Network Protocol
The following protocol description uses Erlang bit syntax. Please note that this is the protocol used for Ingres and between DFE and DDB. Queries can be performed over a HTTP Endpoint.
General
Constants / Macros
The following constants (Macros) are defined as part of the protocol as they name frequently recurring values:
-define(PUT, 0).
-define(LIST, 1).
-define(GET, 2).
-define(BUCKETS, 3).
-define(STREAM, 4).
-define(SENTRY, 5).
-define(SWRITE, 6).
-define(BUCKET_INFO, 7).
-define(BUCKET_ADD, 8).
-define(BUCKET_DELETE, 9).
-define(SBATCH, 10).
-define(LIST_PREFIX, 11).
-define(TTL, 12).
-define(EVENTS, 13).
-define(GET_EVENTS, 14).
-define(REPLY_EVENTS, 15).
-define(END_EVENTS, 16).
-define(GET_EVENTS_FILTERED, 17).
%% number of bits used to encode the bucket size.
%% => buckets can be 255 byte at most!
-define(BUCKET_SS, 8).
%% number of bits used to encode the entire buckets list.
-define(BUCKETS_SS, 32).
%% The number of bits used to encode the size of the a single metric part.
%% => each part can be 255 byte at max!
-define(METRIC_ELEMENT_SS, 8).
%% The number of bits used to encode the size of a whole metric (All of it's
%% parts)
%% => the maximum number of bytes in a whole metric can be 65,536, so a single
%% metric can hold at least 255 elments, more if their size is < 256 byte.
-define(METRIC_SS, 16).
%% The number of bits used to encode a list of metrics.
%% => this means a list opperation can return at least 281,474,976,710,656
%% metrics.
%%
%% That is a lot! Good problem to have if we ever face it!
-define(METRICS_SS, 64).
%% The number of bits used to encode the length of the payload data.
%% => this means we can encode 4,294,967,296 byte or 536,870,912 points
%% at 8 byte / point in a single request.
%%
%% we should never do that!
-define(DATA_SS, 32).
%% The number of bits used for encoding the time.
-define(TIME_SIZE, 64).
%% The number of bits used for encoding the count.
-define(COUNT_SIZE, 32).
%% Number of bits used to encode the delay as part of the streaming protocol.
-define(DELAY_SIZE, 8).
%% The type used to encode sizes.
-define(SIZE_TYPE, unsigned-integer).
%% The type used to encode time.
-define(TIME_TYPE, unsigned-integer).
%% Those two must match!
%% Number of bits for an integer value, 56 bit is a sweetspot where it it not
%% yet converted in a big int but still byte alligned for binary conversion
-define(BITS, 56).
%% The type of data we store.
-define(INT_TYPE, signed-integer).
%% The size of the type field
-define(TYPE_SIZE, 8).
%% The size of exponent field for floating point decimals
-define(DEC_EXP_SIZE, 8).
%% The size of coefficient field for floating point decimals
-define(DEC_COEF_SIZE, 48).
%% Value types defined so far.
%% this field does not contain a value
-define(NONE, 0).
%% this field does contain an integer value
-define(INT, 1).
%% Decimal number precision (number of kept digits)
-define(DEC_PRECISION, 14).
%% Point data size
-define(DATA_SIZE, ((?BITS + ?TYPE_SIZE) div 8)).
%% realized (expanded) data size
-define(RDATA_SIZE, 16).
Datapoints
On both read and write datapoints are encoded as follows:
<<?INT:?TYPE_SIZE, Value:?BITS/?INT_TYPE>>.
<<?NONE:?TYPE_SIZE, 0:?BITS/?INT_TYPE>>.
56 bit integers
Not every language handles 56 bit integers as well as erlang does, however 32 bit integers can be used when padded from the left with three bytes (24 bit) of zeros (0) for positive values, or minus one (-1 / 255) bytes for negative integers. An alternative is using 64 bit integers and discarding the left most byte.
<<10:56/signed-integer>> = <<0:24/signed-integer, 10:32/signed-integer>>. <<0,0,0,0,0,0,10>> <<-10:56/signed-integer>> = <<-1:24/signed-integer, -10:32/signed-integer>>. <<"ÿÿÿÿÿÿö">> <<-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-10>>
Metric Names
Metric names are not simple strings but a length prefixed list of elements. The upside of this is that there are no reserved characters (such as .) and it allows faster parsing and matching against them.
An example would be:
<<2, "my", 3, "key">>.
<<3, "yet", 7, "another", 3, "one">>.
Ingress (Stream Mode)
The TCP endpoint can only accept incoming data when switched to stream mode. This way a connection is dedicated to send data to a single bucket. Flushing can be handled either manually or automatically. Automatic flushing sets a maximum delta between the first data cached for the connection and the newest arrived bit of information.
It is possible to switch the TCP connection, this stream allows to specify a bucket for the stream and by that prevent it to be resent with every metric. Also, it makes it possible for the connection cache to have a specified maximal duration between the first and the last metric received before the data is flushed.
Initializing
This will switch the TCP connection to stream mode. From then on, only payload and flush messages are accepted.
Message Prefix
Once initialized there is no more 4 byte prefix! This allows for a more efficient way of streaming data since even partially arived packages can be handled in a way.
% Identifies entering stream mode.
