From: Florian Forster <ff@octo.it>
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:05:58 +0000 (+0200)
Subject: README: Explain "graphs" and "instances" a little.
X-Git-Tag: v4.0.0~201
X-Git-Url: https://git.tokkee.org/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=998940bb79e55b8943731d1ce9b21831148f8235;p=collection4.git

README: Explain "graphs" and "instances" a little.
---

diff --git a/README b/README
index e69de29..6e25d3f 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
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+ collection 4 - An efficient graphing front-end for collectd
+=============================================================
+
+About
+-----
+
+  collection 4 (c4) is a web-based front-end to the RRD files updated by
+  collectd. It is designed to be highly efficient and handle large
+  installations - with 50,000 and more RRD files - well.
+
+
+Concepts
+--------
+
+  c4 lets you configure "graphs" in its config file. Each graph has a selector
+  which determines which files will be used to draw the graph. The selector
+  uses the host/plugin[-instance]/type[-instance] layout known from collectd.
+  Each field of the selector may be one of two wildcard expressions:
+
+    * "/any/"
+      The field may be any value. The files will be grouped by the values of
+      all "/any/" fields. Think of the "GROUP BY" SQL expression. Each grouping
+      is called an "instance" which can be identified by the graph selector and
+      the value of the "/any/" fields.
+
+    * "/all/"
+      As with the any-selector, the field may be any value. However, all files
+      that only differ in the "/all/" field(s) will be printed in the same
+      graph.
+
+  Upon startup, c4 will read the configuration and scan the directory
+  containing the RRD files. Each file is added to all matching graphs, either
+  by adding it to the appropriate instance or by creating a new instance. I.e.
+  each file may be used in multiple graphs.
+
+
+Author
+------
+
+  Florian "octo" Forster <ff at octo.it>
+