# RRDs - phpMan

## NAME
    RRDs - Access RRDtool as a shared module

## SYNOPSIS
      use RRDs;
      [RRDs::error]
      [RRDs::last] ...
      [RRDs::info] ...
      [RRDs::create] ...
      [RRDs::update] ...
      [RRDs::updatev] ...
      [RRDs::graph] ...
      [RRDs::fetch] ...
      [RRDs::tune] ...
      [RRDs::times](start, end)
      [RRDs::dump] ...
      [RRDs::restore] ...
      [RRDs::flushcached] ...
      [RRDs::register_fetch_cb] ...
      $[RRDs::VERSION]

## DESCRIPTION
  Calling Sequence
    This module accesses RRDtool functionality directly from within Perl.
    The arguments to the functions listed in the SYNOPSIS are explained in
    the regular RRDtool documentation. The command line call

     rrdtool update mydemo.rrd --template in:out N:12:13

    gets turned into

     [RRDs::update] ("mydemo.rrd", "--template", "in:out", "N:12:13");

    Note that

     --template=in:out

    is also valid.

    The [RRDs::times] function takes two parameters: a "start" and "end" time.
    These should be specified in the AT-STYLE TIME SPECIFICATION format used
    by RRDtool. See the rrdfetch documentation for a detailed explanation on
    how to specify time.

  Error Handling
    The RRD functions will not abort your program even when they cannot make
    sense out of the arguments you fed them.

    The function [RRDs::error] should be called to get the error status after
    each function call. If [RRDs::error] does not return anything then the
    previous function has completed its task successfully.

     use RRDs;
     [RRDs::update] ("mydemo.rrd","N:12:13");
     my $ERR=[RRDs::error];
     die "ERROR while updating mydemo.rrd: $ERR\n" if $ERR;

  Return Values
    The functions [RRDs::last], [RRDs::graph], [RRDs::info], [RRDs::fetch] and
    [RRDs::times] return their findings.

    [RRDs::last] returns a single INTEGER representing the last update time.

     $lastupdate = [RRDs::last] ...

    [RRDs::graph] returns an ARRAY containing the x-size and y-size of the
    created image and a pointer to an array with the results of the PRINT
    arguments.

     ($result_arr,$xsize,$ysize) = [RRDs::graph] ...
     print "Imagesize: ${xsize}x${ysize}\n";
     print "Averages: ", (join ", ", @$averages);

    [RRDs::info] returns a pointer to a hash. The keys of the hash represent
    the property names of the RRD and the values of the hash are the values
    of the properties.

     $hash = [RRDs::info] "example.rrd";
     foreach my $key (keys %$hash){
       print "$key = $$hash{$key}\n";
     }

    [RRDs::graphv] takes the same parameters as [RRDs::graph] but it returns a
    pointer to hash. The hash returned contains meta information about the
    graph. Like its size as well as the position of the graph area on the
    image. When calling with '-' as the filename then the contents of the
    graph will be returned in the hash as well (key 'image').

    [RRDs::updatev] also returns a pointer to hash. The keys of the hash are
    concatenated strings of a timestamp, RRA index, and data source name for
    each consolidated data point (CDP) written to disk as a result of the
    current update call. The hash values are CDP values.

    [RRDs::fetch] is the most complex of the pack regarding return values.
    There are 4 values. Two normal integers, a pointer to an array and a
    pointer to an array of pointers.

      my ($start,$step,$names,$data) = [RRDs::fetch] ...
      print "Start:       ", scalar localtime($start), " ($start)\n";
      print "Step size:   $step seconds\n";
      print "DS names:    ", join (", ", @$names)."\n";
      print "Data points: ", $#$data + 1, "\n";
      print "Data:\n";
      for my $line (@$data) {
        print "  ", scalar localtime($start), " ($start) ";
        $start += $step;
        for my $val (@$line) {
          printf "%12.1f ", $val;
        }
        print "\n";
      }

    [RRDs::xport] exposes the rrdxport functionality and returns data with the
    following structure:

      my ($start,$end,$step,$cols,$names,$data) = [RRDs::xport] ...

      # $start : timestamp
      # $end   : timestamp
      # $step  : seconds
      # $cols  : number of returned columns
      # $names : arrayref with the names of the columns
      # $data  : arrayref of arrayrefs with the data (first index is time, second is column)

    [RRDs::times] returns two integers which are the number of seconds since
    epoch (1970-01-01) for the supplied "start" and "end" arguments,
    respectively.

    See the examples directory for more ways to use this extension.

  Fetch Callback Function
    Normally when using graph, xport or fetch the data you see will come
    from an actual rrd file. Some people who like the look of rrd charts,
    therefore export their data from a database and then load it into an rrd
    file just to be able to call rrdgraph on it. Using a custom callback,
    you can supply your own code for handling the data requests from graph,
    xport and fetch.

    To do this, you have to first write a fetch function in perl, and then
    register this function using "[RRDs::fetch_register_callback]".

    Finally you can use the pseudo path name cb//[*filename*] to tell
    rrdtool to use your callback routine instead of the normal rrdtool fetch
    function to organize the data required.

    The callback function must look like this:

      sub fetch_callback {
          my $args_hash = shift;
          # {
          #  filename => 'cb//somefilename',
          #  cd => 'AVERAGE',
          #  start => 1401295291,
          #  end => 1401295591,
          #  step => 300 }

          # do some clever thing to get that data ready

          return {
              start => $unix_timestamp,
              step => $step_width,
              data => {
                  dsName1 => [ value1, value2, ... ],
                  dsName2 => [ value1, value2, ... ],
                  dsName3 => [ value1, value2, ... ],
              }
         };
      }

## NOTE
    If you are manipulating the TZ variable you should also call the POSIX
    function [tzset(3)] to initialize all internal states of the library for
    properly operating in the timezone of your choice.

     use POSIX qw(tzset);
     $ENV{TZ} = 'CET';
     [POSIX::tzset]();

## AUTHOR
    Tobias Oetiker <<tobi@oetiker.ch>>

