-director-or-
vmetric-director -mode director-or-
vmetric-director -director
Protocol-Specific Generator Tasks
The following can be used to simulate various log streaming protocols:
-
Syslog generator:
vmetric-director -mode generator -protocol syslog -address 127.0.0.1:514 -severity Error -message "Test Message" -count 1000 -interval 1 -duration 300 -
TCP generator:
vmetric-director -mode generator -protocol tcp -address 127.0.0.1:9000 -message "Test Message" -count 1000 -interval 1 -duration 300 -
HTTP generator:
vmetric-director -mode generator -protocol http -address http://127.0.0.1:8080/logs -message "Test Message" -count 1000 -interval 1 -duration 300 -
Netflow generator:
vmetric-director -mode generator -protocol netflow -address 127.0.0.1:2055 -count 1000 -interval 1 -duration 300 -
VMF generator:
vmetric-director -mode generator -protocol vmf -file-path input.json -message "Test Message" -count 1000 -interval 1 -duration 300