[rrd-users] rrdtool update

Simon Hobson linux at thehobsons.co.uk
Fri Jun 1 13:42:30 CEST 2012


A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?


[Digital^Dude] ® wrote:
>Great. We have a database that cannot be edited :) Thank you RRD!

That reveals that you have no understanding of 
the purpose of an RRD database. If you want an 
editable database, then RRD isn't the tool for 
you. Similarly, if you want something that stores 
exact values, or values at arbitrary timestamps, 
then RRD is not the right tool.

It's not the tool's fault if you pick the wrong tool for the job.

RRD was designed to do one thing - efficiently. 
It came out of the MRTG project, and is designed 
to store 'continuous' data (typified by router 
interface traffic rates) efficiently over long 
periods. To do this, it normalises the data into 
fixed steps, and consolidates that data according 
to the users instructions so that data may be 
kept long term - typically keeping lower 
resolution for older data. The design also means 
that data size is deterministic (it's set at the 
time of database creation and never changes), and 
is also efficient in the way updates happen (RRD 
= Round Robin Database)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round-robin#Computing

Thus there is no requirement for editing the data. The past is in the past.

-- 
Simon Hobson

Visit http://www.magpiesnestpublishing.co.uk/ for books by acclaimed
author Gladys Hobson. Novels - poetry - short stories - ideal as
Christmas stocking fillers. Some available as e-books.



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