The round-robin database
tool, RRDtool, is a freeware package that is available for download
from Tobias Oetiker.
Note: Before running the Adapter
Setup wizard, install RRDtool.
The RRDtool adapter
reads any round-robin databases that have been created with RRDtool.
The data can be gathered at any interval (step), any metrics can
be gathered, and any consolidation function (CF) can be used. Because
SAS IT Resource Management has its own aggregation process, the data
read from the round-robin databases should be detail data, not consolidated
data. In order to store detail data using RRDtool, set the CF to
any statistic, and then set the number of steps for each consolidation
point to 1. This keeps the data at the detail level, that is, one
record for each time interval.
Note: The RRDtool adapter reads
the data even if it has been consolidated. If the data in the RRD
is consolidated, then IT Resource Management requires that the CF
staging parameter be set accordingly for that consolidation. If this
staging parameter is left blank, then the data in all of the CFs in
the RRD are collected.
The adapter can read
a single round-robin database, or it can read all round-robin databases
in directory. If multiple round-robin databases are read, the data
is combined into a single staging table.
Because a round-robin
database can store only numeric data, users of RRDtool generally store
identifying character data in the name or path of the round-robin
database. For example, SNMP data is often stored in round-robin databases.
In addition, the device and interface information is usually used
in the name of the round-robin database to identify the metrics that
are being gathered. The filename of each round-robin database is
saved by the RRDtool adapter in a field called filename.
Therefore, it can be used to create computed columns with this identifying
information. For example, if you have two round-robin databases: c:\RRD\ABC.rrd and c:\RRD\XYZ.rrd,
then you can create a computed column with the following expression:scan(filename,
3, “\.”)
This enables you to
store the name of each RRD (“ABC” and “XYZ”)
in a new column.
Note: You can backload data from
the RRDtool adapter. To do so, use the
rrdtool fetch
--start Option and
rrdtool fetch --end
Option staging parameters to specify the date range
of data to be read.
For information about backloading, see How to Backload Raw Data.