[TS-2608] API to introspect metric semantics

• Type: New Feature
• Status: Open
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Unresolved
• Fix Version/s: sometime
• Component/s: Management API, Metrics
• Labels: api-addition api-change
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: James Peach
• Created: 03/Mar/14 22:15
• Updated: 19/May/14 22:57

Description

We ought to have an API that apps can use to query the semantics of a metric. For example, there's no way to know whether a metric is a counter or an instantaneous value. traffic_top hard-codes a number of these, and I've taken the same approach for my epic plugin.

As an extension, it would also be helpful to know the units (e.g., bytes, seconds, count).