[rrd-users] beginner questions on multiple series

[SecretCode]

Thanks Raimund, Alex and Jason (off list)!
> SecretCode <secretcode343 at gmail.com> writes:
>> i ... I have done some basic work with rrdtool but I'm still a beginner.
>>
>> I'm trying to report on traffic usage through a firewall for multiple IP 
>> addresses. Each address will have in & out values, but I don't know in 
>> advance how many addresses there will be - and new addresses could 
>> theoretically be added during any collection interval.
>>
>> Am I right that each IP address's traffic would be a separate series and 
>> would have to be a separate RRD file (because each RRD has a sized fixed 
>> up-front)? Is this going to be manageable with rrdtool?
>>     
To expand on the need: I want to store total bytes per hour (or minute) 
per IP address. This collection is already in place, and I'm logging it 
to a text file, but of course that leaves me with handling all the 
aggregation and truncation of history that rrdtool already solves.

So I will need to manage the allocation of IP addresses to rrds in my 
front end, and creating the rrd for a new ip address.

I initially want this for my home network, a mere handful of addresses, 
which shouldn't be a size or processing problem (obviously I can't keep 
per-minute data for a year). But I'd like to extend it to the office 
environment which is much larger. But not enterprise-class, no.

Alex: you mentioned having several buckets in one RRD. Since I'll need 
to allow for multiple rrds anyway, is there any advantage in having say 
3 rrds with 10 addresses in each rather than 30 rrds? (Which would be 
easier to manage.)

thanks again
Joe