<<?STREAM,
% We will flush when the delay is greater or equal Delay
Delay:?DELAY_SIZE/?SIZE_TYPE,
% All metrics on this stream will be stored in this bucket.
BucketSize:?BUCKET_SS/?SIZE_TYPE, Bucket/binary
>>.
Resolution
Bucket resolutions cannot change once a bucket has been created. Attempting to set a different resolution will result in an error.
Payload
The metric packages automatically flush the connection cache when (Time - min(All Times)) > MaxDelay.
The data can hold one or more metric values and it is possible to include ‘unset’.
<<?SENTRY, %% Identifies this as a metric package
Time:?TIME_SIZE/?SIZE_TYPE, %% The time offset
_MetricSize:?METRIC_SS/?SIZE_TYPE, %% Length of the metric name in bytes.
Metric:_MetricSize/binary, %% The metric.
_DataSize:?DATA_SS/?SIZE_TYPE, %% Length of the data in bytes.
Data:_DataSize/binary %% One or more metric points
>>.
Flush
It is possible to control the flush time outside of the timing by forcing a flush as part of the stream. To do that the flush message can be used.
<<?SWRITE>>. % Indicates that at this point the connection cache should be flushed.
Batching
It is possible to batch multiple inserts that are targeted at the same time, this allows to save some extra bandwith when transmitting data. The batching is only available in stream mode.
The batch is initialized with the following message:
<<?SBATCH, %% Command code for batch start
Time:?TIME_SIZE/?SIZE_TYPE, %% The time offset
>>.
This can be followed by as many batch packages are desired, each package include one metric name and a single datapoint:
<<_MetricSize:?METRIC_SS/?SIZE_TYPE, %% Length of the metric name in bytes.
Metric:_MetricSize/binary, %% The metric.
Point:8/binary %% One or more metric points
>>.
When no more datapoints are desired for this batch, the batch can be terminated by sending a 2 0 byte (which would not be a valid payload package since the MetricSize must be at least 1).
<<0:?METRIC_SS/?SIZE_TYPE>>. %% This would not be a valid payload package.
Writing events
TODO
Fill this section.
Querying
List Buckets
This command list all buckets known to the system. The command is received and a reply send directly.
<<?BUCKETS>>.
The reply is prefixed with the total size of the whole reply in bytes (not including the size prefix itself). Then each bucket is prefixed by a size of the bucket name.
%% Outer wrapper
<<ReplySize:?BUCKETS_SS/?SIZE_TYPE, Reply:ReplySize/binary>>.
%% Elements of the reply
<<BucketSize:?BUCKET_SS/?SIZE_TYPE, Bucket:BucketSize/binary>>.
List Metrics
Lists all metrics in a bucket. The bucket to look for is prefixed by 1 byte size for the bucket name.
<<?LIST,
%% The size and the bucket binary to read the metric list from
BucketSize:?BUCKET_SS/?SIZE_TYPE,
Bucket:BucketSize/binary
>>.
The reply is prefixed with the total size of the whole reply in bytes (not including the size prefix itself). Then each metric is prefixed by a size of the metric name.
%% Outer wrapper
<<ReplySize:32/integer, Reply:ReplySize/binary>>.
%% Elements of the reply
<<MetricSize:16/integer, Metric:MetricSize/binary>>.
Reading Data
Retrieves data for a metric, bucket and metric are size prefixed as strings, Time and count are unsigned integers.
<<?GET,
%% The Size of the bucket binary and the bucket itself
BucketSize:?BUCKET_SS/?SIZE_TYPE,
Bucket:BucketSize/binary,
%% The Size of the metric binary and the bucket itself
MetricSize:?METRIC_SS/?SIZE_TYPE,
Metric:MetricSize/binary,
%% The start time to read from (given in bucket resolution)
Time:?TIME_SIZE/?SIZE_TYPE,
%% The number of points to read.
Count:?COUNT_SIZE/?SIZE_TYPE
>>.
The points will be returned using snappy compression return messages can be as following.
%% All data has been sent
<<0>>.
%% Compressed points read from the database
<<1, Compressed/binary>>.
%% Compressed points with a padding at the end (i.e. 100 points were requested but the database only could provide 90, then Padding will be 10).
<<2, Padding:64/integer, Compressed/binary>>
After the final <<0>> message has been send the socket returns to normal command mode.
Management
Bucket Information
Gets information applicable to the given bucket, namely the resolution, expiry time and the points per file.
<<?BUCKET_INFO,
%% The Size of the bucket binary and the bucket itself
BucketSize:?BUCKET_SS/?SIZE_TYPE, Bucket:BucketSize/binary
>>.
The reply will return the resolution and the points per file of the bucket.
<<
Resolution:?TIME_SIZE/?TIME_TYPE, %% The resolution of the bucket
PPF:?TIME_SIZE/?TIME_TYPE %% The points per file of the bucket
TTL:?TIME_SIZE/?TIME_TYPE %% The time a bucket will retain data, 0 indicates data is retained indefinitely
>>.
# Deleting a bucket
Deletes a bucket from the system.
<<?BUCKET_DELETE,
%% The Size of the bucket binary and the bucket itself
BucketSize:?BUCKET_SS/?SIZE_TYPE, Bucket:BucketSize/binary
>>.
Updated over 6 years ago