# Inter Process Communication Plugin: proc.plugin Module: ipc ## Overview 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. ### Default Behavior #### Auto-Detection This integration doesn't support auto-detection. #### Limits The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection. #### Performance Impact The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system. ## Metrics Metrics grouped by *scope*. The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels. ### Per Inter Process Communication instance 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 | ## Alerts The following alerts are available: | Alert name | On metric | Description | |:------------|:----------|:------------| | [ semaphores_used ](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/health/health.d/ipc.conf) | system.ipc_semaphores | IPC semaphore utilization | | [ semaphore_arrays_used ](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/health/health.d/ipc.conf) | system.ipc_semaphore_arrays | IPC semaphore arrays utilization | ## Setup ### Prerequisites No action required. ### Configuration #### File There is no configuration file. #### Options There are no configuration options. #### Examples There are no configuration examples.