The sstore_data_bulk_update() Interface

The sstore_data_bulk_update() interface enables an application to provide a value pair (time stamp, value) for statistics. Statistic values do not need to be provided in real time because the application provides the time stamp along with the value.

An example of a case when sstore_data_bulk_update() is needed is for a third-party application that cannot be modified to talk to sstored directly. In such a case, statistic values can be read from a proxy such as a log file.

The sstore_data_bulk_update() interface supports any data type for statistic values, including string and other large data types.

Statistic updates must be provided in chronological order: Each update must have a time stamp that is more recent than the time stamp of any update that was previously provided. Any update that has a time stamp that is not more recent than the time stamp of the previous update is ignored. The sstore_data_bulk_update() interface writes to the statistics store all the statistics value pairs that are newer than the most recently provided data for that statistic.

Statistics store clients such as sstore capture, sstore export, or sstore_data_read() return the time stamps provided by sstore_data_bulk_update() for each statistic value. If a consumer requests data for a time for which the application has not yet provided data, the value SSTORE_VALUE_NODATA_YET is returned.

The metadata for any statistic for which data will be provided by sstore_data_bulk_update() must define min-update-interval, which is the minimum number of seconds between any two bulk updates. Consumers such as the System Web Interface use this value to set expectations about the update frequency of a statistic.