Precision timestamp for jti_openconfig_telemetry input plugin

[door7302]

Feature Request

Allow to set the precision of timestamp set by the input jti_openconfig_telemetry.
Currently timestamp precision is in ns. It could be interesting to have precision in second to avoid ms jitter between sensor paths.

Opening a feature request kicks off a discussion.

Proposal:

Allow to set :

precision: "s | ms | us | ns"

Current behavior:

Send ns timestamp

Desired behavior:

Still sending ns timestamp (epoch) but with less precision that a ns. Ex.

Before you have timestamp like that :

1557755590589715534

With precision="s" you should have something like :

1557755590000000000

Use case:

If I request to Junos from telegraf the sensor : /interfaces/interface

I could receive from the network equipment :

/interfaces/interface/state/counters/xxxx with timestamp 1557755590589715534
/interfaces/interface/state/cdescription with timestamp 1557755590685780881

To aggregate (merge) those 2 values in a third one on influxdb based on time it's more difficult.
It could help to have at the output of telegraf :

/interfaces/interface/state/counters/xxxx with timestamp 1557755590000000000
/interfaces/interface/state/cdescription with timestamp 1557755590000000000

[danielnelson]

It may be worth adding a precision option for all input/aggregator plugins that would override the global agent precision. Unlike the agent precision it would apply to both "service inputs", like jti_openconfig_telemetry, and regular polling inputs.