Move time stamp to time stamp table in counter database to avoid frequently update the counter table

Move the timestamp out of the COUNTER table to avoid updating the table too frequently and overwhelming the telemetry system.
Fixes sonic-net/sonic-buildimage#22201

Author: mssonicbld

syncd/FlexCounter.cpp

@@ -1311,11 +1311,18 @@ class CounterContext : public BaseCounterContext
             {
                 values.emplace_back(serializeStat(ctx.counter_ids[j]), std::to_string(ctx.counters[i * ctx.counter_ids.size() + j]));
             }
-            values.emplace_back(m_instanceId + "_time_stamp", std::to_string(time_stamp));
+
             countersTable.set(sai_serialize_object_id(vid), values, "");
             values.clear();
         }
 
+        // First generate the key, then replace spaces with underscores to avoid issues when Lua plugins handle the timestamp
+        std::string timestamp_key = m_instanceId + "_" + m_name + "_time_stamp";
+        std::replace(timestamp_key.begin(), timestamp_key.end(), ' ', '_');
+
+        values.emplace_back(timestamp_key, std::to_string(time_stamp));
+        countersTable.set("TIME_STAMP", values, "");
+
         SWSS_LOG_DEBUG("After pushing db %s %s %s", m_instanceId.c_str(), m_name.c_str(), ctx.name.c_str());
     }
 

unittest/syncd/TestFlexCounter.cpp

@@ -77,6 +77,18 @@ std::vector<sai_object_id_t> generateOids(
     return object_ids;
 }
 
+void removeTimeStamp(std::vector<std::string>& keys, swss::Table& countersTable)
+{
+    SWSS_LOG_ENTER();
+
+    auto it = std::find(keys.begin(), keys.end(), "TIME_STAMP");
+    if (it != keys.end())
+    {
+        countersTable.del("TIME_STAMP");
+        keys.erase(it);
+    }
+}
+
 void testAddRemoveCounter(
         unsigned int numOid,
         sai_object_type_t object_type,
@@ -177,6 +189,8 @@ void testAddRemoveCounter(
 
     std::vector<std::string> keys;
     countersTable.getKeys(keys);
+    // We have a dedicated item for all timestamps for counters using bulk counter polling
+    removeTimeStamp(keys, countersTable);
     EXPECT_EQ(keys.size(), object_ids.size());
 
     for (size_t i = 0; i < object_ids.size(); i++)
@@ -196,6 +210,7 @@ void testAddRemoveCounter(
     EXPECT_EQ(fc.isEmpty(), true);
 
     countersTable.getKeys(keys);
+    removeTimeStamp(keys, countersTable);
     ASSERT_TRUE(keys.empty());
 }
 
@@ -1719,6 +1734,7 @@ void testDashMeterAddRemoveCounter(
 
     std::vector<std::string> keys;
     countersTable.getKeys(keys);
+    removeTimeStamp(keys, countersTable);
     ASSERT_TRUE(keys.empty());
 }