<p>The fire hose is a reference to an old Weird Al Yankovick movie, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098546/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">UHF (1989)</a>. In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UHF_(film)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this movie,</a> George Newman (portrayed by Yankovick) starts a local TV channel in the UHF band and is responsible for programming on the channel. After befriending the Station's Janitor, Stanley Spadowski, (portrayed by Michael Richards) George gives the Janitor a slot to run a show of his own making. The show, entitled "Stanley Spadowski's clubhouse" becomes an overnight sensation due to Spadowski's zany antics.</p>

<p>During a gameshow segment on the show, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IueMdK9I4Qg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">(video)</a> Spadowski announces that a little boy, Joel Miller has "won" a contest by finding a marble in a wading pool of oatmeal and "gets to drink from the firehose!" - and this seems to be the likely origin of the term.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/wxZNF.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/wxZNF.jpg" alt="Stanley Spadowski&#39;s Clubhouse from UHF (1989)"></a></p>

<p>An oft-repeated sentiment in IT is that trying to comprehend a vast amount of material in a short amount of time (such as is the case when starting a new job, taking a training course or seminar on a technological subject or learning about a new product or device) is like "attempting to drink from a firehose" - it is nearly impossible to consume the entirety of such a large volume of information that is directed at you with such a rapid flow - a direct reference to the above scene.</p>

<p>It appears that in an attempt at humor, Cloudfoundry has chosen to call their Websocket "The Firehose" because websockets are used to "<a href="https://docs.cloudfoundry.org/adminguide/supporting-websockets.html#understand" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>stream</em> all application event data</a>" (which they apparently regard as voluminous) most likely in reference to this sentiment/saying and scene.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-10T16:42:31.583Z
2018-01-15T04:36:16.290Z
2018-01-15T04:36:16.290Z
James Shewey
<p>I found a Firehose definition from <a href="https://docs.cloudfoundry.org/loggregator/architecture.html#firehose" rel="noreferrer">Overview of the Loggregator System</a> Cloud Foundry docs.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The Firehose is a WebSocket endpoint that streams all the event data
  coming from a Cloud Foundry deployment. The data stream includes logs,
  HTTP events and container metrics from all applications, and metrics
  from all Cloud Foundry system components. Logs from system components
  such as Cloud Controller are not included in the firehose and are
  typically accessed through rsyslog configuration.</p>
  
  <p>Because the data coming from the Firehose may contain sensitive
  information, such as customer information in the application logs,
  only users with the correct permissions can access the Firehose.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Where does this term have it's roots and why it's called that way? Is the concept the same for other Cloud offerings and platforms?</p>

<p>It's funny when I translate this term to my native language.</p>

<monitoring><metrics><logging>
What exactly is the cloud term 'a Firehose'?
Sybil
# What exactly is the cloud term 'a Firehose'?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-07-10)

I found a Firehose definition from [Overview of the Loggregator System](https://docs.cloudfoundry.org/loggregator/architecture.html#firehose) Cloud Foundry docs.

> The Firehose is a WebSocket endpoint that streams all the event data
> coming from a Cloud Foundry deployment. The data stream includes logs,
> HTTP events and container metrics from all applications, and metrics
> from all Cloud Foundry system components. Logs from system components
> such as Cloud Controller are not included in the firehose and are
> typically accessed through rsyslog configuration.
>
> Because the data coming from the Firehose may contain sensitive
> information, such as customer information in the application logs,
> only users with the correct permissions can access the Firehose.

Where does this term have it's roots and why it's called that way? Is the concept the same for other Cloud offerings and platforms?

It's funny when I translate this term to my native language.

**Tags:** monitoring, metrics, logging


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-07-10. Score: 11 | Accepted answer

The fire hose is a reference to an old Weird Al Yankovick movie, [UHF (1989)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098546/). In [this movie,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UHF_(film)) George Newman (portrayed by Yankovick) starts a local TV channel in the UHF band and is responsible for programming on the channel. After befriending the Station's Janitor, Stanley Spadowski, (portrayed by Michael Richards) George gives the Janitor a slot to run a show of his own making. The show, entitled "Stanley Spadowski's clubhouse" becomes an overnight sensation due to Spadowski's zany antics.

During a gameshow segment on the show, [(video)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IueMdK9I4Qg) Spadowski announces that a little boy, Joel Miller has "won" a contest by finding a marble in a wading pool of oatmeal and "gets to drink from the firehose!" - and this seems to be the likely origin of the term.

[![Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse from UHF (1989)](https://i.sstatic.net/wxZNF.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/wxZNF.jpg)

An oft-repeated sentiment in IT is that trying to comprehend a vast amount of material in a short amount of time (such as is the case when starting a new job, taking a training course or seminar on a technological subject or learning about a new product or device) is like "attempting to drink from a firehose" - it is nearly impossible to consume the entirety of such a large volume of information that is directed at you with such a rapid flow - a direct reference to the above scene.

It appears that in an attempt at humor, Cloudfoundry has chosen to call their Websocket "The Firehose" because websockets are used to "[*stream* all application event data](https://docs.cloudfoundry.org/adminguide/supporting-websockets.html#understand)" (which they apparently regard as voluminous) most likely in reference to this sentiment/saying and scene.


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