RRDTool: A Round Robin Database for Network Monitoring

Abstract

RRDtool is a circular database that stores time series data. RRD tool assumes time-variable data inintervals of a certain length. An interval is named as a step, and specifiedupon creation of an RRD file which cannot be changed afterward. Because datamay not always come at just the right time, RRD tool will automaticallyinterpolate any submitted data. This is done to fit its internal timestamps. Ifwe compare linear databases with RRD then we can say that RRD is non-linearlike a circular queue.  Usually, in aRound-Robin Database (RRD), time-series data like network bandwidth, memoryusage, and CPU load are stored. The data is stored in a non-linear way so thatthe system storage footprint remains constant over time. This avoidsresource-expensive purge jobs which reduce complexity. MySQL does NOT provideany such kind of storage engine. RRD tool has also the ability to create andfeed this database. RRD tool stores data; that makes it a back-end tool. The RRDtool command set allows the creation of graphs which makes it a front-end toolas well. Other databases just store data and cannot create graphs. RRD combinedwith NET-SNMP can collect data and using scripts we can generate beautifulreal-time graphs which can be used for monitoring computer networks.