[Samba] samba performance metrics

[Scott Feldstein]

Hi,
I am attempting to write a monitor to gather Samba Server performance  
metrics.  I would like to get raw metrics directly from the server  
itself rather than a 3rd party tool.  Could anyone point me to docs  
or enlighten me on how to accomplish this?

I am looking to determine the availability of the server (up or  
down), the number of files requested, any caching information  
available and anything else which would be relevant to determining  
the overall health of the server.

thanks.

Scott