// for sending dense metrics, update metrics cache
// and get the updated data
cachedMetrics = metricsCache.update(record);
if (cachedMetrics != null && cachedMetrics.metricsEntrySet() != null) {
for (Map.Entry<String, Metric> entry : cachedMetrics.metricsEntrySet()) {
Metric metric = entry.getValue();
sb.append(metric.name());
String name = sb.toString();
// visit the metric to identify the Ganglia type and slope