How Do You Dynamically Graph/Chart Interval Data w/ OpenOffice Calc?

Question

I'm interested in creating one or more spreadsheet graphs of interval metered data. The raw data is recorded as a continuously increasing value (i.e. total bytes, user logins, website hits) and date. Each sample measurement date will happen at a non-constant interval. For simplicity I would like to record the data in a spreadsheet program, such as OpenOffice Calc.

An example of the data:

Date/Time             Value
1/1/09  12:00 PM      10
1/1/09   5:00 PM      30
1/2/09   9:00 AM      100
1/2/09   6:00 PM      150

Ideally, I want to have a single chart to graph the rate of the data, and would have the following features:

1. Dynamic selection of graph date ranges as new data is gather. (N days to N years)
2. Dynamic granularity of data rate display. (per hour, per day, per month, per year)
3. Extra credit, enable a secondary plot of data to overlay the first plot.

Please comment on how feasible this is, and what techniques and features I can use to accomplish this in either Excel or preferably OpenOffice Calc.

Answer 1

While you maybe can use spreadsheets for this, I think this is better done with tools specifically made for such graphing. If you search for "graph network traffic" or "graph disk temperature" you should get loads of results with different solutions.

For monitoring network cards/routers MRTG + rrdtool is a common solution. For monitoring other things, like disk temperature for several disks, mrtg is not so suitable but rrdtool still is, see here for an example of that.

You could also have a look here for a list of other alternatives.