gistfile1.py

import subprocess
import statsd
import re
import argparse

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Send num processes to StatsD')
parser.add_argument('servername', metavar='S', type=str,
                                        help='The server that is generating this process list.')

args = parser.parse_args()

ps = subprocess.Popen(('ps', 'aux'), stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
output = subprocess.check_output(('wc', '-l'), stdin=ps.stdout)

output = re.match(r'(?:^\s*)(\d.*$)', output).group(1)

c = statsd.StatsClient('<IP Address of StatsD Server>', 8126)

c.gauge('{}.processes'.format(args.servername), output)

print output