Patent ID: 7783679

Claim:
A method for processing data, comprising: receiving time series measurement data about a plurality of application metrics over a plurality of time periods, wherein each application metric measures the performance of a component of a software application; writing said received time series measurement data to a first file in a spool format, the first file having blocks of data each including a header indicating a begin time for the time period associated with the block of data and storing all time series measurement data received within the time period associated with the block of data, said writing includes writing to the first file during a first time period; and converting the first file into a second file having a header and blocks of data containing said time series measurement data in a second format suited for compact storage, wherein each block of data stores only time series measurement data for a single application metric, the header indicating the time period between each instance of time series measurement data stored in the block of data, said converting includes writing to a second file after said first time period; receiving a first query of said time series measurement data during said first time period; performing said first query of said time series measurement data using said first file during said first time period; receiving a second query of said time series measurement data after said first time period; and performing said second query of said time series measurement data in said second file, said second file has a footer, said footer includes pointers to each block of data; said performing said second query includes reading said footer to identify the block of data containing the time series measurement data associated with the metric, following a pointer to a corresponding block of data associated with the metric, reading the corresponding block of data and reporting based on information in said corresponding block.