[Perfparse-devel] Use of RRD

[Ben C. <Be...@cl...>]

Garry, Yves,

I want to talk about RRD, however I have lost the original thread.

Let me explain my worries about using RRD.  Please correct me where I am 
going wrong.

Round Robin Database gives a method of storing a fixed period of data 
which is stored locally and may be graphed by many available open source 
programs.  This is a fast self-purging method liked by many people.

But what are we proposing?

i) Using just RRD.

ii) Using RRD for storage of Binary data, and a DBMS for everything else.

iii) Using PP as is, but also store data in RRD.


I have seen some comments about using (i), just RRD.

If we do this, the product we will have effectively is not PerfParse.
- There will be no storage of raw data.
- The extra information we plan, like a range of WARN and CRITICAL 
values will not be supported.
- The product will not be client/server, and therefore the whole of PP 
must be using on a single machine.

Effectivelly, the entire PP CGI is redendent and we should probably 
advise users to use one of the existing mature RRD viewers.  This will 
mean that PP is reduced to just the 'perfparse' program, which it's self 
is reduced to just storing binary values in an RRD database.

I don't think we want to do this. :)


With option (ii), using RRD for the binary data.  This also presents 
some problems:

- Extra data, like range of WARN and CRIT cannot be supported in full. 
Although two lines for each can be stored to indicate range.  Messy!
- Half of PP is client/server, half is local.
- Referential Integrity is hard to maintain using two different database 
types.
- Lots of re-coding to get the chart to read RRD data.

Again, I wonder whether this is worth it, although there might be an 
argument.


My feeling is that we should provide an option the user can select when 
compiling:

1. Store data as RRD for their own use, or not.
2. Store data as PP format, or not.

In the second case, we are effectively providing a method to import data 
into RRD, and the users chooses not to use any of the other features we 
provide.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Ben