[metrics-bugs] #33061 [Metrics/CollecTor]: archived bandwidth scanner files lack explicit source attibution

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#33061: archived bandwidth scanner files lack explicit source attibution
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 Reporter:  starlight          |          Owner:  metrics-team
     Type:  enhancement        |         Status:  needs_information
 Priority:  Medium             |      Milestone:
Component:  Metrics/CollecTor  |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal             |     Resolution:
 Keywords:                     |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                     |         Points:
 Reviewer:                     |        Sponsor:
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Comment (by karsten):

 Replying to [comment:3 starlight]:
 > To clarify further:  Each bandwidth scanner has a unique perspective of
 available bandwidth capacities in the network.  Associating documents in
 time series tied to individual scanners is critical to making sense of the
 data.

 True. What you'll have to do is combine bandwidth files with votes to
 extract meaningful results. This is certainly more work than getting
 source information from bandwidth files directly. But it's also not
 trivial or maybe not even possible for CollecTor to include this
 information in bandwidth files while archiving them. That's why it needs
 to happen at the analysis stage right now.

 Note that combining descriptors is not unusual for an analysis. Right now
 I'm combining consensuses, votes, server descriptors, and extra-infos for
 another, unrelated analysis. Sometimes it's simply necessary to combine
 data from different data sources; in the bandwidth files case from
 bandwidth scanners and directory authorities using bandwidth scanner data.

 Maybe we cannot decide this right now. Maybe we first need to experience
 how painful it would be to analyze bandwidth files when we include that
 data somewhere.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/33061#comment:4>
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