Guidelines for creating data source types

You can define a data source type by using one of the following methods:

• SQL: You can use the WFA SQL guidelines to define select queries from data sources based on an external database.
• SCRIPT: You can write a PowerShell script that provides the data for a specific scheme of dictionary entries.

The guidelines for creating data source types are as follows:

• You should use PowerShell language must be used to create script.
• The PowerShell script should provide the output for each dictionary entry in its current working directory.
• The data files should be named dictionary_entry.csv, where the name of the dictionary entry should be in lower-case characters.

  The predefined data source type that collects information from Performance Advisor uses a SCRIPT-based data source type. The output files are named array_performance.csv and aggregate_performance.csv.

• The .csv file should include the content in the exact order as that of the dictionary entry attributes.

  A dictionary entry includes attributes in the following order: array_ip, date, day, hour, cpu_busy, total_ops_per_sec, disk_throughput_per_sec.

  The PowerShell script adds data to the .csv file in the same order.

  $values = get-Array-CounterValueString ([REF]$data)
  Add-Content $arrayFile ([byte[]][char[]] "\N t$arrayIP't$date't$day't$hour't$values'n")

• You should use Encoding to ensure that the data output from the script is loaded into the WFA cache accurately.
• You should use \N while entering a Null value in the .csv file.