[collectd] dynamic types for network plugin?

[Sage Weil]

Hi-

Resending this, since I haven't heard anything.  This really seems like a 
general problem with dynamically typed plugins mixed with the network 
plugin.

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

Thanks!
sage


On Thu, 10 Nov 2011, Sage Weil wrote:

> [Resending to avoid mailman non-subscriber trap, sorry for the ceph-devel dup]
> 
> Hi,
> 
> We're working on a collectd plugin for Ceph (ceph.newdream.net) that 
> sluprs up internal metrics and instrumentation values from running ceph 
> daemons.  These are a range of random things like operation counts, types, 
> latencies, and so on for various Ceph subsystems.  
> 
> We structured the plugin so that it queries the daemon for the types of 
> the metrics it is gathering so that no modifications to types.db are 
> necessary.  This is great because we are adding (and in some cases 
> adjusting) the metrics we collect on an ongoing basis.  On the whole, it 
> works great.
> 
> The problem is when we try to send the metrics to a server with the 
> network plugin.  As far as I can tell the server needs to have all the 
> types defined and isn't smart enough to take them from the client.  
> That means that currently the metrics all get dropped on the floor.
> 
> Is it reasonable to just extend the network plugin protocol to also feed 
> types to the server?  Is this something that is planned?  As things 
> current stand, it seems like plugins that dynamically define their own 
> types are basically useless in combination with the network plugin...
> 
> Or am I misunderstanding the situation?
> 
> Thanks!
> sage
> 
>