# Definition of terms used in Munin

Data types:

– Gauge | A data source of type gauge shows the state of the data source at the exact moment that Munin is run (every 5 minutes). Any peaks in-between data gatherings, will not be in the graph.
– Counter | A data source of type counter shows the state of the data source as an average between two plots (i.e. 5 minutes). Short peaks will therefore be hard to spot, but long peaks will be spottable, even though it occurs between plots.
– Derive | For the purposes of viewing data, the derive type works the same way as a counter
– Absolute | Absolute works much as a counter, with the exception that it is assumed that the counter value is set to 0 upon each read of it. It's not a good idea to run these plugins by hand in-between Munin runs, since Munin won't receive all the data it expects.

Munin