OpenNMS Newts: A Time-Series Database for Network Monitoring, Built on ScyllaDB

OpenNMS Newts is a time-series database embedded within the OpenNMS platform, designed for network monitoring and built on ScyllaDB, which offers high-performance and scalable storage solutions. Initially relying on Cassandra, the Newts team discovered that ScyllaDB provided nearly double the throughput without significant changes, making it more efficient for their needs. Newts was developed to handle the exponential growth in datasets by optimizing for write performance, crucial for time-series metrics where data is often written more than read. Key features of Newts include its capacity for late aggregation, which reduces storage bottlenecks by aggregating data upon retrieval rather than during storage, and its ability to graph network data over time. Hosted on GitHub and licensed under AGPL v2.0, Newts is available for OpenNMS users aiming to scale their time-series data infrastructure beyond a single host, and it has been in use since 2015.